Ghana Airways staff cry for
help
Accra (Greater Accra) 05 May 2003 - The National Chairman of the CPP, Dr Abubakar Al-Hassan has asked party members currently holding political office in the NPP administration to review their position before the 2004 elections.
He said the present philosophies and ideologies of the two parties based on a new working document developed by the CPP for the elections are diametrically opposed, especially on health, education and the role of the state in national development. He said under the CPP’s current manifesto, education for each citizen is seen as a birthright and that it should be free at all levels.
The CPP’s opinion on health is that its provision should not be based on social and economic status of a patient but a fundamental human right for those who actually need it. The CPP Chairman however reaffirmed the commitment of the party to the cordial co-existence of all political parties in the country. – MyJoyOnLine
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Team (Greater Accra) 05 May 2003 - Kaiser Aluminium, the largest shareholder in the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO), has decided to curtail the last remaining operating pot line effective 5 May 2003. VALCO decided to initiate the curtailment to provide Volta River Authority (VRA) with additional flexibility in meeting the needs of other power users in Ghana, in light of the low level of the Akosombo Dam.
The company expects the curtailment to extend through the end of the rainy season, at which time it will resume operations by using the remainder of its 2003 power allocation including the power that it would have consumed in the absence of the present curtailment.
A statement issued in Accra on Friday said VALCO was still evaluating the financial impacts of the curtailment including potential charges and cash requirement for affected employees. ''The net cash impact of such curtailment is expected to be offset, in part, by a reduction in working capital, excluding special items. The impact of the additional curtailment on ongoing operating income is expected to be modest''.
VALCO has run into problems with the VRA and government of Ghana following proposals that the company pays more for the power it consumes. The statement said VALCO would continue to pursue a dual-track approach to resolve the problem. The primary tract is through arbitration under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris with both the VRA and the Government of Ghana. The second tract is direct negotiation with the VRA and the Government of Ghana to find a mutually beneficial solution, short of arbitration.
VALCO has five pot lines, each with a capacity to produce 40,000 metric tonnes of primary aluminium annually. Although VALCO has a long-term power contract with VRA, the number of operating pot lines varies from year to year depending on the power allocation.
In 2000, 2001 and early 2002, VALCO had
operated four pot lines. In March 2002 VALCO responded to VRA allocation cuts
by reducing its operating level to three pot lines. It further reduced its
operating pot lines to two and then one between December 2002 and January 2003.
– Public Agenda
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 May 2003 - The Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin has criticised the performance of the media since the change of government saying they have demonstrated that they are prepared to relinquish their constitutional role and change the direction of democracy.
He said at a ceremony in Accra to mark this year's World Press Freedom Day celebration that unless a remedy is found, the direction the media is heading could spell doom for the nation. Bagbin said there is a growing partisanship of the media that is drawing a wedge between genuine practitioners of the trade and others who are more or less politicians who have become tin gods and disregarded the very institutions that have fought gallantly to win and uphold media freedoms. He was presenting a paper on "The Role of the Media in Upholding the Responsibility and Accountability of the Government to the People of Ghana".
Bagbin said it is worrying that some media managers and editors openly derided the Ethics Committee of the GJA and the National Media Commission itself. He said the greatest threat to media public accountability is no longer gagging dictators clamping down on the press or the criminal libel law or any obnoxious laws in the statutory books. He said the media's worse enemy are media personnel themselves. Bagbin said the constitution has given the media sweeping liberties and protection and Ghanaians therefore expect nothing less than the media living up to their responsibility of being the Fourth Estate of the Realm.
Bagbin said what he has observed on the other hand is that media gurus could tolerate physical harassment more than criticism that made them sore and vengeful. He said there are about 70 newspapers in circulation, about 10 TV establishments and about 50 radio stations. He said the pressure from these with collective citizen action and minority political parties could compel government to institute meaningful reforms necessary to reduce corruption and accelerate economic development. However, Bagbin said the watchdog role of the media has virtually been pushed to the corridors of the minority political parties.
He said this is because some senior journalists were appointed to high offices of the NPP Administration with a number of others serving on various boards, adding that these have influenced their ability and objectivity to uphold the accountability and responsibility of the government to the people of Ghana. He said a close interaction between the media and government must not be necessarily negative, adding that as Ghanaians, media personnel are entitled to accept such appointments but that relationship should not turn into an illicit love affair with negative consequences.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 May 2003 – The National Democratic Congress (NDC), the major opposition party, says tomorrow, it will embark on a demonstration in Accra against “two years of astronomical price increases, unbearable economic hardships, discriminatory widening inequalities and an uninspiring, visionless leadership.”
Dubbed “March for Survival”, it will begin from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and bring to the fore the “hardship of the ordinary Ghanaian.” Details of the route are to be announced later. The NDC’s Director of Communications, John Mahama, disclosed these at a press conference in Accra last Friday.
The march, Mahama said, would also be used as a means of fighting for the economic survival of the ordinary Ghanaian “whose living conditions keep deteriorating under the Kufuor Administration.” He said since the increment in the petroleum prices, life had become unbearable with food prices, transport fares, electricity and water tariffs shooting up.
He noted that though the ruling government offered to mitigate the hardship of Ghanaian workers, it had rather asked them to tighten their belts. “Within two years of assuming office, the NPP has acquired so much wealth as to be able to purchase pick-up vehicles for its offices and constituencies. Perhaps, its newly acquired wealth makes it oblivious of poverty, rising unemployment and social deprivation,” he said.
Mahama revealed that the march would be used to protest against the vandalization of stalls and tables belonging to butchers who had displayed NDC flags at Tamale Slaughter House. “The newly re-imposed state of emergency declared by the President was being used by the government to embark on an indiscriminate and arbitrary arrest of innocent citizens especially NDC members and sympathisers,” he alleged.
Mahama said as a result, several youth in t he municipality had fled their homes and sought for refuge in the wild, creating a “colony of internal displaced persons. He urged Commission for Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate human rights abuses in Tamale and make appropriate interventions to stop political prosecution and harassment.
The demonstration, he explained, was also for survival of a vibrant opposition party, which “has been subjected to cruel treatment and intimidation by the ruling government.” Mahama called on all Ghanaians to resist the attempts by the NPP to “strangulate” the opposition starting with the NDC.
“Several Ghanaians, including business men and women and public officers suspected to having NDC leanings and sympathisers have lost their sources of livelihood, yet while in opposition many of the NPP supporters including the Vice President had fair access to government contracts,” he said.
He noted one way of ensuring the survival to the opposition is to avoid selective justice against them through the application of laws, which though not in the statute books, are considered unjust, unfair, harsh and unduly repressive.
He described the convictions and sentences of Kwame Peprah, Ibrahim Adam and Dr George Yankey as harsh and unfair. Only those whose hearts are filled with vengeance and for whom the outcome serves their political agenda of destroying the NDC will rejoice in the cruel sentencing of the three gentlemen,” he stated. – Ghanaian Times
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 May 2003 - Permit for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) demonstration dubbed “March for Survival” scheduled to take place next Tuesday has been granted by the police, but not the routes proposed by the party. A letter signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police, N. K. Boakye says the party’s proposed route for the March will not be suitable to the Police.
Boakye explained that the Accra Central business district and the road leading to Wato Club, are usually congested and will pose a problem for the massive crowd control. JOY FM learnt that new routes from Kwame Nkrumah Circle to Farisco traffic lights, through the TUC to Ministries and its environs and finally to the Hearts of Oak training Park near the High Street have been suggested by the police. NDC Deputy General Secretary, Operations, B. A. Zeideng who received the letter says the party is yet to respond. - MyJoyOnLine
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 May 2003 – The Volta River Authority (VRA) senior staff association and the local union under the Housing Grouping have loudly called on government to conduct forensic investigations into the activities of the authority. To begin with, they want their chief executive officer, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby and his entire board of directors immediately removed and put before the fast track court.
This was the outcome of a House Grouping meeting that was held at the Akosombo community centre last Friday. A chronicle undercover investigator was at the packed-to-capacity centre, and said the atmosphere was so charged that it could only equate with the very high tension being generated by the hydro plant.
With pent-up feelings, the VRA workers, only last Tuesday morning, unveiled a banner at the dam site roundabout with the inscription: ‘Wereko-Brobby must go; put him before the Fast Track Court.” In typical “George Orwell’s Animal farm” fashion, the workers showed solidarity by driving in the roundabout more than twice, at the time when they centred the beautiful banner, and waved in anticipation of their liberation.
Chronicle that morning, at about 7:30, spotted the banner and within 10 minutes when a Chronicle reporter laid hands on a camera to take shots of the happenings-as the hope-filled workers, some walking, filed past in a single line, the unexpected happened.
Personnel from the security department, upon orders, quickly went and removed the banner. Information gathered was that the instruction was to fold and hide the banner, as quickly as possible, so that the telescopic eyes of the Chronicle reporters would not catch it. From that day, the issue of the missing banner was discussed at drinking bars, offices and other social gatherings.
Leadership of the House Grouping briefed the workers on salary negotiations that had been going on between them and management, which run into a deadlock. According to the leaders, management had taken a entrenched position, deciding to offer 40% and 55% salary increases for the union and the senior staff association respectively and also prepared to increase allowances.
A unanimous decision was arrived at to wear red bands and fly red flags beginning on Monday 05 May 2003 for two weeks and if, government failed to remove the CEO and the board, pending investigations into the activities of Dr Wereko-Brobby, then they would storm the head office in Accra in further protest.
Asked the reason for the red flags and bands, the gathering, from all departments accused Tarzan’s administration of witnessing too many negative media battles, which, as such, had brought the VRA into disrepute. The Strategic Reserve Plant (SRP) they said, had been contracted under “darkness” and had now become a vampire at a time when pay slips were recording zero.
The numerous resignations that have hit the authority and arbitrary use of power were some of their reasons to “go red”. It was announced for onward transmission to government to make Tarzan insulate the VRA from the legal battle he is preparing against Chronicle.
The crowd went gay when one person took the floor and initiated songs: “Yen be yen dea ye tu Brobby-ku Brobby ma yen” which were sung rollickingly with a chorus. They referred to the Bible – John 10:49-51 – in which the high priest, Caiaphas, stated: “It is good for one man to die than the whole nation to perish.” – Ghanaian Chronicle
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3 lawyers to stripped-says
Chief Justice
Three member of the legal profession in the country are to face disciplinary action, as they have been found culpable of misconduct in the course of executing their jobs. The culprits would be stripped of their positions as lawyers because of the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council has recommended the sanctions against them, having completed an intensive investigation conducted over the last two years.
The names of the lawyers indicted would soon be made public following an approval by the General Legal Council at the close of a meeting, held at the end of April. The Chief Justice and the Chairman of the General Legal Council disclosed this when 12 new lawyers, including two females, were called to the Bar during a mini swearing-in ceremony held in Accra, last Friday.
The disclosure of the names of the culprits, the first ever to be adopted by the General Legal Council, would bring to the fore the warning that the council does not shield members found guilty of misconduct in the course of the executing their duties as lawyers.
The Chief Justice urged members of the legal profession to be circumspect and conduct their work in honesty and truth, in order to uphold the dignity of the profession at all times. According to Justice Wiredu, lawyers should be law abiding as society looks up to them in moulding a community, free of chaos and confusion.
He stressed that lawyers encourage development and progress since their opinions carry weight in society. He tolod the new lawyers that they were about to begin an endless process of educating themselves to acquire greater knowledge in the course of their duties in order to distinguish themselves in the legal profession, adding that members of the profession are always friends despite dissenting on issues that crop up.
The CJ further observed that, since the new lawyers, in one way or the other, were going to rise through in ranks of the profession in the discharge of their duties, depending on their capabilities, they should remember the tenets of the profession: honesty and sympathy. He urged them to be prepared to assist and work in the rural areas and deprived communities in the country.
He advised the new lawyers to acquaint
themselves with the process of resolving disputes through the Alternative
Dispute Resolution (ADR) to enhance attempts at decreasing the multiple cases
in court and to ensure peaceful settlement of disputes. – Ghanaian
Chronicle
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 May 2003 - Four companies engaged in illegal termination of international voice traffic have been ordered to pay ¢4.3bn to Ghana Telecom and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by 24 May or face the full rigours of the law.
The four companies, owned by an individual, are among 32 companies identified by the National Communications Authority (NCA) in a special exercise to bring to book all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which are unregistered and yet deal in Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service in the country.
Major (rtd) J. R. K. Tandoh, the acting Director General of the NCA, who did not name the companies involved, said they never applied to and were not issued with authorisation from the NCA to operate as Internet Service Providers (ISP), contrary to NCA regulations.
He was speaking to journalists at Ada at an NCA management retreat to deliberate on issues affecting the telecommunications industry, provision of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service and a draft guidelines on the selection of a third network operator, among others. Major Tandoh said the 32 companies also failed to register with the IRS and thereby evaded the payment of taxes on their operations.
He said the illegal activity of the companies had caused substantial financial loss to Ghana Telecom and the IRS. According to him, the affected companies presented themselves to GT as licensed ISPs and were, therefore, given the lines to operate.
He said investigations by the Tax Evasion Committee of the NCA showed that between 2001 and 2003. The four companies defrauded GT and the IRS whooping sums of ¢2,893,520,777.00 and ¢1,447,182,021.04 respectively, bringing the total liability to ¢4,340,702,798.04, including penalties.
Major Tandoh said NCA invoked section 141, 142 and 143 of the IRS Act 2000 (Act 529) for their failure to maintain records, furnish returns and pay tax on due date. He said the NCA is yet to complete the computation of the total indebtedness of the remaining 28 companies and that as soon as the Tax Evasion Committee completes the work, the companies would be notified and given 30 days to pay up or face the law.
He said the NCA has acquired new equipment
to detect all such illegal transactions, which have resulted in tremendous loss
of revenue to GT and the nation as a whole. Major Tandoh said following the
exercise, GT has registered more than 50 per cent external revenue increase
accruing to the company. – Graphic
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 May 2003 - Workers of the Ghana Airways have renewed their appeal to the government to come to the aid of the company in order to salvage it from imminent collapse. According to the workers, the financial situation of the company is so distressful that if nothing is done immediately, in a matter of months, the company will fold up.
Addressing the press on the current situation of the national airline, the chairman of the Senior Staff Association, Roland Mosore, said Ghana Airways is in a serious financial crisis and most of its equipment is obsolete. The press conference was attended by retired staff of the airways, who, in their submission, called on the government to inject capital into sustaining the airline.
Mosore said although the government declared that it will provide financial support only when a forensic audit has been done on the company, “this has not been done after the report has been presented”. He said currently the company is operating with only one aircraft with the rest grounded in Italy because the company is in debt.
He said the Ghana Airways is now left with the option of leasing aircraft to be able to operate its current route at a very huge cost. He said the airline is in serious debt and is losing the confidence of its clients in terms of credit worthiness and that the government, which is the owner, should initiate immediate steps to inject capital into the company.
He said the salaries of workers are paid with difficulty and “these are signals that the airline is gradually coming to a halt”. He said the company could be profitable and attributed its current state to mismanagement and the inability of the government to consult workers whenever decisions are to be taken on the airline.
“In the past, governments took decisions and left the affairs of the company in the hands of people who knew nothing about aviation,” the chairman said and stressed that, “nobody can make Ghana Airways better than the workers who have the expertise and experience to make the airline viable”.
He said, ground handling, for instance, which has been taken away from the company and given to private investors and for which the airline now pays about $190,000 a month, could have been operated by the airline to generate revenue. Mosore expressed the workers’ dissatisfaction at the award of a $40,000 contract to Ernst and Young, a subsidiary of the forensic audit organisation that investigated Ghana Airways, operation.
He said the contract, which is to prepare the 2002 revenue document of the airline, could have been done by the Revenue and Account Department of the airline at a much lower cost, he contended. The chairman said this has always been a problem at the airline where individuals contracted to do jobs for the airways “metamorphose into management staff and board members”.
Mosore said the workers are prepared to co-operate with the government and all well-meaning Ghanaians to salvage the airline and called for a representation of workers on the board of the airlines. - Graphic
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