Seth J. Bokpe's Ghana Newsreel

$9m Crime Money Frozen---$2m out of it confiscated to state, Front Page

2012-02-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

Ghana’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has, in two years, frozen $9 million believed to be proceeds from crime, the acting Chief Executive Officer of the centre, Mr Samuel T. Essel, has said.

Out of the amount, $2 million has been confiscated to the state. The remaining $7 million is still under investigation.

The action followed the centre’s investigation of 248 suspicious transaction reports it received over the two-year period.

Additionally, the centre disseminated 107 of the reported cases to the appropriate authorities as intelligence, while investigations continue into the remaining cases.

Launching the anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) guideline in Accra yesterday, Mr Essel said, “Money laundering/terrorism financing threats confronting the country are real. We, therefore, need to demonstrate our commitment to ensure that the country succeeds in the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing.”

Money laundering is a process by which the illicit source of assets obtained or generated by criminal activity is concealed to obscure the link between the funds and the original criminal activity.

Terrorism financing involves the raising and processing of funds to supply terrorists with resources to carry out their attacks.

While the two phenomena differ in key ways, they often exploit the same vulnerabilities in financial systems that allow for an inappropriate level of anonymity and non-transparency in the execution of financial transactions.

The FIC was established in accordance with Act 749 (2008) to, among other mandates, make crime less profitable by receiving, analysing and disseminating intelligence to investigative bodies and revenue agencies for enforcement.

In light of a growing awareness of the potential for the utilisation of the insurance industry for money laundering and terrorism financing operations, the National Insurance Commission collaborated with the FIC to develop the guideline to ensure that the insurance industry is insulated from the nefarious activities of money launderers and terrorists.

Additionally, the implementation of the guideline is expected to minimise the risk faced by licensed insurance entities falling prey to money launderers and also serve as protection against fraud, reputational and financial risks.

The insurance sector, particularly insurers and insurance intermediaries underwriting or placing life insurance and other investment-related insurances, is said to be potentially at risk of being used or misused, knowingly or unknowingly, for money laundering and the financing of terrorism, making the sector vulnerable to legal, operational and reputational risks.

Activities that trigger suspicion in the insurance sector include difficulty in obtaining information on or doubts over the bone fide of the policy holder or other parties involved, transactions set up and then quickly cancelled for no identifiable reason, transactions involving placements from or the involvement of intermediaries in different jurisdictions for no discernible purpose.

Others are return premiums, overpayments or claim payments where a third party appears to benefit; transactions where insurance does not appear to be the primary object or make no economic sense and over-inflated values, for example, on jewellery/fine art.

Ghana finds itself on a continent where terrorism is gradually eating deep into some parts and gaining notoriety with the activities of terrorist sects such as Al Shabab, Al-Qaeda and more recently Boko Haram and the Movement for the Unity of Jihad in West Africa.

Mr Essel said after the launch of the guidelines, the system would not tolerate any excuse born out of ignorance or the insatiable desire for profit.

Prof Newman Kwadwo Kusi, who launched the guidelines on behalf of the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, urged players in the insurance industry to place premium on due diligence.

The Commissioner of Insurance, Mrs Nyamikeh Kyiamah, said apart from the guidelines, insurers and insurance intermediaries were expected to adopt policies indicating their commitment to comply with anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism obligations to prevent any transaction that facilitated money laundering and terrorist financing activities.

A Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Alex Segbefia, who chaired the event, observed that regardless of the system put in place, its success largely depended on the people operating the sector.

He, therefore, called for regular training and education of the members of staff of the financial sector.

140 Lifeguards, boat operators end training, page 45

2012-02-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

ONE hundred and forty lifeguards and boat operators plying the Volta Lake last Friday graduated from a life-saving skills training programme.

The trainees, made up of 107 lifeguards and 31 boat operators drawn from the Volta, Eastern, Northern, Brong Ahafo, Greater Accra and Western regions, underwent the two-week intensive course at the Tema Eastern Naval Base.

A section of the trainees in a jubilant mood

To equip the participants with the needed skills to discharge their duties and contribute to safety on the Volta Lake, they were taken through subjects such as boat work, survival at sea, life-saving, communication, first aid and fire fighting.
They also received training in physical training and drill to improve fitness and teamwork.

The course forms part of interventions under the Volta Lake Transport Enhancement Programme (VLTEP) rolled out by Zoil Services Limited, in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport.

Since its inception, about 300 lifeguards have been trained, in addition to the provision of 25,000 life jackets, by Zoil at various landing sites, while boats for fishermen have been refurbished, all aimed at curbing the perennial accidents on the lake.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, said since the inception of the programme, the lifeguards who had been trained had exhibited "the life-saving skills they have acquired in their various regions with a record of over 1,000 lives saved over the past three years”.

While commending the trainees for their endurance and enthusiasm during the session, she entreated boat operators to practise the training they had received, so that they, together with the lifeguards, could help ensure safety on the lake.

She decried observations made by supervisors of the project that "there was little co-operation between the lifeguards and boat operators with regard to the enforcement of rules on safety on the lake".

In that regard, Mrs Attivor urged the lifeguards to share their knowledge with their colleagues who did not get the opportunity to benefit from the programme.

The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) the Eastern Naval Base, Commander E.A. Bonsu, said even though the participants had received good training, their effectiveness depended, to a large extent, on the availability of the right facilities and equipment.

He, therefore, entreated Zoil and all who had interest in safety on the country's water bodies to ensure that the trainees had ready access to the needed equipment, so that they could put their skills to good use.

He also had some advice for the participants: "You will need to exhibit a high level of discipline and sense of responsibility, dedication and commitment to duty because it is on the back of these core values that safety on the Volta Lake can be improved to the benefit of the nation."

The National Coordinator of the VLTEP, Mrs Rhoda Donkor, in a speech read on her behalf, said as part of strategies to ensure that the project delivered maximum results, Zoil was rolling out a series of training and educational programmes for communities along the Volta Lake.

The project, she stated, would have trainers visiting the various communities along the lake to educate residents through their local authorities and demonstrate to them the effectiveness of the use of life jackets.

The creation of the Volta Lake in 1965 resulted in a situation where the inhabitants of settler communities along the lake depended exclusively on lake transportation for their social and economic activities. Over the years, however, accidents on the lake have become rampant.

Fifty bodies, including those of schoolchildren, were recovered from the lake after a boat accident which occurred near the Amevloikope Island in 2004.

A similar accident occurred in June 1999 when 76 people drowned in the lake, while in 2009 a repeated incident took 24 lives when a boat carrying passengers returning from a funeral at Wusuta Kpebe capsized.

Last year, 35 people, mainly traders, died after their boat capsized on the Volta Lake.

East Ayawaso sub- metro in perspective------- Accra New Town residents calls for construction of drain

2012-02-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

Residents of Accra New Town have called on the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to consider, as a matter of urgency, the construction of the big drain that runs through the community from Kotobabi.

They contend that failure to construct the drain will amount to inviting malaria and cholera epidemics.

The drain in question is filled with garbage, comprising plastic bags, empty water sachets and human waste.

The stench from the drain fills the air, making breathing an arduous task and domestic animals are seen always feasting in the drain.

A fish-smoking oven and a 'pito' joint sited close to the edge of the drain seem to be struggling for position with the rubbish thrown around.

Even though part of the drain which joins a bigger storm drain at Nima has been constructed, the bigger portion has been left unconstructed leaving room for some recalcitrant members of the community to throw their rubbish around while others have turned it into their place of convenience.

An opinion leader, Mr Gibriela Agadi, fingered members of the community, especially those living close to the drain, as being responsible for the filth that had engulfed the place.

“When you confront them, they ask you if you sleep in the gutter," he said.

He pleaded with the AMA to help construct the drain, as it was the only means of stopping the menace. "If the gutter is constructed, I am sure most of us here will be vigilant to stop people from filling it with filth," he noted

Mr Agadi said in the past young people in the community organised clean-up exercises to clear the drain of silt but they stopped because their efforts were always in vain within days.

A resident, Akosua Boahemah, blamed the situation on the non-availability of garbage bins in the community which forced people to sneak under the cover of darkness to dump their refuse in the drains.

"I do not think people will intentionally throw rubbish into the gutter, if there is a rubbish container here," she noted.

Another resident, Abena Asiedu, said her house had been invaded by mosquitoes, cockroaches, rodents and some unknown bugs from the drain, a situation which had given rise to malaria and cholera cases.

As the demand for accommodation increases, some landlords in the community have converted their toilets into rooms for habitation.

For most houses in the area, not even the directive from the AMA has been successful in pushing the landlords to construct toilets in their homes.

In spite of the directive from the AMA that all households within the Accra Metropolis were to have toilet facilities by the end of September last year, the reverse is the situation.

Most houses in the area either depend on public toilets or continue to use pan latrines in spite of the ban on pan latrines.

With the heat from the AMA subsiding, some of the residents have abandoned their toilet construction.

Statistics indicate that in the East Ayawaso Sub Metro of the AMA alone, 500 of such latrines are still operational.

The Supreme Court, it has been revealed that in the East Ayawaso Sub Metro of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly alone, 500 of such latrines are still operational.

In July, 2008, the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling, ordered the assembly to stop the use of the facility in the national capital due to its environmental and health implications.

The directive from the Supreme Court followed a writ by a coalition of human rights organisations led by an Accra-based legal practitioner, Nana Adjei Ampofo, in February, 2008.

The court also instructed the city authorities to construct 1,500 water closets and KVIPs within the period, as well as arrange subsidies for those who would convert their pan facilities into water closets or KVIPs.

Some of the residents also accused the Member of Parliament for the area, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, of reneging on his promise to get the drain constructed.

“The MP was in the area and promised all of us that the drain will be constructed but more than a year later, not even one block has been laid,” an angry resident, Joel Awuku, said.

“It is not fair the way we are treated, this is not the first time we have been told the drain will be constructed.”

When contacted, the immediate past Assembly Member for the area, Hajia Damata Sulemana, had a contrary opinion.

She pointed accusing fingers at some of the landlords in the area for neglecting their responsibility of providing basic amenities for their tenants, and the AMA for not compelling landlords to have basic amenities in their houses.

On efforts made to solve the problem, she explained that she wrote letters to The Netherlands and German embassies to source funds for the construction of the drain but was told that the embassies in question did not assist individual assembly members but rather the central government through the ministries.

According to her, even though the construction of the drain had been awarded to four different contractors, she had not been informed about it until one of her constituents drew her attention to a group of people that was clearing silt from the drain.

"The problem we have as assembly members is that the assembly does not regard us.

If I took the trouble to write to you about the problem and you award the construction to a contractor without even informing me, how do you expect me to play an effective supervisory role to prevent shoddy work?” she asked.

Prairie Volta to produce 8,000 tonnes of rice, February 4, 2012 pg 15

2012-02-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

The company's officials at the mill

PRAIRIE Volta Limited, owners of the Aveyime Rice Project, is set to feed the local rice industry with 8,000 tonnes of high grade rice this year.

Since the company began its operations in 2009, it has been able to produce some 7,500 tonnes of rice for the Ghanaian market.

While 4,000 tonnes have been milled and sold, the remaining has gone into seedlings for other farmers.

To further consolidate it gains as the biggest rice farm in Ghana, the company is embarking on an expansion drive and has acquired an extra 2,500 acres of land, bringing its total land size to 5,313 acres.

Currently, the farm is cultivating Jasmine 85 and Sierra (basmati variety) from the United States but is also planning to experiment with some other varieties from Brazil to increase output.

When the Daily Graphic visited the farm a vast expanse of green paddy rice was everywhere. While two harvesters were busy harvesting 267 acres, a fleet of tractors were also preparing the cleared land for the planting season.

Part of the irrigation channel that supplying water to the rice field

Irrigation engineers were also at post working on irrigation channels that the company said could supply water to close to 5,000 acres.

The Managing Partner of the company, Mr John Vandyke Mensah, told the Daily Graphic that in spite of the challenges, the company had weathered the storm and was positioning itself to benefit from the increasing demand for local rice.

The company, he stated, had invested a lot in technology which remained the backbone of commercial agriculture.

The fleet of tractors on the farm

According to him, a major challenge facing the local rice industry is that while commercial farmers receive little or no incentive, a lot of the government intervention is aimed at small scale farmers.

In the early 1970s, Ghana used to produce enough rice for local consumption and export. But due to unbridled trade liberalisation, Ghana is now a net importer of rice. It is estimated that Ghana spends US$600 million as import bill annually on rice for local consumption. While the country’s rice production stands at 30 per cent, the other 70 per cent is imported.

But Mr Vandyke-Mensah noted that it would take deliberate and sustained efforts to provide adequate incentives to commercial rice farmers to reverse the trend.

To boost food production, the government recently announced that work would soon commence on the Accra Plains Irrigation Project, to cultivate more than 150,000 hectares to enhance food security and ensure self-sufficiency.

That, Mr Vandyke-Mensah noted, was a laudable idea but advised that when completed the project should not be left in the hands of small-scale farmers as it would better serve commercial farmers who could in turn help pay back the cost of the infrastructure.

“We have all the land, water and the human resource to produce enough to feed ourselves. We should not be importing food,” he said trudging through the field.

He observed that in order to attract more investors to the sector, there was the need for the government to create an environment where access to finance was made easy and at cheaper rates in addition to direct interventions such as bearing the cost of the provision of infrastructure.

He said as part of its expansion drive, the company would invest in several satellite farms particularly in the Volta Region.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr Everett Anderson, gave a positive outlook for the company in the coming years, saying “the future is bright and we are thrilled by the prospects as we have revised out structures to deal with the problems of the past.”

Everett Anderson, the MD (far right), Mr Vandyke-Mensah (third left), Mr Mezzomo (second left), Mr Richard Aidoo (second right) and a staff of the company in a chat at the mill.

Mr Clovis P.L. Mezzomo, the Field Operations Manager of the company, for his part said the company had developed an irrigation system that would improve production.

He, however, admitted that the major challenge now was developing a technology that would cut the cost of production and at the same time increase yield.

Mr Vandyke-Mensah (left) sharing ideas with Mr Mezzomo during a tour of the farm

NIC to strengthen supervision of insurance sector, Friday, February 3, 2012, pg 53

2012-02-06T11:41:00.000-08:00

The Insurance Commissioner

THE National Insurance Commission is to introduce a new system of supervising insurance companies as part of its efforts to strengthen the regulation of the insurance industry.

Known as the risk-based supervision system, the arrangement will replace the existing compliance-based system and will make it possible for the regulator to supervise companies based on the level of risk identified in a particular company.

The move, according to the NIC, would also meet the changing needs of the insurance industry in Ghana.

The Commissioner of Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission, Mrs Nyamikeh Kyiamah, who announced this at the 50th anniversary celebration of the SIC Insurance Company Limited in Accra on Wednesday, said in view of the decision to change the supervision system, the commission was working on a new solvency and capital adequacy framework to be implemented in the course of the year.

The new solvency law, when adopted, would deny insurance companies with weak financial standing the opportunity to undertake bigger business transactions.

The new regulation, which is currently at the draft stage when adopted and passed into law, would compel insurers to do business according to their liquidity ratios - the amount of their assets that could easily be used to defray debts where necessary.

In effect, insurance companies throughout the country will not be allowed to write policies for their clients on credit bases as is the case under the existing regulation.

The NIC, the commissioner stated, had also taken steps to enable the industry to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards by the end of the year to improve the quality and consistency of financial reporting and also make relevant information available for effective risk-based supervision.

Furthermore, Mrs Nyamikeh said, the commission was also reviewing the Insurance Act to provide the appropriate legal framework to support the ongoing reforms.

While urging the insurance companies in the country to work hard and take advantage of opportunities in the financial services sector to help build a better industry that satisfies the needs of its policy holders, she also pledged the commission’s commitment to promoting growth and stability in the insurance market and to protect the interest of insurance policy holders.

The commissioner commended the SIC Insurance Company Limited for its successful operations and its achievements over the years.

The company has grown over the last 50 years to become the largest non-life insurance company in Ghana.

From 1955 up to 1962, it was known as the Gold Coast Insurance Company and later became the State Insurance Company.

In 2007, the company’s general business was separated from the life business with the name changed to SIC Insurance Company Limited and SIC Life Assurance Company.

As the largest non-life insurance company in Ghana providing diversified and comprehensive range of insurance products and services, SIC Insurance has and continues to play a positive role in the conduct of insurance business and the growth of the insurance industry.

Trumpeting some of the company’s achievements, Mr Benjamin Kwame Acolatse, the Managing Director of the company, said its investment profile covered 14 companies, 14 of which were listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

“SIC has contributed tremendously not only in building the nation, but also in rebuilding the nation when it is struck with various perils, by its claims paying ability to vital national institutions such as Ghana Airways, Ghana COCOBOD and the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority,” the MD said.

He said the company had provided employment to over 15,000 staff and agents in addition to countless individuals.

The Board Chairman of SIC, Mr Max Cobbina, said as part of its expansion drive to the international market, the company was extending its tentacles to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

General J.H Smith, the Minister of Defence and guest of honour for the occasion paid tribute to the pioneers of the company whose effort, he stated set the foundation for the establishment of the biggest insurance company in the country.

Ghana needs selfless leaders - Duncan-Williams, Monday, January 2, 2012, Pg 13

2012-02-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

THE General Overseer of the Action Faith Ministries, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams, has advised Ghanaians to use track record as the benchmark for voting in the 2012 elections.

“We need selfless leaders that care for the people to the extent that they can make sacrifices for the next generation,” he stated.

The Archbishop who had an interaction with the media in Accra condemned the insults that had eaten deep into the country’s political fibre.

He observed that contrary to claims that politicians were the only people involved in the insult spree, it also had to do with a section of the populace.

“Today, it is common for people to just insult and dishonour persons in leadership and authority and it is rampant on our radio and television programmes. It is very sad.”

“We are allowing western culture to adulterate our culture, where people in the name of freedom of speech and expression can just say anything and we have no respect for the elderly anymore. We don’t have respect for anybody.”

“We must realise that we don’t have to just be excited about freedom of speech as freedom of speech without responsibility is dangerous. We have to act with a sense of responsibility with the freedom we have,” the Archbishop said.

“We may have people in authority we don’t like, we may not approve of their style of leadership, but that does not authorise us to dishonour them. There are many ways to deal with them and one wrong way to do that is to publicly dishonour and disrespect them. To dishonour and disrespect them is dishonouring the office they occupy,” he said.

“It should not be that I can say anything I want, I can insult anyone no matter what it takes. There are consequences.”

He cited the example of the Rwandan genocide as an example of conflict flamed by comments of radio, saying “even though there were other undercurrents, unguarded utterances worsened the situation.”

Archbishop Duncan-Williams, therefore, called on whoever loses the next year’s election to accept defeat graciously adding that “no matter what happens, we cannot divide this nation.”

“When it comes to the peace and stability of Ghana, our politicians and political parties must understand clearly that the country cannot be divided like what happened in other countries.”

He had a lot more advice for the politicians. “Be honest, be transparent, and don’t go through any short cut because every short cut will cut you short and if you win praise God. If you lose, for Ghana’s sake, be honourable and humble enough to accept that ‘I gave it my best shot and it did not happen. May be it is my time but not my turn, I will wait for another time or wait for another generation to take over.’”

He, however, said in spite of the complexities in this year’s elections, there were good prospects for the country and was optimistic that God would intervene to navigate this year’s election successfully.

“If we successfully go through the 2012 elections without the violence that is being predicted and avoid all the impending dangers, and get the winner doing so in a transparent and honest way that everybody sees, even though 2012/2013 is shaky, if we manage to scale through the elections, Ghana will fly,” he noted.

The Archbishop, who is also the Chairman of the National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACCC), said the organisation as part of its civic responsibility would encourage members of its congregation to register and vote in the 2012 elections and also educate them on the need to avoid anything that could undermine the country’s peace.

On the economy, Archbishop Duncan-Williams said his expectation was that the country would make good use of revenue from oil to push development.

“As much as the oil is a blessing, we have to be careful it does not reduce the creativity and productivity of Ghanaians where everybody thinks that we have oil and it would automatically translate into the well-being of all,” he stated.

He cited the example of Nigeria and Angola which had so much oil but it had not brought progress to their people.

“People don’t have electricity and water, yet the wealth is in the hands of just a few people. We have to move away from that mentality where only few people are enriched with the country’s wealth while the majority is impoverished.”

Police impound arms cache, Wednesday, January 11, 2012, Front Page

2012-02-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

The Greater Accra Regional Police Command Tuesday impounded a Nigeria-bound truck loaded with a cache of arms and several boxes of ammunition.

A MAN Diesel truck with the Nigerian licence plate number XA 761-YAB and branded in Coca-Cola colours, was impounded at Achimota in Accra, together with five suspects, including two Nigerians.

The vehicle, together with the five suspects — Kofi Aboagye, 52; Sunday Eze, 38, a Nigerian from the Anambra State; Kwesi Asamoah, 29; Kojo Boafo, 38, the owner of the arms, and Samuel Amosu Taiwo, another Nigerian from the Ogun State — was arrested and sent to the Accra Central Police Station.

When the Daily Graphic got to the Accra Regional Police Headquarters, police officers were offloading the arms from the truck. The truck had what looked like a compartment, with sheets of metal plate covering the ammunition.

A crowd had gathered at the entrance of the Accra Regional Police Headquarters to catch a glimpse of the suspects and the ammunition, while a pool of the cartridges had been displayed in the office of the Regional Commander where media men were taking shots of it, with the morose-looking suspects looking on.

Briefing the media, the Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Atinga-Bio, said about 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Accra Regional Police Command received a tip-off that a Coca-Cola-branded vehicle was discharging items suspected to be stolen goods at Achimota.

The police, she stated, dispatched a team there and found the vehicle parked near an uncompleted building and, on examination of the vehicle, it was found to be empty.

“The police were suspicious of the location and carried out a thorough search inside the vehicle and discovered that there was a plate covering the base of the vehicle.

They then removed the metal plate and found a large quantity of AA and BB cartridges and pump action and double-barrelled guns concealed there, with the suspects on board,” she said.

While pump-action guns, also called 'slide action repeating shotguns' or 'slide action shotguns' are a class of shotguns that are distinguished in the way in which spent shells are extracted and fresh ones chambered, double-barrelled shotguns, on the other hand, are guns with the barrels tilting up at the rear to expose the breech ends of the barrels for unloading and reloading, since there is no reciprocating action needed to eject and reload the shells

The Regional Police Commander said upon interrogation, the suspects confirmed that all the items were Nigeria bound.

All the suspects, she said, were in custody, while investigations continued, after which they would be arraigned at the appropriate time.

With Nigeria caught up in sectarian violence and demonstrations over recent fuel price hikes, it is not immediately known if the arms were meant to fuel the conflict in that country.

But DCOP Atinga-Bio said investigations would establish whether the arms were bought in Ghana or in transit.

“For now, we cannot speculate on where the arms are from,” she stated.

Shun politicians who preach violence---NUGS, Saturday, January 14, 2012, pg 12

2012-02-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

THE National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) is urging all students and youth who are members of the various political parties to shun politicians who preach violence as the country girds its loins for the 2012 elections.

“We are calling on all students and the youth who are members of the various political parties to always know that their first love is to this nation and not for someone who understands the language of violence.

Speaking at a press conference that touched on many issues of national concern, the NUGS President, Mr Ayari Osman Abdulai, said the student body’s message to officials of the ruling National Democratic Congress and party functionaries of the opposition parties was simple. “The students of Ghana will not permit you to make such unguarded statements this year.”

While appealing to the Electoral Commission to adequately consult and engage all political groupings in the country for a peaceful election, Mr Abdulai also urged the media to provide equal platform to political parties in order to deepen the country’s democratic process.

The government recently announced the removal of subsidy on fuel price resulting in the 20 per cent hike in prices. This incurred the displeasure of many civil society organisations including the Trade Union Congress and NUGS and it has added its voice on the call on the government to reduce the price because the increase will add some hardship to all Ghanaians including students.

“The Union believes that the main responsibility of every government is to make the public goods available to its people and not saddle them with hardships.”

“The government should be in the position to reduce fuel prices or we, the students of this country, would advise ourselves. We are aware of drivers who are hiding behind the fuel increase to extort huge fares and also some sellers who are increasing consumable items astronomically.”

Mr Abdulai, therefore, urged the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to bring its members to order to ensure that sanity prevailed in the transport sector.

According to figure from the Ministry of Education, the government had eliminated over 1,200 schools under trees. That, the NUGS President stated, was commendable. While commending the government for that feat, it also called on the government to enact a legislation that “will put a perpetual end to schools springing under trees.”

The NUGS President, who was flanked by other executive members of the students body, said “We also want the government to administer the free uniforms and the free exercise book policies to those who needed them most especially the vulnerable and the poor in the society.”

On the passage of an act recently by Parliament to give legal backings to the establishment of the two universities in the Volta and Brong Ahafo regions, he lauded the government’s effort and stated that “we are confident that the two new universities, when operational, will help in reducing the pressure that is always mounted on the public universities during admissions.”

Mr Abdulai, however, stated that “ in as much as NUGS lauds government and Parliament, the Union wants to remind our national leadership that the state of public universities gives us a lot of cause to worry.”

“The University of Development Studies is faced with huge infrastructural and structural difficulties. The school lacks lecture halls as well as accommodation for lecturers and students. The absence of adequate lecture halls and accommodation facilities for both lecturers and students alike hampers a smooth academic environment.”

The recent cocaine turned sodium bicarbonate also drew concern from the national students body. It therefore called on the government to put its feet down and get to the bottom of the issue and punish the culprits according to law.

“It is a fact that this is not the first time cocaine is alleged to have turned into some other item. We are concerned because the international image of our country is being destroyed and we the students are affected when we go for exchange programmes overseas,” he stated.

Mr Abdulai also urged the government to make good on its promise in the 2008 NDC manifesto to provide office accommodation for NUGs.

Man arrested for abduction, possessing military items, Monday, January 16, 2012, pg 3

2012-02-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

A 40-year-old man has found himself at the wrong side of the law for allegedly abducting a 14-year-old girl and possessing military accoutrement without authority.

Anthony Cofie, a private security man and self-acclaimed coach, was alleged to have camped the teenager (name withheld) at his Teshie home under the guise of training her and other girls to play football for two weeks.

According to the story, confirmed by DSP Margaret Sapati-Agbemabiese, the head of the Nungua Divisional Command Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), the girl, who lives with her grandmother, was sent by the grandmother to buy tomatoes at a nearby shop on December 23, 2011 at around 12 noon but failed to return.

With efforts to locate her in the neighbourhood proving futile, the parents conducted further searches at La and James Town where the girl's parents hail from without success.

The disturbed parents then reported the matter to the Sakumono Police Station for assistance and also made announcements on Adom FM and Radio Gold, a Tema and Accra-based radio stations respectively.

A few days later on January 9, 2012, however, the girl was brought home by two persons. When questioned, the girl said she was sitting in front of a nearby shop when Cofie, who is popularly known as Shakapito, approached her that he was a coach and a soldier and asked her to follow him to his house for football lessons which she obliged.

At the house, the girl said she met many other girls of her age and Cofie offered them some alcoholic drinks, but she refused to take them.

He then brought her Coca Cola which she drank and fell asleep, only to wake up and find Cofie lying beside her.

According to the girl, throughout the period of her stay at the house, Cofie usually locked them up with a padlock outside and kept the key in a Bible by the window while warning them never to go out.

But whenever they wanted to attend the call of nature, they pleaded with the landlord's daughter or any passers-by and passed the key through the trap door for the door to be opened from behind.

The landlord's daughter, she stated, sometimes gave them leftover food when they were hungry, adding that Cofie mostly came home at dawn and frequently took them to a park for jogging where he allegedly fondled her breasts and those of the other girls.

The teenager later led her family to Cofie's house but he was not at home. From there, they proceeded to the house of one of the girls who said she took a photograph of Cofie.

After receiving the photograph from the youngster, Cofie was spotted by the roadside and was arrested through the help of some young men before being sent to the Nungua Police Station.

DSP Sapati-Agbemabiese said during interrogation, Cofie admitted camping the girls but said they usually came to sleep at the house a day before their training.

She said she then recommended that the girl be sent to hospital for a medical check-up to ascertain whether she was defiled.

'The medical report indicated that she was not defiled so we had to allow him bail, since the law does not permit us to hold him beyond 48 hours,' she said.

A team of investigators dispatched to Cofie's house found four pairs of military boots, a pair of military camouflage shorts, one Motorola radio set popularly known as 'walkie-talkie,' a green military look-alike bag and a locally manufactured pistol.

According to DSP Joe Oppong, the Divisional Crime Officer of the Nungua Divisional Police, initial investigations indicated that Cofie had never been a soldier but paraded himself as a military officer in his community.

When asked how he got the items, Cofie told the police that he got the military accoutrement from his military friends but he had the pistol from his deceased father.

In that regard, DSP Oppong said Cofie would be put before court on charges of possessing firearms without authority, possessing military accoutrement without authority and impersonation.

He will also face abduction charge being pressed by DOVVSU on Monday.

Private Schools Fleece Parents, Tuesday, January 17, 2012, Front Page

2012-02-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Some private schools in the country are charging above the approved registration fee for this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Even though the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) have approved GH¢8.55 as registration fee, some of the schools are charging as much as GH¢107.

The phenomenon is particularly widespread among private schools in Accra which hide behind cost incurred during the registration process to add a string of charges to the approved fee.

While some public schools charge between GH¢12 and GH¢15, some private schools collect between GH¢30 and GH¢110.

For example, at the Holy Family Roman Catholic School at Mataheko, BECE candidates are paying GH¢107; Queen’s Model School at Kotobabi, GH¢60; EP Church School, Mamprobi, GH¢30; Green Pasture Preparatory School at Awoshie, GH¢50; King Edward School at Gbawe, GH¢50; Emmanuel Methodist Preparatory School at Anyah, GH¢40, Holy Cross School at Tetegu near Weija, GH¢30.

A letter dated October 18, 2011 and signed by the acting Director-General of the GES, Mrs Benedicta Naana Biney, noted that "the fee approved by the Ministry of Education is GH¢28.50.

The government will pay a subsidy of GH¢19.95. This amount represents 70 per cent of the approved fee of GH¢28.50".

"Parents are, therefore, requested to pay GH¢8.55 per candidate as entry fee for the examination,” it further stated.

It noted that "any additional charges, such as cost of photograph, should be negotiated with parents/guardians".

The letter cautioned that "under no circumstance should heads of schools go on their own way to prescribe charges for parents to pay".

But this is not the case in many schools.
In some of the schools, the authorities charge GH¢10 for passport-sized photographs and GH¢5 for online registration.

While some of the school heads declined to comment, the Headmaster of Queen’s Model School, Mr Dome Carlson, told the Daily Graphic that other fees, including mock examinations, passport pictures, high school selection forms and group photographs, were added to the registration fee.

“We do not want to burden parents by asking them money every now and then for those items and so we agree with parents to put it in one lump sum which they pay at once.

“The private schools have always done better than the public ones because of the level of preparation we give our students through mock examinations and other academic exercises. For instance, in our school we write about four mock examinations before the BECE examinations,” he explained.

He discredited allegations that the schools were using the BECE registration exercise to unduly burden parents when there was a clear directive from the GES on what to charge.

Mr Carlson’s position was trumpeted by the President of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools, Mr Godwin Sowah, who told the Daily Graphic that the private schools were justified in charging the said fees because “other things go into ensuring that the students are comfortable when writing the examination”.

The GES, he stated, could not impose fees on the schools because preparing the students for the examination went beyond just registration.

“In some of the schools, transport fares and even lunch are made part of the fee because the schools are not allowed to write the examination on their premises and the students have to be fed as well,” he stated.

“All those things are components of the registration fee and the schools have the right to add them,” he stated.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the acting Deputy Director-General of the GES in charge of Basic Education, Mr Stephen Adu, urged parents to report all schools that were charging illegal fees to the metropolitan/municipal and district directors of education to ensure that the appropriate action was taken against those schools.

He noted that even though the schools had the right to organise mock BECE examinations for their students, those programmes should not be added to the registration fee.

"It is illegal for any school to make mock examination fee part of the registration fee. What we are encouraging is for the schools to involve parents in their decision making on such issues," he explained.

Mock examinations, he stated, were very necessary to prepare the candidates for the examination.

He said in situations where mock examination fee was made part of the registration fee, parents should insist on the breakdown of fees to ensure that school heads did not take advantage of the situation.

"We are not in favour of schools charging high fees, but it is equally important that parents assist the schools to prepare the candidates to pass the examination,” he said.

Blackout result of explosion at Tema Substation, Monday, January 23, 2012, Front page

2012-02-06T10:41:00.000-08:00

The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) says the blackout which hit parts of seven regions of the country on Friday was due to an explosion which occurred during the installation of a new circuit breaker at its Volta Substation in Tema.

While almost the whole of Accra and Tema were enveloped in total darkness, parts of the Ashanti, Western, Volta, Central, Eastern and Brong Ahafo regions were affected by the power outage which struck around 6.40 p.m. on Friday.

According to officials of GRIDCo, what caused the explosion was not immediately known but they suspected it could have been due to a manufacturer’s defect.

They, however, gave an assurance that the situation was under control and that everything possible would be done to ensure that electricity was made available to the public.

Explaining events leading to the blackout to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, Mr Eric Asare, the Director of System Operations, said GRIDCo had embarked on a project to replace some of its obsolete equipment, which was as old as 48 years.

He said the contractor had just finished changing one of them and activated the new one when it exploded, resulting in the blackout to a number of lines in Tema and tripping off all the thermal units in Takoradi and Tema.

“We managed to bring on stream power from the Akosombo and Kpong Hydro units to supply a number of places. After inspection, we removed the equipment from the network and we started working on the lines that went out to get them back on. By 11:35 p.m., we had managed to put almost everybody back on line.

“We are going to investigate what caused power supply to trip. We have not experienced any problem since midnight on Friday. The system has been restored to normal,” he stated.

Friday’s blackout is not the first time the country has experienced power failure of that magnitude.

In December last year, a nationwide power outage which lasted close to four hours was attributed to the explosion of one of the breakers in the switch room of the Volta River Authority (VRA).

A similar one also lasted almost 30 minutes on May 21, 2003 just when the then acting CEO of the VRA, Mr Jabesh Amissah-Arthur, had taken over from Dr Charles Wereko-Brobbey.

To improve the malfunctions in the energy sector, GRIDCo last year announced that it was raising about $230 million from local and international financial markets to invest in the country’s electrical energy infrastructure.

Under the initiative, which feeds into its long-term capital investment plan, the company was to receive 80 million euros from French companies, the Coface Group and Societe Generale, in partnership with the SG-SSB Bank.

Other collaborators are Korea’s EXIM Bank, which is contributing $70 million, the CAL Bank and the Standard Chartered Bank, which are providing $13 million and $25 million, respectively.

In respect of improving the obsolete infrastructure, Mr Asare said a number of similar equipment was replaced last year.

“This is work being done by a contractor and the equipment is under warranty. At the end of the project, we will make sure that whatever equipment is restored is up to the required standard,” he said.

AMA, GCGL pledge mutual collaboration, Tuesday, January 24, 2012

2012-02-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has pledged to work in concert with the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to advance the development of the Accra metropolis and the rest of the country.

The two entities committed themselves to open their doors to each other for regular consultations and co-operation in the execution of their mandates and vision.

These were the highlights of a meeting between the Chief Executive of the AMA, Mr Alfred O. Vanderpuye, and the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Ken Ashiegbey, in Accra yesterday.

The meeting was for the two organisations to strengthen their existing relationship and also explore possible areas of co-operation for their mutual benefit.

In his remarks, Mr Vanderpuye said in bid to improve academic work in schools, the AMA supplied 17,000 dual desks to basic schools within the metropolis last year.

Similarly, the city authority was on course to complete the 38 millennium city school projects it initiated two years ago to end the shift system in schools in Accra and also decongest some of the public schools in the city.

Three of such schools, with 18-unit, three-storey blocks which will be equipped with science laboratories and libraries, are the Ayalolo Cluster of Schools, the Salvation School Complex and the Mamprobi M1 Compound.

Mr Vanderpuye commended the GCGL and its flagship newspaper, the Daily Graphic, for being the vehicle of information to educate Ghanaians on the programmes and activities of the AMA.

“We recognise your contribution to our work and take notice of your constructive criticisms. We want you to know that we listen and this influences our programmes. Our doors are always open,” he said.

Mr Ashiegbey, for his part, said it had always been the objective of the GCGL to lead the crusade for Ghana’s development through dissemination of information.

He added his voice to calls for peaceful elections in 2012, saying, “The election is about electing a chief executive to lead this country and it is not worth a drop of blood.”

The GCGL boss bemoaned the indiscipline in the Ghanaian society and pledged the company’s commitment to champion civic responsibility.

He said it was regrettable that slums were developing all over the city and new residential areas which were expected to maintain prime status were also losing their beauty to slums and urged the AMA to nip the growing trend in the bud before it got out of hand.

He also drew the Mayor’s attention to alleged demands on news vendors at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to pay certain unauthorised amounts or have their structures demolished during the Yuletide.

He said the GCGL had, in the past, reached an agreement with the AMA not to include structures of newspaper vendors in its demolition plans, while plans were being made to brand such places as part of the city’s beautification exercise.

Mr Ashiegbey also appealed to the AMA to reach an amicable settlement with the Advertisers Association of Ghana over outdoor advertising.

The Editor of the Daily Graphic and President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Ransford Tetteh, for his part, observed that it appeared residents of Accra were ignorant of the bye-laws of the AMA.

In that regard, he said, the Daily Graphic would try and serialise the bye-laws to educate residents of the city on their rights and responsibilities.

Mr Vanderpuye and his team later visited the newsroom of the Daily Graphic and interacted with the staff of the Editorial Department.

Ghana needs leaders with conscience, Saturday, June 28, 2011, pg 13

2012-02-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

GHANA’S ability to further consolidate its democratic gains and economic development hinges on putting leaders with conscience at the helm of affairs, former President John Agyekum Kufuor has observed.

“ I am not talking about only political leaders. What we need are transformational leaders who are selfless and have a high sense of societal responsibility to serve. Unless our societies are served by good leadership, we cannot make progress,” he stated.

The former President made the observation at a community fund raising event in Accra to gather financial support for the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA)’s intervention programme for 2012-2015.

The intervention include programmes based on economic renaissance which seeks to improve upon the economic livelihood of young people by inculcating the culture of entrepreneurship, self employment, savings and investment. While that of civic engagement aims at promoting the participation of young people in decision making and social dialogue on issues that their development, health, education and sports component has the objective to ensure preventive healthcare of 2000 young people and making them live productive lives.

Former President Kufuor stated that growing up, the YMCA was an institution that contributed to impacting positively on his formative years.

Sharing his experiences in the 1950s at the Kumasi YMCA, he recounted that even without being preached to, the association served as a medium where ethics and transformational leadership was inculcated.

The association, he stated, was a transformational centre that deepened the sense of responsibility and shaped the attitude of the youth to face leadership prospects in the future.

He commended the association for its programmes which included providing capacity building for100 young people saying “I am impressed with what you are doing with the youth.”

Former President Kufuor urged the leadership of the association to work assiduously to ensure that the association recaptured its glorious days.

Mr Kwame Gyimah-Akwafo, National President of the YMCA, said the aim of the association was to empower young people in Ghana for renaissance in Africa.

He said some of the strategies to be used in the achievement of the intervention programmes included partnering organisations into youth development to implement relevant programmes,capacity building events and grooming of young people in leadership, business and livelihood skills and the exposure of young people to useful learning experience.

Serving about one million people with a membership of over 3,000, the Ghana YMCA operates in about 70 communities spread in eight regions. Since 1980, it has been at the forefront of developing the potentials of young people with the aim of making them productive and healthy citizens.

The Ghana YMCA started through the efforts of a young Gold Coaster, Michael Wilkins Abbey, who came into contact with the association in Scotland on a study tour to Europe. On his return to the country, Michael started the first YMCA in Accra.

Korle-Bu Children's Emergency Ward Closed, Monday, January 30, 2012, pg 3

2012-02-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

THE Children Emergency Ward of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) has been closed down indefinitely, following the outbreak of a bacterial infection known as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) in the ward.

Authorities of the hospital told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that so far five cases had been diagnosed among children on admission at the ward for which they were being treated.

The MRSA is a type of "staph" bacteria which is resistant to many antibiotics.

The staph bacteria, like other kinds of bacteria, normally live on the skin and in the nose, usually without causing problems.

However, MRSA infections are more difficult to treat than ordinary staph infections because the strains of the MRSA do not respond well to many common antibiotics used to kill bacteria.

Experts say when methicillin and other antibiotics do not kill the bacteria causing an infection, it becomes harder to get rid of that infection.

The MRSA, like all staph bacteria, can be spread from one person to another through casual contact or contaminated objects. It is commonly spread from the hands of someone who has the MRSA.

But speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Officer of the KBTH, Mr Mustapha Salifu, said the hospital was "screening both patients and staff in the affected area to ensure that they are free of the infection".

The infection, he stated, had not spread to other parts of the hospital.

"The closure is to enable the hospital to clean and disinfect the ward to rid it of the bacteria," he stated.

Mr Salifu said the re-opening of the ward would be announced as soon as the problem was solved.

While urging people who required paediatric emergency services to receive medical attention at other hospitals and clinics within the metropolis, he also advised other medical facilities to stop referring patients to the ward and endeavour to manage them at their facilities.

He, however, stated that the hospital's consultants would be available to provide telephonic consultation for colleagues in other hospitals who might need their assistance on: 0307060114, 0307060177 or 0307060142.

The MRSA bacteria are more likely to develop when antibiotics are used too often or are not used correctly. Given enough time, bacteria can change, so that these antibiotics no longer work well.

Symptoms of MRSA infection depend on where the infection is. If the MRSA is causing an infection in a wound, that area of the skin may be red or tender. If the affected person has pneumonia, it may develop into a cough.

Community-associated MRSA commonly causes skin infections, such as boils, abscesses or cellulitis. Often, people think they have been bitten by a spider or insect. Because MRSA infections can become serious in a short time, medical experts warn that it is important to see a doctor right away if one you notices a boil or other skin problem.

Let’s do away with differences---Barton-Odro, Wednesday 14, December 2011, pg 13

2012-02-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

Ghana's democratic path can only be strengthened if Ghanaians put aside differences that endanger the significant gains made in the country's democratic process, the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Ebow Barton-Odro has said.

"We may belong to different religious persuasions, speak different languages, belong to different political groups,or might have attended different schools, we however, are essentially Ghanaians with a common destiny," he stated.

He said as the country opted for a democratic system of governance, the success of which was firmly rooted in the promotion, protection and respect for the fundamental human rights of groups and individuals, the government had a responsibility to promote and protect the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the citizenry.

“We cannot achieve sustainable national development when the environment is not convenient for the people to achieve their legitimate aspirations,” he stated.

The deputy minister, who was speaking at a sensitisation seminar organised by the African Court on Human and Peoples' Right (AfCHPR) Seminar, said since a lot of people had worked hard to put democracy on a firm footing, it was imperative to attach more work to ensure its advancement and consolidation.

The AfCHPR was established in pursuant of Article 1 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to complements the protective mandate of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Article 34(6) of The Protocol Establishing the court requires that for individuals and non governmental organisations to have direct access to the court, the state should make a declaration accepting the competence of the court to receive applications from these entities. Its main business is the handling of contentious human right cases after they have been exhausted locally and advisory opinions.

However, the court's major challenge is its lack of utilisation by it member countries. Between 2008 and 2010, it adjudicated only one case.

It is in the light of the lack of patronage that it is organising seminars to conscientise the legal community and raise awareness about itself with the view to popularise the court among representative of state and non-state human right stakeholders.

The seminar is also intended to sensitise would-be applicants on how to access the court, the procedures before it and also to encourage seizure of the court for advisory opinions.

Mr Barton-Odro stated that as a founder member of the African Union, Ghana was strongly committed to its ideals and would do all it could to support its organs realise the objectives for which they were established

“We shall, therefore, not waver in our commitment to support the court and its objectives,” he stated.

The President of the AfCHPR, Justice Gerard Niyungeko, observed that the inability of the court to attract applicants was because even though individuals and NGOs were key stakeholders in the judicial protection of human rights, the court was not yet widely opened to them.

Additionally, due to the relative novelty of the court, it is not well-known by Africans and various entities entitled to bring contentious matters and seek advisory opinion.

According to Justice Niyungeko, of the 26 countries that had ratified the Protocol establishing the Court, only five, namely Ghana, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Tanzania and Mali were championing the cause of the court.

He, therefore, appealed to bodies including national judicial institutions, human right commissions, bar associations and the media to lead the crusade in projecting the court to achieve its objectives.

Three ICT books launched, Monday, December 19, 2011, pg 11

2012-02-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

THREE books on Information Communication Technology (ICT) have been launched in Accra to enhance the teaching and learning of the subject in educational institutions.

Authored by an Information Technology Analyst, Mr Bright Siaw Afriyie, the books, “Concise ICT Fundamentals Volume 1 and 2’ and ‘Solution-Answers and Methodologies to Concise Fundamentals’ walk the user through chapters on basic ICT concepts, computer hardware and software, word processing, Internet and keyboarding and mouse review.

The “Concise ICT Fundamentals Volume 1’ which is a 416-page book published by the Pacom Publishing Corporation of Korea is compiled into six chapters and each chapter subdivided into three sections, namely text, assignments and quizzes while the ‘Solution-Answers and Methodologies to Concise Fundamentals’ published by the same company contains solutions to assignments and quizzes and instructional methodologies.

The Concise ICT Fundamentals Volume 2 on the other hand, which was published by Sir Speedy Printing Press in the United States has 513 pages and is a reviewed version of volume 1.

Even though ICT is a compulsory and an examinable subject at the basic school level, logistical support to enhance the teaching and learning of the subject had been inadequate with schools in the rural communities particularly at a disadvantage.

In that regard, Mr Kwesi Assan-Brew, the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Communications who launched the book on behalf of the minister, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, commended the author and said the books would facilitate the effective teaching and learning of ICT in the country.

The Ministry of Communication, he stated, would encourage any effort geared towards the development, growth and use of ICT in Ghana.

“We appreciate efforts like this as ICT use is relatively new and we need textbooks that will make the teaching and learning of the subject easy,” he stated.

Mrs Fauziatu Salifu Sidii, the ICT Co-ordinator of the Ministry of Education, observed that ICT had become part and parcel of our daily lives and offers opportunities to further explore the country’s development programmes.

The author, Mr Afriyie stated that he was inspired by the need to make ICT teaching and learning easy and effective in Ghana.

“Solid knowledge about fundamentals of computing has become indispensable in everyday life. That is where this textbook with solutions and instructional methodologies comes in; it serves a unique purpose by preparing you to uncover several confusing concepts that pose a big challenge to computer learners and users,” he stated.

Ghana, Turkey to sign trade agreement, Thursday, December 22, 2011, pg 53

2012-02-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

Ghana and Turkey will by January 2012 conclude bilateral negotiations for a free trade agreement aimed at increasing trade volumes between the two countries.

The Second Secretary and Charge d’Affaires of the Turkish Embassy, Ms Ipek Zeytinoglu, announced this at the opening of the 2nd Ghana-Turkish Export Products Exhibition in Accra Tuesday.

Organised by Meridyen International Fair Organisation, the three-day fair, which attracted more than 50 companies from Turkey representing various private sector businesses, ends on December 22, 2012. Among the products on exhibition are industrial machinery, plastic wares, detergents, woollen carpets, floor mats, confectionaries and automobiles.

The exhibition comes on the heels of the 2nd Ghana Joint Economic Commission Meeting in Accra in October, which among other things, charged the Trade Ministries of both countries to raise the volume of trade between the two countries to $1billion by 2015.

In that regard, Ms Zeytinoglu said although the dynamism and entrepreneurship of the private sector in Ghana and Turkey had a primary role in enhancing “our trade relations, an equally important role will have to be assumed by our governments by providing an adequate legal infrastructure between our two countries and thus supporting our business communities”.

Ghana-Turkey diplomatic relations started in the 1950s and has since blossomed. Ghana is considered Turkey's third largest trade partner. Currently, while the country’s main export to Turkey include cocoa and gold, Turkey on the other hand, exports to Ghana commodities including stones, cement, metals, mineral oils, electrical machinery and equipment.

The bilateral trade volume between the two countries amounted to $175 million by the end of 2009 and increased to $290 million in 2010, with that of 2011 estimated to hit $400 million.

Currently, the volume of trade weigh heavily in favour of Turkey, but Ms Zeytinoglu noted that to balance trade, “the business communities of our two countries will have to work hard and it is precisely the mutual organisation of trade fairs that will be instrumental”.

“From our side, we also urge the Ghanaian exporters to participate in the Izmir International Trade Fair which is organised every year in September in Turkey,” she stated.

As an incentive to boost trade, she said the two countries also envisage to conclude an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation.

Mr Kofi Larbi, a Director of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, who represented the sector minister, observed that exhibition “provides us not only to strengthen the long standing diplomatic ties and economic relations of our two countries but also to deepen trade and economic co-operation between Ghana and Turkey”.
The search for export markets for products, he stated, had become very intense in recent times as countries all over the world were deploying considerable efforts to secure their fair share of the international market.

He said the current focus of the trade and industry sector included the transformation of Ghanaian businesses and enterprises to become highly competitive, create jobs and improve the livelihood of Ghanaians.

For that reason, the director said the ministry was implementing policies including the Private Sector Development Strategy II and a new National Export Strategy.

“In line with the government’s broader objective of achieving a better Ghana for all, the trade and industry sector is committed to increasing international trade through an aggressive export drive based on improved competitiveness of local industries and enhanced competitiveness of Ghana as a business destination.

He urged Ghanaian entrepreneurs to make good use of the opportunities that the fair will provide to create long lasting relations between the two countries.

The first GhanaTurkish Export Products Exhibition was held in Accra in April 2001.

Afforestation programme establishes 20,000 hectares, Thursday, September 8, 2011, Back page

2012-02-04T03:55:00.000-08:00

The National Forest Plantation Development Programme, which was launched last year, has so far established 20,000 hectares of tree plantations in addition to the creation of 28,000 jobs nationwide.

The programme, which is being implemented in all the 170 districts in the country, has a planting target of 50,000 by the end of 2011.

The project, among other objectives, is expected to restore Ghana’s degraded forest cover, reduce the country’s degraded forest cover, reduce the country’s wood deficit and also enhance the production of food crops and contribute to food security.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Mr Samuel Afari Dartey, announced the progress of the project at the launch of the “Greening Ghana Day”, an initiative aimed at restoring the country’s vegetative cover, at Winneba in the Central Region.

In spite of the numerous benefits derived from the forest, including foreign exchange earnings from timber export, storing and recycling of carbon and habitat for wildlife, Ghana’s forests continue to be under serious threat of degradation from the activities of illegal miners, chainsaw operators, increased conversion of forest lands, especially of-reserve areas to agriculture lands due to population pressure and inadequate enforcement of policies and regulations.

The Greening Ghana campaign, in addition to other initiatives, is therefore expected to help preserve the country’s forest cover which has dwindled to 1.6 million hectares from about eight million hectares at the time of independence.

With climate change expected to bite hard on food production and the availability of water in some few years to come, experts say planting 20,000 hectares of trees annually remains crucial to preserving the country’s vanishing forests.

Mr Dartey said adequate seedlings had already been distributed and would continue to be distributed immediately after the launch of the initiative to all regions, districts and communities.

He, therefore, urged the people to contact any of the regional and districts offices for seedlings.

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Mike Hammah, who launched the campaign, said the devastating effects of forest degradation especially during the past two decades, were beginning to manifest in the extinction of the country’s premium timber species, including Odum, Mahogany and Sapele.

2011 in review, Saturday, December 31, 2011, SPREAD

2012-01-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

THE term ‘Theatre of events’ best describes 2011, which witnessed infrastructural development laced with drama, disasters, scandals and political turbulence.

The year began with a ministerial reshuffle which knocked out a number of ministers and deputy ministers, including the then Education Minister, Mr Alex Tetteh-Enyo, and the Tourism Minister, Mrs Zita Okaikoi.

Then came increases in fuel prices that got the Trades Union Congress (TUC), civil society organisations and the opposition in a frenzy.

Before the dust could settle on the fuel price hikes, President J.E.A. Mills cut the sod for what would have been the biggest housing project in the history of Ghana, the STX Housing Project, which is yet to materialise.

The project, which is to house some 30,000 men and women of the security services, has suffered a setback cast in boardroom wrangling and court action between STX Ghana and its Korean counterpart.

For the ‘ghosts’ on government payroll, 2011 was a year of exorcism as the government launched a pilot project to clear faceless pensioners receiving pay checks from the government.

The economy

The government’s efforts at keeping inflation at bay continued in 2011 and was sustained for a record 18 months. This is the longest ever sustained period of single- digit inflation in Ghana’s entire history.

The country also improved its gross international reserves from $2 billion in 2008, representing import cover of 1.8 months, to $ 4.98 billion, representing four months’ import cover.

In the year under review, the government also secured the biggest loan in the history of the Ghanaian economy, a $3-billion facility from the China Development Bank which will be used to undertake major industrial and infrastructural projects of unprecedented scale from next year.

The projects will include the Western Corridor Gas Infrastructure Project, the Western Corridor Petroleum Terminal Project and the Western Corridor Infrastructure Renewal Project.

The loan approval was, however, not without controversy, as the Minority in Parliament showed its dislike for the facility, which it said would unnecessarily raise the country’s debt stock.

The loan has, however, been described by bodies, including the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), as good if only it will be invested in areas that will ensure quick returns to pay back the debt.

The government also inaugurated the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Accra estimated to cost US$90 million. It is aimed at reducing vehicular traffic on the road connecting Kasoa to the central business district (CBS) of Accra.

It also presented 6,060 Longda motorbikes, valued at GH¢10.8 million, to more than 6,000 assembly members in the various electoral areas across the country, the first of its kind since the country embarked on decentralisation.

Chieftaincy

After close to 13 years, total peace and reconciliation returned to Anlo, as a successor to the late Torgbui Adeladza II was installed. The enstoolment of Torgbui Sri II brought an end to a volatile chieftaincy dispute in Anlo.

The troubled waters in the Ga State chieftaincy affair were disturbed further when, under the stool name Boni Nii Tackie Adama Latse II, a new Ga Mantse was installed in June by some kingmakers of the Ga State to succeed Nii Amugi II who passed away some six years ago.

The installation of the new Ga Mantse brought to two the number of occupants of the Ga Stool, with King Tackie Tawiah III, who was installed in 2006, still in office.

Angry Andani youth invaded the Supreme Court in Accra in the course of a demonstration and presented a petition to the Chief Justice in reaction to the March 29, 2011 ruling by Justice E.K. Ayebi which freed some 14 people arrested in connection with the murder of Ya Na Andani Yakubu II.

Party Politics

As 2011 is the penultimate year to Ghana’s next elections, it saw a buzz of electoral activities. Remember the FONKAR-Games? Events leading to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) congress to elect a flag bearer were murky. While allegations of intimidation from both camps traversed media circles, allegations of a GH¢90-million war chest turned out to be one of the accusations and counter-accusations levelled against either camp in the contest.

After weeks of campaigning and overtures, the two contenders, President John Evans Atta Mills and a former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, took their cases to the delegates to settle in a battle of thumbs, with President Mills securing 96.7 per cent of the valid votes cast to pull the breaks on Nana Konadu’s presidential ambitions.

Samia Nkrumah, the only daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, made history when she became the first woman to be elected chairperson of a political party in Ghana. She shrugged off a strong challenge from former National Chairmen of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr Edmund Delle and Mr Ladi Nylander.

Her leadership so far has not been without controversy. An attempt by Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, the party’s 2008 flag bearer, to announce his desire to contest the 2012 flag-bearer race of the CPP was met with verbal jabs.

Dr Nduom, in reaction, decided to take a back seat in the affairs of the party and has subsequently resigned from the CPP to form a new party.

While the CPP’s woes continued, another Nkrumaist party, the People’s National Convention (PNC), could neither elect a new national executive nor a flag bearer, as it struggled to bob and weave in a legal tussle initiated by Dr Sontim Tobiga, one of its bigwigs who has lately become its tormentor-in-chief.

The flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, undertook a listening tour of the country, ostensibly to draw closer to the electorate in order to improve his fortunes in next year’s presidential election.

Meanwhile, his ‘All die be die’ mantra caused some ripples.

The decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) decision to use a biometric system in the 2012 elections was also not without drama. The government released $50 million for the exercise. The biometric registration is expected to take off next year.

While the EC, at a point, said it could not guarantee electronic verification of voters because of lack of funds, the opposition parties, led by the NPP, maintained that it was only the verification process that could maintain the sanctity of the polls and accused the EC of being in bed with the NDC.

Civil society organisations and churches joined the ‘verification chorus’ and, in the end, cool heads prevailed and the EC decided to budget for it.

The Constitutional Review Commission, which is mandated to undertake a consultative review of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, presented its final report to President Mills after two years of deliberations.

The report, among other things, recommended that a review exercise must strengthen Parliament, enhance the role of traditional authorities in local governance and strengthen independent constitutional bodies to better protect the institutions of state and the rights of people.

Cocaine miracle

The Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Mr Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, took the entire nation by storm when he declared that the board was in possession of a list of politicians involved in the drug trade in the country.

He was challenged by opposition gurus, including the Chairman of the NPP, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, to produce evidence, but the NACOB boss declined to produce the list.

An Accra Circuit Court added to the cocaine drama when a substance seized from an accused person and which had been confirmed through a test at the Police Forensic Laboratory to be cocaine weighing 1,020 grammes later turned out to be sodium carbonate (commonly known as washing soda) after the court had ordered another test to be conducted by the Ghana Standards Board (GSB).

A probe set up to look into the matter is yet to release its report to uncover what really happened.

Woyome’s judgement debt

If there is one man whose name was on the lips of every Ghanaian in December, it was Alfred A. Woyome, a businessman and financier of the NDC, who received GH¢42 million in judgement debts as compensation for contracts that were allegedly abrogated by the NPP government for the renovation of the Accra and the Kumasi stadia.

The Auditor-General’s Report 2010 to Parliament captured the GH¢42 million judgement debt award to Mr Woyome as one of several avoidable debts which together imposed a GH¢275 million cost on the state.

In a swift reaction, President Mills ordered the Economic and Organised Crime Office to look into the matter.

Accidents

The year 2011 recorded the highest number of accidents since 1991, according to statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit. More than 2,000 people lost their lives in accidents across the country.

By the first quarter of 2011, there were 2,989 accidents, with 3,166 people injured and 540 dead. By the third quarter, over 1,500 people had died in road accidents in Ghana.

The most heart-wrenching ones included the loss of 22 lives at Yawkwei, near Konongo on the Accra-Kumasi Highway, the demise of 27 people in the Tamale-Savelugu Highway road crash and the loss of 27 lives at Senya Beraku in the Central Region on December 27.

Strike galore

The year 2011 was one that produced so many single spine salary-induced industrial actions. Teachers were on the neck of the government for what they described as “unmet expectations”. As the storm in the teachers’ quarters reduced, the doctors took over and their strike dragged on for two weeks, resulting in the death of about four people.

Gays, lesbians and aid

The year will be remembered in Ghana for being the year that put on the table issues concerning same-sex relationships. It all began with a Daily Graphic publication which claimed that 8,000 gays had been registered in two regions of the country, with majority of them infected with sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. The debate over the issue took long to die.

But the debate was to be resurrected a few months later when the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, incurred the displeasure of Ghanaians, including President Mills, with comments that suggested that the UK would cut aid to countries infringing on the rights of homosexuals.

President Mills, in response, was emphatic that his administration would not accept any form of aid that would compromise the nation’s moral values.

Even before the storm settled on the British Prime Minister’s faux pax, the US Secretary of State, Mrs Hillary Clinton, dropped hints that the US would use aid to bait countries to soften their stance on gay rights.

Pastors on rampage

If gay issues caused outrage, the activities of some men of God came under scrutiny in the year under review, following reported cases of scandals that rocked the clergy.

While some of them are in jail for these activities, others are battling their cases in court or are being investigated by the law enforcement agencies on suspicion of various crimes.

Perhaps one act that got the nation talking about the integrity of some members of the clergy was the attack on Hot FM, an Accra-based radio station, by Bishop Daniel Obinim, the Founder and Leader of the International God's Way Church, who went with two other pastors to attack the host and panel members on a discussion programme.

During the attack, the three attackers, one of whom was said to be wielding a crowbar, reportedly smashed louvres in the studio of the radio station.

More shocking was Bishop Obinim’s confession on another radio station that he had cursed and maimed a child he was alleged to have 'fathered' by the wife of one of his associate pastors.

That was not all. In January, the Accra Circuit Court sentenced Nana Kofi Yirenkyi, also known as "Jesus One Touch,” the Founder of the Jesus Blood Prophetic Ministry in Accra, to 10 years in prison for defiling his own 10-year-old daughter.

In May, the General Overseer of the Vineyard Chapel International, Bishop Vaglas Kanco, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment by the Accra Circuit Court for defrauding a British national to the tune of £120,000.

The General Overseer of the Fountain Living Waters Church in Takoradi, Vincent Bassaw, was also arrested in February for allegedly impregnating a 15-year-old student.

Another pastor, Prophet Nicholas Osei, also known as Kumchacha, the Leader of Heaven Gate Ministries, was arrested by the police in May for allegedly attempting to rape a married woman at a hotel in Kumasi. The charges against him were dropped later for lack of evidence.

Then came the abominable act of Rev Paul Nkansah, the Head Pastor of the African Faith Tabernacle, who allegedly raped five sisters at Akyem Achiase in the Eastern Region.

Disasters

Torrential rains that swept through Accra and its environs in October took with them 14 lives and destroyed properties worth several billions of Ghana cedis.

About 16 people lost their lives in a gas explosion that rocked a fast food joint in Ashaiman, near Tema.

A similar gas explosion in Koforidua also resulted in the loss of four souls.

EPA sanctions Ghana Bauxite Company, Friday, October 7, 2011, Back pg

2012-01-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

The Ghana Bauxite Company Limited has incurred the wrath of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for refusing to submit its monthly environmental monitoring data for processing in the 2010 Public Disclosure for Environmental Performance Rating Programme.

Ghana Bauxite, the only company in the entire Akoben Programme to have declined the submission of its environmental reports, therefore, faces regulatory actions, including legal proceedings and financial penalties which are not specified by the EPA.

Under the Akoben initiative, the environmental performance of mining and manufacturing operations is assessed using a five-colour rating scheme. The colours are gold, green, blue, orange and red, indicating environmental performance ranging from excellent to poor.

These ratings measure the environmental performance of companies based on their day-to-day operations once they have successfully cleared their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and obtained their environmental permit to operate.

These ratings are annually disclosed to the public and aim at strengthening public awareness of and participation in environmental protection.

In this year’s results announced yesterday which looked at 50 manufacturing and 11 mining companies, Diamond Cement topped the list of the Most Environmentally Conscious Companies in the country with a green grading.

Three other companies — Abosso Goldfields Limited (Damang Mine), Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (Kenyasi) and Ferro Fabrik Limited — were graded blue, which is rated good.

This year’s ratings are an improvement over last year’s, which had most of the participating companies rated orange, just a mark below poor performance.

While in the mining sector AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem and Obuasi), Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea), Prestea Sankofa Gold Limited (Kenyasi) and Gold Fields Ghana Limited (Tarkwa) were all rated red, representing poor performance, 24 companies in the manufacturing sector, including Juaben Oil Mills Limited, Kinapharma, Myroc Food Processing, Pioneer Food Cannery, Unilever Ghana Limited (Tema Factory), Phyto-Riker Pharmaceuticals Limited, the Accra and Kumasi abattoirs, the Tema Oil Refinery, PZ Cussons Industries Ghana Limited and SBC Beverages Limited, were also rated red.

Others which had red rating were Logs and Lumber Limited, Naja David Veneer and Plywood Limited, Obooma Farm Products Limited, Aluworks Limited, Azar Chemical Industries Limited, BBC Industrial Company Limited, Cadbury Ghana Limited, Cocoa Processing Company Limited, Crocodile Machetes Ghana Limited and Expom Ghana Limited,

The rest are Tema Lube Oil Company Limited, Super Paper Products Limited, Special Steel Limited, Polykraft Ghana Limited, Printex Limited and Tema Steel Company Limited.

The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Hanny-Sherry Ayittey, who announced the results, urged the companies to maintain their continual improvement to achieve better ratings, as available data showed that companies had already improved their compliance with permits and were regularly monitoring and reporting their emissions and discharges.

“As a country, natural resources are our main economic assets and the Akoben programme is a vital tool for good environmental governance and sustenance,” she said.

The minister, while commending the companies that received the green and blue ratings, urged those down the rating ladder to work hard to shed their image as companies that were polluting and degrading the environment.

The acting Director of the EPA, Mr Daniel Amlalo, for his part, said the programme was being expanded to include hotels and oil distribution companies, in addition to expanding it to cover more manufacturing companies.

He observed that in less than a year, the programme had had a profound impact on how manufacturing and mining companies managed their environment, while at the same time changing the way the EPA regulated environmental issues.

“Instead of relying only on the court system for compliance, we now have public discourse and information dissemination through the media as an additional compliance enforcement instrument,” he stated.

Additionally, the EPA boss said, as part of measures to develop cleaner cities across the country, the EPA would soon introduce a “Clean City Programme” using the Akoben framework with a focus on waste management, surface and drinking water quality, ambient, air quality and other environmental aspects valued by residents.

Since the beginning of the Akoben Programme design in 2008, the EPA has conducted hundreds of site audits and verification visits and has built one of the most advanced environmental databases and computerised rating systems to ensure accuracy, consistence and timeliness of ratings analysis.

Work to achieve Pan Africanism ideals-Mumuni, Saturday, October 22, 2011, pg 13

2012-01-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

AFRICAN countries can no longer remain indifferent to the suffering and plight of their neighbours if the ideals of Pan Africanism is to be realised, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Mohammed Mumuni, has said.
He said a true expression of Pan-Africanism could be achieved when member states of the AU and societies in Africa regarded peace, security and the well-being of their neighbours as fundamentally intertwined with theirs.
The Foreign Minister was speaking in Accra at the opening of a two-day experience-sharing workshop on ‘Improving West African Capacities in Mediation and Peace Process organised by the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre.
The CMI is an independent non-profit organisation, working to resolve conflict and to build sustainable peace.
The workshop brought together experts in peace building from ECOWAS countries who would share experiences on past and recent mediation and peace processses in selected West African countries in a manner that allowed participants to reflect on achievement and existing challenges.
Despite many encouraging developments in Africa in recent years, political instability remains a major headache in all regions of the continent, slowing down economic growth, and negatively affecting the people’s well being.
While there are still a number of unresolved conflicts on the continent, with many of
them rooted in unequal distribution of power and resources, some of the recent peace agreements have not been implemented, leaving seeds of mistrust within the structures of the society.
But Mr Mumuni noted that the establishment of the African Union had transformed Africa’s approach to conflict management on the African continent, and admitted there still remained some challenges.
The advent of the AU, he stated marked a paradigm shift from prior practice on non-interference and non-intervention to the implementation of a policy of non-indifference which is required to generate and sustain a political will to address crisis situations on the continent.
He noted that a very important feature of the instruments which constituted the peace and security was diplomacy and mediation but stated that “the notion of mediation as primarily a diplomatic activity needed to be challenged.”
“Diplomats are not the only possible mediators. Thus limiting possible mediators to only one category of actors (state and intergovernmental diplomats) is not judicious and appropriate.”
“International mediation needs to be mainstream and incorporate non-official mediators, especially those with sustained presence in conflict zones and established communication channels with protagonists into the peace process,” he stated.
The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr James Victor Gbeho, in a keynote address read on his behalf said after more than twenty years of involvement in mediations and peace processes within the region, ECOWAS had been able to build impressive structures for peace, security and stability in West Africa.
The regional body, Mr Gbeho stated had in place legal documents, structures and procedures as reference materials for its activities, citing the 1999 Protocol relating to the Mechanisms for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peace-keeping and security as an example.
The document addresses peace-building in a region notorious for rampant conflict situations, with peace, security and political stability as its key components.
The West African sub-region has been, for the last two decades, one of the most conflict-prone areas of the world. The region has witnessed three of the most violent civil wars in contemporary African political history.
In view of that, the Executive Director of the CMI, Ms Tuija Talvitie, said notwithstanding some recent achievements, the persistence of low and high risk intensity conflicts in West Africa required the development of preventive diplomacy in the region.
She, however, commended, The United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) and ECOWAS as well as many civil society organisations for their support for preventive diplomacy and peace mdiation advocacy.
The CMI, Ms Talvitie said had embarked on a three-year project, titled Improving West African Capacities in Mediation and Peace Process from 2011-2013 to further build expertise in peace-building in the region.

'Registration Our Prime Focus', Wednesday, October 26, 2011, Front Page

2012-01-25T10:48:00.000-08:00

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) has indicated that the focus of the commission now is on the biometric registration process and not verification.

The verification process, he said, was yet to receive a concrete decision from the EC and explained that even though the two — the registration and the verification — complemented each other, the EC would go ahead with the registration, with the hope of receiving more funds to do the verification.

“If done well, biometric voter registration can ensure a verifiable voters register, in the sense that a person’s name can occur only once in the register and at a specific polling station, thereby ensuring that that person can vote only once under his or her name,” Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan said.

The EC Chairman was speaking at a forum organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra yesterday to solicit the views of key stakeholders, so that some of the concerns raised on the adoption of the biometric voter registration could be debated to consolidate good governance and multiparty democracy in the country.

The forum attracted representatives of political parties, civil society organisations and the media.

Ever since the EC announced its intention to use a biometric voters register in the 2012 election, it has come under scrutiny from all sections of society.

Concerns over the planned biometric registration do not centre on rejecting the use of the biometrics per se but various aspects of the exercise. Questions centring on technical, logistic and legal issues which have been raised by sections of the public and key stakeholders include the transparency of the process, timeliness, security and verification features of the system.

But Dr Afari-Gyan noted that confusion could easily surround a biometric voter registration project, sometimes due to misinformation arising from the lack of knowledge or malice.

“So it is important to engage with stakeholders towards building concensus on the direction of the process. Moreover, ultimately, the generality of Ghanaian people must know what problem biometric voter registration is intended to address, as well as how they are expected to participate in the process,” he stated.

He noted that any multiple registration that had been done anywhere in Ghana under the system would be found out through a full search of the fingerprints and photographs of registrants, adding that confirmed multiple registration would not only be expunged from the register but also the persons concerned would be dealt with by the law.

Explaining how the exercise would be carried out, he said the country would be divided into zones, but indicated that the EC was currently considering various zoning options and would engage the political parties to secure concensus on that exercise before any implementation.

The decision, he said, was informed by the fact that even though registration would be polling station-based, with 6,500 kits, it was obvious that the EC could not carry out registration at all the projected 23,000 polling stations at a time.

He acknowledged the commitment of the government to the exercise, as the commission had so far received $50 million out of its budgeted $80 million for the registration only, and said an effective verification processs on the day of the election, which would equip each polling station with two verification systems in the face of possible system breakdown, would cost an extra $50 million.

Dr Afari-Gyan observed that the biometric register was not the solution to all the electoral challenges the country faced but rather vigilance on election day, as no machine would be vigilant enough for the political parties.

He discredited the call for the country to go for the biometric kits of other countries that were using the system, saying such a move could delay the process because calibrations had to be re-done before the kits could be rolled out.

The former Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Justice Emile Short, who chaired the forum, while calling for adequate consultation to ensure that the exercise ran smoothly, urged the government to ensure the timely release of funds needed for the project.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, for his part, said while the EC had already lost a lot of time, it had not adequately addressed voter education issues nor allayed fears that the country could travel the path of African countries that had used biometric registers.

However, the Technical Advisor on Biometric System Application for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Ahmed M. Gadel, said priority should be given to the creation of an accurate and credible register and not the clamour for verification, which was yet to be achieved anywhere in Africa.

The MP for New Juaben North, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, urged the EC to stop dictating terms to the various stakeholders and rather ensure that people had confidence in the system which it was trying to build.

Odumase-Krobo youth in a near clash with police, Thursday, November 2, 2011, Front page

2012-01-25T10:40:00.000-08:00

Chaotic scenes manifested at the palace of the Paramount Chief of the Manya Krobo Traditional Area on Monday when a group of about 40 armed policemen attempted to arrest Nene Tetteh Zogli, a divisional chief of the area who was alleged to have stabbed one of his sub-chiefs at a durbar to climax the annual Ngmayem Festival at Odumase Krobo last Friday.

Angry youth responded to the beating of war drums at about 7:30 p.m. to protect the palace when the policemen stormed the place to arrest Nene Zogli, who was alleged to have taken refuge there.

Armed mainly with clubs, some of the youth pitched camp at the entrance of the palace drumming and singing war songs while others blocked the roads leading to the palace and burnt lorry tyres.

Cautious of the possible repercussions of a clash, the policemen withdrew from the palace around 8:30 p.m. but more people kept pouring in solidarity with the occupants of the palace.

However, at the time of filing the report on Tuesday, calm had returned to the town with pockets of youth gathered around the palace discussing the incident.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic on behalf of the paramount chief, Nene Sakite II, the Chief Linguist, Otsiame Boatey, said the police had earlier gone to the palace to arrest the said chief but Nene Sakite pleaded with them to allow him to report himself the next day, since it was late, but the police declined.

The alleged stabbing incident at the durbar was said to have links to a chieftaincy dispute between Nene Dawutey Anyira, a sub-divisional chief, and Nene Tetteh Zogli, recently installed Piengua Divisional Chief.
Nene Zogli was said to have demanded an oath of allegiance from his sub-chiefs but Nene Anyira and two others who had refused to recognise him decided not to swear the oath.

Gays Can Be Tried. The Law Is Silent On Lesbians, June 7, 2011, Front page

2012-01-24T11:17:00.000-08:00

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Gertrude Aikins, has indicated that persons caught engaging in homosexual activities could be liable for prosecution.

Responding to calls for the country to enact laws to ban homosexuality, she stated that Section 104 (1) (b) of the Criminal Code made the act a criminal offence.

Section 104 (1) (b) of the Criminal Code states, 'Whoever has an unnatural carnal knowledge of any person of sixteen years or over with his consent is guilty of a misdemeanour,' while (1) (a) of the same code, which makes reference to sodomy, states, “Whoever has unnatural carnal knowledge of any person of the age sixteen or over without his consent shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not more than twenty-five years.'

The law is, however, silent on any form of punishment for lesbianism, that is, sexual relationship between two females.

Ms Aikins said persons engaged in such activities fell foul of the law but admitted that compared to sodomy, homosexuality carried a less severe sentence as far as the Criminal Code was concerned.

Ghanaian laws prohibit unnatural carnal acts — a definition which is widely understood to include homosexuality, although, in practice, very few have been prosecuted for homosexual acts.

In 2003, an Accra Circuit Court jailed four gay men for engaging in homosexual activities.

Debate on homosexuality in the country has heightened with a recent Daily Graphic publication that 8,000 homosexuals had been registered by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Western and some parts of the Central regions, with majority of them infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS.

In a highly religious Ghana, homosexuality is seen as an imported foreign lifestyle choice and a moral aberration.

While churches have been at the forefront of leading a crusade against what they describe as a moral canker, some human right activists in the country consider the subject a human rights issue.

Others are averse to it, describing it as alien to Ghanaian culture and way of living.

Unlike in the West, where homosexuals practise their act in the open, gays and lesbians in Ghana maintain their relationships underground because of the social stigma associated with their sexual orientation.
While politicians remain vocal on almost all issues, few in Ghana are willing to take the political risk of advocating tolerance for the rights of homosexuals.

In 2006, the government banned a conference for gay men and lesbians that was to be held in the country.

Gay marriages may be legal in South Africa, but across the continent many devout and traditional Africans view homosexuality with horror.
Uganda came close to concrete legislation on the issue but the Anti-Homosexuality Bill — dubbed the 'Kill the Gays' bill — remains in limbo after Parliament adjourned without debating or voting on the controversial bill.

Ugandan Members of Parliament (MPs) were set to debate the bill, which could allow the death penalty for homosexual acts in some cases.
Adding his voice to calls for legislation to prohibit homosexuality, the Moderator of the Global Evangelical Church, the Rt Rev Dr Emmanuel Gbordzoe, has called on the government to enact laws that make homosexual activities illegal in the country.
According to him, although society frowned on those activities, it was imperative for the government to take stringent measures to discourage them in society.
He discredited assertions that even if the activities of homosexuals were outlawed people would still engage in it underground, saying, “Armed robbery is illegal but people do it, but with fear that they can be in trouble with the law.”

The Rt Rev Dr Gbordzoe objected to the notion that homosexuality was a human rights issue and explained that “armed robbers also have economic rights but we all know that you can’t kill someone just because you need money”.
The Moderator said homosexuality was an abnormality and that was why God, in His divine wisdom, condemned it.
He urged the government not to give in to any pressure to promote human rights that were foreign and inimical to the moral and spiritual health of the country.
“Homosexuality is a foreign culture that is destroying our society. If we don’t nip it in the bud, it will lead to the destruction of our moral values. It is demoralising and can pollute people’s minds, both physically and spiritually,” he added.

But Dr Clement Apak, a human rights activist and lecturer at the University of Ghana, said although laws were enacted to promote what society deemed acceptable, those laws should not target people because of their sexual orientation.
He said even though society might not agree with others’ choice of lifestyle, it did not mean 'we should do anything to infringe on their rights'.

Old settlements in Accra to be upgraded, Sunday, November 5, 2011, pg 18

2012-01-24T11:11:00.001-08:00

THE Accra Metropolitan Assembly(AMA) is to commit two million Ghana Cedis to feasibility studies to upgrade some old settlements in the metropolis.

The project, which forms part of the city authority's rural housing project, will take off next year in communities which include Nima, Korle Gonno and Ga Mashie.

Similarly sports facilities in Chorkor, Dansoman, Agbogbloshie , La and Mamprobi will either be reconstrcuted or will all be given facelifts.

The Mayor of Accra, Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye , announced the packages at the hearing and launch of the maiden Greater Accra Composite Budget in Accra.

The AMa has budgeted to spend some GHC 202, 509, 249 in 2012 for projects including roads, the reconstrcution of some selected markets, and the construction of educational and health infastructures, waste management and agriculture among others.

The Composite Budget is an integrated metropolitan, municipal or district budget, that incorporates all budgets of the decentralised departments under the MMDAs, to avoid the overlapping of financial resource allocations.

The adoption of the system which takes off next year will help to decentralise departments from their mother departments under the various ministries, departments and agencies.

The hearing provided the platform for all ten districts in the region for the first time to present their budgets to stakeholders.

The presentation covered programmes and projects undertaken since 2009 and proposed programmes and projects for the medium -term based on the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda 2010 to 2013 policy priorities.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, who launched the budget said the composite budget would also ensure that information on the total resource envelop of each Metropolitan Municipaland District Assemblies was made available and the resources of the various funding sources and sectors were properly integrated and coordinated so as to reduce duplication in the use of resources and efforts in service delivery.

“A comprehensive budget is the bed rock on which other reforms in reporting, accounting and auditing can be achieved to ensure that resources are utilized in an efficient, effective, transparent and accountable manner which will lead to efficient service delivery at the local level”, he added.

Nii Ashietey while urging private investors to put money into the local economy since there were more profitable opportunities in the system also expressed his appreciation to development partners who had been supportive and especially those that had contributed to the development of the local economy.

Nana Oduro Kwarteng, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, for his part said no country could attain a sustainable development without a vibrant local government system hence the need to ensure that the composite budget system was strenghtened to meet the needs of all Ghanaians.

Warrant for arrest of Ghana Post MD, others, Saturday, November 5, 2011. Front Page

2012-01-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

The Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the Managing Director of Ghana Post Company Limited, Mr Abdul Rafiu Abdulai, and two other officials of the company for defaulting in the payment of Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions for the employees of the company.

The total indebtedness of Ghana Post Company Limited to SSNIT amounts to GH¢1,100,427.81.

By defaulting in the payment of SSNIT contributions, the company is said to have contravened the National Pension Act of 2008, Act 766, which empowers SSNIT to institute criminal charges against it.

Unhappy about the refusal of Mr Abdulai, Mr Winfred B.K. Safo, the Deputy Managing Director, and Mr Ruben Gabianu, the company's Head of Finance, to either appear before it in person or be represented by others, the court, presided over by Ms Georgina Mensah-Datsa, issued the warrant for their arrest.

The facts of the case as presented by the prosecutor, Mr Joseph Nunoo are that, an inspection conducted by SSNIT into the pay books of Ghana Post in respect of the period covering August, 2006 to December, 2008 revealed unpaid social security contributions totalling GH¢2,796605.17.

But the company managed to pay GH¢1,705,377.29 over a period of 18 months leaving a balance of GH¢1,091,277.28.

He said a letter dated July 16, 2010 from Ghana Post petitioned the Director General of the Trust for a penalty waiver, in response to which the Trust waived 50 per cent of the penalty.

To ensure that the company met its obligations, the Trust in a letter dated November 8, 2010 informed the company to meet the manager of the Accra Central branch to pay the 50 per cent balance of GH¢545,638.94 without delay but the meeting did not come off.

However, at another meeting, which was attended by Mr Safo and Mr Gabianu, SSNIT informed them that it stood by its decision to waive only 50 per cent of the outstanding arrears hence the two officials were given the opportunity to draft a proposal on the payment of the outstanding penalty and present it to the Trust.

"Unfortunately, they failed to make their presentation. Persistent visits and reminders by the prosecutor to get the arrears settled proved futile. A follow-up by the Branch Manager also yielded no results," Mr Nunoo stated.

Following the failure of the company to pay the penalty balance and also pay its current contributions, its accounts was updated for the period January, 2009 and August, 2011 and this revealed an unpaid contribution of GH¢435,705.32 and a penalty of GH¢664,772.29 bringing the total indebtedness to GH¢1,100,427.81.

PNC aspirants hopeful , Thursday, November 10, 2011, pg 16

2012-01-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

THE usual bubble and carnival that characterise the vetting of aspirants for national executive and flag bearer positions of political parties in the country was missing on Tuesday, at the Peoples National Convention (PNC) Headquarters at Kotobabi in Accra where the party’s vetting committee began vetting a number of aspirants.

The brass bands, the traditional drummers, the colourful twists and turns of dancers , and the vociferous cheering supporters were no where to be found rather, the various aspirants were routinely outdoing each other with their posters plastered all over the place. A party source told the Daily Graphic that the euphoria would pick up as aspirants for the hot seats come up later in the week.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic after her vetting, Miss Janet Nabila , an aspirant for the position of Women Organiser said “the vetting went well and I am hopeful that I will go through. I believe, I handled the questions well.”

Even before she received the nod from members of the vetting committee, Miss Nabila said she would sweep at least 60 per cent of the votes to win the seat.

Mr Abas Nuhu, an aspirant for the Youth Organiser position, also expressed similar sentiments saying “the members of the committee were fair and I am hopeful of going through successfully and winning.”

Mr Emmanuel Wilson Jnr who is vying for the National Organiser position told the Daily Graphic that his expectation was that the vetting would be free and fair.

“It is very important that the process is credible and only persons who satisfy the requirements of the 1992 and the party’s constitutions are chosen. It should not be in such a way to give people the means not to litigate, but I am sure we have very competent committee members who have the interest of the party at heart,” he stated.

The week-long process began with the vetting of Youth and Women organiser aspirants on Tuesday, with National Organiser and Treasurer taking their turn yesterday. That of the General Secretary will be today, National Chairman on Friday while flagbearership aspirants will be grilled on Saturday.

If successful, about 2000 delegates are expected to decide the fate of Dr Edward Mahama and Mr Hassan Abulai Ayariga who are contesting the flagbearership position, and 19 other aspirants, at the party’s congress scheduled from November 25 to 27,2011 in Sunyani.

Dr Mahama’s appearance before the committee on Saturday will be his fifth bid to lead the party since 1996 but he faces a formidable challenge from the relatively young Mr Mahama who announced his entrance to the political limelight some few months back.

Among the other hopefuls are Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan, the current Party Chairman, Mr David Nibi, Dr Edward Gyader, Mr Thomas Akumyoung and Dr Somtim Tobiga for the chairmanship race; and Hajia Hajara Ali, the only person for the Vice Chairmanship contest. In the General Secretary position, incumbent General Secretary, Mr Bernard Mornah faces opposition from Mr Atik Mohammed and Mr Henry Haruna Asante.

While the National Organiser’s post is a battle between Mr Emmanuel Wilson Jnr, Mr Omar Ahmed Bekure and Mr Abubakr K. Ebla, the National Women Organiser’s post is a straight contest between Ms Jane Nabila and Elizabeth Amedekanyu with Mr Abu Radaman, Abas Nuhu and Colson Akanbasian vying for the seat of the Youth Organiser.

According to party sources, the aspirants would be quizzed on their membership and contribution to the development of the party.

The five- member vetting committee, chaired by Mr Alhassan Azong, a member of Parliament for Builsa South is expected to drill the 19 aspirants on their grasp of the party's philosophy, ideology, as well as personal visions, to ensure that the party sweeps it way to victory in the 2012 elections.

Other members of the committee are Mr Moses Daniba, former MP for Sisala East; Mr Haruna Bayirga, MP for Sisala West; Mr Godfred Agyekum, the Greater Accra Secretary of the party and Janet Nabila.

Briefing the media, Mr Azong stated that the exercise so far had been fruitful with no hiccups, adding that among other things only party members with good standing would be considered for the position.

He said aspirants especially those who already occupied national positions would be quizzed on their achievements and measures they would put in place to reposition the party of choice for the electorates.

2012 elections: Convicts to vote, Thursday November 10, 2011, Front

2012-01-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan, has given the assurance that prisoners will be allowed to vote in the 2012 general election.

DR Afari-Gyan told the Daily Graphic that the prisoners would be registered just like any other Ghanaian during the biometric registration process next year.

The EC Chairman’s assurance is a U-turn from the previous stand that the Commission could not guarantee the inmates the right to vote because there were more technical issues that needed to be addressed.

The comment comes on the heels of the call by President J.E.A Mills to Electoral Commission to take the necessary steps to comply with the Supreme Court ruling which gave prisoners the right to vote.

President Mills on Tuesday said the government would resource the EC to ensure that prisoners voted in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling in May, 2010, declared null and void section 7(5) of the PNDC Law 285, which imposes a residency requirement on prisoners as condition for voting, thereby giving the nod to close to 18,000 convicted and remand prisoners in the country’s jails the right to vote.

The court directed the EC to come out with a Constitutional Instrument (CI) to create the legal framework that would ensure the inclusion of prisoners in the voters register for the next general election.

The court, presided over by the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, unanimously upheld applications filed on behalf of remand and convicted prisoners by two legal practitioners, Mr Ahumah Ocansey and Mr Kojo Graham of the Centre of Human Rights and Civil Liberties (CHURCIL).

The two legal practitioners had, in separate suits which were consolidated by the court on November 12, 2009, prayed the court to declare as null and void sections of PNDC Law 284 which barred remand and convicted prisoners from voting. The Attorney-General and the EC were jointly sued.

Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution guarantees all citizens of Ghana who are 18 years and above and are of sound mind the right to be registered to enable them to vote in all public elections and referenda.

The court, therefore, declared as void Section 7(5) of Law 284, since it was inconsistent with Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution. It further stated that in order not to stampede the process and avoid hasty decisions on the part of the EC, it was necessary for the EC to come up with rules and regulations to regulate the registration exercise.

Commenting on the category of prisoners who would be registered, Dr Afari-Gyan said all but persons who had committed electoral offences would be allowed to register and vote. “Even those in condemned cells will be allowed to register and vote so far as they have not committed electoral fraud because they are also Ghanaians,” he stated.

He said the prisoners would be allowed to vote in the presidential election but stated that for the parliamentary slot, the commission was yet to take a firm decision.

In other jurisdictions, including Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, there are no forms of electoral ban on prisoners.

Countries such as the Republic of Ireland have elaborate arrangements which allow prisoners to exercise their franchise in elections. Ireland, for instance, in 2006 passed legislation enabling all prisoners to vote by post in the constituency where they would ordinarily live.

However, in other countries severe restrictions make it very difficult in practice for offenders to vote. In Cyprus, for example, an inmate must happen to be out of prison on the day of the elections, and in Slovakia, prisoners can legally vote but no provision is made to allow them to do so.

Currently in 13 European countries, electoral ban depends on the crime committed or the length of the sentence. Italy, Malta and Poland, for example, ban those deemed to have committed serious crimes. In Greece, anyone sentenced to life receives a permanent voting ban.

Touching on the calls by some political parties to make verification of the biometric register a must, Dr Afari-Gyan maintained that the EC could not guarantee a verification of the biometric register because of financial constraints. He, however, stated that if the majority of Ghanaians insisted that the verification process being championed by some political parties was what was needed, then “we must look for the money and do it”.

“Include private universities in GETFund allocations,” Wednesday, November 16, 2011, pg 11

2012-01-24T10:39:00.000-08:00

AUTHORITIES of private universities in the country have called on the government to include their institutions in the allocations of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) in order to increase access to university education in the country.

“We are part owners of the Fund and it is only fair that it is opened to us to expand infrastructure and improve access to university education to the youth.”

The Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Private University of Ghana (CHPUG), Prof. James Hawkins Ephraim, made the call at the fourth congregation of the Wisconsin International University College, Ghana at Agbogba in Accra.

Prof. Ephraim noted that the contribution of private universities to the development of the country could not be underrated hence the need to support them to lubricate the development of human resource in the country and ultimately, the country’s growth.

In all, 804 students were awarded with first degrees in programmes including Computer Science, Management Computer Studies, Business Studies and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with 128 students being awarded First Class.

The occasion was used to award staff and students of the university who excelled in their various fields of endeavour.

Ms Dorcas Tandoh emerged the overall best student at the undergraduate level, while the prize for the overall best MBA student went to Mr Daniel Nii Okae Tagoe.

Other awards were those for best Marketing and Finance student going to Ms Priscilla Appiah Larbi, the Vice Chancelor’s award for Quantitative Methods (male), went to Mr Emmanuel Nwingwe Madzibugwe; Vice Chancelor’s award for Quantitative Methods (female), was taken by Ms Priscilla Vivien Frimpong, while the best worker award was received by Ms Ernestina Amokwandoh. Mr Emmanuel Acquah-Sam smiled home with the the best lecturer award.

Prof. Ephraim, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the Catholic University College and the guest of honour for the occasion, noted with concern, that among the greatest challenges facing private universities was the lack of recognition and respect for private universities by the authorities even though they remained partners in development.

“It does not help if all stakeholders in private tertiary institutions are treated as ‘common criminals’,”he stated.
The CHPUG Chairman noted with concern the inadequate representation of private universities on both the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the National Accreditation Board (NAB) even though they outnumbered the public universities in the country.

He said it was regrettable that ”even though private universities produce students who are compelled by law to perform National Service, if a private university engages any National Service Personnel, the university pays the allowances of the students”.

He, therefore, suggested that the universities could improve quality norms, share best practices in tertiary education and also the comparison of prices with the objective of making tertiary education accessible to as many students as possible.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Kaku Sagary, said the university had created department to build students capacity and was providing services including job enhancement programmes with Atlas International in the oil and gas industry and certificate programmes in para-legal studies, forensic investigations and statistics.

In order to maintain a high level of training, he said the university had upgraded its technological infrastructure and expanded its physical facilities.

Two four-storey lecture halls, office, library and computer laboratory had been completed,while a second five-storey lecture hall had been initiated, bringing the estimated total cost of the facilities to GHC 12 million when completed.

He advised the students to make good use of the values they had learnt at the university, saying “education serves no purpose if it cannot be put to service, and that it’s not the class of degree that matters but the values learnt and how they can be used to shape mankind”.

He dismissed the notion that private universities admitted students who were considered not qualified by the Ministry of Education and the NCTE standards.

“We are urging appropriate bodies to make it possible for all qualified students to receive education. Combined efforts of government and private sector are necessary to satisfy the need for higher education more fully,” he said.

The Chancellor of the University, Rev Dr Paul Kofi Fynn, bemoaned the increasing waste of funds on social activities including weddings and funerals to the detriment of education.

“Education is the backbone of the development of every country. Let us spend wisely, and on things that will be of benefit”.

He, therefore, urged the youth to spend their spare resources on their education rather than frivolous things including expensive phones.

Blow-Chem joins competition with Bel Aqua, Thursday, November 23, 2011

2012-01-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Blow-Chem, producers of Bel Aqua Mineral Water, has invested $2,300,000 in infrastructure to position the product as bottled water of choice both in terms of competitive pricing and quality.

“Water is essential for life; it is at the core of nutrition and, therefore, health. Bel Aqua Water has developed an outstanding expertise in bottled water. This expertise extends from quality preservation to knowledge on its health benefits to making different formats available that respond to the different hydration needs of consumers,” the company said.

During a visit to the plant, Mr Manoj J. Lakhiani, the Chairman of the company, told the Daily Graphic that “it took the management of Blow-Chem a year to come out with Bel Aqua because we didn’t want to produce an ordinary bottled water as we know the essence of water to a healthy life; we wanted to be one step ahead in terms of quality, which we have done through teamwork and thorough research.”

In that regard, he said, the company had so far spent over $50,000 on equipment made up of highly sophisticated machines/facilities for its laboratory.

The company said for Bel Aqua, quality could not only rely on the original quality of the water.
“ Throughout the entire production chain, from packaging to the finished product, every step is checked by a battery of tests to guarantee that it [the water] conforms to the highest standards before it is sent off to consumers. Our production plant has its own laboratory, which allows them [the workers] to carry out rigorous tests regularly.”

“According to National Testing Laboratories in the U.S. our source water from Kpong is already extremely good drinking water and requires only few filters but we didn’t want to take any chances and went with an entire 14 stages of treatment,”he said.

The water is processed through a series of filtration and physical purification treatments and once it has been purified to meet the required standards, minerals are added to the water to meet the local population’s taste expectations and essential nutrients. Bel Aqua also is an alkaline-based water which is very good for the body. It has also been approved by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB).

Mr Lakhiani assured the public that the Bel Aqua bottled water had been developed with great spirit and devotion to attain the best of quality water for the Ghanaian market.

He said the company was aware of the competition but stated that there was room in the expanding Ghanaian economy for more business to create wealth and jobs.

Currently, Mr Lakhiani said, the company had employed about 300 people and that more people would be recruited to support the economy.

Local Govt Ministry organises clean-up at Tema

2012-01-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has directed all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to review the performance of waste management companies they have engaged.

That according to the sector Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, is to ensure that only companies that have the capacity to deal with waste collection and management efficiently are given the task.

Mr Ampofo noted that “the government pumps millions of cedis to support the activities of the MMDAs in the collection and disposal of waste hence would not tolerate any underperformance”.

The minister gave the hint on the sidelines of a clean exercise organized by the ministry with the support of Zoomlion, as part of activities marking the Christmas festivities in Tema.

Similar exercises, according to the minister, have been organised in other parts of the country in order to clear the waste that come with the celebration.

At Tema Community Two, the minister joined hands with youth groups, opinion leaders and other members of the community to clear the filth that had engulfed the streets.

Energised by a brass band, the participants swept, weeded and cleared silt from drains that had been choked with garbage.

Mexico Park, a community playground, which hitherto was flooded with garbage, was cleared.
While members of the community emptied tones of garbage from their homes, Zoomlion provided vehicles to cart it away.

Mr Ampofo said the fact that the exercise was the opportunity for residents to empty refuse that had piled up in their homes meant that a lot more needed to be done to meet their needs as far as waste management was concerned in the community.

He said on a daily basis, the ministry was inundated with proposals from local and international companies with waste management expertise but noted that the ministry was interested in building the capacity of local companies to deliver.

He, therefore, advised local waste management companies to execute their task diligently so that they could be supported to move from micro to macro managers.

“Zoomlion has shown that given the right environment, local companies can be global giants, and we want to continue this by growing more Zoomlions but the task rest with them to deliver,” he stated.

The minister called for the de-politicisation of issues concerning waste management, saying “when it comes to waste management, diseases like cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery do not discriminate or recognise political colours, it’s a problem for all of us”.

Residents of the area accused the local waste management contractor, J. Stanley-Owusu, of failing to provide bins or even containers to enhance the disposal of waste in the area.

“Sometimes, it takes months for the refuse to be collected. People who don’t want to keep it in their homes end up dumping it in open spaces. This is creating a mess here almost every day,” a resident , Nii Adjei Sowah, complained.

Global Management challenge launched

2012-01-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

A NEW business competition that offers the youth the opportunity to grow virtual businesses and acquire skills for managing their own businesses has been launched in Accra.

Known as the Global Management Challenge, it is the world’s largest strategy and management simulation competition which has had more than 450,000 university students and corporate executives as participants throughout the world in the past 30 years.

As part of the competition, teams made up of three to five students or corporate executives are formed to run a virtual company, with the objective of finishing with the highest company share price on the simulated stock exchange.

The teams compete by taking decisions in the areas of marketing, sales, production, human resources, finance, research and development, knowing that the other competing teams are operating in the same market and selling the same products.

Launching the competition, the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Nii Nortey Duah, stated that unemployment remained a major headache for the government.

He said the years of experience demanded by employers as a condition before the youth were offered jobs was partially responsible for the high graduate unemployment rate in the country.

"How can the youth be employed if we are asking them for experience they are yet to get after school," the deputy minister asked.

He commended the organisers of the competition and said it would go a long way to build the capacity of the participants to acquire skills that were not available in the classroom.

Mr Duah assured the country's youth of the government's commitment to creating the enabling environment for the creation of jobs. He also pledged the ministry's support to the competition so that it could achieve its objectives.
Mr Pedro Alves Costa, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Global Management Challenge (Portugal), noted that the competition had been successful in transforming young people into business moguls.
He said the contest offered its participants professional skills development, including team building, branding opportunities, networking, corporate citizenship and simulation of reality.

In his remarks, the Executive Director of the Association of Ghana Industries, Mr Seth Takyi, said the organisation was committed to any concept that would promote the development of the youth and he hoped that it would be a breeding ground for budding young entrepreneurs.

The Global Management Challenge Ghana is organised by Sankofa Worldwide Ltd and is managed by a highly qualified team of professionals with over 30 years of expertise in human resources, higher education, entrepreneurship and leadership development, corporate social responsibility, event management and banking, and who also have working experience in Ghana and 50 countries around the world.

The concept of the competition was developed in 1980 in Portugal by SDG – Simuladores e Modelos de Gestão – in partnership with the weekly Expresso newspaper.

In Ghana, the inaugural Ghana national final will be held in Accra on March 8, 2012 and the winning team will represent Ghana at the international final scheduled for April 18-20, 2012 in Ukraine.

There are currently 36 countries participating in the competition. These are: Angola, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hong Kong SAR (China), Hungary, India, Italy, Ivory Coast, Latvia, Macao SAR (China), Mexico, People's Republic of China, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela.

GRIDCo To Invest $230m In Power Infrastructure, June 29, 2011, Spread

2012-01-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) is to raise about $230 million this year from local and international financial markets to invest in the country’s electrical energy infrastructure.

Under the initiative, which feeds into its long-term capital investment plan, GRIDCo will receive 80 million euros from French companies Coface Group and Societe Generale, in partnership with the SG-SSB Bank.
Other collaborators are Korea’s EXIM Bank, which is contributing $70 million, the Cal Bank and the Standard Chartered Bank, which are providing $13 million and $ 25 million, respectively.

The Chief Executive Officer of GRIDCo, Mr Charles A. Darku, told the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of its second annual general meeting (AGM) in Accra yesterday that the French support would be used to finance a project to close the northern loop of the transmission network from Tumu through Han to Wa.

The Korean funds, on the other hand, would be used to build a line from the Aboadze Thermal Plant through Prestea to Kumasi.

In the case of the funds to be provided by the CAL Bank, the support will be pumped into the construction of a third bulk supply point in Accra to provide additional capacity to ease the increasing electricity load in the city, while funds from Standard Chartered Bank will be used for the acquisition of transformer spare parts and the construction of a sub-station at Teshie in Accra.

Delivering a statement earlier at the AGM, Mr Darku had stated that the company ended 2010 on a good note, with a net profit of GH¢59.039 million, representing a 104 per cent increase over the previous year’s income.

He said GRIDCo, in the face of dwindling revenue base and uncertainty over the level of tariff increases to expect later in the year, optimised its working capital, implemented tight capital expenditure control and reduced its cost base, while at the same time it rolled out a five-year capital investment programme.

Ghanaians have been expressing concern over the erratic supply of electricity for both domestic and industrial use.
Some have even suggested that the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is secretly rationing power, but Mr Darku noted, “The five-year capital investment programme phases out the implementation of key projects and programmes needed to stabilise, expand and build a robust transmission network that will assure reliability of supply to customers.”

He said GRIDCo had successfully concluded the development of a comprehensive transmission system master plan study.

The document which, he noted had been rolled out earlier in the year, would serve as a blueprint for the government and other engineering considerations to allow for the systematic expansion of the network.

Giving GRIDCo’s outlook for 2011, he said demand would peak at 1,748MW, representing a 16 per cent growth over the 2010 figure of 1,505MW.

The Board Chairman of the company, Mr Emmanuel Appiah Korang, for his part, said GRIDCo’s five-year plan would, among other objectives, modernise the national inter-connected transmission systems, expand the network and provide redundancy within the network, while developing a number of strategic high voltage transmission inter-connects with neighbouring countries.

He stated that the project would help push the government’s plan to achieve 85 per cent access to electricity by the population and the development of infrastructure to generate and distribute 5,000MW of electricity by 2015.

A Deputy Minister of Energy, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, in his remarks, commended GRIDCo for its achievements and pledged the government’s commitment to ensure that the energy sector was robust enough to power the economy.

34,000 Ghost Names Removed From Pensioners' Payroll, Thursday, January 6, 2012

2012-01-06T05:54:00.000-08:00

A project initiated by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) in February 2011 to clear ghost names from the government’s payroll has detected and expunged about 34,000 illegal names on pensioners’ payroll in seven regions.
The ghost names represent 38 per cent of the pensioners registered so far during the project which is being executed by 3M Cogent of the United States at a cost of $2.385 million.
The project collected biometric data of some 54,544 out of the 88,467 pensioners in the Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta, Central, Ashanti, Western and Brong Ahafo regions.
According to the Project Co-ordinator and ICT Adviser of MoFEP, Mr George Gyamfi, even though some pensioners could not be captured, the number of those pensioners was not substantial.
“A handful of people have called to say that they have not been registered and so we have established a desk at the ministry to register them, but their number will not underestimate the figures we have,” he stated.
Mr Gyamfi told the Daily Graphic in Accra Wednesday that in some of the areas the team visited, the pensioners were dead but their names remained on the payroll, while their allowances were being claimed by unknown persons.
The registration of pensioners, he stated, would end on January 20, 2012.

The first phase of the project, which covers about 96,154 pensioners on the government’s payroll in the 10 regions, was launched by the ministry to capture pensioners who retired on the CAP 30 Pension Scheme.

According to a breakdown of figures from the MoFEP, the Greater Accra Region topped the list with 18,527 ghost names. The region has 34,013 ghost names on the pensioners’ database but the exercise captured 15,486.
In the Eastern Region, 9,976 were registered, instead of the 14,074; the Volta Region had 6,840, instead of 8,620; Central, 5,888, instead of 8,487; Western, 4,447, instead of 7,006; Ashanti, 8,478, instead of 12,195, while the Brong Ahafo Region recorded the least with 643 ghost names.
The Brong Ahafo Region originally had 4,072 names on the database but 3,429 were captured during the exercise.
Public sector payroll expenditure constitutes a significant percentage of the government’s discretionary budget.
However, there is a perception that the public sector payroll is bloated with fraudulent employee records and gross overpayments.
To mitigate payroll management problems, the Rawlings administration introduced the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database II (IPPD II) in the late 1990s.
Even though some gains were recorded with the system, the government purse and payroll processes and procedures are still burdened with inefficiencies and fraudulent loopholes.
Over the years, and particularly in the recent past, there have been attempts to improve the payroll’s integrity and save cost.
Although the MoFEP and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) had organised head counts for both active employees and pensioners on the government’s payroll to rid it of ghost names, the problem persists.
One major contributing factor for the failure of past head counts is the lack of adequate mechanisms to effectively identify ghost names on the payroll and delete them.
Where ghost names are identified and expunged from the payroll, some more ghost names find their way back onto the payroll through fraudulent means.
It is in the light of the continued effort to ensure discipline in public finance management that the MoFEP collaborated with the CAGD and initiated the biometric registration and verification of all pensioners and active employees who live on the nation’s coffers.
The scheme is also being replicated to register all the 730,000 public sector workers and is expected to end by June 2012.
According to a source at the CAGD, the government, in 2011, committed GH¢45 million a month as wages for pensioners.
That amounted to GH¢540 million being the amount spent on pensioners’ remuneration last year.
Currently, CAGD figures reveal that the average CAP 30 pensioner receives GH¢468 monthly. This means that with the detection of the close to 34,000 ghost names, the government will save close to GH¢16 million monthly and GH¢192 million annually in wages for pensioners.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Minister of MoFEP, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, stated that the initiative would contribute significantly to minimising payroll fraud and facilitate the cutting down substantially of public expenditure on emoluments.

The government projects to spend close to GH¢6 billion on the wage bill of public sector employees and pensioners in 2012.
But the minister was optimistic that by the time the entire project was completed in June, the nation would have saved close to GH¢1.5 billion

2012 Budget will promote development – IEA, Front Page

2011-11-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has described the 2012 Budget as a development-oriented budget that will help address the country’s infrastructural deficit if implemented to the letter.

“The theme for the budget is appropriate. We all know that Ghana suffers a large infrastructural deficit; talk about roads, railways, water and energy supply systems, health, education and agricultural facilities. Therefore, if the budget focuses on infrastructure, it is in the right direction,” it said.

A Senior Economist at the IEA, Dr John Kwabena Kwakye, made the observation at a budget review organised by the institute to state its views on the budget and also make its recommendations towards its implementation.

The 2012 Budget is designed to address infrastructural deficit in order to sustain growth, create more employment opportunities and improve incomes and the standard of living of the populace and thereby reduce poverty.

The IEA, however, cautioned the government against excessive borrowing, saying even though the loans were to support the expansion of infrastructure, it was necessary that they were applied to projects that would generate returns to make repayment in the future very easy.

According to the 2012 Budget, while the government will raise some GH¢1,665.9 million from the domestic money market to finance the country’s development agenda, net financing from foreign sources will amount to GH¢1,572.3 million, with an estimated GH¢1,201.8 million disbursement from the Chinese Development Bank (CDB).

While admitting that the country could not cut off foreign aid altogether, Dr Kwakye said it was important that it weaned itself of foreign aid and rather used financial instruments, including Diaspora bonds, to lubricate the country’s growth.

To sustain employment generation as a result of the oil production, he noted that there was the need to ensure that the agricultural and manufacturing sectors were made vibrant to complement whatever oil and gas would bring to the Ghanaian economy.

He said the manufacturing sector was struggling because of trade liberalisation which had opened the Ghanaian market to cheap imports from Asia, particularly China, where manufacturing was highly subsidised.

He, therefore, called for the establishment of an industrial bank that would make access to credit easy for the manufacturing industry to create more jobs and reduce unemployment numbers.

While lauding the government for its measures to raise more revenue through taxes, the senior economist advised it to widen the tax net, instead of increasing tax rates.

He observed that the country was losing substantial revenue through the inability of the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to collect property rates.

He suggested that as an incentive to push the assemblies to act, the transfer of funds to them should be tied to funds raised through property rates.

Dr Kwakye commended the government for its decision to scrap the National Fiscal Stabilisation Levy, saying there was no basis for maintaining it once the policy, according to the government, had achieved its purpose.

On whether Ghana needed to place a ceiling on its debts, he stated that it would be unwise to do so, as no economy was the same, adding that if the Ghanaian economy was vibrant enough to support its debt servicing, there was no need for a ceiling.

Ghana will spend some GH¢360 million at the end of 2011 on the hedging of oil, which is a risk management strategy used in limiting or offsetting probability of loss from fluctuations in the prices of commodities, currencies or securities.

The policy is to cushion the country against petroleum price hikes, but Dr Kwakye noted that it was unnecessary, as such funds could better serve the country in other priority sectors.

He explained that the best option, if the intervention was aimed at reducing the burden on the poor, was for the subsidies to reach the poor directly and leave the rich who could afford to pay more for fuel to do so.

He, therefore, called for the de-polarisation of the petroleum sector, adding that in other economies, petroleum prices could change within a day and vary from one fuel station to another but the government is not blamed.

On employment, he noted that not many jobs could be created immediately because most of the jobs would either be in the construction industry or the public sector, saying that the dividends would, however, come in due time, as most of the projects were in support of the private sector.

He noted that the country needed to find a long-term solution to the unemployment problem.

Dr Kwakye said among other things, the solution could include either increasing the number of years students spent in school or reducing the retirement age for pensioners.

GJA Releases 2010 Award Winners, Tuesday, September 6, 2011, Spread

2011-11-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

The Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) has maintained its dominance of the media landscape by sweeping eight awards announced by the Ghana Journalists Association Monday.

While the Daily Graphic was nominated for an institutional award, seven journalists within the fold of the GCGL were also selected for the awards ceremony slated for September 9, 2011 at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra.

The nominees from the GCGL are as follows: Lucy Adoma Yeboah/Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho for a joint award, Kofi Yeboah, Charles Benoni Okine, Naa Lamiley Bentil, William Asiedu (The Mirror) and Vicky Wereko-Andoh, a columnist of the Daily Graphic.

Another award won by journalists of the GCGL was labelled as Team Graphic because the article was written by five journalists. They are Kofi Yeboah, Emmanuel Bonney, Victor Kwawukume, Vincent Amenueveve and Nana Konadu Agyeman.

Other award winners from the various media houses include: last year’s Journalist of the Year, Samuel Agyeman and Eric Adjei Ansah of Metro TV; Edward Nyarko, Dominic Hlodze and Manasseh Awuni (Freelancer) of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation; Hannah Asomaning, Caesar Abagali and Kafui Kanyi of the Ghana News Agency; Sammy Darko and Kwaku Owusu Pepprah of Joy FM; Sylvanus Kumi, Business Guide, and Charles Takyi Boadu, Daily Guide.

The rest are Edmund Smith-Asante, Ghana Business News; Fati Shaibu Ali, Etv; Richard Skyy, Citi FM; Odelia Ofori, TV3; Asamoah Tuffour, Ghanaian Times; Kofi Enchill, Heritage; Sammy Dowuona, Adom FM; Bashiru Adam, Public Agenda, while Business and Financial Times, Radio Peace and Unique FM have been nominated for institutional awards.

Despite a reduction in the number of categories from 39 in 2010 to 36 in 2011, the total number of applicants rose from 271 to 302.

While no entry was received for Science Reporting, there were no awards for Photojournalism, Parliamentary Reporting, the Morning Show, and Online Journalism, since the committee felt that the selection criteria had not been met.

The applicants were assessed on their ability to demonstrate high levels of accuracy, balance, relevance and language in their writings. The social impact of the story and its effect on society and the journalist’s initiative in developing the story beyond the assignment, were also considered.

The awards committee was interested in journalists whose writings complied with ethical standards, entries that safeguarded the innocent and treated sensitive issues with dignity. The committee emphasised that successful applicants were those who wrote truthful and valid stories.

The Chairman of the 11-member committee, Mr Edward Ameyibor, who announced the list of the winners, said the fact that the regional spread of entries was minimal indicated that there were few stories that adopted a rural theme while rural and regional radio stations did not seem to attempt at vying for the awards.

The Vice-President of the GJA, Mr Affail Monney, commended the award committee for its work and described them as men and women of solidity whose contribution to the growth of journalism could not be downplayed.

A representative from the title sponsors of the event, MTN, Ms Gina Fiagbenu, pledged the company’s commitment to promote capacity building for Ghanaian journalists.

She urged journalists to strive for specialisation which she noted was a means to deepen and expand their areas of interest.

Meanwhile, Tullow Oil has presented a cheque for GH¢5,000 to support the awards ceremony.

Supreme Court Overrules Jake's Objection, November 11, 2011, page 3

2011-11-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court yesterday overruled a preliminary objection raised by Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey that it had no mandate to hear a case brought before it by Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Dr Omane Boamah in respect of his right to purchase a government bungalow.

The nine-member court, in a unanimous decision, argued that although the case passed for a land case, which falls within the domain of the High Court, the plaintiffs were not laying claim to the property in question but rather seeking an interpretation of several provisions of the Constitution regarding the ownership of state property, including Articles 20 (5) and 20 (6) of the 1992 Constitution.

Presided over by Mr Justice William Atuguba, the court agreed that it had jurisdiction by law and precedents to hear the case which bordered both on constitutionality and public interest.

Other members of the court were Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, Mr Justice S. A. Brobbey, Mrs Justice Sophia Adinyira, Mrs Justice Rose Owusu, Mr Justice Jones Dotse, Mr Justice Baffoe Bonnie, Mr Justice B. T. Aryeetey and Mrs Justice Vida Akoto Bamfo.

Delivering the ruling, Mr Justice Atuguba said the court would have loved to expedite the case but had to adjourn until the Chief Justice reconstituted the panel as one of the judges had retired compulsorily.

In her supporting argument, Mrs Justice Adinyira noted that where there was a case of conflict of interest in the administration of public lands, the constitution confered the right on the public to take action to protect the state.

That, she stated, would ensure that public officers did not breach the constitution to ensure probity, accountability and good governance.

In 2008, Mr Ablakwa and Dr. Boama, Deputy Ministers of Information and Environment, Science and Technology respectively, brought the action against Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman, who was then the Minister of
Tourism and National Orientation, seeking a declaration from the court that he had no right to buy the bungalow at No 2 Mungo Street in the Ridge residential area he was occupying at the time.

The plaintiffs had argued that the action of Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey contravened Articles 20 (5) and 20 (6) and smacked of cronyism and gross abuse of discretional powers of a public officer.

However, Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey raised a preliminary objection, saying the court had no mandate to hear the case.

His argument was that the right procedure was for the plaintiffs to apply to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), if they thought he was abusing his office by applying to purchase the bungalow.

Glo Invests $600m In Infrastructure. Reschedules Launch Of Mobile Network, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011, Back page

2011-11-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

GLO Mobuile Ghana Limited has so far invested $600 million in infrastructure and technical support services to enhance quality mobile service delivery in Ghana and says it is technically ready to launch its operations in Ghana.

However, anxious Ghanaians waiting to have a feel of the much-talked-about Glo network will now have to wait as Globacom Ghana Limited has rescheduled its launch in Ghana. The company announced today as its launching date but has called it off.

The postponement, according to the company, was as a result of logistics constraints beyond its control.

Speaking to the media in Accra Wednesday, Mr Bode Opeseitan, the Director of Events and Special Promotions of Globacom, stated that the delay was not deliberate.

“Ghanaians have been waiting for us and we are doing a great job, it is not a joke to build one thousand six hundred base stations because we don’t intend to be a regional network but a national telecom operator from day one.”

He, could, however, not give a definite date on which the company would launch its operations in the country but gave an assurance that “it will be very soon”.

“Technically, we are ready to take off through making or receiving calls but we want to get everything right.”

Mr Opeseitan said the company had taken notice of the recent action of the National Communication Authority, which fined some of the telecommunications companies in the country for poor performance, and was working to give Ghanaians a premium service.

Responding to concerns that the rescheduling of the launch could overstretch the heightened expectation of Ghanaians, a situation which could work against the company, he said “nobody is interested in launching Glo than ourselves. Every investor needs to recoup its investment, we just want to get it right”.

Officials of the company led journalists to tour its ultra-modern call centre at Spintex in Accra which has the capacity to handle 10 million customers and will operate in four languages — English, Twi, Ga and Hausa.

The company is at the moment running tests across the country from the call centre in preparation for its full operation in the country.

“We have distributed SIM cards to our agents in the 10 regions who are calling the call centre not only as part of testing the system but also giving hands-on practical experience to persons manning the call centre,” Mr Alfred Arenyeka, Head of Customer Care, told the Daily Graphic.

The call centre, he said, was the interface between the company and customers, a testimony that quality assurance was a major concern for the company.

Similarly, the company will also open 26 Glo World shops, one-stop shops of the company, across the country to handle customer care.

Glo, which received its licence to operate in Ghana in 2008, derives much of its network strength from the massive backbone support it receives from Glo 1, the high capacity submarine cable which berthed in Ghana in 2009 and was inaugurated last April.

The Glo 1 fibre optic cable is the first individually owned submarine cable in Africa and the only such facility connecting West Africa to the United Kingdom.

"Include Private Universities In GETFund Allocations", Thursday, Nov, 19, 2011

2011-11-18T10:41:00.000-08:00

Authorities of private universities in the country have called on the government to include their institutions in the allocations of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) in order to increase access to university education in the country.

“We are part owners of the Fund and it is only fair that it is opened to us to expand infrastructure and improve access to university education to the youth.”

The Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Private University of Ghana (CHPUG), Prof. James Hawkins Ephraim, made the call at the fourth congregation of the Wisconsin International University College, Ghana at Agbogba in Accra.

Prof. Ephraim noted that the contribution of private universities to the development of the country could not be underrated hence the need to support them to lubricate the development of human resource in the country and ultimately, the country’s growth.

In all, 804 students were awarded with first degrees in programmes including Computer Science, Management Computer Studies, Business Studies and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with 128 students being awarded First Class.

The occasion was used to award staff and students of the university who excelled in their various fields of endeavour.

Ms Dorcas Tandoh emerged the overall best student at the undergraduate level, while the prize for the overall best MBA student went to Mr Daniel Nii Okae Tagoe.

Other awards were those for best Marketing and Finance student going to Ms Priscilla Appiah Larbi, the Vice Chancelor’s award for Quantitative Methods (male), went to Mr Emmanuel Nwingwe Madzibugwe; Vice Chancelor’s award for Quantitative Methods (female), was taken by Ms Priscilla Vivien Frimpong, while the best worker award was received by Ms Ernestina Amokwandoh. Mr Emmanuel Acquah-Sam smiled home with the the best lecturer award.

Prof. Ephraim, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the Catholic University College and the guest of honour for the occasion, noted with concern, that among the greatest challenges facing private universities was the lack of recognition and respect for private universities by the authorities even though they remained partners in development.

“It does not help if all stakeholders in private tertiary institutions are treated as ‘common criminals’,”he stated.

The CHPUG Chairman noted with concern the inadequate representation of private universities on both the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the National Accreditation Board (NAB) even though they outnumbered the public universities in the country.

He said it was regrettable that ”even though private universities produce students who are compelled by law to perform National Service, if a private university engages any National Service Personnel, the university pays the allowances of the students”.

He, therefore, suggested that the universities could improve quality norms, share best practices in tertiary education and also the comparison of prices with the objective of making tertiary education accessible to as many students as possible.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Kaku Sagary, said the university had created department to build students capacity and was providing services including job enhancement programmes with Atlas International in the oil and gas industry and certificate programmes in para-legal studies, forensic investigations and statistics.

In order to maintain a high level of training, he said the university had upgraded its technological infrastructure and expanded its physical facilities.

Two four-storey lecture halls, office, library and computer laboratory had been completed,while a second five-storey lecture hall had been initiated, bringing the estimated total cost of the facilities to GHC 12 million when completed.

He advised the students to make good use of the values they had learnt at the university, saying “education serves no purpose if it cannot be put to service, and that it’s not the class of degree that matters but the values learnt and how they can be used to shape mankind”.

He dismissed the notion that private universities admitted students who were considered not qualified by the Ministry of Education and the NCTE standards.

“We are urging appropriate bodies to make it possible for all qualified students to receive education. Combined efforts of government and private sector are necessary to satisfy the need for higher education more fully,” he said.

The Chancellor of the University, Rev Dr Paul Kofi Fynn, bemoaned the increasing waste of funds on social activities including weddings and funerals to the detriment of education.

“Education is the backbone of the development of every country. Let us spend wisely, and on things that will be of benefit”.

He, therefore, urged the youth to spend their spare resources on their education rather than frivolous things including expensive phones.

GHANAIANS LIVING LONGER---Life Expectancy moves from 53 to 64 years, Front Page

2011-11-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

The life expectancy of Ghanaians, an indicator of how long a person can expect to live on the average, given the prevailing mortality rate, has appreciated by 11 years from 53.1 years in 1980 to 64.2 years in 2011.

According to the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report (Human Development Index (HDI) launched in Accra, the country has also made giant strides in education, increasing its mean years of schooling, the average number of years people spend in school, from 3.4 years in 1980 to 7.1 years in 2011.

According to the UNDP, Ghana was chosen to host the formal launch of the report on behalf of Anglophone Africa because of its achievements and commitment to sustainable development.

The document ranked Ghana 135 out of 187 countries assessed globally in a report which is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development — long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.

In 2010, Ghana ranked 130 out of the 169 countries assessed.

Ghana's HDI showed a rise from a value of 0.385 to 0.541 in the Medium Human Development country category. The top five countries on the HDI are Norway, Australia, The Netherlands, the United States and New Zealand.

However, the positive development still puts Ghana very low in its category where the average is 0.673 but above the 0.463 for countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The objective of the human development concept is to promote the notion that sustainable human development should, in the end, extend the health, knowledge and incomes of people by expanding their choices and opportunities.

With such a definition, human development in the Ghanaian context is assessed in terms of the health, education and livelihood of the people.

Since its inception, the HDI has been produced on various themes. The 2011 Report is on the theme: 'Sustainable and Equity: A better Future for All'.

The report indicated how poverty imbalances and gender inequality at the national level were linked to reduce access to improved sanitation, potable water and income disparities.

The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, who launched the report, admitted that even though the country had achieved a lot of economic growth, it was important that development was accelerated for the growing needs of Ghanaians.

To achieve the required growth which would impact positively on the lives of people, while sustaining the environment, the Vice-President said the government would strive to increase investment in areas including health care, social intervention, infrastructural development and education.

He said Ghana’s policies, including the Ghana Educational Trust Fund (GETFund), the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), had been vehicles that pushed growth.

Mr Mahama underscored that climate change was real and that the government would not sacrifice the environment for economic progress.

Giving an overview of the report, the UN Under Secretary-General/UNDP Associate Administrator, Ms Rebeca Gryspan, noted that to improve human development, and increase equity and sustainability, environmental degradation had to stop.

According to her, projections showed that the gains made in global development could be reversed in the next 40 years if the current global environmental degradation continued.

The Minister for the Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Hanny Sherry Ayittey, said as the world strived to deal with environmental degradation, Ghana, a resource-dependent country, remained vulnerable.

Veep Lashes Out At Journalists On Wikileaks

2011-09-12T04:08:00.000-07:00

The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has criticised some journalists for the manner they have used the WeakiLeaks reports to attack and vilify perceived political opponents.

He said the recent WikiLeaks cables had accentuated the media warfare and put the discussion of pressing national issues to the background, saying that, “nothing in this country matters anymore”.

Mr Ransford Tetteh, the GJA President (second left) leading the Vice President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama (1st right) and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast who was the chairperson for the occasion to the high table.

“Reprinting the judicious gossips from the US Embassy cables provides the media that is already polarised on partisan lines with enough ammunition and fire power to pound one’s opponent for the rest of the year,” he said.

Mr Mahama was speaking at the 16th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards held at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra Friday. It was held on the theme: “Giving Impetus to Democracy and Development in Africa: The Role of the Investigative Journalist”.
Mr Mahama said the US Embassy cables were meant to be confidential, and indicated that if it had remained so, there would have been no problem.

Unfortunately, he said, one Julian Assange and his WeakiLeaks organisation had opened the big pandora box not only about Ghana but the rest of the globe.

“It has its positive sides, because the work of the diplomats in accessing information would be difficult because many would be more careful in accepting their cocktail invitation, but even if they do, they would not be in a hurry to open their mouths as was previously the case,” he said.

The Vice-President said a cursory look at the country’s media landscape showed us as a country at war and stressed that “radio stations and newspapers are lined up in the political trenches with their political allies and pay masters throwing printed and verbal grenades and taking hot shots at enemy lines”.

Another development, he said, was the fabrication of malicious rumour and often libellous reports, idle gossips and absolute downright lies and concoctions in the media, especially on the Internet.

For instance, Mr Mahama said, he was reported to have beaten or fought with the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Alban Bagbin, who happened to be his friend and colleague in Parliament.

He was also reported to have pulled a gun on former President Rawlings in his office although he did not have a gun and did not know how to use one.
He said one was often advised to ignore such rumours because they were part of the occupational hazards, but expressed worry that “we are in a nation where the mantra is there is no smoke without fire or book no lie”.

“The politics of insults and personality vilification appear to be overcoming us. Comments from individuals in the public, including those of serial callers who are sympathisers of political parties do not augur well for our democratic maturity,” the Vice-President said.

He said all insults and personality vilification were accentuated by the high stakes in the nation’s politics, and indicated that the “all die be die” syndrome and the lack of tolerance in the political discourse sadly reflected in the media and posed a major threat to the country’s democratic consolidation.

The Vice-President noted that in the pre-independence era, the private media was considered a partner in the fight for liberation from colonial rule, while in the post- independence period, the role of the media was to help promote the unity and integration of the newly independent African nations.

He said now in the 21st Century, the media was supposed to set the agenda for national development and cohesion by assuming their role as educators, historians, social motivators and entertainers.

He, therefore, urged journalists to focus on investigative journalism which involved probing issues of public interest in order to produce outcomes to influence public policies for the common good.

He congratulated the award winners and expressed the hope that it would spur them and other journalists on to do more to promote peace and development in the country.

The Minister of Information, Mr John Tia Akologu, said the media had done their best in contributing to the democratic growth and development of the country, but indicated that there were some lapses which had the potential to divide the country.

He urged the media to put in extra effort and responsibility in the coverage of the 2012 elections to maintain peace and keep Ghana image as a beacon of democracy intact.

The Chairman of the National Media Commission, Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, said the expanded media landscape of over 200 authorised FM radio stations, 12 television stations and several newspapers and the unrestricted access to the social media was a reflection and fulfillment of Ghana unique 1992 Constitution that granted the media and every Ghanaian the right to free speech.

He said there was a call that nobody should be allowed to practice journalism in the country unless the person had a degree in journalism, and said such a move would be a violation and infringement of the right to free press and free speech as provided for in the 1992 Constitution and indeed throw many fine media practitioners out of business.

Earlier in a welcoming address, the GJA President stated that the Ghanaian media no longer have a legitimate excuse to perpetrate mediocrity or makeÂ infractions an occupation hazard for the practice of democracy in the country.

“It is time to prove wrong those Ghanaians expressing regrets for the endorsement of freedom and independence of the media and freedom of speech and expression.”

He admitted that even though there could be no dispute about the critical role that the Ghanaian media had played and continued to play in building democracy and promoting development, the altercations from some media personnel was undermining their indispensability in nation building.

Mr Tetteh who paid tributes to journalists both past and present who had worked hard to project investigative journalism and urged journalists to abide by Artcicle 12 of the GJA Code of Ethics which enjoins journalists to, “obtain information, photography and illustrations only by straight forward means. The use of any means can be justified only by overriding considerations of public interest.”

On the broadcast media, he said the GJA had observed that the broadcast media, particularly, radio as the most vibrant, interactive and influential but indicated that most of the controversies confronting the media had emanated from radio.

“We urge the authorities as a matter of urgency and in consonance with best practices pass a broadcast law that sets standards and helps in regulating the broadcast industry. “Apart from the qualitative change, we hope such a law will infuse decency in the coverage of the 2012 election,” Mr Tetteh said
The Omanhene of Essikado, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, who was the guest speaker, expressed worry that the media had become a tool for spewing insults and rumours characterised by half truths, lies and fabrication that had the tendency to create confusion and divide Ghanaians.

He said the media had become a platform for people to pass uncomplimentary remarks on their perceived opponents, which sent wrong signals to the youth.

Nana NKetsia, therefore, urged journalists to exercise a lot of responsibility in their reportage and discussions in order to keep the peace and unity in the country and contribute to the nationâ€™s socio-economic development.

The Western regional correspondent of JOY FM, Mr Kweku Owusu Preprah, was crowned the Journalist of the Year for 2010 at an awards ceremony organised by the Ghana Journalists Association in Accra last Friday.

Mr Owusu Preprah also grabbed two other awards in rural reporting and best feature for radio at the 16th edition of GJA Awards which had the Graphic Communications Group Limited scooping eight out of the 34 awards available for grabs.

While the Journalist of the Year took home a Unilever prize package worth GH¢37, 500, which includes a study trip to the USA to intern at a renowned media house and visits to some historic sites, other winners received a laptop, a plaque and a certificate each.

Mr Owusu Preprah is a product of Prempeh College in Kumasi and Ghana Institute o f Journalism (GIJ). While pursuing his studies at GIJ, he was stringing for The Chronicle in Accra andÂ Spirit FM in Kumasi.

After completing his studies in 2004, he joined the Ashh FM in Kumasi between 2005 and 2007 where he rose through the ranks to become the Deputy News Editor.

He later joined the Radio Maxx in Takoradi where he doubled as the News Editor and a regional correspondent for JOY FM. Later he quit Radio Maxx to join KYZZ FM in Takoradi as a News Editor and doubled as JOY FM substantive regional correspondent.

A freelance journalist with GTV, Mr Manaseh Awuni Azure, who was also the toast of the night emerged the Promising Journalist of the Year in addition to wining prizes in Human Rights and TVÂ News Reporting.
Mr Azure smiledÂ home with an all expense paid trip to South Africa where he will visit to any media house of his choice.

The recipients of awards from the GCGL are as follows: Lucy Adoma Yeboah/Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho for a joint award for (HIV and AIDS); Kofi Yeboah, (Agriculture); Charles Benoni Okine, (Social Security); Naa Lamiley Bentil, (Environment); William Asiedu (The Mirror), (Print News Reporting) and Vicky Wereko-Andoh, (Columnist).

Another award won by journalists of the GCGL was labelled as Team Graphic because the article was written by five journalists. They are Kofi Yeboah, Emmanuel Bonney, Victor Kwawukume, Vincent Amenueveve and Nana Konadu Agyeman.

Other award winners from the various media houses include: last year Journalist of the Year, Samuel Agyeman (Disability), and Eric Adjei Ansah (TV Feature) of Metro TV; Edward Nyarko, (Arts/Entertainment and Domestic Tourism and the Kwadwo Baah Wiredu Award for Business/Finance and Economic Reporting) Dominic Hlodze (Radio News Reporting) of GBC, Hannah Asomaning (Sanitation and Hygiene), Caesar Abagali (Child Rights) and Kafui Kanyi (Small and Micro Scale Enterprises)Â of the Ghana News Agency; Sammy Darko (Political Reporting), JOY FM ; Sylvanus Kumi (Oil and Gas), Business Guide, and Charles Takyi Boadu (Investigative Reporting), Daily Guide.
The rest are Edmund Smith-Asante ( Water), Ghana Business News; Fati Shaibu Ali (Education), Etv; Richard Skyy (Health), CitiFM; Odelia Ofori (Development Journalism for furthering MDGs), TV3; Asamoah Tuffour (Crime and Court Reporting), Ghanaian Times; Kofi Enchill (Anti Narcotics), Heritage; Sammy Dowuona (Telecommunications), Adom FM; Bashiru Adam (Print Feature), Public Agenda, while Business and Financial Times, Radio Peace and Obonu FM received institutional awards.

Some distinguished GhanaiansÂ and institutions who have contributed to the growth of journalism in Ghana were also honoured. They include Prof Kwame Karikari, Ambassador KB Asante, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Prof Joshua Alabi and Atlantis Radio.

With the Pacesetters Band of the GBC dishing out tune after tune not even the Vice-President, Mr John D. Mahama, could resist the temptation of dancing the night away.

Traders chase out task force, Tuesday, August 23, 2011.

2011-09-07T00:46:00.001-07:00

The Makola 31st December Market was on Monday thrown into a state of pandemonium when members of the Local Textile Designers Task Force, which went to the market to seize what were considered illegal prints, were chased away by the traders.

Numbering more than 15, the members of the task force, some of whom had earlier impounded some of the textiles, were chased out of the market by the traders amid insults and heckling.

The task force was established in 2010 and given the mandate to monitor the movement of smuggled fabrics, target relevant warehouses and seize for destruction pirated and smuggled textile prints to deter the dealers and others who may be tempted to deal in such goods.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, a trader whose name is being withheld, said the team arrived, at the market at about 9:00.a.m and, without any permission, entered some of the shops and started pulling out clothes.

The woman, who said she had lost three pieces in an earlier raid, stated that the task force broke into shops and seized as many cloths as they could lay their hands on with the claim that the designs belonged to local manufacturers, including Tex Styles Ghana Limited, formerly Ghana Textile Printing, and the Akosombo Textiles Limited.

She said it was wrong for the task force to seize their goods at the points of sale, since officers of both the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) working at entry points compelled the importers to pay heavy duties on the imported textiles.

Another trader said it was regrettable that members of the task force, instead of working with the traders in harmony to control the system, resorted to open confrontation.

“When they arrived in my shop, they did not even bother to greet and brief the traders of their mission to the market; they just went straight in and I had to restrain them,” the trader said.

She alleged that members of the task force struggled with her and pushed her around to enter her shop.

When contacted, the President of the Makola Cloth Sellers Association, Ms Elizabeth Mensah, said the traders were fed up with the crackdown on innocent traders who knew next to nothing about the designs belonging to local textile companies.

“We have pleaded with GTP and ATP to educate us on their designs and make them available to us, so that it becomes easier to identify them, but they have refused with the excuse that they have uncountable designs.

“The situation is very bad, traders of this market are law-abiding and would not like to do anything to disturb the peace of the nation, yet we have been the target of this task force and police brutalities for no apparent reason,” she said.

She stated that the traders were losing lot of money due to the raids, adding, “How do they expect us to pay our loans when sometimes as much as 30 pieces of cloth are seized from one trader?”

Ms Mensah appealed to the government, as a matter of urgency, to halt the activities of the task force which broke into the shops of traders and seized their goods without any justifiable reasons.

From over 40 textile firms that employed more than 25,000 people in the last two decades, the country now has only four textile factories employing less than 4,000 people.

The country, according to available information, is losing about GH¢30 million in revenue annually through smuggling of textile materials.

A report on Ghana's textile and garment industry by the institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Legon, said the textile industry employed some 25,000 workers, which accounted for 27 per cent of total manufacturing employment in 1977. By 1995, however, employment within the sub-sector had dwindled to a mere 7,000 and has declined further to 5,000 by 2000.

Tuesday, September 6,2011, Spread

2011-09-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) has maintained its dominance of the media landscape by sweeping eight awards announced by the Ghana Journalists Association Monday.

While the Daily Graphic was nominated for an institutional award, seven journalists within the fold of the GCGL were also selected for the awards ceremony slated for September 9, 2011 at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra.

The nominees from the GCGL are as follows: Lucy Adoma Yeboah/Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho for a joint award, Kofi Yeboah, Charles Benoni Okine, Naa Lamiley Bentil, William Asiedu (The Mirror) and Vicky Wereko-Andoh, a columnist of the Daily Graphic.

Another award won by journalists of the GCGL was labelled as Team Graphic because the article was written by five journalists. They are Kofi Yeboah, Emmanuel Bonney, Victor Kwawukume, Vincent Amenueveve and Nana Konadu Agyeman.

Other award winners from the various media houses include: last year’s Journalist of the Year, Samuel Agyeman and Eric Adjei Ansah of Metro TV; Edward Nyarko, Dominic Hlodze and Manasseh Awuni (Freelancer) of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation; Hannah Asomaning, Caesar Abagali and Kafui Kanyi of the Ghana News Agency; Sammy Darko and Kwaku Owusu Pepprah of Joy FM; Sylvanus Kumi, Business Guide, and Charles Takyi Boadu, Daily Guide.

The rest are Edmund Smith-Asante, Ghana Business News; Fati Shaibu Ali, Etv; Richard Skyy, Citi FM; Odelia Ofori, TV3; Asamoah Tuffour, Ghanaian Times; Kofi Enchill, Heritage; Sammy Dowuona, Adom FM; Bashiru Adam, Public Agenda, while Business and Financial Times, Radio Peace and Unique FM have been nominated for institutional awards.

Despite a reduction in the number of categories from 39 in 2010 to 36 in 2011, the total number of applicants rose from 271 to 302.

While no entry was received for Science Reporting, there were no awards for Photojournalism, Parliamentary Reporting, the Morning Show, and Online Journalism, since the committee felt that the selection criteria had not been met.

The applicants were assessed on their ability to demonstrate high levels of accuracy, balance, relevance and language in their writings. The social impact of the story and its effect on society and the journalist’s initiative in developing the story beyond the assignment, were also considered.

The awards committee was interested in journalists whose writings complied with ethical standards, entries that safeguarded the innocent and treated sensitive issues with dignity. The committee emphasised that successful applicants were those who wrote truthful and valid stories.

The Chairman of the 11-member committee, Mr Edward Ameyibor, who announced the list of the winners, said the fact that the regional spread of entries was minimal indicated that there were few stories that adopted a rural theme while rural and regional radio stations did not seem to attempt at vying for the awards.

The Vice-President of the GJA, Mr Affail Monney, commended the award committee for its work and described them as men and women of solidity whose contribution to the growth of journalism could not be downplayed.

A representative from the title sponsors of the event, MTN, Ms Gina Fiagbenu, pledged the company’s commitment to promote capacity building for Ghanaian journalists.

She urged journalists to strive for specialisation which she noted was a means to deepen and expand their areas of interest.

Meanwhile, Tullow Oil has presented a cheque for GH¢5,000 to support the awards ceremony.

CLERGY UNDER FIRE---For acts unbecoming of men of God, Front Page

2011-08-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

The activities of some men of God have come under scrutiny in recent times following reported cases of scandals that have rocked the clergy.

While some of them are in jail for these activities, others are battling their cases in court or are being investigated by the law enforcement agencies on suspicion of various crimes.

Although the leadership of the church in Ghana condemns the activities of these so-called men of God, they are unable to prescribe any common antidote for resolving the crisis.

The Chairman of the Christian Council, Most Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante, has called for legislation to compel churches to be affiliated to the different Christian groups without infringing on their rights.

However, the Ghana Pentecostal Council and the National Christian Charismatic Churches think that there is no need for a legislation but that Christian leadership should promote the concept of affiliation to ensure checks and balances.

The behaviour of people described as "sheep in wolf skin" has outraged not only members of the clergy but the generality of society who believe that by their actions, those 'charlatans' are telling their congregations to "do what l preach and not what l do".

These men of God are unable to measure up to the high moral and biblical standards they set for their members as they fall foul of the law and in some cases lay the blame on the devil.

For sometime now, a number of high profile clergy men have been punished for their wrong-doing. In January, the Accra Circuit Court sentenced Nana Kofi Yirenkyi, also known as "Jesus One Touch,” the founder of Jesus Blood Prophetic Ministry in Accra, to 10 years in prison for raping his own 10-year-old daughter.

And then in May this year, the General Overseer of the Vineyard Chapel International, Bishop Vaglas Kanco, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment by the Accra Circuit Court for defrauding a British national to the tune of £120,000.

Bishop Kanco had lured the complainant into believing that she would die if she did not allow him to pray over a £120,000 cheque she had issued in the name of her former partner.

Apart from those who are serving jail sentences, others have become targets of police investigations.

Vincent Bassaw, General Overseer of the Fountian Living Waters Church in Takoradi, was arrested in February, this year, for allegedly impregnating a 15-year-old student.

Another pastor, Prophet Nicholas Osei, also known as Kumchacha, leader of Heaven Gate Ministries, was arrested by the police in May, this year, for allegedly attempting to rape a married woman at a hotel in Kumasi.

He was said to have told the 21-year-old woman that the Holy Spirit had directed him to exorcise an evil spirit that was tormenting her in the genitals and thwarting her efforts at making any progress in life and then attempted to use his male organ to exorcise the evil spirits but the woman resisted the action and raised an alarm, which attracted many people to the Sanbra Hotel, where he was engaged in a counselling session. The charges against him were dropped later for lack of evidence.

This August, a pastor of the Rhema Power Ministry at Tanoso in Kumasi, Reverend Daniel Essan Kojo, also known as ‘Pastor Oboy’, was arrested by the Police for alleged car snatching.

It would be recalled that in April, last year, a Catholic Priest, Rev. Father Charles Asamoah, allegedly inflicted multiple matchete wounds on the body of his girlfriend, Janet Dwamena Agyapomaa, when their secret relationship turned sour.

Another priest who made the headlines for the wrong reasons in 2010 was the Rt Rev Kow Bosomefi Egyir, an administrative Bishop of the Methodist Church, who allegedly raped an errand girl and fled to the United States of America. The leadership of the Methodist Church of Ghana has been investigating the matter.

The latest to have got the nation talking about the integrity of some of the members of the clergy is Bishop Daniel Obinim, the head of the International God's Way Church, who went on rampage last week at Hot FM, an Accra-based radio station, with two other pastors to attack the host and panel members on a discussion programme.

During the attack, the trio, one of whom was said to be wielding a crowbar, reportedly smashed louvres in the studio of the radio station.

More shocking was Bishop Obinim’s confession on another radio station that he had cursed and maimed a child he was alleged to have 'fathered' by the wife of one of his associate pastors.

Apparently, the Kumasi-based minister of the gospel and television maverick is not new to the controversy hall of fame. Last year, he was involved in a scandal with another Kumasi-based pastor, Rev Ebenezer Adarkwa Yiadom of the Ebenezer Miracle Worship Centre, in which he (Obinim) was alleged to have conspired with a certain Frank Annor to bury some juju items in Adarkwa’s church. The case was later struck out for lack of evidence.

While some churches have for long been at the forefront of several development projects in the country, others do not live to the expectation of the society.

Proof that religion is a booming business in Ghana can be found in the increasing number of billboards advertising kaleidoscope of temples and tabernacles promising career success, wealth, status in society, good marriages and problem-free visa acquisition.

The doctrine of prosperity has taken centre stage in most of the churches.

Some of the churches interpret religious doctrines far more flexible than the traditional Christianity that was first introduced by the Europeans.

Their trade in stock is faith-based healing and, sometimes, magic which preys upon the gullibility of their wealthier followers and the desperation of the poor.

The messages of healing, miracles and prosperity easily find sympathetic echoes among a populace down on the economic ladder.

With the vulnerable at their mercy, the emphasis is on good life, an antidote to the despair that thrives in the society outside the walls of their churches.

With the activities of some of the phoney pastors getting out of hand, President John Evans Atta Mills directed the police to take steps to deal with rogue pastors. While some Christians believe that the activities of these fake pastors are the signs of end times, others are advocating a legislation that would have grips on the situation.

Article 21 1(c) of the 1992 Constitution guarantees religious freedom and this protection prevents church leadership from stopping such pastors unless their activities are proven to be criminal.

The country’s religious leaders offer different solutions, but all agree on the need to sanitise the system now to ensure that the clergy live up to their calling.

Explaining further, the Most Rev Asante, the Chairman of the Christian Council, said as the council had no authority over independent groupings, "the only way out is to regulate the activities of religious groups because though religion promotes peace, it can also plunge the country into chaos if not well regulated."

"If churches are affiliated to a recognised Christian body, we could easily hold them to book. “Where you have an individual to preside over his church without an oversight responsibility, who disciplines such an individual, when he goes wrong? ” he asked.

The government, he stated, could not in the name of human rights allow the continuation of the misdeeds of such pastors while they caused confusion in society.

Rev. Gideon Titi-Ofei, the General-Secretary of the National Association of Charismatic and Christian Churches (NACCC), disagreed when he said although the state had the right to protect its citizens, the church should not be singled out for any legislation but rather, the move should be to strengthen existing bodies and ensure that all pastors belonged to a Christian body.

“If you have nothing to hide, you will not have any problem having your activities scrutinised,” he stated.

Apostle Samuel Yaw Antwi, General Secretary of the Ghana Pentecostal Council, also re-echoes the concerns of the NACCC.

"We are not in favour of any new legislation to regulate churces. We believe that the churches should be allowed to regulate themselves. Every church should be made to belong to a recognised council, that way the councils could help regulate their activities. The various councils have codes of ethics and guidelines,” he said.

To stem the current trend, Apostle Antwi advised Christians to watch before they lept as at the end of the day, “you are responsible for where you go.”

“Christians should be discerning and use biblical standards before joining a church. We all must develop a habit of scripture studying, know the truth and stand by it,” he stated.

Most Rev. Prof. Asante also added his voice to the call for Christians to commit themselves to the scriptures. “As leaders, we have been called to preach the gospel and not to explore people’s gullibility, ” he noted.

For Rev. Titi-Ofei, Ghanaians should not despair as “out of every twelve apostles, there will be a Judas Iscariot who will occupy the front pages of newspapers for the wrong reasons.”

He said as part of efforts to streamline the activities of the NACCC members, the organisation would in November, this year, introduce an annual renewable licence for its members.

“It is time people began to raise questions about these vagabond, freelance and prodigal pastors who are bringing shame to the church.

It is also important that people check the background of churches and their pastors and know, for instance, where they were trained and who ordained them,” he advised.

Concerned with the trend, the General Secretary of the Christian Council, Rev Dr Fred Deegbe, earlier in the year called on individuals who ran churches popularly known as 'one man churches' to move away from that and consider constituting board of directors to steer the affairs of their churches.

He said if that was done persons who set up churches for money and power would be discouraged.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Rev Degbee said the current trend was nothing, explaining that “many have come and gone. The quarks will come and go but the will of God will prevail. God has a way of cleansing His own church."

Race for dead body--As hospital fakes patient's death, July 1, 2011, Front page

2011-08-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

The decision of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital authorities to fake the death of one of its patients proved to be the bait that drew her family to the hospital, months after she had been abandoned there.

Soon after they were informed of the death of Augustina Mensah, 25, the family responded swiftly by dispatching family members armed with a coffin to convey the supposed corpse of their kinswoman home for a befitting funeral.

The family was said to have arrived at the DOVVSU head office in Accra to finish the paperwork authorising them to go for the supposed dead Augustina but it was not to be.

After hours of waiting and sensing that they could be in trouble with the law, some of the family members were said to have disappeared with the coffin while two others were led to the hospital.

Augustina was said to have been taken to the hospital by officials of the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) when she was knocked down by a vehicle.

The hospital authorities explained that since her mental state at the time was unstable, her family could not be contacted immediately.

However, after a brief stay at the hospital, she managed to give information about her family who were contacted on countless occasions, but for more than a month, they failed to respond.

But when the hospital and officials of the DSW dipped into their bank of wits and decided to inform the family that Augistina was dead, it instantly became a rewarding move, the family allegedly responded to take home her supposed dead body.

At the hospital, Augustina, with tears streaming down her face, said she was happy to get better but wanted to go home to her aunt who lived in Tema.

Occasionally laughing and crying, she said she missed her family. “I will be happy to go home to my family,” she stated.

Augustina said she was living at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle with her friends and worked at a spot in the area as a prostitute but stated that she would not go back to her old ways again.

Moments later, her aunt, Ms Comfort Amoh, walked into the female ward unable to hold back her tears and the two embraced each other.

A visibly shaken Ms Amoh said she felt elated that her niece was rather alive.

“I was not sure she was dead, so we came here to confirm it.”

She explained that the family did not deliberately abandon her at the hospital, saying the hospital authorities contacted Augustina’s mother who lived in Enchi in the Western Region.

However, because she was financially handicapped at the time, she could not respond to the call.

“Even transport from our hometown to Accra is no joke; her mother was still looking for money when news of her death reached her and she informed us.”

Commenting on the issue, the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, admitted that although the tactic used to get Augustina’s family to respond to the call was unethical, it proved to be effective.

“It is not exactly ethical but when hospital authorities are pushed to the wall, we only devise means that would serve the interest of patients,” he said.

He said for the fact that mental care was free, the family would have been billed to pay for Augustina’s stay at the hospital and added that she was okay to go home.

Augustina’s case is just a tip of the iceberg as there are many other patients who have been abandoned at the hospital, some for more than 20 years.

Meanwhile, 240 patients at the hospital have been discharged and sent home as part of an exercise to decongest the hospital which is dubbed “Operation 600 patients home”, reports Sebastian Syme.

Authorities at the hospital embarked on the initiative early this year in an effort to reduce the congestion rate to 300 in order to provide quality health care to the patients who are said to be more than 1000.

Dr Osei, who updated the Daily Graphic on the mass repatriation programme, said the hospital had targeted to discharge 600 of the patients by June, this year, but given the present situation that target was not likely to be achieved.

He, however, stressed that the exercise would be sustained until such a time that the hospital would reduce the congestion of patients whose high numbers were impeding the smooth administration of health delivery.

Concerning the mechanism for monitoring patients who had already been discharged, Dr Osei said there were community psychiatric nurses in the various communities to take charge of the patients’ welfare to facilitate their reintegration into the society.

He gave the assurance that more of such nurses were to be trained in every district to serve as front-line nurses in their respective jurisdictions to provide assistance to patients recovering from psychiatric diseases.

Sammy's final journey, Monday, July 4, 2011, spread

2011-08-05T10:07:00.001-07:00

Mourners from all walks of life on Saturday turned up at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra to bid farewell to Sammy Okaitey, the News Editor of the Daily Graphic who died in April 2011.

Among the personalities who attended the ceremony are the Nii Armah Ashietey; Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Nortey Duah; Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Alex Segbefia; a Deputy Chief of Staff, Professor Kwesi Yankah; the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Mr O.B. Amoah, MP for Aburi-Nsawam; and Alhaji M.N.D Jawula, former President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), and Mr Fred Pappoe, Vice-President of the GFA.

Others are Ghana’s former Ambassador to Serbia, Dr Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe;former WBC champion, Barima Azumah Nelson; Coaches Sam Arday and Francis Oti Akenten and a host of media practitioners, including Mr Kabral Blay-Amihere, Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), and a former Managing Director (MD) of the GCGL, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim Awal.

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, was represented by DCOP Rose Bio Atinga, the Accra Regional Police Commander.

Staff of the Graphic Communication Group Limited led by the acting MD, Mr Kwesi Adjei Kersi, and members of the Ghana Journalists Association led by Mr Ransford Tetteh, who is also the Editor of the Daily Graphic, were present to celebrate the life of their departed colleague.

Not to be left out of the event of the day, members of Liberty Oldies, mostly made up of retired footballers and playmates of the late Sam Okaitey, led by a Presidential Aide, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, filed past his body while singing dirges.

They had earlier played a soccer match in honour of their departed colleague.

Also at the funeral was Nii Akapeh, the Asafoatse of the Osu Mankralo Stool and a friend of the deceased, who in the company of his drummers, all dressed in T-shirts bearing the picture of the deceased with the inscription ‘Disappointed’, also fired musketry amidst drumming and appellations in memory of the late News Editor.

A relative of the late Okaitey, Mr Joseph Okaitey, read the biography of the deceased, while tributes were read by representatives from the Ghana Journalists Association and the Ghana Football Association and Old students of Achimota School where the deceased had his secondary education.

Other tributes were read by the widow, Madam Fati Bintu Lagunda; Dr Nyaho Tamakloe while Edith Okaitey, one of his two daughters, delivered a soul-touching tribute on behalf of the children.

In a sermon, based on Luke 16, the Resident Pastor of the Royal 2 House Chapel, Pastor Derrick Amanor, said death was not the end of life but the beginning of eternal existence.

He stated that it was, therefore, important that Christians prepared themselves as death could prey on humans whether they were prepared or not.

He noted that after death, the destination of humans was determined based on how they lived on earth . Righteousness, Pastor Amanor stated, was not enough to secure heaven for Christians but meeting the needs of the underprivileged was an important qualification.

Mr Okaitey’s coffin, draped in Achimota School colours, was buried at the Osu Cemetery.

Sammy Okaitey was born at Osu in Accra on March 27, 1959.

He attended Achimota School for his General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level examination and Winneba Secondary School and the Workers College for his GCE Advanced Level.

He went to the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), where he graduated with a Diploma in Journalism in 1983.

After GIJ, he worked with the Ghanaian Voice and later the Nigerian Concord, before freelancing for the Graphic Sports, the Daily Graphic and The Mirror.

He was employed by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) as a Staff Reporter attached to the Graphic Sports on February 2, 1986.

At the Sports Department, he rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Sports Editor of the Graphic Sports.

Sammy covered many international and local sports assignments for the paper.

He also acted as Editor of the Graphic Sports when the substantive Editor travelled outside to cover a sports event.

He was appointed on three occasions as acting Editor of the Graphic Showbiz and on November 1, 2007, he was made the News Editor of the Daily Graphic.

Prior to that appointment, he had been appointed the Re-write Editor of the Daily Graphic to breathe life into all major news stories in the newspaper.

He has been honoured with various awards, including the unique title as three-time winner of the Best Sports Writer Award by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).

The most current in the chain of awards were in 2007 and 2008 when he was rewarded for Outstanding Contribution to Graphic and Mentoring Young Reporters, both by the GJA.

He is survived by a wife and three children.

Mills, Konadu in Face-Off---In Sunyani on Saturday

2011-08-05T10:04:00.001-07:00

With four days to go for the national delegates congress of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Sunyani, the battlelines for the party’s flagbearership slot has been drawn.

After weeks of campaigning and overtures, the two contenders, President John Evans Atta Mills and former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, are set to take their case to the delegates to settle a fiercely anticipated battle of thumbs to determine the party’s presidential candidate for the 2012 election.

This is the first time a sitting Ghanaian President will have to win his party’s nomination through the ballot via a keen internal contest. The convention had been for the ruling party to acclaim a sitting President for a second term.

But the soul-mate of the founder of the NDC, Nana Konadu, has decided to torpedo that convention as she pits her strength against

President Mills’s as the first female to contest the flagbearership of the NDC.

Reports of threats and intimidation from both President Mills and Nana Konadu camps have traversed the media landscape.

Riding enthusiastically with the incumbency advantage is President Mills whose obvious message to the candidates will be to maintain him in the driving seat of the ‘ Yutong Bus’.

The President has not taken the Sunyani dance with destiny and history lightly, as he takes the field by storm in spite of scathing criticism.

No longer the fresh voice of change, President Mills cuffs his sleeves for a re-election bid on Friday, July 8, 2011 by asking anxious delegates to let him finish the job he started in 2009.

While seeking the presidential slot of the NDC in 2006 for the 2008 general election which he won, President Mills anchored his bid on the message of hope in 2006 but this time, he will run on his record as well.

That means delegates will evaluate him on what he has achieved, including his ability to hold the party united as it mounts a formidable challenge to meet its arch-rival, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2012 general election.

On the opposite side stands a woman described by many in Ghanaian politics as the ‘Iron Lady’ — Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.

Her presidential ambition has provoked excitement and controversy, with supporters acclaiming a breakthrough for women while her critics are concerned about the prospect of an entrenched political dynasty.

But Nana Konadu has remained unfazed; the woman of steel cut her political teeth while massing up thousands of Ghanaian women behind her husband during the days of the revolution and the aftermath.

That notwithstanding, connoisseurs of the political scene believe that she has a tall order to twist the convention of an endorsement for President Mills in her favour.

A beacon of hope and celebrated feminist, the ‘Iron Lady’ may be the underdog in the encounter but with the firebrand and her main pillar cast in the mould of former President Rawlings behind her, President Mills must just wait until the last vote is counted.

Nana Konadu’s aspiration follows an emerging trend of former first ladies trying to step into the shoes of their husbands. A trend not restricted to Latin America, and partly inspired by Hillary Clinton’s 2008 bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination in the United States of America (USA).

Hillary Clinton failed to make the transition, but former first ladies in Latin America, and now in Ghana, are following in her footsteps and campaigning to become presidents, in what may become a fresh wave of female heads of state.

For months, the presidential hopeful has been angling towards challenging President Mills, the man to beat in the upcoming election.

The path to the required electoral votes for President Mills could well be tougher this time. In 2006, he reached it by aggressively turning out a figure that sent his opponents home well vanquished but he appears to have shed support, especially from the Rawlings camp.

The President’s re-election, this time, will not have the stamp of former President Jerry John Rawlings, the political godfather who thrust him into the political limelight in 1996, and helped define the mood of 2008.

But to capture the party’s ultimate diadem, Nana Konadu has an uphill task to shake off perceptions that the Rawlingses are set to make Ghana’s presidency a dynasty.

There will be a lot at stake at the congress and among the list is the test case of the influence of the founder and former President, J.J Rawlings, who has consistently criticised the Mills administration.

Be it as it may, analysts of the political scene believe Rawlings carry a magic wand which a Mills re-election hinges on.

Rawlings is vital to the NDC since he holds a bag of influence and magic — even if a paler version — which is essential to Mills’ re-election chances in 2012.

Opinions of the NDC’s cocktail of calculations are varied. For some pundits, Nana Konadu knows she has no hope to lead the party to contest the 2012 general election. However, testing the political waters for her can be a prelude to contest the party’s flagbearership and possibly win the general election in 2016.

For others, President Mills would have wanted the sun to set on his political career at the end of his first term, but the fear of possible deep cracks after his one-term era is pushing him for a second term.

Come the D-day, eyes will be watching, hearts will be thumping on the sidelines of a history-making moment in the annals of the country’s politics.

Fievie Rice Project Targets 1,500mt Of Rice, Wednesday, July 6, 2011, Back page

2011-08-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

The Fievie Rice Project in the South Tongu District in the Volta Region is set to harvest 1,500 tones of high grade rice by the end of July, this year, for the local market.

The farm is also on course to produce some 20,000 tonnes of rice by 2012 for the Ghanaian market.

The project, a public private partnership (PPP) supported by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, is a collaboration between the South Tongu District, Global Agri-Development Company (GADCO), an agriculture investment company and the Fievie community.

The project, under the watch of a team of engineers and rice experts from Brazil and a local hydrologist, uses water from the Volta Lake for irrigation.

During a tour of some rice fields and a rice mill in the South Tongu District, a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP), Mr Fifi Kwetey, said the project would be one of many in the country aimed at making the country self-sustaining so far as food was concerned.

Currently, the country’s import bill for rice stands at about $450 million annually while rice production stands at about 30 per cent, leaving a shortfall of 70 per cent.

In that regard, the deputy minister stated that the government would support more of such initiatives to make rice importation a thing of the past.

At a durbar with the chiefs and people of the area, Mr Kwetey commended the community for their active participation in the project.

He said if managed well the project would ensure that hundreds of unemployed youth would get jobs under the youth in agriculture initiative.

The District Chief Executive of South Tongu, Mr Daniel Alormeku, said the district was gradually positioning itself as “the rice basket of Ghana” and ultimately the West African sub-region.

The Senior Project Manager, Mr Dapo Abimbola, observed that the viability of the land, coupled with its proximity to the Volta Lake, made the project viable.

He said the project would further be expanded through the acquisition of extra lands before the close of the year.

Bench warrant for the arrest of 30 MDs, Monday, July 11, 2011, pg 3

2011-08-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

The Accra Circuit Court has issued bench warrants for the arrest of managing directors (MDs) and heads of 30 institutions and companies for allegedly defaulting in the payment of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions of their staff.

The defaulters have allegedly also refused to fulfil negotiated terms between them and SSNIT for the settlement of their indebtedness, amounting to GH¢589,392.59.

The Accra Fast Track High Court has also issued a writ of summons to the Chief Executive Officer of Gocrest Security Limited (GSL), Mr George Aggudey, for defaulting in the payment of GH¢1,678,457.85, being SSNIT contributions of his employees. According to the trust’s statement of claim, in October 2006, after several appeals to the management of GSL to settle its indebtedness, which yielded no result, a criminal summons was issued against Aggudey at the Circuit Court for the recovery of the arrears.

However, the case was withdrawn from the court after he had pleaded for an out-of-court settlement and given all the assurances to settle the debt. In February 2008, the company was offered the opportunity to negotiate with SSNIT to pay GH¢1,237,521.36 which was its debt as of December 2007.

A negotiated agreement was signed by the two parties for the settlement of the arrears by monthly instalments. But the company failed to abide by the terms of the agreement, resulting in the abrogation of the negotiated agreement in March 2009.

Three cheques issued by the company for the settlement of the monthly instalments were dishonoured by the bank and are still in the possession of SSNIT, while persistent demand for the company to redeem the said cheques had proved futile.

An updated inspection conducted by SSNIT into the books of Gocrest revealed that the company had refused, failed and/or neglected to pay SSNIT contributions of GH¢691,667.73 (for the first tier) and GH¢24,749.56 (for the second tier, totalling GH¢716,307.29 as of June 2010, while the unpaid contribution for the period ending June 30, 2010 was GH¢1,017,248.30.

Among the personalities to be dragged before the Circuit Court, presided over by Mrs Georgina Mensah-Datsa, are Mr George Oppong, the MD of Modern Car Park, Airport, who owes GH¢65,680; Sally Kanbonaba, Monte Carlo Grand Cafe, GH¢8,441; Francis Dowetin, Datus Complex School, GH¢61,389.37; George Tetteh Nettey, Geonette Enterprise, GH¢10,901; Edmund Torto, Eton Complex School, GH¢2,709.83; David Somuah, Pacific Trust (Gh) Ltd, GH¢413.23, and Refhold Pappoe, Zuriel Refrigeration and Electrical Eng. Ltd, GH¢3,727.20.

Others are Gloria Asare, Precision Advertising Network Ltd, GH¢42,689.12; Ernest Gyasi, Mindavette Co. Ltd, GH¢602.23; Suren Madancal Malhotra, Aliane Construction Ltd, GH¢4,966.50; Rev Michael Essel, Grace Outreach Church, GH¢4,259.66; Florence Torcher, Probisco Day-care Centre, GH¢524.92; E.S.K. Badu, Kofisco Ghana Limited, GH¢1,491.85; Godwin Mate, Glade Digital, GH¢10,906.81; Nana Osei Tutu, Trump Construction, GH¢2,132.06; James Orleans Lindsay, Netlynk KEA Systems, GH¢9,031.60; Stephen Obeng Kwakye, Newlife Prepatory and JHS, GH¢4,409.98; Edward Siaw Sefa, Security Lock Systems, GH¢2,173.44; Jonas Osei-Kusi, Janosec Ventures, GH¢1,023.75, and Samuel Obeng Tawiah, Otuo Kosan Enterprise, GH¢628.

The rest are Akwasi Amoakohene, Secure Emergency Life Food, GH¢536.31; Ben Hastrup, Alliance Legal, GH¢2,162.94; Prince George Sagoe, Campaigne Communication, GH¢3, 863.81; Amba Sagoe, C.T.K. City Link, GH¢137, 482.14; Charles Blankson Hemans, Software Marketing Consultancy Ltd, GH¢8,340.63; Grace Adomako, Grisfarm Hotel Ltd, GH¢815.56; Nana Awuku Bram I, Safeway Printing Works, GH¢47,243.91; W. Accad, Tarpauline and Poly Product, GH¢9,977.60; George Adeleke, Akdel Ghana Limited, GH¢999.54; Allando A. Sidik, General Secretary of the GPRTU, GH¢22,698.62, and Leslie Alex Ayeh, Ayeh and Ayeh, GH¢102, 507.66.

Others who incurred the wrath of the court for the non-submission of registration documents and non-registration of employees contrary to the National Pension Act of 2008, Act 766, which empowers SSNIT to institute criminal charges against them are Ajay D. Kamdar of B.H. Industries Ltd, Suren Madancal of Malhotra and Tagoe Construction Ltd, Richson Lynda Anyema, Annsco Day-care Centre; K.N Amoah, Amoah Memorial Hospital, Frederick Mac-Palm, Citadel Clinic.

Comment

Pastors urged to check lifestyle, The Mirror

2011-08-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

The lifestyle of some ministers of the Gospel who live extravagantly while their members wallow in poverty has attracted verbal lashes from Rev. Dr Samuel Ayete-Nyampong, the Head Pastor of the Shalom Presbyterian Church at Haatso in Accra.

“Unfortunately, the church, like the general society, is becoming corrupt with leaders who are power-drunk and operating under the pretence of being empowered by the Holy Spirit,” he said.

Rev. Ayete-Nyampong, who was speaking at the inaugural service of the church last Sunday, observed that such leaders had become “the central reference point of the church, displaying and projecting themselves as if they are the Christ, without whom nothing can go on”.

“They display extravagance while many of the flock wallow in poverty and are denied their share of the wealth being amassed in the name of ‘offering to God” he said.

The occasion was also used to cut sod for the construction of an ultra modern church complex and the induction of 13 officers for the church.

According to Rev. Ayete-Nyampong , the image and personality of Christ scarcely feature on the huge billboards and in the church’s life, adding that using the name of the Holy Spirit, many unimaginable abominations were being committed against the innocent and unsuspecting members of the flock.

“Peace cannot prevail in the church if this state of affairs continues unabated. For fear of being demonised, many concerned Christians are silent. But for how long can these states of affairs continue?” he asked.

On the need to promote peace in Ghana, he stated that it was a prerequisite for development and advancement and explained that “It is our God-given responsibility to protect the peace of this nation and to live peaceably with all people irrespective of social status, class, tribe or political affiliation”.

He, therefore, called on politicians to be mindful of their utterances and put the interest of the nation above their personal ambitions.

“The peace of a nation can be guaranteed if politicians would be fair and transparent in their dealings with the people, and eschew all forms of corruption which deprive the people equal access to the wealth of the nation,” he explained.

“ If few people become fabulously rich through corrupt practices, and the masses live under the poverty line, we cannot guarantee that peace would prevail all the time.

The time has come for politicians not to take the masses for granted. The experiences in Cote d' Ivoire, Uganda, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other places around the world should serve as warning signs that cannot be ignored,” he said.

According to the Rev. minister, “We cannot continue to oppressed their rights and privileges and expect them to be perpetually submissive, adding that peace required that leadership respect the rights of all people and become sensitive to their needs, and not take advantage of their depravity to deny them a share of the nation’s wealth”.

Rev. Ayete-Nyampong urged churches to go back to their first love and be the light and salt of this world as they prepare for the second coming of Christ.

The Madina District Minister of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. Opare Kwakye, in a sermon on the theme: “Do not be afraid. Just believe” bemoaned the increasing rate of indiscipline in the Ghanaian society.

“As Christians, we must be concerned with the development of our country and indiscipline is definitely not the right catalyst for development,” he pointed out.

He said “when we are disciplined, corruption and all ill mannered behaviours in our society will reduce”.

He, therefore, urged Christians to champion the crusade against all forms of indiscipline.

Christians must influence society positively — Rev Dumevi, Pg 13

2011-08-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Inter-Church Relations Director of the Global Evangelical Church (GEC), Rev. Samuel Dickson K. Dumevi, has urged Christians in political positions to use their status to positively influence society.

He noted that it was rather regrettable that some Christians use their positions to pursue personal interest to the detriment of the larger society.
“Today, we live in a world in which people openly abuse their office by stealing, robbing and grossly abusing others they are supposed to protect,” he observed.

Rev. Dumevi was delivering a sermonon the theme “ Leadership in this World of Conflict “ at the 2011 commissioning and ordination of pastors of the GEC in Accra.

In all, 12 pastors were ordained, while 11 were commissioned for the work of the vineyard.

According to the church’s doctrine, a married pastor qualifies for ordination after graduating from the Global Theological Seminary (GTS) and serving and pasturing a congregation for two years, while candidates for commissioning are fresh graduates of the GTS.

The Moderator of the Church, Rt Rev. Dr Emmanuel Gbordzoe, led leaders and the congregation to pray for the newly ordained and commissioned ministers.

Rev. Dumevi said “we live in a country where people are quick to defend and promote that which is totally vile and evil but attack and stand against which is good and right”.

He predicted that soon, a section of Ghanaians would advocate for legislation on homosexuality which he described as a disgusting, filthy, immoral and below animal level attitude.

“We now live in a world in which the people are being out of touch with the values, morals, integrity and virtues that build strong churches, communities, nations and people,” he said.

He urged the new pastors to allow humility to work in their ministry because “ it is humility that leads Christians to the service of God”.

“Give God the first place and He will take you places; God can accelerate you further and faster. Remember your greatest test will always come when you are tired but you can outlast the attack,” Rev. Dumevi stated.

He also encouraged them to take the Kingdom of God wherever they found themselves, saying, “The Kingdom of God is not only spiritual; it is also material and you must work to bring progress and make people conscious of their environment”.

He also urged the members of the church to support the pastors in a manner that would not distract them from the work of God.

Government to make available 4,000 phones for emmergency use, Tuesday, July 19, 2011

2011-08-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

The government will, before the end of the year, procure some 4,000 specialised cell phones for emergency response purposes.

The phones will be distributed to personnel of organisations such as the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Ghana Ambulance Service, the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana National Fire Service.

Communications Minister, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, made this disclosure at the inauguration of a national ‘School Connectivity Project’ at Biriwa in the Central Region.

Under the project, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centres have been provided for all the 37 national vocational training institutes countrywide.

Valued at GH¢75,000 for each institute, the ICT centre project was funded by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC). The objective is to make all vocational trainees ICT proficient before they graduate.

The GIFEC was established in 2004 as an implementing agency of the Ministry of Communications to facilitate the spread of ICT use in rural Ghana, promote research and the reading culture, train rural schoolchildren and teachers in the use of ICT and empower rural communities by providing access to information to help increase direct participation in development and decision-making processes at local and national levels.

Inaugurating the project at the Biriwa National Vocational Training and Rehabilitation Institute, Iddrisu said in response to the need to capture birth and death data, the government would, next year, roll out a programme that would promote the use of mobile phones to capture birth and death data.

That, he observed, would contribute to the collection of data needed for planning the country’s development.

Mr Iddrisu stated that following the 2006 educational reform, ICT must be an integral part of the country’s educational curriculum.
“ICT holds the key to the future and, therefore, any student graduating from school without ICT skills will remain uncompetitive on the job market,” he added.

In that regard, he said “the government is dedicated to closing the digital divide in technologically deprived communities throughout the country”.

Mr Iddrisu said as part of the measure, the GIFEC would construct 20 telecom masts in communities where armed robbers take advantage of communication challenges to commit crime.

The Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr E.T. Mensah, for his part, urged the students to take advantage of the facility to acquire knowledge that would be relevant to them and the job market.

He observed that the realisation now was that students were not trained adequately for the workplace, even though several vacancies existed and the challenge had been to find qualified people to fill them.

The Administrator of the GIFEC, Mr Kofi Attor, added his voice to the need for the students to use the facility to build upon their stock of knowledge.

He also urged the management of the institute to maintain the facility, so that it could benefit generations to come. Mr Attor expressed worry over the lackadaisical attitude adopted by some schools towards such facilities which made those facilities redundant within six months.

Alternate medicine centres for 17 hospitals, Friday, July 17, 2011, pg 46

2011-08-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Ministry of Health is establishing alternative medicine centers at 17 hospitals in the country.

The centres, which would be housed by the Korle Bu and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals and all regional hospitals in the country would be manned by graduates of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology herbal medicine programme.

The Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo made this known as the swearing-in of Executive Council of the Premier International School of Homeopathy and Alternative Medicine (PISHAM).

Members of the Council in a group photograph with the Deputy Health Minister, Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo

The school is a joint initiative with international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Homeopath Without Borders and the Ghana Homeopathy Project in the United Kingdom.

The 10-member council led by Mr James Agboada is expected to promote homeopathy in Ghana through the strengthening of the school.

Homeopathy is a system for treating disease based on the administration of minute doses of a drug that in massive amounts produces symptoms in healthy individuals similar to those of the disease itself.

Although widely accepted in the West, homeopathy is at its nascent stage in Ghana.

Establish in March 2010, the school is the first of its kind in the country and aims at making homeopathy a central part of treatment in Ghana.

Mr Mettle-Nunoo said orthodox medicine had no solution to all ailment hence being able to build the capacity of alternative medicine practitioners would go a long way towards strengthening the health sector.

“It is a known fact that chemicals used in producing orthodox medicine have side effects, therefore, being able to promote health interventions that reduce side effects is ideal,” he stated.

The Deputy Minister said most herbal medicines work effectively in some instances compared to orthodox medicines.

The Council Chairman, Mr Agboada, noted that the school was the beginning of avenues to project homeopathy as alternative medicine and pledge the board’s commitment to ensure that the school upheld high ethical standards.

The Principal of the School, Mr Julius Berdie, said the school which is the first of its kind in the country would contribute to ensuring that only qualified people practiced homeopathy in Ghana.

He commended the Ministry of Health for creating the environment to promote other medical services other orthodox medicine in the country.

Christian Leaders Call For Joint Fight Against Gays, Tuesday July 19, 2011 (Front page)

2011-08-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

The leadership of the Christian community in Ghana has called on all, including religious bodies and traditional rulers, to join hands to confront the canker of homosexuality in the country.

“We, as a Christian community in Ghana, totally condemn this as an unnatural and unGodly act and call on all religious bodies and organisations, traditional rulers and all decent-loving Ghanaians to join this campaign,” the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), Rev Dr Fred Deegbe, said at a news conference in Accra.

This is the first time all the different Christian denominations have presented a common position on the issue which has been hotly debated ever since the Daily Graphic reported in May that some 8,000 homosexuals had been registered by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Western and some parts of the Central regions, with majority of them infected with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS.
While politicians remain vocal on almost all issues, few in Ghana are willing to take the political risk of advocating tolerance for the rights of homosexuals.
The position of the Christian leaders is seen as a test case for politicians whose political ambitions need an endorsement from a highly religious electorate who see homosexuality as an imported foreign lifestyle and a moral aberration.
“Ghanaians, for that matter Africans, cherish our rich and strong values on issues such as homosexuality and we must not allow anyone or group of people to impose what is acceptable in their culture on us in the name of human rights,” Rev Dr Deegbe urged.
Ghana’s laws prohibit unnatural carnal acts — a definition which is widely understood to include homosexuality, although, in practice, very few have been prosecuted for homosexual acts.
The Criminal Code frowns on unnatural carnal knowledge between consenting males but is silent on lesbianism, which is sexual relationships between women.
Rev Dr Degbey said that as the prophetic voice of the country, Ministers of the Gospel “wish to state that this detestable and abominable act, if passed into law in Ghana, will bring the wrath of God upon the nation and the consequences will be unbearable”.
Among some of the notable men of God who attended the news conference were the Moderator of the Global Evangelical Church, Rt Rev Dr Emmanuel Gbordzoe; the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt Rev Prof Emmanuel Martey; the Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church, Rt Rev Matthias K. Medadues-Badohu; the Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Dr Opoku Onyina, and the General Overseer of the Jesus Generation Sanctuary, Apostle Nana Anyani Boadum.
Rev Dr Degbey said the seriousness of the homosexual issue for Ghanaians and others in Africa was that it was becoming a problem, as the youth always emulated lifestyles from the West, whether good or bad.
While mosques and churches have been at the forefront of the crusade against what they describe as a moral canker, some human rights activists in the country consider the subject a human rights issue.
But Rev Dr Degbey noted that just as the homosexuals saw their pervasive act as a right, others also had the right not to be infected by diseases, especially sexually transmitted diseases.
“In this country, it has been established that most of the people who practise homosexuality are bisexuals just like it happens in other countries,” he said.
“Currently in Ghana, our health system is already distressed and has not been able to meet all sexual and reproductive needs of the populace. The relationship between STDs and HIV has been established as the major cause of infections. Therefore, any actions or inaction that will put further stress on our health system is putting the country in serious jeopardy. We believe the health implication for our country will be disastrous,” he stated.
While encouraging the Christian community to intensify its teaching and guidance on sexuality and reproductive health to especially the youth to refrain from homosexual acts, Rev Dr Degbey called on the health services and other professionals who could offer help to practising homosexuals who had been forced into the act to receive help in order to eschew the practice.

Currently, South Africa is the only country in Africa to recognise gay marriage, but across the continent many devout and conservative Africans view homosexuality with dismay.

Uganda came close to legislating on the issue, but the Anti-Homosexuality Bill — dubbed "Kill the Gays" bill — remains in limbo after Parliament adjourned without debating or voting on the controversial bill.

Gas explosion claims 6 lives (Front page)

2011-08-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

All the five victims of the Ashaiman gas explosion who were admitted to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital are reported dead.

This brings to six the number of people who have died from the explosion which resulted in the injury of 18 people.

The Director of the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Burns Centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, told the Daily Graphic that aside three people who had died earlier at Korle-Bu, two more died on Wednesday.

one of the victims of the explosion at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

Although he declined to give the names of the dead, information gathered by the Daily Graphic indicated that Pascal Amuzu, Prince Agyare and Richard Dzineku, were the latest victims of the gas victims to succumb to death.
Those who died earlier were Abdullai Manamu and Baba Issaka Yakubu.
Dr Ampomah said even though the centre did all it could to save those who died, the extent of their injury, coupled with the absence of intensive care facilities and skin substitutes, made it very difficult to save their lives.
“When you have almost your entire skin burnt you are exposed to a lot of infections and the absence of substitute skin makes it more difficult to treat the patients,” Dr Ampomah said.
He said because more than half of the skins of the victims were burnt, it was difficult to obtain skin for grafting purposes.
In other parts of the world, cadaver skin is removed from donors shortly after their death, processed, stored and distributed by skin and tissue banks.
The cadaver skin has been the preferred alternative for a patient with the most severe burns until a graft of the patient's own skin can be applied.
Skin graft is a patch of skin that is removed by surgery from one area of the body and transplanted, or attached to another area.
Dr Ampomah said in other part of the world there were skin banks or skin substitutes which played a major role in treating burns victims.
He said even though the cadaver skin might be rejected by the body later, it helped in speeding the treatment of burns victims.
According to experts, donated skin could help prevent infection, reduce pain and maintain body temperature. Patients with severe burns do not initially reject cadaver skin, because their immune systems are suppressed.

Meanwhile, another victim of the accident has been referred from the Ridge Hospital to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

According to Dr Ampomah, the patient who arrived at the hospital yesterday with 61 per cent of his skin burnt was in a critical condition.

Although the cause of the Ashaiman explosion is yet to be established, fire officials had indicated that the explosion could be the result of the use of inferior cylinders.
Even though the use of second-hand cylinders is frowned upon by Legislative Instrument (LI 1963, 2001), such cylinders could be spotted for sale at locations in the Central Business District of Accra, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Kasoa.
In December, last year, 3,000 second-hand gas cylinders initially registered at the Tema Port as transit goods to Burkina Faso were impounded by the Special Operations Unit (SOU) of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) .

The goods were impounded when a surveillance team of the unit reported that the trucks had diverted their course and were unloading the goods at Kasoa-Amanfrom.

Experts say it is dangerous to use a cylinder for more than 10 years because by that duration, it may have lost its durability and ability to withstand pressures but the lack of knowledge of safety measures means a number of households could be exposed to danger.

Konadu Campaign Team Cries Foul, Wednesday June 22, 2011, Pg 13

2011-07-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

Top: Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings in a celebration mood, Down left: National Democratic Congress, General Secretary: Johnson 'General Mosquitoe' Asiedu-Nketia and Down roght: Nana Konadu at a 31st December Women's Movement function

The Nana Konadu for 2012 Campaign Team has accused the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of sidelining the team as the party constitutes its Electoral Committee for the July 8-10, 2011 congress to elect its flag bearer.

“We have written to the General Secretary asking for us to be included on the electoral committees of the party which are responsible for ensuring a fair, unbiased and democratic election at the congress. This was treated with contempt, as we received a letter informing us that our request cannot be granted,” it said.

Addressing a news conference in Accra, to give an overview of the team’s campaign tour of seven out of the 10 regions, the Co-ordinator of the Nana Konadu for 2012 Campaign Team, Mr Namburr Berrick, alleged that members of the NDC’s Electoral College responsible for supervising the congress were largely members of the President Mills Campaign Team.

According to him, with the exception of Mr Kofi Adams, who as the Deputy General Secretary, has been made an ordinary member of one of the committees based on his role as the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, the team’s request had been ignored.

He alleged that in the course of the campaign, there had been a grandiose design of “vile propaganda used especially against our candidate”.

“This, unfortunately, has been given prominence by some agents of the media. The Nana Konadu for 2012 Campaign Team has exercised decorum in our campaign throughout the country which has received maximum support from the delegates and the grass roots,” he stated, amidst cheers from placard-bearing party supporters.

Mr Berrick said members of the Get Atta Mills Endorsed (GAME) group were determined to do anything fair or foul to get victory on its side, adding that “this desperation, by our assessment, shows they have lost and will stop at nothing to reverse our assured victory”.

He said the issue was not an internal matter for the NDC because it had repercussions on the wider society.

Mr Berrick stated that even though the team had notified the party hierarchy of the intimidation and frustration that it faced, no attempt had been made to deal with the concerns raised.

Mr Berrick, who was flanked by some members of the Konadu Campaign Team, including Mr Adams, accused some regional executives of the party of plotting to derail the campaign activities of the Konadu camp.

Citing the Brong Ahafo Region as an example, he stated that the team had always notified the regional executives with a formal letter prior to entering a region, followed by a meeting with the executives.

“In the Brong Ahafo Region, this was done. However, the regional chairman, together with some government functionaries such as district and municipal chief executives in the region, decided to take hostage of our delegates in their residences to derail the programme of the Nana Konadu 2012 Campaign Team by making sure that they physically prevented the candidate from meeting the delegates.

“By holding these delegates hostage, it is clear that the President Mills Campaign Team was infringing on articles 6(b) and 6(c) of the Election of the NDC Presidential Candidate Guideline which calls for equal opportunity, transparency and unfettered access to all regional and constituency structures,” he said.

He said those tactics notwithstanding, the delegates made their way to meet the Konadu Campaign Team late in the night, not only to listen but also pledge their support for her.

“The team also alleged that GAME was determined to let the voting take place regionally. This is an act of intimidation to force regions to vote regionally. This will result in each candidate knowing which region did not vote for him or her and we do not think this is the best for our democracy and national unity,” Mr Berrick stated.

Develop Ways To Pre-Finance Assemblies - President Directs DACF, Wednesday, April 27, 2011, pg 13

2011-07-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

President J.E.A. Mills has directed the office of the District Assemblies Common Fund to develop modalities with financial institutions to pre-finance the budget of district assemblies before their funds are released.

This, in the view of the President, is necessary in order not to stall development projects in the various assemblies, as well as ensure that such projects are monitored, evaluated and completed on schedule.

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, made this known when he received the executive of the National Association of Local Government Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) when they made a courtesy call on him at the ministry.

The delegation, led by the President of NALAG, Mr Theophilus Adu-Mensah, were at the ministry to congratulate the minister on his appointment as well as pledge their support for an efficient local government system in Ghana.

NALAG is the umbrella organisation of all Local Government Authorities in Ghana. These Local Authorities include all 170 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in Ghana.

The aim of the organisation is to represent the rights, priviledges and interest of all member local government authorities and to assist in maintaining a high standard of local government administration and local government service delivery.

NALAG used the occasion to also honour the former Minister of the MLGRD and current Minister of Health, Mr Joseph Yieleh-Chireh, and Mr Magnus Nicole, the former District Assemblies Common Fund Administrator.

Mr Ofosu Ampofo said the delay in the release of the assembly’s fund had made the assembly to incure huge debts, since their projects were not completed on schedule.

He said as part of measures to effectively manage waste in the country, the ministry was developing a system to involve unit committees to micro-manage waste at the electoral level.

Under the project, the ministry will procure tricycles for the unit committees to support waste collection and management.

The minister said it was regrettable that the various metropolitan and municipal assemblies were unable to effectively mobilise revenue for development purpose in spite of the limitless avenues available to them.

“It is unfortunate that some of them run to the ministry to pay debt owed waste collectors when they can raise enough with high level efficiency to offset such debts,” he said, adding that the ministry had spent some GH¢8 million to pay such debts which had not been budgeted for.

He assured NALAG of the ministry’s commitment to ensure that its objectives were achieved.

Earlier, Mr Adu-Mensah appealed to the ministry to come to the aid of the newly created assemblies some of which were operating from compound houses, filling stations and school compounds.

Responding to the need to support and improve the infrastructure of the newly created district assemblies, the Deputy Minister of the MLGRD, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, stated that the ministry had taken inventory of all district assemblies operating under such conditions, adding that the government would soon secure funding for the development of such assemblies.

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Expired Goods Dealers In Court, April 28, 2011, pg 3

2011-07-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Two members of a syndicate suspected of altering the expiry dates on food items before supplying them to hawkers on the streets of Accra have been arraigned before an Accra circuit court.

Diana Abbey, 37, and Kwame Owusu, aka Gozzy, 35, each pleaded not guilty and were released on a GH¢40,000 bail with two sureties each.

Earlier, the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), in a post-market surveillance operation with the Monitoring Unit of the Ghana Police Service, had arrested the accused persons when they were labelling food products.

The syndicate, which operates in a warehouse at Tudu in Accra, deals in food products, including baby foods, tomato ketch-up, beverages, biscuits, cornflakes and yoghurt. Majority of the products found in their warehouse which expired in July last year had their expiry dates extended to July 2011.

Among the products were Heinz and Ideal tomato ketch-up, Countre Dairy (Full cream milk), Elle and Vire Dairy baby food, Don Simon, best in orange/mango fruit juices, Kellog cornflakes and frosted wheat, Legend Premium lager beer, Cheers Apple flavoured carbonated drink, Yag Go yoghurt, Kellogg Coco pops and Bran Flakes, Safa guava nectar, Twist fruit nectar (banana, mango, pineapple), sausages, apples and many others which are sold on the streets.

Following a tip-off by an informant, the FDB launched an undercover investigation into what could put the health of many patrons of such foods in jeopardy and discovered the persons behind it, their location and modus operandi.

Diana, the mastermind behind the illegal business, does her supply rounds usually on Thursdays using a VW minibus, with registration GT 6591 N, while Owusu works behind the scene to change the expiry dates using a dissolver or nail polish remover to change the original date and then use indelible ink to write the new date.

After the alteration, the products are moved to a location in the central business district of Accra where they are supplied in bulk to hawkers.

Having satisfied itself with facts on the operation of the syndicate, the FDB, with the Ghana Police Service, on Thursday, April 21, 2011 swooped on the hideout of the illegal business and caught Owusu busily at work.

He was arrested and all the goods confiscated and sent to the FDB.

At the time of the arrest, some of Diana’s customers had started trooping in for their day’s consignments.

Diana, who was not at post at the time of the swoop, was lured to the scene by the FDB officials under the pretext of settling the matter before the arrival of senior officials of the board.

Owusu, who was near to tears, confessed his involvement, saying he was driven into the act because of financial difficulties.

“Life became unbearable, yet I needed to survive with my dependants,” he stated and pleaded for leniency.

Diana, who later got to the scene, was also arrested and, together with Kwame, sent to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police Headquarters in Accra for further investigations.

Diana, during interrogations, admitted buying the goods from supermarkets in Accra but fell short of identifying those supermarkets.

In a statement issued after the arrest, the FDB said “the consumption of expired food products poses a serious public health risk, since their safety cannot be guaranteed. Such expired products could cause illnesses and diseases from microbiological and chemical poisoning which may lead to chronic conditions and possibly death”.

It noted that the distribution, display and sale of unwholesome food products with altered expiry dates contravened sections 1 (b) and 3 of the Food and Drugs Law (PNDC Law 3045B), which state: “Any person who sells or offers for sale any food that is unwholesome or unfit for human consumption commits an offence.”

Judge condemns unsavoury media comments on rulings, April 9, 2011, front page

2011-05-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

A Supreme Court judge, Mrs Justice Sophia O. Adinyira, has described some media comments and public debate on rulings by judges as sweeping, unsavoury and unwarranted.

The Judiciary, she stated, welcomed academic criticisms and reviews of its judgements, as they were good for the development of the country’s jurisprudence and would also make the Judiciary accountable.

some supreme court judges (left) Justice Adinyira (top)

“Though our 1992 Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression and the freedom and independence of the media, there are some limitations on the expression of these freedoms in the interest of national security, public order, public morality and for the purpose of protecting the reputations and rights and freedoms of other persons,” Mrs Justice Adinyira said when she swore in Mr Anthony Kodjo Batse, a government representative on the National Media Commission (NMC).

The judge’s comment comes on the heels of recent criticisms and demonstrations that followed the acquittal and discharge of 15 people accused of conspiring to murder the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya Na Yakubu Andani II, in March 2002.

Mr Batse, who is the acting Vice-Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), replaces Mr Samuel Appiah Ampofo, whose appointment has been withdrawn by the President.

Mrs Justice Adinyira said the attacks on judges were often borne out of misinformation or ignorance and, therefore, urged journalists who had been called to the bar “to take up reporting and reviewing our decisions for the edification of the public”.

She urged members of the NMC not to wait for complaints to be made against the media before taking action in situations which obviously needed the intervention of the commission.

“At times some newspapers merely sell headlines, without providing the public with any news or information, while some newspapers and radio stations only carry misinformation and half truths,” she said, adding that the Ghanaian public was calling on the NMC to sanitise the media.

Mrs Justice Adinyira urged the NMC not to relent in its efforts at maintaining the highest journalistic standards, even in the face of accusations of censorship from the media or allegations of the over-protection of the media being levelled against the NMC by the public.

The Chairman of the NMC, Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, said the commission remained committed to and very conscious of its constitutional mandate to promote not only a free but also responsible press.

He, however, stated that efforts to achieve that objective were being undermined by inadequate resources.

“Regrettably, I must report that the NMC in its present working state cannot adequately deliver on some of its mandate. The NMC, from its beginnings to date, has not been equipped and provided with the necessary logistics to work with, as stated in Article 167(b),” he said.

The commission, he said, was “the least resourced of all the governance institutions and yet it must supervise an institution, the media, the Fourth Estate of the Realm, from whom so much is expected, a vital institution which has every potential to keep or break the state of our union”.

Children with autism need special support, April 8, 2011, Spread

2011-05-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

Fifteen per cent of Ghanaian children develop language or speech problems that affect their development and performance, Dr Ebenezer V. Badoe, the Director of Neurology/Developmental Services at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, has said.

“The situation therefore calls for the country's policy makers to identify the needs of such children and incorporate it into the country's health and educational sectors,” he said.

Dr Badoe, who spoke to the Daily Graphic in an interview on the fringes of the 2011 International Autism Policies and Practices Conference in Accra, said the early childhood policy adopted by the country must seriously deal with screening children with language problems in order to develop the appropriate remedies for them.

Autism is a condition that affect children before age three and leaves them unable to form normal social relationships or develop normal communication. A child may become isolated from human contact and absorbed in a world of repetitive activities and interests.

The condition is a debilitating intellectual disability. According to experts, children with autism, when not given proper support from a young age, may never learn to communicate and their potential to become violent increases.

The goal of the four-day conference, organised jointly by the Global Autism Project, Teachers Without Borders and the Awareness and the Awareness, Care and Training Centre (AACT), is to draw mechanisms to advocate for people affected by autism on a large scale by bringing together teachers, parents, doctors, policy makers, caregivers, among others.

The conference, which attracted more than 150 participants, is also to promote a better understanding of autism and how it affects the lives of West African children and ultimately increase advocacy for children's rights especially those living with the condition.

The cause of autistic spectrum disorders is not yet clear but experts opinion put it that boys are more likely to be affected than girls, though research suggests that when girls have the condition they may be more severely affected.

While there is no specific or particular medical treatment for autism, appropriate therapy such as speech, language and behavioural therapy are seen as key to managing it.

Dr Badoe called for urgent measures to address the growing number of children with autistic disorders in the country, saying “disability whether we like it or not will impact on the country's population but we never seem to have plans for those with such conditions”. According to him, much attention is not paid to persons with autistic and its related conditions because ''they do not kill like HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases''.

He observed that records available were not adequate to give a true picture in Ghana, as no large systematic studies had been conducted, but records at the Korle Bu Teaching hospital stood at a total of 120 cases seen over a four-year period.

Opening the conference earlier, Mrs Ruth Addison, the National Co-ordinator of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, said as a global issue, the condition must be of concern to all in order to devise strategies to adequately address it.

She said the ministry would continue to support programmes and activities that had the welfare of children at heart and urged participants to share information, knowledge and best practices to promote learning and to complement each other's efforts.

The Founder of ATTC, Mrs Serwah Quaynor, for her part, urged parents not to hide their children with the condition, since the best means of handling such children was to identify their special needs.

She said it was regrettable that some pastors instead of educating members of the their churches on the disease rather saw the condition as evil and treated those with it as such.

Mrs Quaynor lamented the increasing blame of such conditions on mothers and urged the public to stop the stigmatisation and help children with such conditions to integrate into society.

UG restructures undergraduate programmes

2011-05-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Top: Vice-Chancelor of the University of Ghana, Prof Ernest Aryeetey) Main: The Great Hall of the Univ.

THE University of Ghana, Legon, has restructured its undergraduate programmes in the Humanities and Sciences, with many new courses and programmes introduced and existing ones revised.

The Vice-chancellor of the university, Prof Ernest Aryeetey, announced this at its congregation held at Legon on Saturday.

He said the university had inaugurated a steering committee to oversee the process of creating a multi-disciplinary institute of applied scientific research to facilitate industrial transformation in Ghana and other parts of Africa.

Prof Aryeetey said the work of the institute was expected to be in areas including food processing and the development of materials for various production process, including packaging and environmental conservation.

In all, 4,408 students graduated, including 846 postgraduates, 21 doctoral candidates, 2,976 undergraduates and 565 diploma and certificate holders.

Fifty students, three lecturers and a member of staff of the university were rewarded for their outstanding performance.

The vice-chancellor said in a bid to improve upon the overall university experience of students, a programme to upgrade facilities in the traditional halls of residence was ongoing.

Commenting on the leaking of mature students examination questions last year, he noted that the university had put in place extra precautionary measures to ensure the integrity of all examinations to prevent the recurrence of the situation.

Prof Aryeetey challenged the graduates to put the values and training they had received at the university into practice wherever they found themselves and advised them to “let dignity, integrity and honesty be your hallmark so that all you come into contact with will see the distinctiveness of graduates of the University of Ghana”.

President John Evans Atta Mills, in an address read on his behalf by the Minister of Education, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, said the government remained committed to providing adequate infrastructure and other facilities for all public universities to promote quality education.

He challenged the university authorities to provide education that broadened the outlook of the youth to equip them with the necessary skills, so that they could contribute to employment generation.

That, he stated, called for the periodic review of the university’s curricula, research and teaching programmes to meet world-class standards.

President Mills said the government would make good, without delay, the promise by the Kufuor administration to pay GH¢60 million to the university over a 10-year period to support its development efforts.

He lamented the fact that the culture of respect and concern for one another was fast eroding in the country, saying that it was time Ghanaians allowed patriotic instincts to dominate what they did, instead of allowing self-interest to take over.

He urged the graduates to see their graduation as the beginning of another phase in their lives and continue to expand their horizon in order to become more relevant and marketable.

The Vice-chancellor announced that the university had received $1.640 million from the Open Society Institute (OSI) of the United States of America for the implementation of the first phase of a project on climate change adaptation.

The award is the result of a proposal submitted by the university in response to an international competitive call for proposals announced by the institute.

Known as the ‘Building Capacity to meet the Climate Change (BC4)-Ghana”, the project is a partnership between the university and the OSI and is aimed at developing the University of Ghana as a centre of excellence in global environmental change.

2010 GJA Awards launched, April 1, 2011, Spread

2011-05-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

THE 2010 Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards were launched in Accra yesterday, with the introduction of six new award categories to honour individual and institutional media excellence in the country.

The new awards, which are in the categories of Science, Oil and Gas, Anti-Narcotics, Social Security, Agriculture and Water, bring to 50 the number of awards up for grabs.

This year’s awards, which are the 16th since their inception and scheduled for August this year, will receive entries from April to May 9, 2011 and cover works published and broadcast from January 1 to December 31, 2010.

The awards to be contested for are Radio, Television and Print News Reporting, Features, Investigative Reporting, Photo-journalism, Sports, Arts/Entertainment and Domestic Tourism, the Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu Award for Business/Finance and Economic Reporting, Environment, Health, and Parliamentary Reporting.

Others are Anti-Corruption, HIV/AIDS, Political Reporting, Disability, Telecommunications, ICT (Online Journalism) and the Columnist, Crime and Court Reporting and Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs).

The rest are Democracy and Peace-building, Best Lay-out and Designed Newspaper, Best Rural Radio Station, Human Rights (with a focus on child rights) and the Best Radio/Television Programme for the six main local languages in the country.

Launching the awards, the GJA President, Mr Ransford Tetteh, said they ”should be seen as part of the overall effort by the association at promoting high journalistic standards and as a barometer for measuring, periodically, the performance of the Ghanaian media”.

According to him, the GJA, as an umbrella body, harnessed goodwill and support towards media development from its partners and friends and explained that all proponents and stakeholders in a qualitative media had a legitimate right to contribute to raising journalistic standards by contributing to the awards.

“Indeed, every Ghanaian and all business concerns must be supportive of promoting media excellence because a free society engenders development and economic growth,” he said, adding that the GJA had noted with appreciation the growing interest and support for its awards by corporate Ghana and individuals.

Mr Tetteh said it was the belief of the GJA that the expansion of the awards and focus on specific areas would help encourage specialisation and get the media not to disregard the importance of politics but tone down on it and consider ways of raising the quality of political coverage and discourse, as well as encourage them to engage in development journalism.

Ignore negative political banter--Apostle Amoani, Monday, March 28, 2011, pg 12

2011-04-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

GHANAIANS have been urged to ignore the negative political banter that has crept into the country’s politics in order to consolidate the country’s prevailing peace and unity.

“Peace, unity and stability are very important if we want to consolidate on the gains we have made so far, therefore, we must not allow politicians to derail that,” said Apostle Dr Stephen K. Amoani, the Chairman of the Christ Apostolic Church International (CACI).

Apostle Dr Amoani who made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic during the dedication service of a GHC 400,000- Odorkor Central branch of the CACI said it was important that politicians eschew actions that could divide the nation and place it on the path of other politically unstable countries in Africa.

“We have so much to learn from the experiences of other countries that travelled the path of political instability,” he stated.

He said as the 2012 general elections approached, the world would be looking forward to see Ghana live up to its previous achievement, hence, the need to ensure that the country’s political temperature was not raised too high.

“We want to enjoy peace, therefore, insults and name callings, provocation and anything that would not promote tolerance must not be part of us,” he added.

Apostle Dr Amoani urged politicians to be circumspect of their statement saying “ as leaders, there are young people who look up to them for inspiration.”

He appealed to the country’s politicians to put national interest above partisan politics and conduct themselves in ways that would not compromise national unity.

On corruption, he said it was regrettable that there were some Christians who failed to live up to exhibit Christ who abhorred dishonesty.

“Nepotism, cronyism and corruption do not make a nation prosper, but only truth, honesty and hard work can do.”

He, therefore, urged Christian leaders to lead the crusade against corruption and indiscipline in order to promote the country’s development agenda.
“Corruption is a battle we have to collectively fight and win in order to bring progress to this country,” he stated.

According to him, the church also had a role to play in educating its members to avoid corrupt practices adding that it was not enough to tell people not to receive bribes but also tell them not to give it.

PAINKILLERS AFFECT MANHOOD***Urologist alert Ghanaians

2011-04-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

Some of these painkillers can cause erectile dysfuction

A urologist at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr J.E. Mensah, has cautioned the public, especially men, against the regular use of painkillers such as Ibuprofen and Aspirin because of their increased risk of causing erectile dysfunction.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra on Saturday, Dr Mensah said "the side effects of the painkillers are so dangerous for those who take them for a long time."

Commenting on a new research which has concluded that men who regularly take painkillers such as Ibuprofen and Aspirin may be at increased risk of erectile dysfunction, Dr Mensah said "those who take the painkiller once in a while when in pain are not so much at risk as those who take them regularly for a long time."

According to the research commissioned by Kaiser Permanente, a United States of America health insurance provider, men who used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAlDs) three times a day for more than three months were at a 22 per cent increased risk of erectile dysfunction.

The observational study, which began in 2002 and was published in the US Journal of Urology this year, featured 80,966 men aged between 45 and 69 who were members of Kaiser's managed care plans in California.

Erectile dysfunction was assessed by questionnaire and NSAlD use was determined using pharmacy records and self-reported data.

Erectile dysfunction is the persistent inability of a man to achieve or maintain an erection sufficient for satisfactory sexual intercourse.

Expatiating on the research findings, Dr Mensah said: "The penis is just like any other blood vessel; if you have erection problems, it could be the first warning sign that you could have a serious heart condition.

"That is why it is important not to go to a herbalist straightaway with such erection problems. You need to see a doctor for him to thoroughly examine you," he added.

Dr Mensah advised the public not to toy with the condition, since through medical examinations many people had their heart conditions diagnosed in time.

He also advised the public to be extremely careful with the abuse of painkillers and said "you must not use drugs without prescription, especially as you grow older. For young people, they have a lot of reserve that can deal with such drugs but as you grow older, your reserves dwindle."

“For instance, if you take aspirin for a long time, it affects the ability for your blood clot when you get a cut.

“If you take any of these drugs without prescription, you are calling for trouble," he cautioned.

He also said some drugs used in treating hypertension induced erectile dysfunction and though the problem was very common in Ghana, "most people do not report it because of its sensitive nature. Less than 20 per cent of the patients report it."

Statistics from a study conducted in Ghana in 1999, prior to the introduction of Viagra, a sexual enhancement drug produced by Pfizer, an international drug company, revealed that 500,000 Ghanaian men had problems getting erection for normal sexual relationships.

Global estimates put the number of men suffering from the condition at 100 million.

According to experts, the most common risk factors of erectile dysfunction include medical conditions that make it difficult for enough blood to flow into the penis.

Other common causes of erectile dysfunction are damage to the tissues, the arteries, nerves, muscles or fibrous tissue.

Diseases said to account for about 70 per cent of erectile dysfunction cases include cardiovascular and kidney diseases, hypertension, obesity and diabetes.

Regular users of painkillers were about 2.4 times more likely to have erectile dysfunction than men who didn't use those drugs regularly or at all, the study indicated.

CPC to convert debt to equity, Thursday March 31, 2011, pg 61

2011-04-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

SHAREHOLDERS of Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) Limited passed a resolution at the company’s 2010 Annual General Meeting (AGM) to convert $14,087,120, which is part of its indebtedness to the Ghana Cocoa Board, to equity to recapitalise the company.

The move, according to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr Jacob S. Arthur, is expected to have a “significant and positive impact on the company’s liquidity”.

In his statement to shareholders, he said the balance of the debt of US$32,002,146 had been rescheduled to be repaid over a 10-year period at concessionary interest rate.

He noted that the year under review was a challenging one as a greater part of the year was devoted to completing the installation of complementary machinery at one of the company’s factories.

The rehabilitation, he stated was necessary to bring the factory up to modern industry standard after more than 40 years of existence without any major rehabilitation.

He mentioned factors including the shortage in the supply of cocoa beans coupled with frequent power outages and disruptions in water to the factory, as well as the astronomical increase in the cost of utility rates of over 100 per cent as having impacted negatively on the overall productivity, and for that matter, the profitability of the company.

Touching on the company’s performance in the year under review, he said the company registered a net loss of GH¢12, 525, 392 as against GH¢17,828,060 in 2009 while its turnover was GH¢84, 127,817 as against GH¢45,541,422 in 2009.

The company’s total assets in 2010 stood at GH¢187,651,883 while its liabilities under the period was at GH¢187,496,659 with total equity and liabilities standing at GH¢187,651 883.

While the company’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by GH¢12.6 million, its total assets exceeded liabilities by GH¢0.2 million at the year-end.

He said to improve the fortunes of the company; management had reviewed the company’s operation and management 10-year business and strategic plans.

“These plans hold the key to your company’s accelerated recovery,” Mr Arthur told the share holders adding that the company had received assurances from the Ghana Cocoa Board of a regular supply of cocoa beans to ensure that the company’s three factories operated throughout the year.

Giving an outlook of the company’s operations in the 2010/2011 production year, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Richard Armah Tetteh, said the company had begun the extension of a dedicated medium tension electricity supply line to the factory
.
This, he noted was to ensure that the company minimised the interruptions to electricity supply and the intermittent power fluctuations.

He said the company’s 10-year strategic plan identifies and addresses the challenges facing the company and set out the strategies for repositioning the company to enable it improve on profitability and its ability to create shareholder wealth.

Vodafone launches health campaign, Thursday, March 31, 2011, pg 46

2011-04-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

Telecommunications company Vodafone Ghana, on Monday launched a health campaign to partner medical superintendents in the regional hospitals to identify and cater for the medical bills of patients who are in need of life-saving medical procedures but cannot afford them.

Known as HealthLine, the initiative also seeks to address the most important health concerns of Ghanaians through a 26-week television and radio programme in partnership with a team of medical experts selected throughout the country.

Among the conditions targeted for the project are fibroid, cervical cancer, maternal mortality, mental health and prostate cancer and impotence, while the team of medical experts will include a paediatrician, a gynaecologist, a general practitioner and a dermatologist.

The television show will be in two parts; the first part will discuss health issues relevant to today’s society, while the second part will track the recovery process of patients treated under the campaign.

The radio show, which will be an interactive one between the doctors and the public, will be broadcast in English and Twi, and will feature specialist doctors who will discuss popular health topics that concern Ghanaians.

The show will also address popular misconceptions, taboos and myths about health in general.

Under the project, the general public is expected to text or call 2011 and submit their health issues which would then be packaged into a television and radio programme.

At a media launch of the programme in Accra, the company’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mrs Carmen Bruce-Annan, said “Vodafone wants to make a positive and lasting change in Ghana.”

According to her, the company’s motivation for embarking on the project is to empower Ghanaians with knowledge and information about health issues.

“Let us not forget that 30 per cent of Vodafone Ghana is owned by Ghanaians so we are truly passionate about giving back to society,” she stated.

She said to sustain the programme, the company already had plans in place to launch another programme after the first 26 weeks.

Mrs Bruce-Annan observed that the campaign would also help bridge the communication gap between patients and doctors.

Plans underway to build a third habour, Monday, February, 28, 2011, Spread

2011-04-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

The Ministry of Transport is carrying out feasibility studies to pave way for the construction of a deep sea port.

The sector minister, Alhaji Collins Dauda, who disclosed this at a dinner dance to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Maersk Line, added that the Tema and Takoradi ports were to be rehabilitated and developed to enable the two ports to accommodate more ships.

Maersk Line is one of the leading liner shipping companies in the world, serving customers all over the globe. The Maersk Line fleet comprises more than 500 vessels and more than 1,900,000 twenty feet containers.

The occasion brought together, captains of the shipping community, customers and officials of the company across Africa.

Alhaji Dauda observed that in a globally interdependent world, the role of the transport sector in the carriage of vital imports and exports for industrial and domestic use remained crucial to developing economies like Ghana.
The minister said in furtherance of the operations of the cargo shipping industry, the ministry would continue to provide a world-class frame and regulatory regime for all corporate bodies.

He commended Maersk for fostering international cargo trade in Ghana through its web of liner services.
Mr David Skov, the Chairman of Maersk Ghana Limited and Cluster Manager for Central and West Africa, earlier in a welcome address said the company would introduce its flagship WAMFAX service in Ghana in the second quarter of 2011.

The service, which operates with vessels with a capacity for 4500 x 20 feet containers, would significantly reduce transit time from Africa to Asia.

While appreciating the company’s customers for their support especially in coming out of the worst year in shipping occasioned by the global financial crisis, Mr Skov explained that Maersk Line would continue to upgrade its services and maintain a strong commitment to developing business in Ghana and supporting the local economy.

In that regard, he said, “This investment of more than $ 2 billion in 22 vessels is a sign that we are indeed putting Africa first and are serious about development. We are proud to make a modest contribution to the fantastic development Ghana has been experiencing over the years.”

Meanwhile Maesrk Line has signed a contract with Korea’s Daewoo shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company Limited to build 10 of the world’s largest and most efficient vessels with an option for an additional 20 vessels.

Local printers have capacity to satisfy educational sector, Saturday, February 26, 2011, Spread

2011-04-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

THE inability of the Ministry of Education (MoE) to implement the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) textbook policy which makes it mandatory to print 60 per cent of textbooks locally is stifling the printing industry in Ghana, the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association (GPPCA) has said.

It said contrary to suggestions that the local industry was saddled with problems, it had the capacity to meet the demands of the educational sector.

The President of the association, Mr James Appiah-Berko Snr, made the observation when he led executives of the association to pay a courtesy call on the Minister of Education, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, to present the challenges of the industry to her and discuss avenues of co-operation which would ultimately lead to the strengthening of the printing industry to meet the textbook and exercise book needs of the country.

He noted that industry players had invested millions of dollars to acquire printing machines for the production of textbooks in line with the FCUBE textbook policy but the machines were being under-utilised.

Mr Appiah-Berko said even though the policy made provision for an appropriate domestic preference in the price evaluation of bids submitted by local industry players, since 2002 bidding documents had been silent on the said provision.

He noted that although the MoE, by policy, promoted the use of both Ghanaian publishers and printers, only the publishers had benefited fully since the implementation of the policy.

Responding to the concerns, Mrs Mould-Iddrisu said the ministry would take the appropriate actions to address the concerns of the printing industry, saying, “The country’s foreign exchange should not be used in areas where there is capacity for local content.”

She welcomed the suggestion to establish a permanent technical committee and directed the GPPCA to submit the names of those who would represent it.

Former Prez Rawlings lauds Constitution Review excercise, Friday, February, 25, 2010

2011-04-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Former President J. J. Rawlings has lauded the review of the 1992 Constitution, describing the exercise as a step to improve the country’s governance system.

Speaking to the media after a two-and-half hour in-camera discussions with the members of the Constitution Review Commission (CRC), the former President said the review was necessary to further consolidate the country’s democracy.

All commissioners, as well as the spokesperson for former President Rawlings, Mr Kofi Adams, were silent on specific issues addressed by the former President.

The meeting formed part of the special ongoing consultations with front-line managers of the 1992 Constitution which include sitting and former presidents and vice-presidents, sitting and former chief justices, former and sitting Speakers of Parliament, as well as flag bearers of the various political parties with parliamentary representation.

The commission had already met in camera with former President J.A. Kufuor; Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, the flag bearer of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) in the 2008 elections; Nana Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party’s 2008 flag bearer, and Dr Edward Mahama of the People’s National Convention (PNC).

Addressing the media after the session, the Executive Secretary of the CRC, Dr Raymond Atuguba, said it was important that the consultation was held in camera to allow the invited personalities to say what was deep in their hearts concerning the review of the Constitution.

On the meeting with former President Rawlings, he said the discussions were frank and former President Rawlings had a lot of views on how Ghana’s governance system could be enhanced, adding that the former President had submitted a written submission in response to questions earlier addressed to him.

Meanwhile the CRC will from March 1 to 5, 2011 hold a national constitutional review conference to serve as a platform, to deliberate on the over 75,000 submissions received nationwide.

The CRC began sitting in January, 2010. Its objective is to ascertain the views of the people of Ghana, on the operation of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution, and in particular its strengths and weaknesses.

The Commission is also to make recommendations to the government for consideration and provide a draft bill for possible amendments to the Constitution through a referendum.

Students tackle plastic waste menace, Friday, February 25, 2011, Pg 18

2011-04-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

Statistics from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and waste management bodies indicate that some 270 tonnes of plastic waste is generated each day in Accra alone.

The staggering figure has brought together students from the Lincoln Community School (LCS) and the 48 Engineering School, both in Accra, to engineer means to reduce the plastic waste menace in the city.

Under the project, students from the two schools have developed an environmental awareness campaign that emphasises the inherent problems associated with plastic waste.

At a programme at Teshie in Accra last Friday, the students used dance, songs, a dramatic sketch written by them, as well as a presentation, to illustrate the danger posed by plastic waste to the environment.

The presentation painted a gloomy picture for the country’s environment if the current trend continued. It also defined the problem locally and connected it to the larger global issue.

Pictures rolled by showing animals and fish that died as a result of swallowing plastic materials, with drains choked with empty water sachets and plastic bags.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Communities Service and Outreach Co-ordinator of the LCS, Mr Terry Donohue, said the initiative was to allow members of the school’s Global Issues Network (GIN) to partner other schools and solve existing problems in their communities.

According to him, as part of the project, students of the 48 Engineering School would replicate the project in other schools in their community, adding that people needed to team up and clean up their environment to reduce the plastic waste menace in order to secure the environment against the dangers posed by those materials.

He said the viable alternative to ridding Ghana of the plastic waste canker was for the government to consider banning plastic bags.

“It is sad that a beautiful country like Ghana is littered with plastic materials, even along the beaches,” he stated.
Mr Donohue said the project would be replicated in another school in Nima and other parts of Accra to ensure that young people led the crusade against plastic.

A member of the GIN, Biruk Terrefe, said education remained the first step towards making people conscious of the need to protect the environment and hoped that the project would go a long way towards helping to change attitudes.

Meanwhile, latest figures from the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology indicate that there are 895 plastic manufacturing companies and sachet water manufacturers in the country, producing about 26,000 metric tonnes of assorted plastic products annually, with 90 per cent of the companies in the Accra and the Tema metropolises alone.

Research shows that food in plastic containers kept in intense heat and frozen water bottles release Dioxin, a highly poisonous cancer-causing chemical.

While the Ugandan government banned plastic bags in 2007, in Ghana the sale of ice water provides considerable employment and it is argued that the economic implications of a ban on plastics will be too significant.

'GHOSTS TO GO' * As government cleans payroll

2011-04-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning yesterday launched a project to clear thousands of ghost names from the government’s payroll.

The exercise will collect biometric data of some 730,000 public sector employees and pensioners.

The project, which is being executed by 3M Cogent of the United States of America (USA), will begin with 100,000 pensioners at the pilot stage throughout the country at the cost of $2.385 million.

It is expected to be completed in six months.

The launch of the exercise comes on the heels of the 2009 Auditor-General’s Report which indicated that Ghana lost some GH¢2,485,697,863, representing 90.3 per cent of financial malfeasance, to ghost names on the payroll of the country’s foreign missions alone.

As one of the leading companies in automated fingerprint identification systems in the world, Cogent operates over 250 operational system installations in 55 countries.

A task force set up by the Minister of Education in 2001 to exorcise a targeted 30,000 ghost names from the payroll of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has so far expunged 10,000 names.

Based on the 1998 Auditor-General’s Report, it is estimated that for every GH¢10 paid in wages, salaries and allowances in 1998, about 60Gp (or six per cent) was an unauthorised payment.

As part of measures to sustain the exercise, all newly recruited public sector employees will have their biodata taken in the immediate future.

Launching the project in Accra, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, observed that the use of fictitious names, duplicates and erroneous entries were system-wide payroll fraud schemes which public sector reform initiatives had failed to curb.

“There are reasons to believe that the existence of ghost names and illegal entitlement beneficiaries is on the ascendancy and continues to plaque government databases, resulting in the disbursement of public funds to unauthorised individuals collecting wages, pensions and other benefits which are not due them,” he stated.

The minister said by using industry-leading technology in the biometric identification, the 3M Cogent system would provide a platform for the government to know the true identity of all its employees or entitlement beneficiaries.

He indicated that as part of the government’s 2011 programme to sustain macroeconomic stability for economic growth, payroll audits in public sector institutions would be intensified to control the rise in public sector wages, among other interventions, in order to strengthen revenue mobilisation.

Dr Duffuor pointed out that although the ministry and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) had organised head counts for both active employees and pensioners on the government’s payroll to rid it of ghost names, the problem continued to persist.

“One major contributing factor to the failure of past head counts has been the lack of adequate mechanisms to effectively identify ghost names on the payroll and delete them. Where ghost names are identified and expunged from the payroll, some more ghost names find their way back onto the payroll through fraudulent means,” he added.

The initiative, the minister said, would contribute significantly to minimising payroll fraud and facilitate the cutting down substantially of public expenditure on emoluments.

The Deputy Controller and Accountant-General, Mr Kwadzo Kufe, said the initiative would not cause any delay in the payment of salaries.

He noted that the project would not only weed out unauthorised names from the government’s payroll but also ensure that existing payroll data and their additions became credible.

The Project Manager of 3M Cogent, Mr Jim Ziska, said the exercise would help the government to uniquely identify individuals and provide accurate and reliable data to help manage strategies towards economic growth.

“This will serve as a solid foundation for more appropriate allocation of public funds based on quality information that will spur economic growth,” he added.

Govt acquires 20,000 acres for mango in northern regions, Thursday, February 22, 2011, Back Page

2011-04-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

THE government has acquired 20,000 acres of land for the cultivation of mangoes in the three northern regions.

This forms part of the National Mango Plantation Project aimed at developing mango orchards in a five-year period.

The Director of Exports at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Appiah Donyina, disclosed this in Accra at a business meeting between the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The high-powered Indian business delegation, led by the Group Chairman of DCS Limited, Mr Harpinder Singh Narula, held a round-table meeting with their Ghanaian counterparts in Accra.

The 35-member Indian delegation, comprising chief executive officers of some major Indian companies representing agriculture and food processing, transport, Information Technology, communications and mining, is in the country to explore ways of investing in the Ghanaian economy and also discuss possible ways of strengthening business ties between Ghana and India.

Mr Donyina urged the visiting businessmen to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the project, as India remained one of the biggest exporters of mango to the European Union.

He said as part of measures to ensure that Ghana’s manufacturing sector remained competitive, the Ministry of Trade had established a Tariff Advisory Board (TAB) to protect the trade sector from unfair business practices and goods imported into the country.

The President of the AGI, Nana Owusu Afari, said Ghana had a lot to learn from India, considering the pace of growth of the Indian economy over the years.

Mr Narula, for his part, said Ghana was a promising business destination endowed not only with natural resources but also a good literacy rate, a dynamic private sector, a business friendly environment and a progressive policy regime, adding that Ghana occupied an important position on India’s trade promotion programme.

He urged members of the two business organisations to use the two-day meeting as an avenue to explore mutual business opportunities in both countries.

Shoprite supports OrphanAid, Thursday, February 17, 2011 pg 10.

2011-04-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

The Management of Shoprite, last Friday put smiles on the faces of children supported by OrphanAid Africa, a non- governmental organisation (NGO) that specialises in rescuing children from orphanages and settling them with their families, when it presented a cheque for GHC 10,000 to the organisaion.

The money was realized from donations made by customers of the company and is expected to compliment the effort of OrphanAid to finance its activities.

Presenting the cheque, the Marketing Manager of Shoprite, Mr Kwame Larbi-Siaw, , said the amount was raised through GH¢1.00 donations made by customers to support the project.

He said the donation was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility to support the needs of underprivileged children.

He pledged the company’s support for OrphanAid saying the donation would be made annual affair and hoped that it would a long way towards financing the activities of the organisation.

Blakk Rasta, a reggae musician and an Ambassador for OrphanAid who received the cheque on behalf of the OrphanAid, noted that some people established orphanages as a cover for child trafficking and abuse.

He said the extended family system was a wonderful safety net for Ghanaian children, which should replace orphanages.

Blakk Rasta commended Shoprite and its customers for showing love to the underprivileged in society.

Meanwhile a research carried out by OrphanAid Africa showed that out of the nearly 5,000 children living in orphanages in Ghana, 80 per cent had families willing to care for them.

The study further revealed that many of the children are detained by the orphanage operators against their will, while others have families who could not care for them due to poverty.

State Housing staff demand reinstatement of MD

2011-03-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

Some workers of the State Housing Company (SHC), have demanded the immediate reinstatement of their Managing Director, Mr Mark Nii Akwei Ankrah, for the smooth running of the company’s operations.

According to them, Mr Ankrah’s absence from office is stifling the company’s operations and frustrating the range of strategic investors that have come on board since he took office a year ago.

"We want them (the authorities) to bring our MD back,” some executive members of the senior staff association and the staff union, who claimed anonymity told the Daily Graphic in Accra.

Mr Ankrah, a social housing specialist, was appointed to the position in February, 2010. He was, however, directed to proceed on leave in December, 2010 for the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing to investigate allegations levelled against him by some staff members.

Prior to that, the SHC Board had investigated some allegations and submitted their findings to the ministry but the ministry decided to conduct its own investigations for which reason it asked Mr Ankrah to step aside.

The staff members lamented that from 2008 till date, the SHC had had four managing directors, majority of them removed because of one form of staff agitation or the other.

Mr Ankrah

“So is it the managing directors who are not good or the workers, one of them asked, adding: “What we realise is that anytime a few people lose their illegal sources of income, they start a problem, ” they said.
The workers intimated that those agitating for Mr Ankrah’s removal were doing so because he instituted reforms that had plugged loopholes that made it impossible for some people to make financial gains at the expense of the company.

Before Mr Ankrah’s appointment, housing construction, the corporation’s core business and a major source of revenue had come to a halt.

“Investors were not coming in and we couldn’t pay our contractors, ” one source in the Estate Department confirmed.

The fortunes of the company started to turn around since he took office last year. “Our bank accounts, which were in the red and were showing positive returns again,” they said.

Information indicates that the company’s head office returns had increased every month throughout last year, registering an end of year revenue of more than GHQ 1.6 million, the highest in the last five years.
The workers attributed the positive returns to initiatives instituted by Mr Ankrah after consulting with the designated departments and seeking the board’s approval.

Various levies such as ground rent which had not been reviewed in the last 10 years were increased. For instance, until 2010, SHC was still charging GH¢ 1.90 per month as ground rent for a 100 x 100 plot at the Airport Residential Area but that was increased to GH¢ 10.00 when Mr Ankrah took over.

According to the workers, SHC last year signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a number of investors, some of whom are expected to start construction of various housing projects this year, but are being delayed because of current developments in the company.

Asked about allegations in some private newspapers that Mr Ankrah sold a house belonging to the company at North Labone for peanuts, a source at the finance department described the allegations “as false”, explaining that the said house was previously leased to a client at GH¢ 1,293.00 but when the lease came up for renewal, Mr Ankrah felt that for such a prime area, the house was undervalued and directed that the property be re-evaluated following which he proposed an increment to GH¢ 134,000.
On allegations that Mr Ankrah was living in a guesthouse being paid for by the SHC, the workers said that was far from the truth.

They told the Daily Graphic that Mr Ankrah received rent allowance, which was 20 per cent of his gross salary in accordance with the public service regulations.

According to them, when Mr Ankrah took office, the board directed that one of the SHC’s properties be refurbished for his use but when the estimate for the refurbishment was generated, Mr Ankrah said it was too huge an expenditure giving the company’s financial situation at the time and suggested that the project be put on hold.

“As I speak to you, the MD lives in a private home paid for by himself.”
The workers said having worked with Mr Ankrah for almost a year, they were convinced that he had the expertise and commitment to transform the SHC.

When the Daily Graphic contacted the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing on the status of the investigations, an official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Ministry was still investigating the matter, and therefore, declined to comment.

Ghanaians against huge ex-gratia, Wednesday, February 16, 2011, Spread

2011-03-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

RESPONDENTS in a research conducted by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) have registered their displeasure with the practice of paying huge ex gratia to former presidents.

They were of the view that even though there was the need to reward former heads of state, the huge financial outlay involved in the payment of ex gratia could adversely affect the economy.

The findings, contained in a report titled, “The 1992 Constitution and Emoluments: Findings from a CDD-Ghana Study”, also revealed strong public sentiment against the lack of information on the salaries and allowances of Article 71 office holders, especially those of the President and Members of Parliament, even though their salaries were from the public purse.

The report indicated that persons who had some form of knowledge about the emoluments of those office holders had them through informal sources, such as the banks where those office holders took their salaries.

Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution provides a separate procedure for determining the emoluments and salaries of specific officer holders.

In giving legal effect to that article, various committees have been established over the years by successive governments to determine the quantum of emoluments and entitlements of those office holders specified under the said article.

Currently the 1992 Constitution is being reviewed, while a five-member committee, chaired by Prof Marian E. Addy, set up by President J.E.A. Mills is receiving inputs on the entitlements that should be paid Article 71 office holders.

It is in the light of these that the National Constitution Reform Coalition, in collaboration with CDD-Ghana, organised focus group discussions in Kumasi and Tamale on the emoluments of Article 71 public office holders and a follow-up public forum in Accra with the purpose of sharing the output from the two sessions and also gather information on the theme to be presented to the Presidential Emoluments Committee and the Constitution Review Commission.

Presenting the findings at a public forum in Accra, Prof Kwasi Prempeh, the Director of Governance and Legal Policy at CDD-Ghana, said contrary to views from Tamale, participants in the study in Kumasi were against the state giving any house to a former president, saying a person elected as President should be responsible enough to plan his or her future after his or her term of office.

Another view on the matter was that an ex-President could be provided with accommodation which must revert to the state after his or her demise.

The study also found that the public was against the present system where the President approved the emoluments of MPs and vice-versa.

There was consensus that the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), which is in charge of harmonising public sector salaries and wages, should be given the mandate to determine the emoluments of all Article 71 office holders.

The study also found out that some people were against the payment of lump sums of money to a former president for the purpose of establishing a foundation but had support for a partial state funding for a particular cause chosen by a former president.

Participants in the study rejected the practice of paying sitting presidents per diem on the basis that the president’s travel expenses were fully catered for by the state, hence there was no need to further burden the taxpayer.

On the salary of a sitting president, there was the call for a relative link between the minimum wage and the salaries of the president and Members of Parliament.

The research also got unfavourable response to the idea of public office holders purchasing their official residences after leaving office, with the suggestion being that each constituency and ministry should be allocated a house in order not to give purchase options to their occupants.

NGO organises entrepreneurship training for JHS students, Monday, February 14, 2011, pg 46

2011-03-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

Compassion Outreach International, a faith-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has organised an entrepreneurship training programme for final-year junior high school students of the Believers International School.

The one-day training workshop, which involved a lecture on developing entrepreneurial minds, was to help provide the students with entrepreneurship training.

Speaking during the programme, the Co-ordinator of Projects for the NGO, Mr Kofi Opoku Ababio, urged the students to adopt positive attitudes towards job creation and not job seeking.

He defined entrepreneurship as a mindset and art of finding creative and profitable solutions to problems.
“Every successful entrepreneur has been someone who has been able to identify a problem and come up with a solution before somebody else did,” he explained.

Explaining who an entrepreneur was, Mr Ababio said “an entrepreneur is a person who habitually creates and innovates to build something of recognised value around perceived opportunities”.
He challenged the students to aspire to be creative and innovative.

The Chief Executive Officer of Compassion Outreach International, who is also the Head Pastor of the Believers Bible Christian Church, Reverend Peter Hemeng, lamented that the youth lacked confidence in themselves and were not ready to take risks.

“Many of our young people view entrepreneurship as a risk that is not worth taking. They are undoubtedly discouraged by the lack of capital to start something, the unfriendly business environment and their own lack of proper education and technical know-how,” he observed.

Rev. Hemeng called on well-established business persons and renowned entrepreneurs to help foster a new culture of entrepreneurship among the Ghanaian youth.

He noted that the core philosophy of the organisation was to positively impact the greatest number of young people in as many places as possible with programmes that were effective and sustainable.

The students were later divided into groups and assisted by staff of the organisation to brainstorm on and discuss the humble beginnings of some renowned Ghanaian entrepreneurs. One notable example that came up for discussion was Mrs. Elizabeth Afriyie Maldini, the owner of Elsa Foods.

Realising that a lot of foodstuffs was wasted on farms because of lack of preservation and to minimise post-harvest losses, she started processing plantain and cassava and most local crops into flour.

She also made them into traditional ethnic foods for quick cooking and food preservation.

That she did by prolonging the shelf life of most of those perishable foods.

Mr Ababio reminded the students that Mrs Maldini started processing plantain and cassava and most local crops into flour after gaining considerable experience in commercial pasta production and marketing.

He, therefore, stressed the need for the students to acquire education and the requisite technical know-how in order to become successful entrepreneurs.

While expressing her profound gratitude to the organisers of the workshop, the Proprietress of the school, Mrs Eva Vera Hemeng, advised the students to apply themselves seriously to their studies.

She cautioned them to eschew laziness, adding that self-discipline and perseverance were top qualities that made successful entrepreneurs.

GTB organises cocoa trail for pupils, Monday February, 14, 2011, Spread

2011-03-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

About 70 pupils from selected schools in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions were last Friday treated to a Cocoa Trail organised by the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) as part of activities marking National Chocolate Day which falls today.

The National Chocolate Day was instituted to allow Ghanaians and visitors alike the opportunity to use cocoa, the nation's most significant export crop, as an expression of love on Valentine's Day.

The other advantage of this idea is to celebrate the many nutritional and health benefits of cocoa.

The trip took officials of the GTB and the pupils from the Shiayennoh Primary School in Accra and the Mampong-Akuapem Junior High School to the more-than-a-century-old Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm at Mampong and Adjeikrom, a cocoa-growing community near Begoro in the Eastern Region which was established by the late Samuel Adjei, the father of Mr Ako Adjei, a member of Ghana’s Big Six who fought for Ghana’s independence.

The first port of call was the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm, where the Deputy Director of the GTB in Charge of Operations, Mr Frank Kofigah, joined by the District Chief Executive for Akuapem-North, Mr George Opare-Addo, distributed bars of chocolate to the pupils.

The farm was established in 1876 by the late Tetteh Quarshie from seeds he brought from Fernando Po Island. From that small beginning grew Ghana’s major cocoa industry.

The farm has, among other cocoa trees, the two trees originally planted by the late Tetteh Quarshie which are still bearing fruit and a museum which has some belongings of the pioneer of Ghana’s cocoa industry.
Addressing the children, Mr Kofigah said it was regrettable that Valentine’s Day had become associated with immorality and said the GTB was set to change the notion and rather use the day to celebrate Ghana’s chocolate.

He urged the children to study hard to become responsible people who could contribute to the growth of the country.

Mr Opare-Addo, for his part, said the district prided itself on being the pacesetter of Ghana’s development because it was the area that started producing the crop which had become the backbone of Ghana’s economy.

The children were later taken through the process of cocoa production from harvesting until the seeds are bagged.

At Adjeikrom, the children learnt how cocoa is grown, maintained, harvested, fermented and dried.
The village is named after its founder, Samuel Adjei, who bought 1,800 acres of land there and began cultivating plantain, cocoyam and cassava.

He soon added cocoa to the farm and the village became a cocoa-buying point for neighbouring villages, an arrangement that is still in existence.

Picture: A caretaker on the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm explaining the various stages of cocoa development to the children.

About 70 pupils from selected schools in the Greater Accra and Eastern regions were last Friday treated to a Cocoa Trail organised by the Ghana Tourist Board (GTB) as part of activities marking National Chocolate Day which falls today.

The National Chocolate Day was instituted to allow Ghanaians and visitors alike the opportunity to use cocoa, the nation's most significant export crop, as an expression of love on Valentine's Day.

The other advantage of this idea is to celebrate the many nutritional and health benefits of cocoa.

The trip took officials of the GTB and the pupils from the Shiayennoh Primary School in Accra and the Mampong-Akuapem Junior High School to the more-than-a-century-old Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm at Mampong and Adjeikrom, a cocoa-growing community near Begoro in the Eastern Region which was established by the late Samuel Adjei, the father of Mr Ako Adjei, a member of Ghana’s Big Six who fought for Ghana’s independence.

The first port of call was the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm, where the Deputy Director of the GTB in Charge of Operations, Mr Frank Kofigah, joined by the District Chief Executive for Akuapem-North, Mr George Opare-Addo, distributed bars of chocolate to the pupils.

The farm was established in 1876 by the late Tetteh Quarshie from seeds he brought from Fernando Po Island. From that small beginning grew Ghana’s major cocoa industry.

The farm has, among other cocoa trees, the two trees originally planted by the late Tetteh Quarshie which are still bearing fruit and a museum which has some belongings of the pioneer of Ghana’s cocoa industry.

Addressing the children, Mr Kofigah said it was regrettable that Valentine’s Day had become associated with immorality and said the GTB was set to change the notion and rather use the day to celebrate Ghana’s chocolate.

He urged the children to study hard to become responsible people who could contribute to the growth of the country.

Mr Opare-Addo, for his part, said the district prided itself on being the pacesetter of Ghana’s development because it was the area that started producing the crop which had become the backbone of Ghana’s economy.

The children were later taken through the process of cocoa production from harvesting until the seeds are bagged.

At Adjeikrom, the children learnt how cocoa is grown, maintained, harvested, fermented and dried.
The village is named after its founder, Samuel Adjei, who bought 1,800 acres of land there and began cultivating plantain, cocoyam and cassava.

He soon added cocoa to the farm and the village became a cocoa-buying point for neighbouring villages, an arrangement that is still in existence.

Picture: A caretaker on the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm explaining the various stages of cocoa development to the children.