GRi Press Review 30 - 07 - 2003
Ignore Rawlings - Attorney-General
Labour Law unique - Says Austin Gamey
Osafo-Maafo getting disillusioned with donors
National Ambulance Service to be set up
IRS orders closure of six companies
Canadian Govt supports Wildlife Division
Credit rating exercise on Ghana underway
Trouble brews in Ho Central NPP
Ignore Rawlings - Attorney-General
Sekondi (Western Region) 30 July 2003 - The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Papa Owusu Ankomah, has said the NPP government has no intention to institute any legal action against ex-president Rawlings to compel him to disclose the names of the 15 ministers he claimed masterminded the serial killings of women in the country during his reign.
According to him the government has now realized that the ex-president is only trying to use the serial killings of women as a weapon to cause confusion in the country, but they as a government would not allow themselves to be caught in such a trap.
Speaking in an interview with the Chroncle at Sekondi last Sunday, Papa Owusu Ankomah said the government has serious business to attend to and would not dissipate its energy pursuing "frivolous matters in the law courts."
He said the allegations made by the ex-president during the celebration of the June 4 uprising was criminal and that was why the police went to him to get more information but unfortunately he refused, insisting that he would only speak after the government had mad a lie detector available.
The Attorney-General said the lie detector is only used on suspects but not on informants. "A critical look at what the ex-president has been saying indicates that he himself did not commit the crime. He is rather claiming that he knows the people who committed the crime, meaning that he is an informant but not a suspect."
Papa Ankomah said if that was the case, then the government would not yield to his demand for the provision of a lie detector, which is not even 100 per cent foolproof. He insisted that it was incumbent upon the ex-president to mention the names of the ministers for the police to take up the matter or shut up.
"I have already told you that the man is only trying to cause confusion in the country, and we shall not allow ourselves to be caught in that orchestrated plot," he stressed. - Chronicle
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Labour Law unique - Says Austin Gamey
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 July 2003 - A Labour consultant and conflict mediator, Austin Gamey, has said the new Ghana Labour Law will inspire confidence in foreign and local investors to do business in the country.
He said the law, which was passed on Friday 25 July, is unique by all standards because Ghana has become the first country in the world to introduce such a law, which will drastically reduce labour hostilities to almost nothing.
Labour issues, he said, will no more be drawn to the courts because the new law has checks and balances which do not give any undue advantage to parties involved in labour disputes.
Gamey was commenting on the new labour law when he called at the offices of
the Graphic in Accra yesterday.
He said if the law is given the prominence that it deserves, "the investor
confidence will be extremely high because they know there is a body they can
always go to if the need arises".
He further declared; The law is, by all standards, a masterpiece which will inspire confidence both in the employer and the labour movement and so we must all be proud of it".
He said some powerful nations such as Italy and France have had a tough time coming out with similar laws because whenever their governments attempted to introduce them, they had tough confrontations with their labour unions.
He said another unique feature of the law is that organised labour and employers organisations are enjoined to nominate the chairman of the National Labour Commission to be set up, which will exclusively be responsible for resolving labour related disputes.
The government will be seen as an employer and will not be directly responsible for the resolution of labour disputes. Under the law, professionals and workers in the health, ports and harbours and air traffic controllers and utility service providers cannot go on strike.
The managements and workers in the specified establishments are expected to resolve their labour disputes within 72 hours and should there be a stalement after that period, they have to refer the issues to the Labour Commission.
"This is a significant shift because third party neutrals, otherwise known as mediators and arbitrators will be involved in all labour disputes", he said.
Gamey said the main reason why labour disputes were not easily resolved in the past was because the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Development, the Department of Labour and other government agencies involved in conflicts resolution were and continue to be "seen as political tools, thus, making confidence building extremely negligible".
He said when the National Labour Commission is established, the National Tripartite Committee will concentrate on fixing national statutory daily minimum wage and other economic issues of national character. - Graphic
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Osafo-Maafo getting disillusioned with donors
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 July 2003 - Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, said yesterday that the country is becoming increasingly disturbed about the failure of her development partners to live up to their promises.
He said considering the fact that 45 per cent of Ghana's budget comes from donor inflows the problem could have adverse effects on the nation's development agenda and dislocate the economy.
Consequently, Osafo-Maafo said the government has decided to behave as a "proud but aggressive borrower" by insisting that development partners form a club and write their code of conduct while the government also does same to ensure that the two parties abide by their pledges.
He said from the new arrangement, it should be possible for development partners to disburse 50 per cent of their promises without any discussions if the government is able to meet its budgetary targets.
The minister, who was speaking at the opening of the mid-year review conference of Regional Ministers in Kumasi, said already agreements have been signed with nine development partners including the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the United Kingdom and Germany on the need to fulfil pledges.
Osafo-Maafo's address, which passed for a mini budget, centred on developments in the financial sector during the first half of 2003. He stated that the fiscal and monetary policy setting altered in the course of the first half of the year is significantly improving the outlook for reducing inflation and ensuring growth.
The minister said that headline inflation stood at 29.4 percent in February, and indicated that there are prospects for further decline to about 22 per cent by the end of the year. He referred to a statement recently issued by an independent Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank on the economy for the first half of the year, and said the report gave some array of hope for the economy.
Osafo-Maafo pointed out that the second half of the year in the external sector is favourable, taking into consideration the current pace of increases in exports, private sector remittances, interbank purchases and sales of foreign exchange. Osafo-Maafo stressed that the government is determined to minimise domestic borrowing so that the private sector would get access to enough financial support from the banks.
Osafo-Maafo said improved cocoa production this year has proved the importance of the mass cocoa spraying exercise and pledged that the government will pursue the exercise with all seriousness. Taking a swipe at political opponents who continue to accuse the government of cheating cocoa farmers by paying them unrealistic producer prices, Osafo-Maafo said those people may be speaking out of ignorance or may be speaking out of sheer envy for the achievements of the government in the cocoa sector.
He said the government has opened a farmers equalising account and promised that even when world cocoa prices fall to unexpected levels, the government would still be able to increase producer prices. He announced that another round of HIPC resources with a minimum of ¢1bn per district assembly will be disbursed in August, this year and promised that action will be taken to include Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) in the HIPC beneficiaries to enable them to monitor HIPC projects effectively.
The Minister gave the assurance that the government has enough resources to pay contractors for work done and called for speedy processing of certificates. He also disclosed that the government will soon come out with a new procurement policy that will give attention to items that can be produced in the country.
He said up to the end of June, a total of ¢132.8bn had been paid by the government for the clearance of road arrears, while ¢192.7bn had been expended on non-road arrears. He also touched on the GETfund and said ¢386.283bn has been transferred into it during this year. - Graphic
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National Ambulance Service to be set up
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 July 2003 - The Ministry of Health has announced the establishment of a national ambulance service to cater for emergency health cases throughout the country.
The service, which will take the form of the operations of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), will be manned by personnel from both the Ministry of Health and the GNFS.
The Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, who disclosed this during his turn of meet-the-press in Accra yesterday, said some ambulances have already been purchased for the operation of the service. The minister said the Cabinet is currently discussing the formation of the service.
He gave the assurance that the formal sector workers' deduction from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) for the proposed National Health Insurance Scheme has been designed in such a way as to avoid any adverse effect on the sustainability of the trust.
Additionally, should there be any unforeseen contingencies, enough measures have been put in place to ensure that the trust survives to serve its intended purposes. The minister said contrary to views being expressed in certain quarters that the 2.5 per cent deduction will collapse the SSNIT within 25 years, that prudent management of the trust will be intensified alongsidel the introduction of other parameters introduced through negotiations with other stakeholders for its sustainability.
Dr Afriyie said contributions to the scheme from the SSNIT fund and other contributions will be reviewed from time to time. He said the process has already started as financial projections are being made for the next five-year period to assess the viability of the scheme based on current proposed rates.
On views being expressed in certain quarters about the contributions to the scheme and mode of financing, Dr Afriyie said the scheme will be financed through personal contributions from both formal and informal sectors of the economy.
He said initially, it is proposed that the formal sector contributes 2.5 per cent out of their 17 per cent SSNIT contribution while the informal sector contributes a minimum of ¢24,000 per head, explainng that the total contribution from SSNIT is estimated at ¢170bn annually.
Every Ghanaian will be eligible to be a member of the scheme, and destitutes and the unemployed will be catered for free of charge. Reacting to views that enough consultation has not been made concerning the health insurance bill, the minister said public fora and lectures were held to solicit views to inform the formation of the bill. - Graphic
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IRS orders closure of six companies
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 July 2003 - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has closed down six companies, including a tax management consultancy firm and a clinic, for non-payment of taxes in an operation conducted in Accra yesterday.
The companies are Money Marketing Forex Bureau, Capital Merchant Industries Company Limited, Hotel De Horses and its annex, all at Kantamanto, Anambra Forex Bureau, Banahene Amoyaw Consultancy Limited, a tax management consultancy firm, and Club Road Clinic. They owe the Makola District office of the IRS an estimated amount of ¢540,305,030, some dating as far back as 1992.
At Hotel De Horses, occupants of the hotel rooms had an embarrassing experience when they were asked to come out of their rooms for the hotel to be closed down. The occupants, who were mainly traders who deal in second-hand clothing at the Kantamanto Market, removed all their belongings from the hotel to be closed down.
According to Samuel A. Amarfio, the Chief Inspector of Taxes in charge of the Makola District Office of IRS, the service has given those companies up to 30 days to settle their debts or face prosecution. He noted that some companies and professional bodies such as lawyers and chartered accountants owe the service billions of cedis.
He said this has made it difficult for the service to achieve the revenue target set for it by the government. He said the exercise, which is on-going, will be an example to those who have not honoured their tax obligations.
Amarfio explained that companies and organisations are supposed to submit their accounts to the IRS at the end of every year for their tax assessment, but they do not do so and therefore do not pay their taxes.
At the Club Road Clinic, the staff were surprised as they claimed that every year the finances of the clinic is audited by an auditing firm, adding that they will have to contact their accountant to deal with the situation since they do not know anything about the tax. - Graphic
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Canadian Govt supports Wildlife Division
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 July 2003 - Twenty pieces of radio equipment have been presented by the Canadian Government to the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission under the Ministry of Lands and Forestry in Accra yesterday. The equipment is to enhance communication between wildlife officers to ensure effective protection of wildlife in Ghana.
Presenting the equipment, the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Jean-Pierre Bolduc, said though Ghana is not a member of the African Wildlife Enforcement Groups, the Canadian government finds it necessary to assist Ghana owing to its commitment to supporting wildlife management and development in the country. He said the gesture will serve as a motivation to the officers and enable them discharge their duties effectively.
Mrs Theresa Ameley Tagoe, the Deputy minister of the Ministry of Lands and Forestry who received the items, said they will help to improve intra-park communication and enhance the enforcement of wildlife laws.
She said the gesture demonstrates the commitment of the Canadian Government in supporting sustainable development of the wildlife sub-sector in Ghana.
She appealed to the government of Canada to assist the forestry sector of the economy to alleviate poverty and promote socio-economic development in the rural areas and the country at large. Mrs Theresa Tagoe urged wildlife officers to take good care of the equipment and ensure that it is used for the purpose for which it was intended.
She called on other development partners to emulate the gesture of the Canadian government and help developing countries to preserve their wildlife. - Graphic
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Credit rating exercise on Ghana underway
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 July 2003 - A delegation from Global credit rating agency, Standard and Poor is in the country to undertake Ghana's credit rating. As a first step to gathering data, the group has held discussions with some business leaders and investors on the economic climate in the country. Government officials say the credit rating exercise which is underway will enable them to know whether the newly introduced economic policies have been effective or not.
The credit rating exercise will also state clearly the risks involved in doing business in Ghana. The exercise, which is currently underway, was arranged by government with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish Ghana's credit worthiness and paint a clearer picture of the Ghanaian economy to investors.
Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo who describes the decision as a bold step, believes that the establishment of the rating will enable government to track its performance and hopefully improve in its policies.
Some of the pointers members of the delegation will be looking out for is the level of good corporate governance in both public and private sector institutions, transparency of transactions and the country's inflation index. The Director General of the Private Enterprise Foundation, Dr. Osei Boeh-Ocansey who gave the delegation an overview of the economy contends that the rating system will compel government to provide a good environment for businesses to thrive.
Government expects that the completion of the exercise will boost its efforts at attracting foreign direct investment into the country since most investors look up to a country's credit ratings before they make the final decision to go ahead with their investments. The rating is also expected to erase doubts about Ghana's potential particularly because of the country's current HIPC status. - Myjoyonline
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Trouble brews in Ho Central NPP
Ho (Volta Region) 30 July 2003 - The protracted litigation over leadership in the Ho-Central Constituency among activists of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is assuming a confrontational dimension following the failure to settle the matter in court yet.
Nasty incidents unfolded on Monday and Tuesday during which one Kafui Klutsey of Ho-Have was assaulted by unidentified machomen allegedly mobilised by a Presidential Advisor, Tommy Amematekpor, to guard the regional office.
According to the Ho District Police Commander, Nicholas Blewusi, Klutsey went to the party headquarters to ask of Kwame Ata, the suspended regional secretary whom he was told was not around. He said when he was leaving the premises, Mr Amematekphor allegedly called Klutsey back and interrogated him during which some unidentified men pounced on him and assaulted him leaving him with a swollen face.
Blewusi disclosed that Amematekphor had earlier sought the assistance of the police to force the door to the regional secretary's office open after which the police took inventory. In another development, unidentified persons were alleged to have attempted to set the residence of the regional organiser, Johnson Avuletey on fire at dawn last Tuesday.
According to Blewusi, the alleged arsonists used three devices known as "Molotov cocktail" a kind of petrol bomb used in the Russian revolution to carry out the act. He said when the police visited the house, bungalow D40 at Kabore quarters, they found the devices planted behind the bedroom, the front door and behind the building.
Blewusi described a "Molotov cocktail" as a bottle filled with water and topped with some petrol and designed to be ignited from a distance to explode. He said neighbours of Avuletey helped in putting out the flames adding that the police are investigating the incidents.
Meanwhile, Misre Boahene from the Akan Constituency has assumed office as the acting regional secretary following the suspension of Kwame Ata who was alleged to be supporting one of the litigating factions.
When asked what might be the undertones to the protracted litigation over leadership, Avuletey said a section of party activists are aggrieved about the alleged domination of Anlos in party in the region and the Ho-Central Constituency. - Graphic
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