"Rawlings might not have been
aware"-Nana Ahima
Minimum wage comes out today
Electoral Commission puts Wulensi by-election on hold
Rawlings by passed laid down military rules -
Ex-Corporal
Mice bit my manhood as I was tortured - Witness
TDCL passes resolution after demonstration
Dan Botwe visits Achuliwor's family
FEJ denies 50 million cedis bribe scandal
ILO pilot health insurance scheme launched
Ayittey authored document - Witness
Govt. to create enabling environment for health
insurance
"Rawlings might not have been
aware"-Nana Ahima
By Alfred Marteye (GRi Correspondent)
"I realised that during the revolution, a lot of people did so many bad things in the name of Rawlings because he was their leader. One Isaac Frimpong alias "red light" once went to my uncle during my detention and collected 5m cedis from him with the promise to help get me released from prison which he never did," he said.
Nana Ahima made this remark when he narrated his detention
and other atrocities that he experienced during the era of the PNDC. According
to him, on
He also gathered that his wife and children would be killed if he did not report at the Air force base. He said friends and relative advised him not to go to the Air force base, but as a family man, he reported himself to the soldiers at Takoradi.
On his arrival, Nana Ahima said he was dragged out of his
car by some soldiers and beaten severely with the butt of a gun. He said his
wife and children were later released at
Nana Ahima said in 1982, citizens of Takoradi woke up one
morning only to see about 20 people including one Issaka killed and left on the
street. He said people in the town remained in-door until about
Nana Baffour Ahima said that on
He said he gave his wallet to Osafo Marfo and asked him to
tell his wife about what had happened. Nana Ahima said he was taken to the BNI
office where he waited until
Nana Ahima said in the room, the BNI officials asked to remove his dress; while removing the dress, he said he was hit on the back of his head. He said he fell and in the process had a deep cut on his forehead. He said he was taken to hospital 3 days after the incident. Nana Ahima he was detained 2 months and all this while he has not seen his wife and children. He said they were frustrated whenever they attempted to visit him.
According to Nana Ahima later in the second month of his detention, he was summoned before the BNI boss, Peter Nanfuri who asked him if he knew J. H. Mensah. He said he was again taken back to the BNI cells after the interrogation.
He told the commission that his detention resulted in the loss his businesses, 3 vehicles and a shipment of two containers of corned beef that he had order to via Cote d'Ivoire got tampered with be cause he was not around to see to the clearance of the goods. Nana Ahima told the commissioned that his mother collapsed and died instantly when she heard he had been arrested since he was the breadwinner of both the nuclear and extended family.
When the a member of the commission asked him why he had not reported any of this to CHRAJ or the authorities for them to look into the matter, Nana Ahima said the situation during the PNDC era was not permissive. He said that soldiers of today are more discipline than those in the PNDC era. He praise government for the international image it has attained for the country and called on everyone to help maintain that image and advised President Kufuor to always listen to the sentiments of the people and plan towards that.
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Minimum wage comes out today
She said the government understood the present difficulties and anxiety workers were going through due to the increase in fuel prices and would, therefore, support a fair and acceptable minimum wage.
Mrs Bannerman gave this assurance on Wednesday when
unionised workers of the Tema District Council of Labour embarked on a
three-hour demonstration at Tema. They then proceeded to
"We understand the circumstances and anxieties of the people so we will do everything possible to ensure that a fair deal come up at the meeting," she said. The workers said the determination of a minimum wage had delayed and wanted the Committee to work fast.
About 300 workers, most of whom were clad in red clothes and wore red bands around their heads and wrists, drummed, sang and danced as they waved placards with various inscriptions.
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Electoral Commission puts Wulensi by-election on hold
An official statement signed by Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, EC Chairman, said; "in accordance with Regulation 14(1) of the Public Elections Regulations, 1996, C.I. 15, the EC has adjourned, sine die, the taking of the poll for the Wulensi Constituency."
The EC had fixed February 20 for the by-election after
receiving written communication from the Clerk of Parliament after the Supreme
Court ruled that it could not hear an appeal filed by the MP, who had been
disqualified by the
The hearing of a review by Supreme Court has been fixed for 18 February two days before the election. Seven candidates filed their papers to contest the by-election.
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Accra
"It is strange that even
though Kofi Wayo, even on his wildest flight of fantasy and fabrication, did
not mention any name(s) he claimed to be the said 'Ashanti bastard', the
fertile imagination of the Ghana Palaver added to the concoction by linking the
name of His Excellency President John Agyekum Kufuor to the claim."
A statement signed by Ferdinand
Ayim, Special Assistant to the Minister, said: "The Minster categorically
denies the wild claim by Kofi Wayo. He has never used and would never use the
words "
The Minister also denied that he
urged Wayo to "go on radio and talk bad about Kwabena Agyepong," the
President's Press Secretary. The Minister said although he has known Mr Wayo
for many years, Wayo ceased seeing him when he failed to secure his support in
his desire for a ministerial or other official position and also his bid to buy
the Tema Oil Refinery for 35 million dollars.
"From October 2001 the
Minister did not see Wayo again until the second week of June 2002 when in the
wake of the allegation that the Minister had misappropriated 150 million cedis
meant for the renovation of the Castle. Wayo went to the Minister's house to
offer his support and promised to assist him fight his detractors. Since that
day the Minister has not spoken to or seen Wayo."
On Kwabena Agyepong, the Minster
said he had worked in harmony with him on the NPP publicity and communications
committee since the 1992 campaign. "The Minister wishes to make it
absolutely clear that as the Minster of Information and Presidential Affairs,
he does not see himself in any competition with either Agyepong or anyone in
the information management sector of the government, since the battle is for a
common cause to ensure the delivery of the positive change promised by the NPP
manifesto."
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Rawlings by passed laid down military rules -
Ex-Corporal
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 February
2003- Ex-Corporal Mike Boafo-Ntifo on Wednesday told the National
Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings on 21
October 1982, defied laid down rules in the military.
He alleged that Ex-President
Rawlings "by-passed my Platoon Commander and Commanding Officer at Hornuta
Border Guard Post and personally ordered me to stand aside from a parade of
Border Guards and for my room to be searched by six armed soldiers."
Ntifo said in Rawlings' capacity
as the then Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, he should have known
that those orders should have gone through either of the two officers present.
"Rawlings was nothing but a
shame to the Ghana Armed Forces and to the entire country. He should be ashamed
of himself for what he did. I am personally ashamed that this country had such
a person as head of state and President," he said.
In his story to the Commission,
Ntifo said after serving for four years as a Corporal in the Ghana Police
Service he enrolled with the Border Guards and served for 12 years until
He said on that fateful day he
was at the Hornuta Border Post in the Volta Region with his colleagues and
their Platoon Commander, Lt. York Afriyie, when a large number of soldiers came
to the post.
Later a helicopter carrying
Ex-President Rawlings landed after flying from the
Ntifo said Rawlings then ordered
six of the armed soldiers he came with to take him (Ntifo) to his room in the
barracks and search him, but nothing illegal was found. He said during that
search, the soldiers led by one Sergeant Sonny Liston Dede, broke open two
trunks and took his personal belongings as well as those of his wife.
"The items they took
included 10 half-pieces of cloth, 50,000 cedis from my wife's trunk and four
pieces of wax prints, one kente cloth, a set of napkins and two new bed
sheets," he said. "They also destroyed my two spring mattresses."
Ntifo said he was brought out,
put into a military Land Rover and sent to Gondar Barracks in
At the barracks he was granted
audience by Lt. Colonel John P. Addah, who made him to list the items, which
were taken from his room. At the time Sgt. Dede who personally took the items
was nowhere to be found.
Ntifo said he was taken to the
Border Guard Headquarters and kept in the guardroom till
"I requested to be reposted
to
Ntifo said he contacted Sgt. Dede
to return his items to him, but Dede wrote a letter to him saying he collected
the items so that "in case something happened to me he would give them to
my family members".
He said he met with Dede at
Madina, near
Ntifo said the warning scared
him, so he fled to
"I, therefore, petitioned
the current President, the Minister of Defence and the Commission for Human
Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for redress, but I did not have any
response till this Commission came into being," he said.
Ntifo appealed to the Commission
to see to it that he was given proper pension, saying that when he was
dismissed he was given only 15,000 cedis as 50 per cent of his end of service
benefit but he has not received anything since. He said currently he runs an
NGO for the aged. The members of the Commission assured him of efforts to
properly address his case.
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Mice bit my manhood as I was tortured - Witness
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 February
2003- Alhassan Abubakar, unemployed, on Thursday alleged that in 1985, military
men blindfolded, handcuffed and stripped him naked and made six to mice bite
his manhood.
He said on June 16, 1985, he was
on his normal business as a small-scale importer of motorbikes from Nigeria to
Ghana, when he was picked up by military men at the Aflao border on allegation
of being part of a plot in Kumasi in February 1985 to assassinate Flight
Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings, then Chairman of the Provisional National
Defence Council (PNDC).
He said he was taken to
Lieutenant General Arnold Quainoo, a member of the PNDC, and after the General
and one Kwamena had interrogated him, he ordered that he should be taken to the
cells of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
"I was kept in the BNI
cells for two weeks without being told anything until one Major Lumor led
several soldiers to the cells. They picked me up, blindfolded and handcuffed me
and took me to a place I do not know till date," he said.
Abubakar said he was stripped
completely naked, put in a big water reservoir and several buckets of cold water
stinking with fish poured on him. He said the soldiers told him that he was
going to be "cooked" with cold water until he told the truth. He said
he heard them say "release them, release them" after which about six
mice were released on him in the stinking water.
"The mice targeted my
manhood and bit it as much as they could until I managed to kill five of them. "When
the soldiers saw the dead mice they threatened to release more mice on me and
cook me with hot water but they did not."
He said he was taken to the BNI
Headquarters and later to the Legon Police Station on the orders of Mr Peter
Nanfuri for three days, before he was finally sent to the BNI annex and kept
there till
Abubakar said on
"In my seventh year at
Usher Fort, I developed stomach ulcer so I was sent to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital
for a surgical operation. "At Korle-Bu, I was handcuffed to my bed and
that was where I eased myself, bathed, ate and did everything with prisons
staff on guard."
He said the nurses complained
that the stench of his toilet at the bedside disturbed other patients but
prison officers did not budge. He said one Rose Kokoroko, a nursing sister at
Korle-Bu, could testify to his story.
Abubakar said while at the
hospital, a sympathizer smuggled an object with a sharp edge to him and he used
it to cut the handcuff. He then escaped through the window at his bedside.
He said he drew a diagram
directing the Prisons staff to
"On my return, Atta
arranged separate meetings between Commander Asase Gyimah and I at the Castle
and with Mr Peter Nanfuri at the BNI Head Office and they both apologised for
the past and promised to assist me in any way possible.
He said he petitioned Ex-President
Jerry John Rawlings through Nanfuri and the matter was referred to Mr Kofi
Totobi Quakyi, then Head of Security, but nothing was done about it until the
Rawlings administration lost power.
Abubakar said he was grateful to
God he did not lose his ability to make children after the mice bit him. He was
detained at age 24 when he had only one child, but now he has three children
and expecting a fourth one.
"When I was in prison,
President Charles Taylor of
Two members of the Commission,
Bishop Palmer Buckle and Maulvi Wahab Adam took Abubakar to a private room in
the Old Parliament House and closely observed the damage done to his manhood by
the mice.
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TDCL passes resolution after demonstration
Tema (Greater Accra)
In a resolution, the workers
noted the ministry is one of the complex and sensitive ministries in the
country, since it has to deal with multiple and delicate issues involving
government, employers and labour.
The resolution signed by Wilson
Agana, Chairman and Mohammed Baba Tairo, Secretary, called for a proactive
approach on the part of the ministry to be able to address sensitive and
delicate matters as and when they are brought to its attention.
"It is important to point
out that, it is only your ministry, which does not acknowledge receipts of the
council's letters or invite its executives for discussions when pertinent
issues are raised."
The resolution said many issues
had been raised with other sector ministries and there had been prompt
responses from them, which led to discussions and solutions. This situation
augurs well for a peaceful industrial harmony necessary for a country, which is
desirous of achieving a golden age of business and development in diversity, it
noted.
The TDCL referred particularly
to the inter union conflict at GTMC and the victimisation of workers, saying
the style of the ministry's approach to it had the tendency to create havoc in
the industrial sector.
If GTMC management and its
accomplices do not see the need to abide by the President's special task force
and principles and guidelines on how ICU and TEGLUE could jointly relate with
management, then there should be something seriously wrong somewhere and must
be checked by your ministry with speed and dispatch to avoid the application of
other alternatives to achieve instant results."
The
"The council may act
swiftly and decisively on the matter without notice to your outfit should you
again take us for granted," the resolution warned. The workers embarked on
a three-hour demonstration through the principal streets of Tema to demand the
immediate announcement of a new minimum wage. All efforts made by officials in
government and employers to stop the workers from going on the demonstration
did not materialise.
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Dan Botwe visits Achuliwor's family
Bolgatanga (Upper East) 
Patriotic Party (NPP), Dan Botwe on Monday
visited the family of the late John Achuliwor, Member of Parliament (MP) for
Navrongo Central Constituency to express the party's condolences to them.
Briefing the press after the visit,
Botwe said he took the opportunity to meet party functionaries to know at first
hand preparations they were making towards the by-election announced by the
Electoral Commission last Monday.
Achuliwor, who was also the
Deputy Minister of Communications died in a car crash about three weeks ago. The
EC has announced that it would open the register for filing of nominations for
the by-elections on 27 and 28 February towards the election, which would be
held on 25 March.
Botwe said with about three
by-elections ahead of the party, its resources would be over-stretched, adding
that the Executive of the party in the affected constituencies must, therefore,
work assiduously to retain and capture the seats, especially in the Wulensi
constituency.
In an answer to a question, Botwe
said the party would open nominations for qualified persons to vie for the
Navrongo Central seat "in accordance with the dictates of the party's
democratic principles".
He expressed optimism of the
party's victory in capturing the Wulensi constituency seat in the forthcoming
by-election. Karimo Braimah, an educationist, is contesting the election on the
NPP ticket.
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FEJ denies 50 million cedis bribe scandal
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 February
2003- The Federation of Environmental Journalists (FEJ) on Wednesday denied
that any of its chapters was involvement in an alleged 50 million cedis bribery
scandal involving a group of journalists led by Timothy Appau and the Kumasi
Waste Management Limited.
The Federation also
disassociated itself from Appau, saying that, "Timothy Appau is not and has
never been a member of FEJ." A statement signed by Stephen Egyinam Quarm,
Acting President of FEJ, was in reaction to a publication by an Accra Private
newspaper, The Statesman, that a group of environmental journalists led by
Appau had demanded 50 million cedis bribe from the Kumasi-based company.
It said the allegation was
serious and an affront to the journalism profession and urged the Ghana
Journalists Association to investigate. The statement said FEJ had a Chapter at
the Ghana Institute of Journalism and the National Executive Council of the
Federation sanctions the programmes and activities of that Chapter and all
other chapters.
"The National Executive
Council has not sanctioned any such investigations involving the Kumasi Waste
Management Limited." It said the Federation is, therefore, disappointed at
the attempt to bring its name into disrepute.
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ILO pilot health insurance scheme launched
Accra (Greater
Accra) 13 February 2003- About 10 million out of Ghana's population of 19 million
did not access health care services in the past year due to poverty, Dr Michael
Cichon, International Labour Organisation (ILO) representative implementing a
pilot health insurance scheme in Ghana, said on Wednesday.
According to
research undertaken under the Ghana Social Trust Pilot Project (GSTPP), which
Dr Cichon is representing, seven million people were mainly deterred from going
for health care services because they could not afford the fees charged.
The main reason for
7.5 million respondents was poverty, Dr Cichon said, at the launch of the pilot
project, an ILO initiative aimed at complementing and supporting the
government's health insurance policy.
"We do not
know how many years of suffering they have been going through," he said. The
initiative by the ILO came from recommendations made at its 89th conference
in 2001 when the Director-General requested that the organisation explored the
possibility to support the development of national social protection systems
through international financing.
The Ghana Social
Trust Project was, therefore, conceived within the framework of the ILO's
feasibility study on a Global Social Trust scheme. It would in its first three
years subsidise health insurance for 5,000 people in the informal sector in two
areas with external funding. The two areas are the Dangme West District and the
Kwahu South District.
According to him,
the Ghana Social Trust would provide cash benefit as subsidy to the insurance
premium of the MHOs. Members in the informal sector, who would be eligible for
the subsidy, are those who work in the informal economy, those who are too poor
to afford the full premium of such schemes and those who prove that they have
insured the whole family in an approved MHO.
The last group
would be those who would otherwise be excluded from health coverage due to pre-existing
health conditions. Government is expected to take over the financing after the
first phase.
According to a
draft concept developed by the project team for discussion by stakeholders at
an on-going workshop, the project team has come to the conclusion that
long-term tax financing could be secured in the process of debt relief
arrangements for Highly Indebted Poor Countries.
The draft concept
states: "If one were to assume that about one-third of the Ghanaian population
would in theory be eligible for premium subsidies, and one could motivate
through subsidies about 50 per cent of the poor to join a scheme and the
subsidy would be in the order of 15 dollars per annum per family (three dollars
per person) then the benefit system in the stationary state would cost probably
around 10 million dollars including administrative fees."
It assumes that the
average per capita and per annum premium to the MHOs would not exceed 30,000
cedis and that the subsidy for the poor would be for two-thirds of their
premium.
Cornelius Dzakpasu,
ILO Area Director, said out of 1.36 million Ghanaians aged 60 years, SSNIT
provided for only 38,500 while the other insurance schemes covered 35,000.
He said the figure
left more than 1.2 million people of that age out of any formal social
protection. Dzakpasu said each member of the group needed a dollar a day to
take care of himself or herself.
Last year
government voted 21 billion cedis for health care exempts and would increase
the amount to 24 billion cedis this year. Dzakpasu said it was becoming
increasingly clear that one scheme could not adequately cater for the health
needs of the people.
He, therefore,
called for a combination of health insurance schemes and urged the government
to forge new partnerships to implement a sustainable scheme in the country. Dzakpasu
said such a scheme would eliminate the situation where patients, who were
discharged, were detained at hospitals till their families settled the bills.
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Ayittey authored document - Witness
Accra (Greater
Accra) 13 February 2003- Superintendent Bukari Yakubu, Handwriting Expert at
the Forensic Unit of the Ghana Police Service on Wednesday told an Accra Fast
Track Court that the handwriting of a disputed document at the court in the
Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL) case was that of Sherry Ayittey, one of the
four accused persons on trial.
Speaking under
cross-examination by counsel for Ayittey, Treasurer of the 31st December
Women's Movement (DWM), Supt Yakubu, the Sixth Prosecution Witness, said at the
end of his assignment, the test revealed that Ayittey's handwriting compared
with the document being contested in court.
Witness in his
evidence, tendered a two-page chart of a test he conducted on the handwritings
of Ayittey and two others, to ascertain which of them actually authored the
document being contested in court.
The document was a
note allegedly sent to Dr Albert Owusu-Barnafo, a Prosecution Witness, by
Ayittey through Madam Georgina Okaitey, member of the DWM. Dr Owusu-Barnafo had
told the court in his evidence that in his dealings with the movement in
connection with the privatisation of GREL, Madam Okaitey delivered the note
from Ayittey, instructing him to transfer some money into her bank account in
David Lamptey,
Counsel for Ayittey, objected to the tendering in evidence of the document by
Supt Yakubu on the grounds that since Dr Owusu-Barnafo did not receive the note
directly from his client, she could not be said to have initialled it.
The three other
persons standing trial with Ayittey are Emmanuel Amuzu Agbodo, former Executive
Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee, Ralph Casely-Hayford,
Businessman and Sati Dorcas Ocran, Housewife.
All four had denied
their various charges in connection with their alleged involvement in acts of
corruption during the divestiture of GREL. The court had admitted them to bail
in their own recognisance.
Continuing with his
evidence under further cross-examination, Supt Yakubu disagreed with a
suggestion by counsel that the report he produced on the test was useless and
unreliable to the case.
Witness disagreed
further with counsel that the conclusions he drew from the test he conducted
were deeply flawed and had no scientific data to support them. "My
conclusions were absolutely genuine, based on the principles of identification
used the entire world over", Supt Yakubu told the court.
Witness disagreed
with a suggestion that he had a pre-briefing on his assignment from the
investigator of the case telling him that Ayittey issued the note in question. The
case has been adjourned to Friday, 14 February for the Prosecution to put into
the witness box its seventh witness.
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Govt. to create enabling environment for health
insurance
Accra (Greater
Accra) 13 February 2003- Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama on Wednesday said government
would pass the needed legislation and create the enabling environment as part
of the programme towards the implementation of the national health insurance
scheme.
"In the
short-term, that is, within the next five years, the necessary bodies will be
put in place, awareness created, the needed legislation passed and an enabling
environment created to ensure the realisation of the medium and long-term goals
of the policy."
The Vice President
said this in a speech read for him by Mrs Cecilia Bannerman, Minister of
Manpower Development and Employment, at the launch of the Ghana Social Trust
Pilot Project.
The launch
coincided with a workshop of stakeholders including the Trades Union Congress,
Ghana Employers' Association and social and health workers. The International
Labour Organisation (ILO) initiated the project to source external funds for a
health insurance scheme for the poor.
Vice President
Mahama said within the five-year period efforts would be made to achieve at
least 30 to 40 per cent of nationwide health insurance coverage. "In the
medium-term, that is in five to 10 years, at least 50 to 60 per cent of
Ghanaian residents will be covered by a health insurance scheme that adequately
protects them against the need to pay cash at the point of service delivery,"
he said.
"In the long
term, every resident of
The Vice President
added that government, however, recognised its shortcomings and, therefore,
appreciated any support to achieve its goal. "In the light of this policy,
we wholeheartedly embrace ILO's Social Trust Programme and are happy that
Alhaji Mahama
observed that the project falls in line with government's policy to replace the
"cash and carry" system with a multi-faceted health insurance system
that would provide a realistic cost recovery method of health financing.
He said government
had opted for the district wide health insurance system and had so far recorded
42 such schemes. It is expected that by the end of the year systems would be
established in all the districts to enable everybody to enrol with the health
insurance scheme, he said.
Kwesi Osei,
Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT),
partners in the project, said the Trust had been able to capture only 10 per cent
of economically active Ghanaians.
He said 90 per cent
of the economically active population that were not covered fell within the
informal sector. He, therefore, welcomed the project and added that even before
this project, plans were advanced to extend social security cover to the non-formal
sector.
The Social Security
and national Insurance Trust has committed a number of staff, offered
accommodation and provided other logistics for the project. Osei said SSNIT had
set up a special purpose company to help deepen health care in the country. The
company intends to operate in the Accra-Tema Metropolis but would be expanded
to augment government's health insurance plans.
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