GRi Press Review 01 – 04 - 2003

'I won't appear before disciplinary committee'

Merchant Bank MD forced to resign?

'I won't appear before disciplinary committee'

Accra (Greater Accra) 01 April 2003 - The former Member of Parliament for Amenfi West, Abraham Kofi Asante, has stated that he will not appear before the disciplinary committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He explained that he has not breached any party discipline by submitting his letter of resignation to the Speaker without making copies available to the Minority Leader and the NDC Secretariat.

Mr Asante, who last Wednesday stunned his colleagues in Parliament and the leadership and supporters of the NDC by his letter of resignation, was reacting to concerns expressed about his action in a telephone interview on at the weekend.

He said Article 97 Section 1 (f) of the Constitution, requires that “a member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament if he resigns from office by writing under his hand addressed to the Speaker”.

According to Asante, he did exactly what was required of him by the Constitution and made it clear that he will not appear before the disciplinary committee of the NDC because the action of the National Executive of the party is not backed by law.

He declared: “I do not think that anybody can call me to any disciplinary committee,” adding that “I am waiting for the summons from the party which will be of no relevance to me”.

Asante, who sounded disappointed by the utterances of certain key elements in the NDC, expressed misgivings about the reaction of the Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin. He said Bagbin displayed a high level of immaturity by labelling him an unpatriotic person.

“This only goes to show how intolerant the party and the Minority Leader are and I leave their description of me to the good people of Ghana and the Good Lord to judge”.

Asante, who during his tenure was Minority Spokesman on Energy, and gave out-going Energy Minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah worrying moments with his deep knowledge of the energy sector, dismissed claims that he was part of a government delegation to Abuja last week.

He said he received a letter from the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament to attend a meeting in Abuja from 24 – 28 March 2003 in his capacity as acting Chairman of the Budget Central Committee of the sub-regional House.

Asante said the meeting was a joint one between his committee and the Finance Committee and the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament nominated him to chair the joint meeting. “I left Accra on Sunday 23 March for the meeting and returned on Saturday 29 March,” he said.

Pressed to give reasons for his resignation from Parliament, he said since he told the Speaker in his letter that he was doing so for personal reasons, “I will leave it at that for now”.

In an apparent reaction to the uncomplimentary things that were said about him after his resignation, he referred to an Akan saying “Wanhu wasem ka, Onyankopon nnka ma wo, Wanhu wo ko anko a, Onyankopon nnko ma wo,” to wit, “if you do not know how to present your case, God will not do it for you or God will not fight for you if you do not take up the fight yourself”.

When his attention was drawn to speculation in the media that his support for Dr Kwesi Botchwey has made him “a “black sheep” in the party, Asante said since the congress in December last year, a lot of water has passed under the bridge and he had forgotten about those developments “but it appears some personalities in the party have not forgotten.

Asked why he attended the ECOWAS Parliament meeting when he had resigned his position as a Member of Parliament in Ghana, Asante explained that the meeting was arranged long before “I took the decision to end my relations with Ghana’s Parliament.”

He said by attending the meeting in Abuja, he rather made sacrifices for which everybody should be grateful to him. Asante said the decision to resign from Parliament was taken in consultation with his family and other well-wishers even in the Amenfi West constituency.

“My decision to keep the resignation to my chest was strategic” he said and added that “some members in the leadership have described me as destructive in the constituency”.

He said “I will explain to my constituents later and they will understand my decision to leave Parliament”.

On his future relationship with the NDC and whether or not he is heading to the ruling New Patriotic Party, he said: “No comment” and added that “at the appropriate time, I will announce my next move.

“Now I am waiting to see what is up the sleeves of the NDC,” he added. Asante, however, pledged to continue to offer dedicated services to his constituents, Ghana and the sub-region in any capacity.

The Functional Executive Committee (FEC) of the NDC at the weekend expressed concern about the manner Asante went about his resignation from Parliament and comments made by Mike Gizo, MP for Shai Osodoku, on the airwaves.

It said both developments have caused considerable concern among the rank and file of the party and have profound implications for party discipline.

The party has, therefore, decided to arraign the two before its disciplinary committee for breach of party discipline and seeking to bring the name and image of the NDC into disrepute and public ridicule. - Graphic

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Merchant Bank MD forced to resign?

The Managing Director of Merchant Bank Ghana Limited, Chris Nartey has resigned. A statement signed by the acting board chairman, B. O. Mankwas said Nartey notified the board of his intention to retire from the service of the bank.

The statement said ''Nartey has had a challenging and meritorious tenure of 29 years service with the bank'', during which he also served as the managing director for 10 years.

The chairman assured customers and clients of the bank’s continued support and improvement upon the relationships established with them over the years and wished that Nartey’s successor would be accorded the same level of support for the mutual benefit of all.

Reports however indicate that the Bank’s board directed Chris Nartey to resign his position. -Ghanaweb

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Ghana jumps into Business Outsourcing

Accra (Greater Accra) 01 April 2003 - The West African nation of Ghana is looking to offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) to diversify the revenue stream for the country's economy.

"Countries such as India and the Philippines have taken the lead in business process outsourcing. Ghana has some advantages even if we are new to the game," said Sam Somuah, a special assistant at Ghana's Office of the President.

Somuah thinks Ghana's skilled labour pool, relatively low wages, investment climate and culture will make it a competitive destination for BPO companies.

Some companies have already started locating offices in Ghana. Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. opened an office in Ghana's capital, Accra, in 2000 and employs over 1,300 Ghanaians. Data Management International, of Wilmington, Delaware, also has a facility in Accra.

To further fuel the country's effort at placing itself on the offshore outsourcing map, Ghana's president, John Kufuor, in September last year took a tour to Salt Lake City, Utah, to canvass for BPO companies to locate some of their operations in his country and to lobby existing BPO companies who have located in his country to expand their operations.

Global Response Ghana MG Ltd. is the outcome of that visit. While U.S. companies including OverC (a call center division of Cincom Systems Inc.) and Convergys Cooperation. have paid exploratory visits to Accra, in October last year, Global Response Corp., the customer contact centre and fulfilment services business based in Margate, Forida, entered into a joint venture partnership with a Ghanaian entrepreneur to start a call centre in that country.

The joint venture, Global Response Ghana MG Ltd., estimates it will have about 500 agents manning BPO workstations in two years. Although the venture is in its early days, the partners in Global Response Ghana MG Ltd. are optimistic about the Ghana project. The new enterprise has taken advantage of Ghana's anglophone population, and has recruited a substantial number of native French and Spanish speakers residing in the country, who have come from Ghana's West African neighbours.

"We can service Canada, every part of the U.S. and France," says Samuel Crabbe, chief executive of Global Response Ghana MG Ltd.

"We think there is a great opportunity in Ghana, but the challenge in Ghana is going to be technical," says Michael Shooster, chief operating officer of Global Response Corp.

"In my understanding, labour is the driving force" for BPO in Ghana, India, and the Philippines, Shooster said, noting the relatively lower cost of labour in these countries compared to the U.S. However, he noted, "telecommunications cost is higher; something we have to roll back our sleeves on."

Ghana authorities say they are aware of the telecommunications hurdle, and they are working hard to overcome it. "We are going to come up with a pricing structure that will make Ghana competitive," Somuah said.

Other entrepreneurs from companies such as Rising Data Solutions (Ghana) Ltd. discerned the opportunities that Ghana presents well before the government did. Rising Data Solutions has been in Ghana since November 2001 and will launch its call centre in April.

"India is today's news with increasing competition for labour. Ghana is tomorrow's news. We wanted to be there at the beginning. Be a leader not a follower," said Sambou Makalou, CEO of Rising Data Solutions.

"Our company did a thorough analysis of locations around the world that are best-suited to deliver call centre outsourcing. We found that Ghana had a compelling list of assets including a stable democracy, a well-educated English speaking population and sufficient IT infrastructure especially with the arrival of SAT-3 (satellite telecommunications system)," he said.

Setting up in Ghana has not been all rosy. "We are still struggling with extremely expensive bandwidth costs. We have also found that the labour pool is relatively limited at this point," says Makalou.

Despite these difficulties, Makalou thinks Rising Data made a good choice. "Ghana has been a very good place for us to work so far. We have had full cooperation from the government. The experience has been positive," he said.

Now, Ghanaian authorities are looking beyond call centres. "We want to start with these contact centers and move up the full chain to high value IT offshore outsourcing," Somuah said. - IDG News Service

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Double headed lizard in Gizo’s attire

Accra (Greater Accra) 01 April 2003 - The NDC MP for Shai Osoduku, Mike Gizo who has been under pressure from his party for what they consider a betrayal of trust, had the shock of his life during church service on Sunday, when a double-headed lizard was found in his ''boubou'' wear.

The incident happened at the Christian Action Faith Ministries where the MP worships.

In the course of the service, Mike Gizo reportedly rushed out of the church service holding the back of his boubou. Later, he came back, mounted the stage with the lizard which he said had two heads, wrapped in a paper in his left hand and told the congregation that ''this is another miracle of the Lord''.

He said the lizard was removed from inside his ''boubou'' as it moved, but he held it saying ''in the name of Jesus, Satan you are defeated''.

Whilst some members of the congregation believe the incident was a manifestation of an orchestrated spiritual attack on the NDC MP, others are of the view that the lizard’s appearance could be explained logically.

Those with the spiritual school of thought led by Bishop Nicholas Duncan Williams immediately launched into torrents of prayer to ''immobilize'' the attackers and undo whatever damage the lizard was sent to cause.

After intensive prayers, Gizo and his wife, Doreen were charged by the Bishop to keep their mouths shut and refrain from further interactions with the media and ''okro mouth'' friends and acquaintances.

Others who saw the incident from a purely logical perspective said there was momentary power failure during the service, following which some technical men went upstairs to switch on the church’s generator.

In the process of doing so, they pulled a tarpaulin which covered the equipment from where the lizard possibly dropped and entered the MP’s dress. - Statesman

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Bereaved families left in limbo

Accra (Greater Accra) 01 April 2003 – Chronicle investigations have revealed that one year after seven people lost their lives in a military helicopter crash in the Atiwa Forest; no compensation has been paid to the victim’s families.

This is contrary to the promise made by the Minister of Defence, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, who is also the acting minister of the interior, during the burial and funeral rites of the victims.

The minister was quoted as saying that the government would adequately compensate the family of the victims who included four soldiers and two patients who were involved in a motor accident on the Accra-Kumasi road and were airlifted from the Nkawkaw Holy Family Hospital to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra for further treatment, and a male nurse at the Nkawkaw Holy Family Hospital who was also detailed to assist the patient on board the helicopter.

A reliable source at the Ministry of Defence confirmed that no compensation has been paid “yet” but could not tell when it would be paid or whether something was being worked out. The source alleged that in the 16 March 2002 airlift fiasco, two patients, one military and the other civilian might not have been officially authorised-making claims for compensation difficult.

The management of Nkawkaw Holy Family Hospital told “Chronicle” that it had written several letters and made contacts to the appropriate quarters, but were yet to receive any favourable response.

They said the death of the nurse, Victor Adu Nyarko has created a big vacuum at the Hospital and if the situation stands as it is now, no nurse in the future would be prepared to sacrifice for any patient as their colleague did. When Dr Addo Kufuor was contacted, he directed the reporter to the Chief of Staff.

The Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, when contacted, stated that he was not aware of the situation since the helicopter belongs to the military and was being operated under the command of the military. He therefore advised the aggrieved families to officially contact his office for necessary action on the matter. – The Ghanaian Chronicle

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