GRi Press Review 30 – 04 - 2003
Quality Grain – Is Rawlings the real
culprit?
‘It’s no witch-hunt of political opponents’
- Govt assures
Quality Grain – Is Rawlings the real
culprit?
Referring to the phrase ''Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop'', Justice Afreh said Mrs Cotton exploited her relationship with government officials to milk this poor country ''I believe if she was anybody else, she would have been rebuffed''. But it appears ''someone up there liked her''.
Justice Afreh said the accused persons had the opportunity to tell the court where the orders came from but decided ''to keep the former President out of the case''.
The judge thought it strange, the special treatment granted
to Mrs Cotton. He said in 1995-1996 when she came to
Rawlings had taken her to view the Aveyime site for the rice production in an aircraft. Despite her inability to account for the first loan of $7m, which was guaranteed by Parliament, the Finance Minister went ahead to guarantee an additional loan of $12m without reference to Parliament, but with a decision, which according to the judge, might have come from the President alone.
Justice Afreh expressed apparent surprise at the conduct of the defence team, as none referred to the apparent invisible hand of the former President guiding this satisfaction of Mrs Cotton’s demands.
There was no evidence that any of the accused persons gained
personally from the loans. Mrs Cotton on the other hand paid herself $2m
salary, bought a $1m house, two Mercedes Benz and paid her husband $200,000 as
Executive Secretary. She is currently serving a jail term in the
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Amentfi West (Western Region)
According to a family source, when Yaw Nsowah learnt that the late MP's relative, Asmah, had died, he told the gathered crowd that the late Asmah died because he voted for the NPP and for that matter Mrs. Sonful and that he (Yaw Nsowah) would have been happier if another cousin of hers, Dominic Arthur, who stood solidly behind Mrs. sonful in her campaign had also died.
Unknown to the NDC activist, two sisters of the newly-elected MP were present and quickly reacted to the remarks. A fight nearly ensued but for the timely intervention of an elder of the town which prevented the 'bloody war". As a result, the funeral preparation for the late Asmah were halted but the Abusuapanin of the Aduana family pleaded with his people to suspend the case till after the burial.
Meanwhile, the newly elected MP was out of town to attend the burial and the final funeral rites of the late John Asmah, the husband of Mrs. Gladys Asmah, MP for Takoradi and Minister for Women and Children Affairs. Mrs. Sonful, upon hearing the news on her return to Asankragwa, told her family members that she would go all out and file a suit against the NDC activist to bring all insinuations and castigations against her and the family to a halt.
All efforts to get the MP's side of the story proved futile as she was said to be touring her constituency to thank those who voted for her. The situation has set tongues waging in Asankragwa as to why the MP cannot forget about the issue and concentrate on her new career but rather wage a legal battle against an ordinary NDC supporter.
In another development, the uncle of the late Asmah, Asamoah Bandah a.k.a. "Othelo", who threatened to kill one Dr. Osei Kofi of the Asankragwa Catholic hospital, is believed to be back in Asankragwa but walking as a free man, upon hearing that his brother Anthony Asamah was dead. No effort has been made by the Asankragwa police to arrest him. - Heritage
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‘It’s no witch-hunt of political opponents’
- Govt assures
He therefore advised the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
to stop attempts to put political coloration on the trial and the judgement
delivered by the
He said the law under which the five state officials were tried was not promulgated by the NPP government and noted that a member of the NPP administration was even tried under the same law.
On the comments that the judgement sought to criminalize the exercise of administrative discretion in the performance of the duty of a public servant, Agyepong said rather the trial and judgement will teach public officers great lessons. He said from the trial public officers will now realise that they cannot take the sweat and toil of the citizens for granted and also place high responsibility on them in respect of the disbursement of public funds.
Agyepong said the whooping amount of $21m, which was lost to the state could have been used for productive ventures. He said there is credible evidence that the public officials involved in the trial had the benefit of substantial advice about the credibility of Ms Juliet Cotton.
The Press Secretary said former Vice President, Professor John Atta Mills is on record to have written a letter dated 2 December 1998 to the then Minister of Finance stressing the urgent need to them to meet as soon as possible to consider the next line of action to take in order to minimise the losses in the Quality Grain project.
He said Professor Mills even went to the extent of directing the Minister of Agriculture to assume oversight responsibility over the project while the government consulted the then Attorney General on what rights could be exercised by the ministry in relation to the project.
Agyepong recalled a comment by the then Minister of Agriculture, Dr Kwabena Adjei, on a letter dated on 3 March 1998 on the Quality Grain project which suggested the need for the formation of a crack technical team to evaluate and edit the project to determine its course of progress and its very vitality as soon as possible.
Agyepong said the then Minister of
Food and Agriculture expressed fears that if the government did not take action
immediately then, things might go rather bad sooner than they expected. He said
the Serious Fraud Office, in an intelligence report dated
He said from all indications there was sufficient warning against the overtures and manipulation by Ms Cotton to defraud the state. Given the weight of evidence before the court and warning on Ms Cotton, Agyepong said it is an unfortunate and a sad reflection that the NDC should attempt to make politics out of the trial. – Daily Graphic
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The department has, therefore, advised the public to pay constant attention to weather forecasts and warnings in order to take the necessary precautions to avoid the loss of lives and property.
The Director of MSD, Franklin P. Mote, told the Graphic in
The sector, Mote indicated, will experience what he termed, “normal to above normal rainfall amounts”. This, he said, means that people in this area should take extreme precautionary measures because trees could be uprooted and roofs ripped off.
The rains in the northern sector –Wa, Navrongo, Bole, Tamale and Yendi–are expected to be near normal but will also be characterised by thunderstorms and strong winds. The sector stands the chance of getting 50 per cent above normal and 30 per cent below normal, Mote said.
In the southern sector, which includes
The Eastern Coastal corridor–portions of Sekondi,
According to Mote, in June, the country will experience the normal monsoon rains in the coastal and forest areas. Rainfall in the northern regions will, however, be characterised by thunderstorms and strong winds from May up to July, adding that the rains will get to their peak in August.
On the perennial flooding of
The official said if the public could be educated to avoid
these practices, flooding in the city would be averted. According to Mote, the
MSD has a representative on the Greater Accra Anti-Floods Management Committee.
– Daily
Graphic
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 April 2003 - A number of lotto stakers last week besieged the offices of “The Evening News” to protest against what they called “blatant cheating” by some private lotto operators. According to them, while these lotto operators are quick in demanding payment for numbers staked they are reluctant to pay winnings. The leader of the group, Gregory Dufie Boamah, said this sort of cheating had gone on for some time.
“These private lotto operators have had a field’s day for too long, and we think it is time they were checked”, he said.
One person said he won close to 360m cedis on the number
drawn on the National Sports Lotto on
He said those of them who won that day had gone through a bad experience because it appeared these operators were not prepared to pay then their winnings. “Even though the owners of the Sports Lotto have acknowledged that we have won, they have refused to pay us. All attempts to get them to pay us our moneys have failed as they keep on tossing us up and down,” he added.
When contacted the managing director of “Asare Original Pay All”, operators of the National Sports Lotto, Stephen Asare simply said we should “leave that” to him. He did not give further comment.
The group spokesman said if steps were not taken to pay them
they would organize a massive demonstration against the operators throughout
the country “since the cheating is widespread. – The Evening News
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