“Funding of parties must be uniform”
He
implored the members of the NEC who will meet tomorrow to fix dates for the
holding of the party’s national delegates congress to elect national executives
and a flagbearer to gather considerable strength to
resist those who are bent on “ selling for a mess of
pottage” the party’s future to reactionary political interests.
In
a letter to the CPP leaders, Comrade Pratt drew the attention of all party faithfuls to the nature of the meeting of members of the
NEC and underlined the consequences of failure to take advantage of the full
range of possibilities offered by that moment.
He
called on the NEC to conclude the full integration of all Nkrumahist
forces to facilitate the holding of a joint congress of all Nkrumahist
parties by 21 September.
Comrade
Pratt observed that in the face of the poor performance of the New Patriotic
Party (NPP) and the apparent rejection of the National Democratic Congress
(NDC) as a clear alternative to the NPP, “the CPP has a responsibility to
itself and the teeming mass of Ghanaians who want genuine change to offer hope
in our future”.
Touching
on current national developments, the CPP leading member said for the second
time in the history of the country, the Danquah-Busia
tradition has managed to capture political power by paying lip-service to the
broad aspirations of the people, with the collaboration of Nkrumahist
elements who believed that the exit of the NDC from power would open up the
political space.
“Two
and a half years have passed since the NPP assumed political power and there
has been no significant change in policy direction and the plight of the vast
majority of the people continues to worsen. The economic policies which were
pursued by the NDC have been adopted wholesale, with more vulgar embellishments
under the HIPC initiative,” Comrade Pratt said.
He
described the hallmarks of the initiative as the privatisation of state
enterprises, free fall of the cedi, the withdrawal of subsidies on health,
education and agriculture and the liberalisation of both internal and external
trade.
Comrade
Pratt said there have been cases of corruption against leading members of
government or their associates, which have either been completely ignored or so
incompetently dealt with to enable the accused or suspects to escape the
consequences of their actions. – Graphic
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“Funding of parties must be uniform”
According
to him, state funding of political parties will also help to do away with
dubious means often adopted by incumbent governments to fund their parties.
“All
our governments and their agents, since independence, have succumbed to the
iniquities of polite extortions, favouring party members for contracts, in
spite of their incompetence, selling state enterprises cheap to party faithfuls who will make generous contributions to the
party, filling boards with the unfit who assist or will assist the party, and
so on”, he remarked.
It
was organised by the Electoral Commission (EC), in collaboration with KAB
Governance Consult and sponsored by the USAID.
He
said even though the fragile economy cannot fund political parties totally, it
can do so to some extent with proper management. He said, for instance, that the
state could help with the payment of rent of party headquarters and of regional
and district offices while consideration is also given to the allowances of
presidential candidates.
According
to him, the impact of loss to the economy through bad contracts and bad
decisions, measures and projects to make money for the party as well as
decisions taken or measures put in abeyance because of forthcoming elections is
not a better option than the state funding of political parties.
He
said although party faithfuls must be encouraged to
support their parties financially, it is not healthy,
since only a few wealthy ones are in the capacity to do so and thereby end up
dominating the affairs of the party, which, he said will then contribute to the
killing of democracy in the country.
He,
therefore, called on Parliament to initiate legislation on the matter to “make
funds available to free our political parties from the sins imposed on them by
the need for money”.
The
Omanhene of the New Juaben
Traditional Area, Daasebre Dr Oti
Boateng, who chaired the ceremony, urged the state
not to be afraid in funding political parties because they are the engine of
our democracy.
If
this is not done, we may have a situation where only a few strong and wealthy
parties will always dominate the scene, which will be an affront to true
democracy, he added. He, however, suggested that if accepted, the degree of
funding must be linked to the parties’ popularity and number of votes obtained
during previous elections.
Later
at the Eastern Regional Forum, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan,
Chairman of the EC, mentioned some of the challenges facing some political
parties in the country as inability to maintain offices outside regional
capitals as well as appointment of polling agents in all polling stations
during elections.
“Such
challenges must not be merely viewed as challenges of the parties as
organisations but as challenges to our multi-party democracy itself,” he said,
and called for the establishment of a public fund to assist all parties.
Participants
at the forum were, however, divided on the issue. While a section agreed with
the idea, others maintained that the economy is not strong enough to fund
political parties and that if a party does not have the means to fund itself,
then its existence is questionable. – Graphic
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The
African Hebrew Israelites represent over four million Africans worldwide, who
trace their ancestry to the ancient Biblical Israelites and have established a
model community in
The
model community has been described internationally in such glowing terms as an
"
He
is a celebrated Hebraic scholar and best selling author of several
thought-provoking and inspiring books such as God the Black man and the Truth,
God and the Law of Relativity, Everlasting life - From Thought to Reality, Yesuah the Hebrew Messiah or Jesus the Christian Christ and
Imitation of Life.
His
visit coincides with the grand official opening of the Asasse
Pa Natural Foods Product factory in Tema, the largest
soya-bean processing plant in
The
factory, which is managed by BSI (Ghana) Limited, is a manifestation of the
vision and commitment of Rahbee Ben Ammi in giving practical meaning to the quest for a
self-reliant and integrated national development approach in addressing the
needs of African people. – Graphic
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He
said such a move would be a laudable contribution towards the government’s
effort to control inflation. The Vice-President made the suggestion in a speech
read on his behalf during the inauguration of the International Commercial Bank
(ICB) Head Office in
He
noted that the public expectation of banks is very high, making the work of
banking institutions more challenging than ever before. He, therefore, urged
banks to adhere to globally accepted standards in meeting the needs of the
general public.
“Most
important, banks should enhance their capital base to create room for more
lending to the productive sectors of the economy”, Alhaji
Mahama said.
He
said there is the need to modernise the entire banking system to meet the needs
of the increased customer sophistication. This, he said, will entail packaging
banks’ products in a cost effective manner.
He
mentioned innovative products, shortening customer turn-around time and
improved information technology as some of the tools for enhancing operational
efficiency.
On
the ICB, he said, though it is a young bank, it is on target in meeting the
expected role of the banking industry. Alhaji Mahama said ICB’s strengths
include the fact that it is the first bank that does not charge customers
accounts with commission on turnover.
The
bank has opened branches, within a six-year period, at Makola
and First Light, both suburbs of
The
Deputy Governor, Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, stated that
ICB started its operations in the country in 1996 as the first wholly owned
Malaysian bank.
He
said that is evidence of the realisation of South-South co-operation in the
banking sector “and bearing testimony to a development paradigm that has long
been championed by past
Asiedu-Mante said ICB in its first full-year operation, mobilised deposits of ¢53bn
and as of the financial year ending December last year, deposits had grown to
¢100bn, representing a significant growth in deposit mobilisation.
“This
is a positive indication of the efforts of management in growing the bank to
take its rightful place in the banking community and thereby contribute its
quota towards the national development effort,” he said.
The
General Manager of ICB, John Kofi Mensah,
said the bank, like all banks, offers the normal traditional products like
savings, current account, fixed deposits and call accounts but said with ICB it
is possible to open, savings and current accounts with only of ¢200,000.
“It
is, therefore, not accidental that at the recent banking awards, ICB was
adjudged the runner up in the prize for Competitive Pricing,” he said. – Graphic
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Botwe raised both issues on Adom FM when he was
asked to comment on two reports in the Ghanaian Chronicle and the Accra Daily
Mail. The Chronicle had reported the worries of some northerners and NPP faithfuls about alleged "plans to ditch" Vice
President Aliu Mahama,
citing The Heritage's lead report of 21 May entitled "Kufuor's
headache".
Botwe said that the actions of the party's officials are guided by the NPP
constitution, which enthrones democracy at all times.
He pointed out that in spite of President Kufuor's position, he was not allowed an automatic walk over as the NPP's candidate for 2004.
In
accordance with the constitution, he stressed, nominations were opened and
President Kufuor was only acclaimed when he emerged
unopposed at the close of nominations.
Consequently,
the position of a running mate cannot be also automatic, the NPP General
Secretary said. The party's law, he said, requires the presidential candidate
to go before the National Executive council (NEC) and agree with them on his
choice.
But
Botwe calmed all palpitating NPP hearts by recalling
the time-honoured wisdom in "not changing a winning team". He said
"agreement was gradually building up within the party" that if Kufuor and Mahama worked
effectively from ground zero to the Castle in 2000, then they should not be put
asunder.
On
the ADM report quoting a contractor that they are inhibited from giving money
to the NPP because of its zero tolerance policy, Botwe
said the NPP did not depend on contractors' kickbacks to win power in 2000 and
would do so again without them.
He
said the party has its own time-tested means of raising funds, which they were
still tapping. -
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Sources
close to Mrs. Afrifa say her moral stand point is
that the late General, who before his execution had been elected on the ticket
of the United National Convention (UNC) led by Paa
Willie, had earlier been cleared by the Sowah Assets
Commission (SAC) of the charges of abuse of office, which the AFRC levelled
against him.
Mrs.
Afrifa has been living in
According
to sources Mrs. Afrifa would also ask why the late
Gen. was the only member of the erstwhile National Liberation Council (NLC) who
suffered death in the 1979 military executions.
Currently
there is talk in the air that Maj. Boakye Djan (rtd), former Spokesperson
of the AFRC and Major Mensah Poku,
another member of the AFRC, are coming to also testify before the Commission to
give additional insight into why the officers, including Lt. Gen. Afrifa, were executed.
Over
the years the woman has been battling it out with the leadership of the AFRC to
ascertain the reason for the execution of her husband.
Sometime
in 1979 she wrote to the Council to demand why the husband was killed. This
letter was later published in the
"I
condemn strongly the senseless murder of my late husband, - Lt.-General Okatakyie Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa of blessed
memory. By killing him you have made nonsense of the whole operation, if indeed
your purpose was cleaning up the Army against corruption, because he risked his
life twice against the very system you claim to fight against. Why did you kill
him then? Was it a revenge for the C.P.P., which he toppled in 1966, or a
personal vengeance on the part of some of you, or for some nameless country, or
for some faceless people?
Was
it for personal preservation or mere childish adventurism? Was it fear of him?
Please be bold and tell the reason why you murdered him. The whole world is
eager to know why:
"I
am rather ashamed of your cowardly behaviour in accusing him falsely. Good and
mature officers do not tell lies. They are sober in thinking, knowing that
their decisions always affect human lives. They do not take orders or condone
orders from men of lower rank whose normal duties are to obey and perform
orders''.
''So
it was very abnormal when you confessed that you could not control your men and
that you had to satisfy them at all cost. You unfortunately put the cart before
the horse. The breakdown of authority in your ranks shows how far you have
deviated from your course, antagonizing defenceless citizens. Now your target
seems more directed against wealth than corruption.''
''Your
men are envious of anybody driving a Mercedes Benz or any decent car. Is it
crime to have wealth or have good taste? "When you stood at Mampong before public and civil servants and aspersed that
some people got into power only to amass wealth, you forgot that some people
also risked their lives for people to enjoy human liberties and self-respect.
I
am quite sure that you are unaware that Okatakyie Afrifa got his wealth out of sweat, careful planning and
determination. When Acheampong suspended his pension from 1972-78 he left his
house at Krobo and went inland to live with his farm
workers on the farm. He was on his farm when the pressing duties of the nation
compelled him to form the P.M.F.J. to challenge Acheampong''.
''Notwithstanding
the deterioration of his farm and the danger in challenging Acheampong he
forged ahead a strong opposition to Acheampong's Unigov. Have you paused to reflect on what would have
happened to you if you were not put to a proper court during your trial but to
a court just like the one you have designed? You failed to put Okatakyie Afrifa to a proper and
open court. You did not also allow him a press conference as you did to
Acheampong, because in his case, his defence was unquestionable; he had done
nothing to warrant the freezing of his assets or his detention and murder.
Perhaps you do not accept the findings of the Sowah
Assets Commission''.
"I
would like to know the connection between Okatakyie Afrifa and the S.M.C. members and the subtraction of him
from the N.L.C. members. I get the impression that you were trying to push Okatakyie Afrifa through the back
door to meet his death, If the gallant General had not displayed one of his
rare and dramatic qualities of heroism even in the face of death, by shouting
for more bullets to end his life from a display of shameful military decadence,
I am quite sure you would have hushed up his death''.
''You
would have lied to the world that he was killed for attempting to escape as you
falsely reported that he was trying to flee the country before the general
elections. What for? Okatakyie Afrifa
would never flee. He was picked by some armed soldiers from his house at Krobo, at dawn on
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Dr Apraku had denied on two occasions last year that he had
such an office, which was being used to facilitate his alleged campaign for the
2008 presidential bid.
But
a highly placed source at the SFO told the ''Evening News'' newspaper that the
office belongs to Dr Apraku, former Minister of Trade
and Industry.
The
source said Andy Appiah-Kubi, the Acting Director of
GFZB, acted as a ''front man'' for Dr Apraku in
securing the office. It said Appiah-Kubi himself
admitted before an SFO interrogation team that he hired the office on behalf of
the Minister, but did not know the use to which it was to be put.
The
SFO launched investigations into a ¢3bn financial scandal at the GFZB in 2002.
Among other allegations concerning the scandal, Dr Apraku
was cited for using GFZB resources to furnish the Dzorwulu
office.
The
paper says it ''can confirm on the authority of SFO that a split
air-conditioner, a fax machine, computers and a printer, tables and chairs were
all purchased with GFZB funds and carted to the private office owned by Dr Apraku. During the heat of investigations, Dr Apraku, the then Trade Minister was also the Chairman of
the Free Zones Board of Directors.
When
the ''Evening News'' contacted Appiah Kubi, he refused to answer specific questions put to him,
although he admitted receiving the letter from SFO instructing him to retrieve
the items from the Dzorwulu office. - Evening
News
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