GRi Press Review 07 - 08 - 2003
NDC questions transfer of jailed Ministers
Coup allegation was invented - Bagbin
Government to decide GCB's fate next week
¢103b GETFund missing - Govt
Rawlings denies coup plot
Choice of Mills a mistake - Reform Chairman
'Be above partisan politics' - Asantehene
'Non-communicable diseases on the rise'
CHRAJ Commissioner, Minority Leader in tango
Kufuor explains use of SSNIT Funds for Health Insurance
U.S threatens Ghana
NDC is flirting with the devil
NDC questions transfer of jailed Ministers
Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - The NDC's Director of Communications, John Mahama has questioned government's explanation for the relocation of two former jailed Ministers from the Nsawam Medium Security Prison. Speaking on JOY FM, Mahama said the allegations that the NDC is using a human rights lawyer through the convicted serial killer, Charles Quansah and the two former ministers to implicate officials of government in the serial killing of women is untrue.
Information Minister, Nana Akomea told journalists on Tuesday that the action of the two former Ministers, Kwame Peprah and Ibrahim Adam necessitated their transfer from the Nsawam prison. But speaking to JOY FM, the Prisons Director, Richard Kuuire said the transfers were purely administrative.
Dr John Mahama says the NDC is currently investigating circumstances surrounding the relocation. He also denied any contact between the convicted serial killer and the NDC or the two jailed former Ministers. - Joy FM
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Coup allegation was invented - Bagbin
Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - Minority Leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin, said there was no substance to the coup allegations, which appeared in a local newspaper's article over the weekend. Bagbin said he had been told on good authority that the source of the coup allegations had confessed to inventing the tale to obtain regular payments from the security services.
''The security agencies have assured the government and the public that there is at present no threat to the stability of the country,'' said Bagbin. Over the weekend, government authorities questioned and released without charge five people, including three army officers, over an alleged coup plot, the information minister said on Wednesday.
''The security agencies have conducted investigations into matters relating to state security,'' Information Minister Nana Akomea told Reuters. ''Three serving officers, a retired soldier and a civilian were questioned but they were all released (and allowed) to go home after interviews on Saturday,'' he added.
Ghana is widely viewed as one of the most stable countries in volatile West Africa, having managed to settle into democracy after a coup-ridden start to independence from former colonial master Britain. In 2001, one-time army ruler Jerry Rawlings handed over power peacefully to former opposition leader John Kufuor. - Reuters
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Government to decide GCB's fate next week
Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - Government will next week Friday take a final decision on the fate of its holdings in Ghana commercial bank GCB. Friday's announcement will indicate whether or not government will sell its 46 per cent share and to whom.
Finance Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo disclosed this Wednesday when he received a report presented by an 11 member committee set up to study government's proposal and the concerns of the public on the planned divestiture of Government's shares in the bank. Details of the report were however not disclosed.
The committee headed by the Minster of state in charge of finance and economic planning Dr Nii Ashong was set up following public outcry on the proposed sale of government's shares to a strategic investor.
Addressing the media, Osafo Marfo said government would largely rely on recommendations made in the report to take its decision. He said a cabinet committee has been set up to study the report. Meanwhile about 8 companies including local ones have expressed interest in the purchase of the shares.
According to the minister the bidding process will continue but the entire process could be halted if cabinet decides otherwise. - Joy FM
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Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - A total of ¢103bn out of the ¢168bn that accrued from the GETFund for the 2000 is missing. Government has still not found where the money is, almost three years after coming into power.
The Minister of Information, Nana Akomea announced this in Accra Wednesday. He was reacting to a call on government by the NUGS to immediately effect payment of the arrears of over ¢400 billion into the fund or face court action.
He called on all, especially the NUGS, to demand answers from "those in government at that time or where that money is." According to him, the 12.5 per cent VAT rate became effective in June 2000, and deductions into the GETFund began accordingly during the same period.
He maintained that from June 2000 to December 2000, the schedule of deductions from the VAT showed a total payment of ¢168bn. "At the end of 2000, six months after the deductions started, the amount in the fund was ¢65bn.
The records indicate that ¢30bn was transfered to SSNIT in November 2000, while ¢1bn was applied to the Chemistry building in Legon.
"If you set out the total deduction or accruals of ¢168bn, as per VAT records against payment and the actual amount of ¢65bn left in the GETFund account, there is an outstanding balance of ¢103bn that is un-accounted for at the end of year 2000," he emphasized.
"He explained that it was strange that until now nobody knows where the money is, and we call on all of us, especially the NUGS, to demand answer from those in government at that time where that money is." - Ghanaian Times
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Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - The office of the former President has emphatically denied that neither Rawlings nor any of his associates is involved in a plot to destabilise the country.
A spokesperson told the paper that media claims that the posting of intelligence reports on the internet are intended to create confusion and thereby facilitate a coup may be the paranoia.
"We can say emphatically that neither the ex-President nor any of his associates is faking security reports as a means of destabilizing the country."
"The reports in the media are without foundation. Rawlings is fully committed to the democratic experiment and would do everything possible to protect our infant democracy," he said. The Ghanaian media had reported that a fake security report has been posted on the Internet alleging that the Presidential security guard is indiscipline.
It also claims that the Editor of the "Insight" is being used by the former President to incite soldiers against the government. - Insight
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Choice of Mills a mistake - Reform Chairman
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 7 August 2003 - The Eastern regional chairman of the National Reform Party (NRP), Atta Dogoe, has said that the choice of Prof John Evans Atta Mills, as flagbearer of the National democratic Congress (NDC) for 2004 elections was a mistake.
This is because Prof. Mills lost against the current president, President John Kufuor, while enjoying incumbency and therefore he is likely to be defeated again by Kufuor in the next elections.
"With all kinds of support, euphoria and charisma of Rawlings around him, he lost. What other chances are there for him to win this time?" he asked.
Dogoe was speaking in an interview with the Chronicle on his assessment of the chances of the political parties in the next elections. He said another defeat for Prof. Mills would end his political career.
Dogoe condemned recent criticisms by former President Jerry Rawlings against President Kufuor, saying no matter how poorly Kufuor's government is performing, and Rawlings could have pointed this out in a decent manner.
He advised the ex-president to choose his words carefully to befit his status as a statesman. On the debate as to whether the state should fund political parties, Dogoe said state funding should be in the form of logistics supplies to the parties, which should be shared proportionately. - Chronicle
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'Be above partisan politics' - Asantehene
Kumasi (Asanti Region) 7 August 2003 - The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has noted that the active involvement of some chiefs in partisan politics is gradually derailing their moral right to criticise bad governance on the continent.
He said but for the fact that good governance and democracy were the true pillars on which Africa's traditional system was built, there would not have been order and cohesion in African societies. He expressed regret, however, that some African countries are busy finding ways of sidelining traditional leaders.
The Asantehene expressed these sentiments in a speech to close a three-day conference of African traditional leaders held in Kumasi from August 2 to 4 August 2003.
The conference was organised by the PANAFEST Foundation, in collaboration with the National Commission on Culture and the National House of Chiefs. Delegates from the Ghana, Togo, Nigeria and South Africa took part in the conference.
Papers presented were on the topics "African traditional systems and the growth of Democracy and Good Governance "African traditional leaders and socio-economic development," "Realisation of the goals of the African Union- The role of the traditional ruler;" " Gender and traditional African leadership".
The Asantehene said Africa can develop faster if its culture is placed at the forefront of planning, decision-making and implementation at all levels. He urged African traditional rulers to assert themselves by playing meaningful roles in mobilising their people in their respective communities for rapid development.
"African traditional rulers need to build confidence in themselves and present a united front in the preservation of their status and the protection of their values and cultural heritage," he added.
Governments in Africa, he said, must see traditional leaders as partners in development at the central, regional and district levels, instead of the present arrangement where some traditional leaders are only considered as ceremonial figures.
He expressed joy that, for the first time, Africa's own traditional leaders
have taken the initiative to establish their own union and open a fresh page in
the history of Africa. "For the first time, a concrete step has been taken
to harness our rich resources and energies for the advancement of our
communities on our dear continent,"
he noted.
The Asantehene expressed the hope that organisers and collaborators of the conference will stay closer with the union's secretariat when established to ensure that there is a better integration into the objectives and ideals of PANAFEST.
In a nine -point communiqué, the conference resolved to encourage the formation of a Conference of Continental Traditional Leaders to create a common platform for them to interact and express their views on socio-political matters.
Besides, it will enable them to give wise counsel and assist political leaders to promote good governance in member states to enhance peace, unity, stability and equitable development.
It also resolved to encourage the formation of regional groupings of continental traditional leaders. In line with this, the conference resolved to authorize the formation of a technical committee to develop an action strategy to promote the ideals, objectives and decisions of the conference.
The communiqué, signed by Odeneho Gyapong Ababio II, the conference Chairman and President of the National House of Chiefs, and a delegate each from Togo, South Africa and Nigeria, said the conference will also promote human rights, the rule of law and internal African democracy in the respective member states of the AU. - Graphic
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'Non-communicable diseases on the rise'
Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - There has been an upsurge in the incidence of non-communicable diseases like cancer, stroke and hypertension owing to tobacco use, Prof Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has said in Accra yesterday. He said tobacco use has risen steadily, in recent times, especially among the youth,and that it has been the cause of death and disability more than any single disease.
Prof Akosa said in view of the gravity of the effects of tobacco use in the country, the government is taking steps to control its use, even though there is no legislation backing the pronouncements. He was speaking at a press briefing on tobacco control in the country in Accra.
He said despite government efforts at controlling tobacco use, companies manufacturing it continue to have direct advertisements, promotions and sponsorship programmes, especially for the youth who are enticed with free cigarettes. In view of this situation, Ghana has adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which bans advertising and sponsorships by tobacco companies.
Prof Akosa said a draft bill on tobacco control will soon be submitted to the
sector minister for Cabinet approval.
The bill, when passed into law, will address issues such as tobacco advertising,
promotion and sponsorship, packaging and labelling of tobacco products,
protection from tobacco smoke as well as price and tax measures to reduce
demand.
Prof Akosa also reminded the public, especially retailers of tobacco products, that they can be prosecuted for selling it to minors. He hinted that the Ghana Health Service will soon embark on an outreach programme in the rural areas of the country. - Graphic
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CHRAJ Commissioner, Minority Leader in tango
Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - The Commissioner for Human Rights ad Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Minority Leader in Parliament are locked in a heart-stopping row over the failure of CHRAJ to investigate allegations that the public purse was debited for renovation works at the private residence of President John Kufuor.
"The Chronicle" can confirm that CHRAJ has discontinued investigations into the renovation works carried out at the private's house because Emile Short says that Minority Leader, Alban Babgin, upon whose petition the investigation was to be based, withdraw his interest in pursuing the case.
Short, will soon be on a sabbatical to serve in a United Nations was crimes tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, was responding to questions from the "Chronicle" on the petition filed by the Minority leader.
But the Minority leader, who has been in the forefront of the anti-corruption lobby denied the claim by Short in an interview with the "Chronicle", Monday, saying he has not indicated to CHRAJ that he was not interested in pursuing the matter neither has withdraw his petition.
Babgin observed that he was dissatisfied with the manner in which CHRAJ was handling the investigation adding that after his petition, the Attorney-General responded setting the stage for CHRAJ to enter investigations but they rather wrote to him saying, that he should respond to the A-G's response with 14 days.
"It is interesting that the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice is discontinuing further investigations into the petition I filed on the use of state funds to renovate the private residence of the President for the reason that I have said I am no longer interested in the matter "I have not said that," he said.
He told the "Chronicle" that the matter is not that of a personal interest but rather that of national importance and that the people of Ghana who own the money which was used in the renovation work, should know the actual facts surrounding the renovation.
Bagbin said that even if he decided not to pursue the matter CHRAJ could still have gone ahead to investigate the matter because the law, which established CHRAJ empowers them to initiate their own investigations in serious national issues.
The Minority leader noted with regret that many people, including CHRAJ were behaving as if he had a personal interest in the matter and creating the impression that he was just out to cause mischief and embarrass the President. "Let me state that I have no personal interest in the matte, I do not hate the President," he added. - Chronicle
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Kufuor explains use of SSNIT Funds for Health Insurance
Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - President John Kufuor has expressed regret that not all Ghanaians seem to appreciate the good intentions of the government in using part of workers' social security contribution for the National Health Insurance Scheme. President Kufuor explained that contrary to the beliefs and misconceptions of certain people, government is not "stealing" the workers money but is borrowing from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to serve as seed money for the scheme.
President Kufuor said this when he inaugurated a modern 60-bed Dangme-East District Hospital at a ceremony at Faithkope in Ada.
The China National Corporation undertook the project for Overseas Economic Co-operation. In the past, he said, SSNIT was not able to invest workers money in any meaningful way, nor was its investment able to yield positive results, and urged Ghanaians to have confidence in the government in the implementation of the health insurance scheme.
The President noted that Ada is blessed with natural resources and said there is the need for the people of the area to start thinking about a harbour for the salt industry as well as opening the area for a chemical industry.
Earlier in a welcoming address, Kofi Plahar, the Dangme - East District Chief Executive (DCE), called for the required number of staff for the hospital and the provision of residential accommodation for the medical officer and other paramedical staff who will be posted to the hospital.
Plahar announced that the district assembly, in collaboration with the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA), the Ghana Health Service and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research has established a surveillance mechanism to monitor the health needs of the people.
Prof Agyeman Badu Akosa, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, said it is imperative that the people make some contributions towards their own health care and expressed the need for the hospital to be run on proper finances.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Lu Yongshou, disclosed that the Chinese Government has provided aid for the construction of barracks for the military and the police, while it has provided financial assistance for the construction of a portion of the Kumasi-Accra Road and the inspection and rehabilitation of the National Theatre in Accra.
President Kufuor also visited the Ada Songhor Lagoon Vaccum Salt Project and said his government will act as a facilitator and encourage the chiefs to allow the private sector to invest in the salt industry.
Eric Ankrah, Project Engineer, who briefed the President and his entourage, said the factory had the capacity to produce up to 800,000 tonnes of salt per annum, from its originally acquired 12,428 acre land, but added that owing to certain problems, which he did not enumerate, the capacity has fallen to a current level of 60,000 tonnes per annum.
He expressed the hope that if the government comes in to assist, it will be possible for the company to produce enough salt to capture the salt market in Nigeria. The President also inspected the Prampram-Ningo Bridge and addressed a durbar of chiefs and people of Ningo.
His entourage included Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, Sheikh I.C. Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister, Dr Richard Anane, Minister of the Works and Housing, and E.T. Mensah, MP for Ningo-Prampram.
He assured the people of the two communities that his government will not make politics out of the issue of the bridge. He said documents covering the project have been critically examined and the necessary steps are being taken for work to begin on the bridge.
Work on the bridge was initiated in 1995 and was expected to be completed in 1996 at the cost of ¢3bn, but had to be abandoned as a result of technical and financial difficulties.
The contractor, Frandesco West Africa Limited, was prevailed upon to complete the project in 2002, but it insisted that the government pay all arrears owed it for projects executed in different parts of the country.
A.K Hammond, Chief Executive of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) who briefed the President and his entourage, said the authority is taking steps to reactivate the project or re-award the contract to a different contractor. So far, he said 70 per cent of the project has been completed and added that it will require about ¢6.5bn to complete the remaining 30 per cent. - Graphic
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Accra (Greater Accra) 7 August 2003 - The US government has given Ghana up to 1 November 2003, to ratify its Bilateral Non-Surrender Agreement (BNSA) or risk being cut off from US military assistance.
The ultimatum to Ghana is part of a worldwide campaign being waged by Washington to compel countries with little or no backbone to accept its fiat to grant blanket immunity to all US service personnel from prosecution under the International Criminal Court for war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Information reaching The Heritage from the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), a network of over 1,350 Members of Parliament from 105 elected national legislatures, indicate that the cut-off in military assistance from the US is the penalty being applied by Washington to states rejecting the BNSA.
The agreement, which under the US law is called American Service Members Protection Act (Article 98) of 2 August 2002, also allows the US President to issue waivers to countries that are allied with the US or countries for which the national interest of the US could be at stake.
The PGA, citing White House memo dated 1 July 2003, said Ghana received a presidential waiver for "reasons of national interest" on that date valid until 1 November 2003.
According to the PGA, if the Parliament of Ghana fails to ratify the agreement by that date, she might be sanctioned with a cut-off in US military assistance, unless otherwise determined by the US President.
The authoritative French News Agency, Agence France Press (AFP) disseminated information on 2 May 2003 that the BNSA agreement had been signed between Ghana and the US in early May.
It said in early May 2003, other news agencies were reporting that the US State Department had communicated to the media a list of countries that had signed the BNSA against the ICC. The list, according to the AFP, included Ghana.
"We inferred that the signature of such an agreement has been done silently - almost secretly - maybe because Ghana was the fifth nation of the world to join the 'ICC Club' of the law-abiding states in 1999 through a Bipartisan Agreement", the PGA stated in documents sent to The Heritage.
It added that, "the Government of Ghana might have therefore feared the shameful effect of a public declaration that Ghana caved in to US pressures against the court".
The PGA, which is engaged in a wide range of action-oriented initiatives that promote democracy, peace, justice and development throughout the world, disclosed that on 1 July this year, the US suspended more than $47m in military aid to 35 countries for their failure or refusal to give US citizens immunity from prosecution by the tribunal, which Washington vehemently opposes.
It said the US fears the ICC - the world's first permanent international court to try cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide - could become a forum for politically-motivated prosecutions of US citizens.
"Because the agreements are controversial, eight countries including Ghana, have asked that they be kept secret", according to the PGA documents.
Ghanaian authorities have been tight-lipped over the deal. When contacted, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the sector Minister had instructed that all inquiries on the subject must be re-directed to the Defence Minister. This was after The Heritage had made marathon phone calls over a two-day period to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A questionnaire subsequently sent to and duly received at the Ministry of Defence was said to have mysteriously vanished at the office of the Minister of Defence at Burma Camp.
Meanwhile, International Relations experts stress that the BNSA agreement, if ratified, will have far-reaching implications for both Ghana and the ICC.
According to them, the ratification of such a bilateral agreement may limit the court's effectiveness, which might lead to states neglecting their responsibility to co-operate fully with it.
For Ghana, it means one of the first countries to sign the Rome Treaty that set up the ICC and has "Freedom and Justice" as her national motto, would have reneged on her international obligations to ensure justice. - The Heritage
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NDC is flirting with the devil
Akyem Ofoase (Eastern Region) 7 August 2003 - The Minister of Finance, Yaw Osafo Maafo has deplored the clandestine activities of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and warned that any attempt to subvert the government will be thwarted.
He said "the NDC" is flirting with the devil to throw the country into a state of anarchy", and called on Ghanaians to put up a strong resistance should the need arise. Osafo-Maafo said these when he addressed a well-attended NPP regional rally at Ofoase in the Birim North District in the Eastern Region.
"The NDC is moving with the devil to visit mayhem in the country, but God willing, every subversive attempt to dislodge the democratic process will be crushed," he warned. Osafo-Maafo said President Kufuor is a God fearing person and would not consult a voodoo to rule this country adding "he will not also swallow a toad for protection."
Osafo-Maafo said, the government had for its short stay in power, developed some parts of the country, which were denied for the past 20 years under the governance of the NDC. He gave the assurance that jobs would be created to enable the youth who had been migrating to the city centers in search of non-existent jobs to be engaged in their respective villages.
Osafo-Maafo who said he was not a prophet of doom predicted that the NDC would never this country "until thy kingdom come". "In this light I call on Rawlings and Prof Mills to be on the touch line and watch how the NPP is democratically ruling this country," he said. - Evening News
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