25 May declared statutory holiday
MPS unhappy about arrangements at fishing harbour beach
Konare to address Ghana's Parliament
Accra (Greater Accra) 18 May 2002- Members of Parliament on Friday expressed concern about the inability of district assemblies to exhibit due diligence, honesty and meticulous supervision of projects that invariably cause financial loss to the state.
The members expressed similar sentiments when Mr Paul Appiah-Ofori, NPP- Asikuma/Odoben/Brakwa, made a statement in Parliament on "wilful acts or omissions causing financial losses to the District Assembly". He said as at the end of 2000, the Asikuma/Odoben/Brakwa Assembly received about four billion cedis from the District Assemblies' Common Fund (DACF) but there was virtually nothing by way of infrastructure development to show for it in the District.
Mr Appiah-Ofori said he, therefore, commissioned the Central Region Public Works Department to value all projects executed in the district from 1995 - 2000 and some of the findings showed that 257,983,130 cedis was paid for works worth only 118,715,789 cedis. He said an amount of 683,024,258 cedis was also paid to contractors for contracts executed without contact documents or certificates to support payment contrary to section 17 (1), of the Financial Administration Decree 1979 (SMCD 221).
Mr Appiah-Ofori said a total sum of 39,202,776 cedis was paid as pre-contract consultancy fee for eight ghost projects while two former District Chief Executives and three District Co-ordinating Directors collected a total sum of 420,870,141 cedis to purchase building materials that was partly done.
He said that because of these massive frauds perpetrated against the district, the standard of living of the people had slipped from worse to worst and, therefore, called on the government to declare the district a "distressed district" and give it special attention. Mr Stephen Manu Balado, NPP-Ahafo Ano South, said over the years financial malpractice have continued to reflect in the Auditor-General's report but nothing seemed to be done to retrieve the moneys.
He called on the appropriate authorities to have a real change of attitude as envisaged by the New patriotic Party (NPP) government adding that an Assistant Director of Education, who embezzled about 500 million cedis, was walking free and nothing was being done about his case.
Mr Doe Adjaho, NDC-Avenor and the Deputy Minority Leader said it was a genuine concern, which was supported by all members, saying that the misuse of public funds should be looked at in a by-partisan way. "We ought to be united against the misuse of public funds", adding that he was worried by the figures presented in the statement since it could present a problem if it were different from the Auditor-General's report.
Mr Joseph Darko-Mensah, NPP-Okaikwe North, said it was obvious that those, who audited the district assembly, did not do a serious work and called for punitive action against all persons involved in such frauds. Mr Edward Kojo Salia, NDC- Jirapa, expressed concern about the delay in the release of audited reports and said as at now there had been a backlog of over three years and this might make taking action on them problematic.
He said there was the need to make all the forensic audit reports public instead of releasing them in piecemeal in newspaper reports. Mr Salia said there were quite a few issues that were cropping up as a result of the delay in the release of audit reports and called for the strict procedures to be followed so as to rectify the wrong deeds.
Mr Charles Omar Nyanor, NPP-Upper Denkyira called for the setting up machinery to enforce the implementation of the recommendations of the audit reports. Mr Albin Bagbin, NDC- Nadowli and the Minority Leader, said auditing was one of the vital functions of government business but unfortunately the Auditor-General had been acting for more than a year with allegations that he was over-aged and a clear indication that the government had no confidence in him.
He suggested that an independent body should appoint the Auditor General since the present situation where the government made the appointment could compromise his or her stand. Mr Bagbin said there was the need to strengthen the department, offer the staff further training and to expedite action on its legal framework to make it play its expected function.
"If we continue to maintain this weak audit system then we cannot blame anybody, who wilfully causes financial loss to the state. We need to look at the public accounting system and clean up the system for our own good." The Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey said the matters were of national interest and needed to be enforced and charged the leadership of the House and Parliament's Public Accounts Committee to take up the matter.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 May 2002- Parliament on Friday declared 25 May as Africa Day to be observed as a statutory public holiday in conformity with the decision of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) that member states observe the day as such. The 36th ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the OAU requested all member states to observe the day on which the OAU was founded.
The day is to reaffirm the faith of the new African Union and to popularise its ideals. Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, Minister of Defence and also responsible for the Interior, who moved the motion urged the House to unanimously approve the day as a holiday to buttress Ghana's leading role in the formation of the OAU.
He said the OAU, which has grown to be known as African Union continued to play a significant role in the unification and maintaining of peace on the continent. Alhaji Abukari Sumani, NDC-Choggu/Tishigu said the day should be used to educate Africans on the needs and values of the African Union.
Mr Victor Gbeho, Independent-Anlo said he was happy that the Africa Day has found a place in the laws of Ghana to conform to the international law that expresses solidarity with the people of African descent. Mr Abraham Ossei-Aidoo, the Deputy Majority Leader, said African leaders should demonstrate the ideals of good governance to ensure the swift integration of the people of the continent.
Captain Nkrabea Effah-Dartey (rtd), Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said it was necessary that the people of Africa should first and foremost see themselves as Africans and be able to solve their numerous problems as they themselves could have wished to do.
Mr Kofi Attor, NDC-Ho Central, said it was necessary for the present generation to groom up the children of today to be proud that they were Africans and that schools must be encouraged to form Pan-African clubs to relive the ideals of Africanism.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 18 May 2002- The Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport on Thursday visited Tema Fishing Harbour where fire last week destroyed fishing gear running into millions of cedis. The fire destroyed eight canoes, four outboard motors and fishing gear, leaving two persons injured.
Mr Solomon Kwabena Sarfo, chairman of the committee and MP for Mampong, said the committee's visit was to express sympathy to the fishermen, get information about the cause of the fire, assess the cost of damage and collate views from the fishermen to incorporate into the Shipping Bill before Parliament.
Mr Sarfo said in view of frequent accidents at sea and on the Volta Lake the committee has started a tour of the coastline and the lakes for feasibility studies about the cause of accidents. Fishermen at the harbour accused the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of ignoring their complaints about problems such as larger vessels destroying artesian fishing nets at sea as well as difficulties of procuring fishing gear.
They said there are about 90 of such cases that had not been attended to. The fishermen suggested to the committee and the Fisheries Department to ban the importation of fish during the bumper season that starts from June to enable them sell their catch.
''We do not have any storage facilities to keep the excess fish if they are not bought soon after landing,'' one fisherman told the committee. The fishermen appealed to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority to rehabilitate the platform on which they mend their fishing nets.
Mr. Ishmael Ashietey, Minister of State for Fisheries and MP for Tema East appealed to the fishermen to insure their boats. Meanwhile the Association of Korean Fishing Companies has donated 20 million cedis to the victims of the fire. Two Chinese companies, Afrik-Shandoug Fishing Limited and Zougha Fishing Limited also donated ten million cedis each.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 May 2002- President Alpha Konare of Mali, who arrived in Ghana on Monday on a three-day visit, would on Wednesday address Ghana's Parliament. Mr Abraham Ossei-Aidoo, Deputy Majority Leader, announcing this in a Business Statement to the House on Friday said arrangements were being made to ensure the success of the visit and urged the House to participate fully in the meeting. Mr Ossei-Aidoo said five ministers would during the week answer various questions from members.
He said the committee of the Whole (all members) would discuss the formula for the distribution of the proceeds of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) for this year on Wednesday while the Report of the Finance Committee on the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (Management) (Amendment) Bill would be laid.
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