19 Ghanaians in $7 million tax refund fraud
Accra (Greater Accra) 05
February 2003- The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) will by the middle of
this year introduce a prepaid meter system in the major cities of the country
as part of its programme to ensure efficiency in service delivery and revenue
mobilisation.
Speaking to the Ghana News
Agency (GNA) on Tuesday, Jonathan Nii Ahele Nunoo, Managing Director, GWCL said the system which is currently being run on pilot
basis at Tema, would enable consumers to budget and manage their own water
usage.
He said the targeted users would
be the industrial and commercial consumers, whilst it becomes optional for
domestic consumers. "It will provide improved management information on
water usage and payment, thereby, reducing substantially the problem of unaccounted
for water in the water supply/reticulation mechanism," Nunoo
explained.
He said currently, the GWCL was
testing some of the prepaid meters from
The company, He said was also
undertaking consultations exercises with some experienced countries. On its
usage, Nunoo said the system is made up of a point of
sale units and with the aid of token cards, consumers
would be able to operate the meter without any difficulty.
"When you insert your card
which is like a mobile phone card, the meter reads the total amount of water
credit and allows you to draw water in your home until all your credit
expires," he said.
He said when the card is
exhausted; the prepaid meter automatically stops the flow of water. Nunoo, however, noted that the prepaid meters would be more
expensive than the conventional ones.
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Ejisu (Ashanti Region)
In his desperation to escape
Nana Badu left behind his chair and car and when the
police searched the car they found a gun and a cutlass. It all started when
Nana Badu and his accomplices saw emissaries from
''And before the magistrate,
court clerks and the people who were at the court knew what was happening the Odikro and his
accomplices had vamoosed from the court.'' Inspector Nkansa
Twumasi Ankrah told the
court that the Rev Kwame Adjei acquired a piece of land from Nana Afua Serwaa Kobi
Ampem II, the Asantehemaa
in 1999 for building purposes.
He said the complainant was
issued with the necessary documents after paying the required fee and Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, the then
Asantehene and the Asantehemaa signed the documents.
Inspector Nkansah
said Rev Adjei later registered the land at the Administrator of Stool Lands at
Ejisu and was granted another permit so he began his
building that got to the roofing level.
The prosecution said on
September 10 last year the accused persons marched on the complainant's land
and destroyed 500 pieces of blocks valued at 1.5 million cedis and 80 pieces of
boards valued at 800,000 cedis.
Inspector Nkansah
said after the destruction, Nana Badu instructed the
accomplices to follow him and they left. The Rev Adjei therefore reported the
case to the police and the Odikro and his accomplices
were therefore arraigned before the court.
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Since the beginning of January
when the outbreak was reported, three people die almost every day while many of
the victims were hospitalised. The intervention of the Ministry of Health in
the area has however, brought the situation under control.
Joseph Trumah
Bayel Member of Parliament for Sawla-Kalba
told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in
The MP said even though the
situation had been brought under control there was the need to take prompt
action before the setting in of the hot weather in the northern regions.
Bayel appealed to the Ministry of
Health to send enough vaccines to the area to contain the situation before it
gets out of hand. He also advised the people to refrain from sleeping in
congested rooms since that was likely to compound the spread of the disease.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05
February 2003- The Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre
(GIPC), Kwesi Abeasi, has
described as innovative the Joe Aggrey Committee Report on "Plan for Sports
Development in Ghana," and pledged the support of the Centre towards the
new vision which seeks to reposition sports as the embodiment of the spirit of
a new Ghana and a tool for poverty alleviation.
Addressing members of the
Committee for the Implementation of the report, who called on him to solicit
the support of the GIPC in evolving a new attractive incentive regime for
greater private sector participation in the provision of sports infrastructure,
Abeasi pointed out that there were very germane plans
in the report which when carefully pursued might set the proper direction of
sports development as a veritable business venture in the country.
The five-member Implementation
Committee, under the chairmanship of Dr E. Owusu-Ansah,
Acting Chief Executive of the National Sports Council, were at the Centre to
request for concession for investors in sports infrastructure development
similar to what pertain in the real estate industry.
These may include longer periods
for tax exemption for the construction of stadia, leisure centres, swimming
pools, gymnasia and courts, as well as other sports infrastructure to be spread
all over the country for the attainment of the vision as designed in the
report.
Present at the meeting were Dr
Peter Ankrah, Director responsible for Promotion and
Public Relations and Kwabena Antwi, Public Relations
Manager, both of the GIPC.
Abeasi promised to set up a committee
to immediately come out with guidelines for incentives for sports
infrastructure development for the attention of the government, saying,
"consideration would be given to the possibility of making sports part of
future investment trips abroad."
He advised that football should
be de-emphasised while more attention is given to other sports disciplines that
also serve as an avenue for the well-being and better character development of
Ghanaians.
Abeasi agreed that it would be of
interest to carry out an economic impact assessment of sports in
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This follows the successful
completion of the first phase of the project, which involved the naming and
numbering of streets and houses in the metropolis.
Parker Allotey,
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the AMA disclosed this in an interview with
the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in
He said previously most of the
streets were named after popular places and spots and lost the popularity when
those places were no more.
According to the Public
Relations Officer, with the new system, traditional names of the area would be
used so that the people can easily identify them.
Allotey said the AMA and the State
Housing Company (SHC) have resolved the impasse as to which organisation has
the right to implement the exercise, because hitherto, the SHC was doing the
numbering of certain residential areas and this resulted in the duplication of
work.
With regard to new residential
areas being developed, he said the AMA has already mapped out the metropolis to
help solve the problem.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February
2003- An Accra Fast Track Court hearing the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL)
divestiture case on Tuesday over-ruled an objection by defence counsel against
the eligibility of a prosecution witness to testify in the case.
At the court's last sitting on
Tuesday 28 January David Lamptey, the defence
counsel, objected to a police forensic expert giving evidence, because the
court did not invite him to do so.
On 20 January Superintendent
Alhaji Bukari Yakubu,
handwriting expert, and the sixth prosecution witness in the case tendered in
evidence a two-page chart of forensic tests he conducted on the handwritings of
Hanny Sherry Ayittey, one of the four accused persons
on trial, Dr Albert Owusu-Barnafo, third prosecution
witness, and Madam Georgina Okaitey, member of the
31st December Women's Movement.
The three other accused persons
are Emmanuel Amuzu Agbodo,
former Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee, Ralph Casely-Hayford, businessman and Sati Dorcas Ocran, housewife.
They are being tried on various
charges of bribery and corruption in connection with the privatisation of GREL.
All of them have denied their charges and are on self-recognisance bail.
The tests which were at the
instance of the investigator in the case, was to ascertain which
of the three persons was the author of a hand-written address which was the
bone of contention in court.
Over-ruling the objection,
Justice J C Amonoo-Monney, Appeal Court Judge, with
an additional responsibility on the case as a High Court Judge stated that in
his candid opinion, the evidence of Supt Yakubu was
very relevant to the case.
Justice Amonoo-Monney said, "A person is qualified to testify as an
expert if he satisfies the court that the evidence he is going to give will be
relevant to the issue at stake".
He dismissed counsel's assertion
that a court expert might testify if only subpoenaed to do so by the court, and
pointed out that, rather, any party to a suit might call in an expert with
skills, expertise and proficiency, not necessarily ordered by a trial court to
give evidence.
Immediately after the ruling,
Supt Yakubu was put into the witness box to continue
with his evidence-in-chief. Led by Mr Osafo Sampong,
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), witness tendered the original report on
the tests he carried out.
Lamptey again objected to the document,
because in his view, it was only a photocopy signed by the witness. The trial
judge dismissed defence counsel's objection and admitted the report in
evidence.
Using a comparison chart,
witness then demonstrated to the court how he carried out his assignment after
which proceedings were adjourned to Wednesday, 5 February.
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The GJA said President Kufuor's election, was evident, especially, in the cordial
relations that existed between
A statement signed by Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, President of GJA, said: "the
election at the organisation's recent summit in
"President Kufuor's appointment was yet another feather in his cap,
identifying him as an enterprising West African Statesman, and in recognition
of his growing international stature as a leader committed to global peace,
security and development," it added.
In another development, the
association further congratulated two of its members Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh
and Mrs Margaret Safo on their appointment as Editors
of the "Daily Graphic" and "Mirror" respectively.
It said the GJA "feels
honoured to have two of its prominent members in whom it has great confidence,
appointed to these positions, and hope that they would perform their duty in a
manner that will win greater respect, and recognition for the practice of
journalism in
It said their appointment
bestowed on them the responsibility to perform creditably so as to serve as
role models to up-and-coming journalists, and to young
people who in future wish to pursue journalism as a career.
"Particularly, for Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh who was once a Vice President of the
Association, we hope his return to mainstream journalism, after serving
successfully as the Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission (NMC),
would renew his commitment to media accountability," the statement added.
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Kuntanase (Ashanti Region)
Dr K.K. Hussein, the District
Director of Health Services, said the district recorded 24 cases in 2000, 33
cases in 2001 and 44 cases in 2002. Addressing the annual performance review
meeting of the DHMT, he said out of the 44 patients, 20 had total treatment and
four died while receiving treatment.
Fourteen patients defaulted in
the treatment and six could not be followed for their treatment due to the
wrong addresses they gave. The DHMT, Dr Hussein said, was therefore going to
step up efforts at tracing all defaulting TB patients for total treatment.
''All accident victims will be
given free treatment for the first 48 hours after which their relatives would
be made to bear the subsequent debt incurred.'' He said the DHMT would acquire
insecticide mosquito nets and give them to health personnel at the
sub-districts for sale.
''Negotiations are still going
on with the assembly to subsidise the nets and also establish a sale outlet at
the district assembly offices to enable everybody to have access to the nets.''
Dr Asiedu
Bekoe, medical officer in-charge of the Saint Micheal's
He attributed the success of the
Jachie-Pramso sub-district to the commitment of the
health personnel and said they worked as a team in spite of the little
logistics. Yaw Fobi, Ashanti Region Co-ordinator of
the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), said malaria could be reduced if
people patronised the impregnated mosquito nets.
He said that people were
constrained in buying them due to the price and appealed to the assembly to
subsidise it to enable more people to buy them to reduce the high rate of
malaria cases. The Jachie-Pramso sub-district was
adjudged the best for last year in terms of performances in all fields of
health programmes.
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The Vice President, who said
this when he launched the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the service delivery arm
of the Health Ministry, urged Ghanaians to support the scheme when it is
implemented.
He said: "It is better to have
an arrangement that enables you to prepare and plan for inevitable but
unpredictable day of ill-health by paying for a health insurance policy, rather
than the "Cash and Carry" system, which makes you pay when you are
ill and at your most vulnerable.
"I am convinced that in the
long run, health insurance is a more humane way of paying for health services
and I urge you all to support the system when it comes into being later in the
year."
The insurance scheme is being
tested in 42 districts by mutual health organisations, owned by the
communities. Vice President Mahama stressed the government's commitment to
ensure that Ghanaians stay healthy and work for the growth of the economy,
saying the first step to achieving that was maintaining clean surroundings,
healthy diets and undertaking regular exercises.
"Hospitals and clinics are
the last points in the chain for good health... Of course as human beings
diseases would still attack our bodies and this is where the government has a
responsibility to provide modern health facilities and health workers to help
us to recover, he said.
The Vice President, however,
stressed that the major health challenge was to cut down the number of needless
deaths and to secure a more widely and better trained personnel in first aid to
deal with accidents.
He announced that the National
Ambulance Service (NAS) would soon be introduced to improve upon the management
of emergencies and disasters and the transfer of patients from one service
point to the other.
Community Health Training
Schools, he said, were to be established in all the regions to ensure that each
community had a community health nurse. The scheme would be funded under the
Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy Framework (GPRSF).
On the exodus of health professionals,
Vice President Mahama appealed to doctors and nurses to consider the moral
aspect of their work and remain in the country as their patriotic duty.
"I do not ask that health
professionals take a vow of poverty. Indeed, I believe they must be adequately
remunerated for their services," he said and assured them that the
government had been making efforts to improve upon their conditions of
service."
Dr Rod Pullen, British High
Commissioner, who represented the development partners of the health sector,
said beneficiaries of the migrant health workers were working with the
government to address the issue.
He, however, noted that in
addressing the remuneration, the issue of job satisfaction should be
prioritised to motivate health personnel to stay home. Dr Pullen pledged the
commitment of the partners to the health sector to make them deliver the best
quality service and become accountable to the public.
Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director-General of
the Service, out-doored the Patients Charter and Code
of Ethics manuals of the service, and urged patients to expose health workers
who demand illegal fees.
He said without such reports it
would be difficult to stem bad conduct and attitudes. Prof. Alex Kwapong, Chairman of the Council of State, reiterated the
appeal to health workers to be patriotic and serve their nation, saying, "man shall not live without bread, but man shall not live on
bread alone."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05
February 2003- Professor Agyeman Badu-Akosa,
Director-General of the Ghana Health (GHS), on Tuesday, cautioned health
personnel not to demand unauthorised fees from patients who seek their services
at the hospitals and clinics.
This, he said, was spelt out in
the Code of Ethics by GHS, which defines the general moral principles and rules
of behaviour for all service personnel. Prof. Akosa
was speaking at the launch of the Service in
"If you choose to conceal
such wrong practices from us, we shall not be in position to correct the
wrong", he added. The launch of GHS was in fulfilment of the Act 525 of
1996 as required by the 1992 constitution making the service an autonomous
executive agency responsible for implementing national policies under the
control of Minister of Health through the Ghana Health Council (GHC).
Its objectives include managing
prudently, the available resources and increasing access to good quality health
services and through the promotion of healthy mode of living and good health
habits by people, establish effective mechanism for surveillance, prevention
and control of diseases.
It would also perform any other
functions relevant to the promotion, protection and restoration of health as
well as provide in-service and continuing training education for staff.
Prof. Akosa
formally outdoored the publications of the GHS-the Code of Ethics, Code of
Conducts and Disciplinary Procedure and said the publications were to guide
health personnel, managers and employees at all levels of the service in their
normal relations with patients, clients and fellow workers.
He declared the year 2003 as a
year of action and urged all workers of GHS to work harder to achieve the set
target. Professor Francis Nkrumah, Chairman of GHC, said the service with the
help of the Ministry of Health and development partners, will ensure the
provision of more equitable, accessible, efficient and quality health care
system.
He said the image and identity
of the service would be established throughout the country and called on all to
co-operate to make the health of the nation a better one. Dr Rod Pullen,
British Ambassador to
He condemned the mass exodus of
health workers from the country to seek greener pastures and urged them to stay
in their own country since "no one can develop your country for you except
you yourselves".
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 05
February 2003- Alhaji Mohammed Abass Mensah, Overseas
Organiser of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) in London, has called on the
CPP to join hands with the government to put the country back on course.
He said the bond of unity that
had been established between the CPP and UP tradition, the two original parties
that fought for the country's independence, must not be allowed to slip.
Speaking to the Ghana News
Agency on the current call by some party members that Dr Paa
Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning and
Regional Integration and Mr Freddie Blay, First
Deputy Speaker of Parliament, should be expelled from the party, Alhaji Abass said the two people had not done anything that
warranted their expulsion.
''It is preposterous to call for
their expulsion. These two men are key figures in the party and President
Kufuor has very cordial relations with the CPP and as such the party should not
destroy this new found relationship,'' he noted.
Alhaji Abass
said his call for support did not, however, mean that the CPP should not
criticise the government when it went wrong but that such criticism should be
constructive based on a mistake committed by the government.
''The present democratic
dispensation in the country is a source of joy to every Ghanaian both at home
and abroad and therefore, people should not start inflaming passions.''
Alhaji Abass
said CPP supporters were not only getting agitated by the spate of articles and
newspaper publications about the party but were also getting fed up with people
who were bent on destroying the party through the unending wrangling.
He cautioned the NPP not to
follow the footsteps of the NDC who drew most of CPP followers into its fold
thereby, weakening the party, adding that there should be no one party state in
''There should be a credible and
strong opposition at all times to put the government on its toes to ensure good
governance,'' and according to Alhaji Abass Ghanaians
should look up to the CPP as the alternative government to the NPP since it was
the party with a tradition.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05
February 2003- Hon. Jake Obetesebi-Lamptey, Minister
for Information and Presidential Affairs, on Tuesday urged the media to let
objectivity be their focus when criticising issues bordering on state
governance.
He said where as criticisms
based on partisan considerations wrecked a nation, objective comments which
sought to ensure progress were most needed for true nation building.
Obetsebi-Lamptey said this in
He said although periods
immediately preceding national elections were characterised by different
parties campaigning for political power, there was the need for the nation to
stand as one as soon as that period was over and collectively ensure progress.
Obetsebi-Lamptey said the series
offered a good opportunity for Media Practitioners to verify their facts and
report on issues concerning governance exactly as they happen.
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Mrs Gladys Asmah
Minister of the sector said at the 'Meet the press' series on Tuesday that the
improvement in the lives women and children was evident especially in the rural
areas where their living standards have improved tremendously.
She said empowering women and
children with the view to enhancing their prospects for protection and
self-development was challenging but MOWAC through its other partners would
work to achieve this goal.
"The vision of the new
ministry is to work towards the emergence of a harmonious society with equity
and equality between the male and female genders and in which the survival,
protection and development of the child are guaranteed."
Mrs Asmah
said it has become evident that there still remained various forms of violence
and abuse and subjugation of women at the various levels of society. The
Ministry had accordingly evolved a mission to enable it direct its policies
towards the ultimate realization of its vision through formulation of gender
and child specific development policies, she added.
She said another priority was
the equal status and equity in opportunities for women through the elimination
of discrimination and subjugation of women to second citizen status.
Mrs Asmah
said following the establishment of the Ministry, an assessment on the situation
of women indicated that there were major inequalities and imbalances between
men and women in politics and governance, economic, social and cultural roles.
To uplift the image of women,
MOWAC had established the Women's Development Fund (WDF) to provide
micro-credit facilities to vulnerable groups of women on the fringes of
subsistence economy through the network of rural banks and some major banks.
She said the micro credit
facilities from a minimum of 500,000 to one million cedis had been granted to
women engaged in farming, fish mongering and agro processing across the
country.
Mrs Asmah
said the Ministry had instituted various educational and advocacy programmes
geared towards changing societal and perceptions to issues like rape,
defilement, discrimination in education and career placement.
"We also have a programme
code named 'Operation bring the children home' under which the Ministry is
spearheading the return of children trafficked from some coastal fishing
communities to Yeji and communities around the Volta
Lake.
MOWAC was established two years
ago to empower women and children, protect their rights and advocate for change
in traditional and cultural practices and attitudes that deny them equality and
equity.
It was also to restructure and
re-orient where necessary, the Ghana National Commission on Women and
Development (NCWD) and the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC)
established in 1975 and 1979 respectively.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05
February 2003- Benjamin Kwadwo Agyare, former Deputy
Controller of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Tuesday alleged
that his 10 days unlawful detention in 1988 had rendered him a sickler.
"As I speak now the
perpetrators of my ordeal are going about their duties freely and in good
health but I have been diagnosed with Bronchial Asthma and other incurable
diseases for which I am receiving medical care," he said.
Agyare, said on Monday, September 3,
1988 he was acting as the Controller of Customs and Excise in the absence of
his boss Alhaji Dawuda Otoo
when he was arrested for no apparent reason by three policemen who sent him to
the Police Headquarters on the orders of Kofi Gyin,
then Commissioner of Police.
He said he was subsequently
detained for 10 days with about 20 other people in one of the extremely small
and hot cells of the Usher Fort Police Station in
"I went into detention
looking and feeling healthy, but whilst there I started sneezing profusely due
to the heat and my inability to sleep for want of sleeping space," he
said.
"On my release on
He said he was therefore, sent
to the United States of America where he received treatment for the same
disease for two years, adding that in the process he was diagnosed with other
incurable diseases.
Agyare said he later got to know from
a press conference held by Gyin, a day after my
release that I had allegedly sent CEPS officials to the Aflao
border to cause confusion.
He explained that before his
boss, Alhaji Otoo left for
"The postings affected S.
T. Malm, Principal Officer at the Aflao
Border, who was asked to move to the
Agyare said Malm
did not take the transfer kindly so he reported the issue to his former
classmate, Gyin and all the blame was shifted on him
(Agyare) since at the time he was the acting
Controller of Customs and Excise.
He said based on the wrong
impression that he (Agyare) was out to frustrate Malm, Gyin then unilaterally
decided in his capacity as one of the Secretaries of state to detain him until
the Workers Defence Committee (WDC) of CEPS agitated for his release before he
was released.
"On my release I was taken
to the National Investigation Council (NIC), where the officer in charge said
he had no document, nor evidence concerning why I was brought there and granted
me bail in the sum of 3,000,000 cedis," he said.
He said when he was released he
was prevented from working again so he retired and collected his benefits but
was denied his two years increment, adding that he also demanded that the state
pay for his medical bills home and abroad.
Members of the Commission asked
him to forgive his persecutors and encourage his children to also do the same.
In another development, Daniel
Claver Kwame Poku, a former building contractor said
he was also unlawfully detained for nine months and two weeks on the orders of
one Superintendent Opata of the Ghana Police Service
on allegations of being a threat to the PNDC in 1983.
He told the NRC that his BMW car
with registration number AZ 4155 was seized from him by one Major Smith,
wrecked and given back to him only after he had paid about 4,000 cedis as levy
on the vehicle.
Poku said on his return from
detention from the Anomabo prisons cells, together
with Kwame Pianim and two others,
he went to his construction site at Ho and discovered that his building
equipment had been stolen.
He said he sold the remaining
equipment to make ends meet, adding that attempts to get other contracts from
the State Housing Corporation proved futile as he was tagged an ex-convict.
"A five bed room house I
built on my lawyer friend's plot of land at Ho has also been taken from me by
his family after his death," he said. "I was only able to manage by
God's grace to educate my children and I pray the Commission to do what ever it
can to ease my suffering."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05
February 2003- Ex-private Samuel Twumhene, formerly
with the Third Battalion and now a security officer, Tuesday alleged that Peter
Nanfuri, former IGP, Jack Bebli,
Commander Asase-Gyimah, Flying Officers Kojo Lee and Fordjuor submitted
him to brutal torture over a period of eight years on allegations of coup plot
against the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
He told the National
Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that between February 1983 and October 1991, he
was unlawfully arrested, tortured with blocks and clubs by men from the
military and the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) on the suspicion that
he was involved in a coup plot.
Twumhene said the torture rendered him
physically weak with bruises all over his body and blood oozed from his ears He
said the torture was variously inflicted on him on the orders of Peter Nanfuri, Commander Asase-Gyimah
and was carried out by Flying Officers Lee, Fordjuor
and Bebli at different times.
He said on 27 February 1983 he
was in Kumasi when a letter was brought from Accra that he and other officers
should be dismissed for no apparent reason, adding that against the norm, the
letter reached the Officer Commanding, Colonel Seidu Ayoma, without going through the Brigade Commander.
"We sought redress from the
Brigade Commander but he told us he had no copy of that letter so he referred
us to
Twumhene said Col. Seidu
went to the Military headquarters and left before they got there, adding that
they followed up to his house in
He said they later got in touch
with Warrant Officer I Adjei Boadi, a member of the
PNDC who assured them that he was only aware of a letter issued on
"We then decided to return
to
Twumhene said in the Airforce
guardroom, about 12 soldiers pounced on them and beat them up mercilessly with
anything they laid hands on, including blocks, clubs, gun barrels and boots.
He said the following day,
Commander Asase-Gyimah came in the company of Lee and
Fordjuor to question them about the alleged coup
plot, which they denied knowledge of but were further tortured.
"I was personally separated
from the rest and named the Commander of the coup plotters and I was given
slaps from behind by Lee and Fordjuor until blood
oozed from my ears," he said.
"They then tied my neck
with water holes and tightened it to make me confess to the allegation." Twumhene said later, Commander Asase-Gyimah,
Lee and Fordjuor came for three persons, one Moses Nzoh, Fiti and Sergeant Osei,
adding that Fiti was shot wounded in the belly and
was taken to the 37 Military Hospital but Nzoh and
Osei have disappeared till date.
He said he was later taken to
the BNI for questioning and he met Nanfuri and others
who charged him with coup attempt against the PNDC and asked him to write his
statement.
"After I written my
statement they took me to the BNI cells and tortured me again till blood oozed
from my ears again and after a period of four months I was sent to the Nsawam prisons, from where I was occasionally brought to
BNI for interrogation and for further torture".
Twumhene said he and others were later
taken to Nsawam Prisons and on 19 June 1983 some
junior military men came there with guns and set all military detainees free,
adding that on their way to Accra, Jack Bebli and his
team of armed military men, met them on the way and deflated the tyres of their
vehicle with gun shots.
"At this point everyone on
the vehicle run for his life, some were shot dead but I was able to convince Bebli that I was not a soldier and that my name was Boamah instead of Twumhene and he
believed me and spared my life after giving me some slaps and punches," he
said.
He said Bebli
then took him to Cantonment Police Station and kept him there for two weeks,
after which Mr. Nanfuri came and recognised him as Twumhene and sent him back to Nsawam
on grounds of his safety, as soldiers were at the time visiting the various
cells and killing all military prisoners.
Twumhene said he remained in Nsawam prison for over eight years and lived on either a
tin of milk, gari or a cup of unpalatable porridge a
day for the whole period till he was finally released in October 1991.
"On my release I went to
the Burma Camp and I was given my discharge book, which stated that I had been
dismissed for misconduct and that General Mensah Woode,
the then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and member of the PNDC had ordered that I
and other ex-military prisoners should not be paid our entitlements," he
said.
"We were declared threats
to state security so I left for
He said he returned from exile
in January 2001 and sent petitions to the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Ministry of
Defence and the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ)
for the payment of his entitlements to which he has since not heard anything
yet. A Member of the Commission assured Mr Twumhene
of recommendation for proper redress of his case.
GRi.../
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Kwadwo Safo-Kantanka,
EC deputy commissioner in-charge of operations told the Ghana News Agency in an
interview in
The Deputy Commissioner was
commenting on the application for review filed by Mr Samuel Nyimakan
of his disqualification as the NDC MP for Wulensi,
which the Court has fixed 18 February for hearing.
He said, "so far as the
Commission is concerned no order has been Filed on us," and explained that
application for a review of the Supreme Court order disqualifying Mr Nyimakan is not a stay of execution order, which could
retrain us from exercising the earlier order."
Safo-Kantanka said following the confusion
over the legal understanding of the application for a review, the commission
sought for clarification with its lawyers and the Speaker of Parliament who
have all confirmed the existence of vacancy in parliament.
The Speaker, in particular made
it clear that notification of commission by the Clerk of Parliament of the
vacancy still holds. The EC set
A notice of election, which was
released in Accra on 24 January, directed that the nomination of candidates
should take place at the office of the Returning Officer at Wulensi
on 5th and 6th February between 9am- 12 noon and 2pm-5pm each day.
The release, said two registered
voters must second nomination papers to be delivered to the Returning Officer.
Every nomination must be supported by 18 other registered voters from the
constituency, with the consent of the candidate endorsed thereon.
"Nomination papers must be
delivered to the Returning Officer with the required deposit of 200,000 cedis
in Bank Draft and two clear and recent post-card photographs (bust) in colour
with a red background" it said.
The poll shall be held at all
polling stations in the Constituency between
The Supreme Court on 15 January
disqualified Mr Nyimakan by a majority decision from
standing as a candidate for election in the constituency.
The ruling followed a
preliminary objection raised by E.O Appiah counsel for Mr Fuseini
Zakaria of the constituency praying the court to
uphold the decision of the Court of Appeal, which earlier ruled in favour of
the applicant that Nyimakan did not qualify to
feature as MP because he did not hail from the area.
The release said the clerk of
parliament had notified the EC of the occurrence of a vacancy in Parliament.
The Commission subsequently issued a Writ of Election to the Wulensi Returning Officer.
GRi.../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05
February 2003- Ex Private Class Three Paul King Asimeng
formerly of the Ghana Armed Forces on Monday told the National Reconciliation
Commission, sitting in Accra of his arrest, unlawful detention, torture and
death threats in 1982 by operatives of the defunct Provisional National Defence
Council (PNDC) on suspicion of a coup
plot to overthrow that government.
The ex-serviceman, who said he
has six children with his wife and four other issues outside marriage, said his
business as a supplier of electrical and general goods has not been good since
1992, and the education of his children suffered because of the brutalities
meted out to him.
Led in evidence by Edmund Allotei Mingle, Mr Asimeng, who
initially spoke in Twi but later changed to English
during cross examination by the Commissioners told the Commission that he was
arrested in 1982 at Kejetia on his return from Togo
where he had been in exile, to organise a funeral for his late father.
Asimeng said he entered the Army in
1963, went on voluntary retirement after 12 years of service, and travelled to
He said the late Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, who had been the commanding officer of the
Fifth Battalion, when he became Head of State invited him from Switzerland to
work at the Ghana Trade Fair Authority as Senior Purchasing Officer of the
National Co-operative Wholesale Union, with the task to check massive
irregularities in the distribution of "essential commodities'' by
supermarkets.
Asimeng said following the exit of the
Acheampong regime and the arrival of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
(AFRC), the then Chairman of the Council, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, made him
the head of the UNIGOV Vehicle Retrieval Committee.
He said though he admitted that
he knew where the vehicles were he did not have control over them. Asimeng said he realised that the vehicles that were
retrieved were being misused and made a report to Chairman Rawlings.
Asimeng said he realised later his life
was in danger after the report and so he went into exile in Togo and Nigeria,
where he was engaged in buying and selling of electrical goods on which he made
a lot of returns.
Ex-Private Asimeng
who said he joined the Ghana Democratic Movement in 1987 in Germany to
overthrow the government of the then Provisional National Defence Council, told
the Commission that when in exile in Togo he lost his father and therefore came
to Ghana.
He said when he got to Nkawkaw,
there was a crowd of passengers looking for a vehicle to travel to
According to him said when the
old man got off at the Kejetia Market and was about
to thank him, two soldiers, one Warrant Officer Teye Momo and another soldier asked him for a lift, but they
would not accept his excuse that the car was full. They boarded the car and
forced him to drive to the Fourth Battalion, and upon arrival, Teye Momo shouted, "We have
got one of them."
He said Warrant Officer Momo forced open his brief case in which they found 28,500
dollars, 200,000 CFA, 8,000 Naira and also some cedis and assorted drinks as
well as a pistol magazine with three bullets.
Ex Private Asimeng
said the place was infested with mosquitoes and the soldiers sprayed some
insecticide he was having on him, he fell unconscious and realised he was in
the guardroom when he came around.
"Not quite long, Teye Momo and the other soldiers
beat me up. They made me eat grass and forced me to drink my own urine before
they would give me water to drink. "They pushed me unto the wall and fired
shots around my head, and asked me to tell the truth. The shots scared
me."
Ex Private Asimeng
said Teye Momo later went
to his (Asimeng's) house near Tech Junction, and told
his wife that, he, (Momo) was in
According to the ex-private, Momo and his men searched his wife's room and when they did
not find any pistol they looted her pieces of cloth. Ex Private Assuming said
his detention was reported to Warrant Officer Frimpong, the Forces Sergeant
Major, who later went to
He later found his car in a
wreck in a sugar cane plantation with some fitters working on it. Ex Private Asimeng said he later went into exile with his
three-year-old son, and later joined the Ghana Democratic Movement, alongside
Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, the Senior Minister.
Sitting continues.
GRi.../
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19 Ghanaians in $7 million tax refund fraud
The
scheme relied in part on a corrupt tax preparer in the
The tax
preparer eventually agreed to cooperate with federal authorities, and continued
to carry out the fraud while the government secretly recorded conversations and
gathered other evidence, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in United
States District Court in
In some
cases, the conspirators provided the preparer with names and identifying
information for people to be listed as taxpayers or their dependents, many of
who were dead or who otherwise did not file tax returns, the complaint said.
It also
said the tax preparer was paid $70 to $150 for each tax return submitted with
the fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers. Typically, the returns
yielded refunds of about $2,500 each, the complaint said.
The
defendants even used the Internal Revenue Service's system for filing
electronic tax returns. After making such filings, the defendants got loans in
anticipation of their fraudulent refunds, according to the complaint, which was
signed by Whitney V. Adams, an agent with the Treasury Department's Inspector
General for Tax Administration.
The
complaint said other tax preparers were involved in the conspiracy, although it
did not identify them. Seventeen of the defendants have been taken into
custody, while two others are fugitives, Mr. Comey's
office said.
Michael
A. Delgado, special agent in charge of the
Many of
the conversations secretly recorded by the government with the assistance of
the cooperating witness were conducted in Twi, a
language of
Lawyers
for several defendants who were being taken before a magistrate yesterday said
they had no comment on the charges.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/05/nyregion/05TAX.html
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