GRi Press Review 25 – 03 - 2003
50 companies to start operations
Navrongo Central
by-election underway
Castle to gag Special Assistants
Probe dismissed DCEs – Atta Mills
Controversy over Inflation Rate
Supreme Court dismisses application
Armed Forces enter into partnership with USA
50 companies to start operations
He explained that these companies would take advantage of
the United States (US) government’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)
to export to the
The minister was speaking a t a day’s awareness workshop on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) sponsored by the United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP) in Accra. Bartels said that the various Presidential Special Initiatives were meant to encourage private enterprise.
“Government also believe that the private sector should be involved in the activities of the public sector so that there will be cross-fertilisation of skills and technical know-how,” he said.
He said the concept of public private partnerships was one option worthy of consideration which could make more investment funds available to the government. “We need to look at other innovative ways to provide service to our people quickly, but not necessarily through the orthodox budgetary allocation,” he said.
Bartels noted that evolving a strategy for public private
partnerships,
This is because procurement and tendering are
an important ingredient in the implementation of PPPs.
“The concept of PPPs is now being implemented
world-wide, and so far there is no rigid framework to such all circumstances.
It is essential that in
There may indeed be the need to pass legislation in the regard. “We also have build expertise in the public sector so that it would be able to negotiate individual project agreement with private sector companies,” he said.
E. A. Kwakye, Chief Director of
Ministry of Roads and Transport said the Public Private Partnerships projects
must be client-driven instead of investor-driven. – Ghanaian Times
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Navrongo
Central by-election underway
Navrongo (Upper East)
Unlike previous elections where the contest has been a straight encounter between the main opposition NDC and the ruling NPP, the PNC has emerged as a major contender for this seat.
The party’s candidate, Gabriel Pwamang is perceived as a great threat to the NPP’s aspirations of maintaining the seat. The NDC which has also been complaining about the NPP’s over-exploitation of incumbency is hoping for a landslide victory.
The NDC is confident that its candidate, Clement Bugase is poised for victory. Meanwhile, the DPP candidate, Grace Bogoniah has unofficially pulled out of the race, asking her supporters to vote for the NPP candidate, Joseph Adda.
JOY FM’s reporter in Navrongo says Madam Bogoniah has explained that her entrance into the race was to introduce herself to the people in preparation for other elections. - Myjoyonline
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Castle to gag Special Assistants
The source suggested like personalities like Kwabena Agyepong and Kofi Amponsah Bediako should have been fired for speaking to the press without due consultation but have been left off the hook for strategic reasons.
Kwabena Agyepong came under fire
last week for reacting to a story in the ''Ghana Palaver'' that President
Kufuor spoke to President Bush on phone and declared
The Presidential Spokesperson denied the story, but the Chief of Staff, Kojo Mpiani sent a statement condemning Agyepong’s reaction. In view of this development, Government Spokespersons and Special Assistants would be confined to their original concept and made to operate within defined scope.
The source said ''even though they are not officially recognized as Civil/Public servants, they would now be compelled to operate mostly within the scope of the Code of Conduct for such officers.
The Code, among others, categorises the powers and functions of scheduled officers, the type of information to handle and pass on to the general public while respecting the official Oath of Secrecy of the Service. - Network Herald
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Probe dismissed DCEs – Atta Mills
They were Ketiboa Blay of the Jomoro District in the Western Region; Kofi Wilson of the Mfantsiman District in the Central Region and Sam Baidu Kelele, Jasikan District in the Volta Region.
Later reports showed that the District Chief Executives were relieved of their posts on the grounds of inefficiency, maladministration and alleged acts of corruption. But nothing has been heard from the President since then.
The NDC Flagbearer says since the government believes in the zero tolerance for corruption policy, it would be improper for the alleged corrupt officials to be merely dismissed without putting them before a court of justice.
He noted that the inefficiency, incompetence and corruption in the NPP government has contributed to its inability to better the lot of Ghanaians. – The Crusading Guide
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Controversy over Inflation Rate
The figure which is normally announced after the quarterly meetings of the committee saw a new twist when the 9-member committee could not agree on a figure following perceived inaccuracies inherent in the data provided by the Statistical Service which pegged the inflation rate at 29.4 per cent.
But as the monetary experts try to resolve the problem, a new dimension has been brought to the whole drama with a ''Daily Graphic'' report that the Minister of Integration and Regional Cooperation, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom himself an economist, has said that the inflation rate is around 16 per cent and not 29.4 per cent.
Some economists have expressed concerns about the figure of 29.4 per cent, although they believe that the rate of inflation have gone up since the petroleum price increase in January. The inflation rate for January was 16.3%.
The onus now lies on the Monetary Policy Committee made up of technical experts including the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to work diligently to come out with accurate and uninfluenced figure. – Myjoyonline
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Supreme Court dismisses application
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 March 2003 - The Supreme Court has dismissed an application for review of a case in which it unanimously revoked the 1989 Will in respect of the late Ackah Blay Meizah estates.
The court presided over by Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo dismissed the case on the grounds that the applicant, Dr John Robert Kells has not satisfied Rules 54 of Constitutional Instrument (C.I.) 16 for him to successfully obtain a review of the matter. The court did not award any cost to the respondent, Dr Ebenezer Ako-Adjei.
The six other Justices of the court, Justice A.K.B Ampiah, Justice F.Y. Kpegah, Justice G.K Acquah, Justice W.A. Atuguba, Mrs Justice G.T. Wood and Justice Dr Seth Twum gave the unanimous decision on 18 March this year.
There has been controversy surrounding the late Ackah Blay Meizah’s
will since his death more than ten years ago. The Supreme Court on the
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
In the course of investigations into the activities and administration, the ''Crusading Guide'' says it chanced upon a summary of Audit Report which revealed that the amount spent so far on the construction of its (DNL’s) new office block has risen from ¢5.4bn to ¢31.675bn as at 31 December 2002.
It is estimated that the total cost of building ''Fortune House'' - on completion in December 2003, will be ¢50bn. The decision to put up the 5-storey building was taken in 1995 and was expected to be completed within 27 months but this had not yet materialized.
Accounting for the astronomical increase in the cost of Fortune House was the uncompetitiveness in the selection of the main consultants. They were said to have been handpicked by the former Director of DNL, Col Martin Gbikpi. This, according to the report resulted in collusion and misappropriation of funds.
Contract fees were fraudulently inflated in the guise of ''fluctuation claims'' and in some cases payments were made on contracts that had not been signed.
Regarding the maladministration, the Report indicated that the Department had been taking important decisions in the disbursement of large sums of money without reference to the Ministry of Finance. - Crusading Guide
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Armed Forces enter into partnership with
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 March 2003 - The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and the United States of America have entered into a partnership known as African Contingency Operations Training Assistance (ACOTA) programme to enhance the capacity of the GAF to respond to peace support and humanitarian operations in peace-keeping operations.
According to a release issued and signed by the Lt Col E.W. K. Nibo, Director, Public Relations of the GAF, the ACOTA programme succeeds the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI).
The statement said the programme is aimed at realising within the GAF the capacity for self-sustainment, particularly in the area of ability to train its own military contingents proceeding to United Nations peace missions and other peace support activities in collaboration with ECOWAS or at the request of the Government of Ghana.
As part of the current training event, GAF has received materials to enhance training for peace support operations. The equipment includes personal gear as well as unit equipment which include communication and office supplies.
According to the statement, the programme which covers a
period of 13 weeks, is taking place concurrently at the Budase
Training Camp, and the
The statement explained that the ACOTA programme puts considerable emphasis on training the trainer. It said selected personnel of GAF drawn from various units are undergoing training in peace-support operations.
The trained personnel, the statement said, will in turn
serve as resource persons to provide training to deploying contingents for UN
operations, the immediate attention being on those to be deployed in the
The statement said the
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
However, Prempeh stated that he had no document to confirm that monies disbursed at the end of TIP represented interest accrued from the programme.
The C&AG was answering questions during cross-examination in a case in which Daniel Kwasi Abodakpi, ex-Minister of Trade and Industry and Victor Selormey, for Deputy Minister of Finance are being tried on seven counts of conspiracy to commit crime, defrauding by false pretences and wilfully causing a total loss of 2.73bn cedis to the State.
They have denied all the charges and are on self-recognisance bail in the sum of three billion cedis each. Prempeh who was being cross-examined by Charles Hayibor, Defence counsel stated that he did not know when the interest account of TIP was closed.
Counsel: TIP fund ended in 1997? Witness: I can't confirm that, unless I crosscheck with my files.
The prosecution witness explained that the TIP fund was part of the Consolidated Fund, which comprised of the commitment and non-commitment accounts. Prempeh, however said monies under the two accounts were supervised by the office of the Auditor-General.
Counsel: Tell the court the procedures governing the interest account.
Witness: I don't know.
Counsel: Tell the court on the procedures governing the utilisation of the interest account of TIP fund.
Witness: I don't know because I am not involved in the disbursement of the committed accounts.
Hayibor ended his cross-examination but stated that he did not know whether Johnny Quarshie-Idun and Barima Manu counsel for Selormey had questions for the witness since they were absent.
A few minutes later, the court was informed about Manu's illness.
The court presided over by Justice Stephen Farkye, an Appeal court judge, sitting with additional
responsibility as the High Court Judge adjourned the matter to 31 March at the
instance of defence. – Ghanaweb
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
This means that the station was selling 4.3 litres instead of 4.5 litres, which is a criminal offence.
It also stated that Sonnidom has only been granted a provisional licence to operate as oil marketing company but “the station in question, which used to be under GOIL, has not been licensed and, therefore, does not have an operating licence”.
This is against Section 54 (b) of Act 541 establishing the commission and that the allegation levelled against the commission is an “attempt to ridicule the inspection initiated by the commission to protect the Ghanaian motorist against cheats in the petroleum retail business”.
The Public Affairs Manager of EC, Mrs Irene Nyantekyi-Owusu, who stated this in an interview in
She was reacting to an advertiser’s announcement by Sonnidom in last Thursday’s edition of the Graphic denying that the station was closed down by the EC because it was under delivering by 0.2 litres and also had no licence to operate as a filling station.
It would be recalled that two fuel filling stations in
The stations are Achimota Goil Filling Station and Sonnidom Filling Station, also at Achimota, which were closed down when officials of the EC in a surprise check caught attendants of the stations selling 4.3 litres to customers instead of 4.5 litres.
Mrs Nyantekyi-Owusu said, “By a
letter of
When asked why the company should still be allowed to operate, although it has no operating licence, she said that “the commission did not insist on continuous closure because it wanted this to serve as preliminary warning to the company”.
Sonnidom was reopened after officials of Ghana Standards Board (GSB) inspected and calibrated their pumps.
Mrs Nyantekyi-Owusu challenged claims by the filling station that an independent institution re-checked the pumps in the presence of GSB officials and found them to be over-delivering.
She said the commission cannot accept this assertion, more so when the commission did not reopen the station with GSB as stated, even though it gave the go-ahead after GSB had re-set the pumps to the right level.
“Though the GSB is authorised to certify dispensing pumps, as the sole regulatory body for energy in the country, the commission has the responsibility to enforce these standards, especially when allegations of impropriety have been levelled against officials of the GSB by a section of the media,” she stressed.
Mrs Nyantekyi-Owusu said the container used to measure the fuel was a measuring device made available to it by the Tema Oil Refinery and had been properly calibrated.
She announced that the commission, in collaboration with GSB, will continue to mount unannounced checks on petroleum retail outlets on a regular basis to flush out cheats in the industry. – Daily Graphic
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com