GRi Press Review 09 - 09
- 2003
Mrs Rawlings does not deserve to be queen of our town
Another bank staff charged over ¢1.1bn theft
About ¢140m for Speaker of Parliament's holidays
Mpiani blamed for Kufuor's inaction on report
Mim citizens threatens to boycott future elections
NDC is doomed forever - Okumkom
"Rename Kotoka Airport after Nkrumah" - Dr
Otibu-Asare
SFO Directors at engaged in open recriminations
About 38 police cars damaged
Kafo didi a la NDC: Adjaho keeps 2 official houses
Mrs Rawlings does not deserve to be queen of our town
Anomabo Pomase (Central Region) 9 September 2003 - Some citizens of Anomabo Pomase have reacted angrily to the title conferred on former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings as the "Mpuntuhemaa" - development queen of Anomabo Pomase under the stool name of Nana Mpabah VI.
Kojo Asempa told the "Crusading Guide" in a telephone interview that Mrs Rawlings does not deserve to be enstooled as a queen mother of development of their town because of her track record as an ex-First Lady.
Asempa emphasized that there was a split among the elders of the town when Mrs Rawlings was nominated for the honour. He said that Mrs Rawlings and her 31st December Women's Movement (DWM) had done nothing towards the development of Anomabo Pomase.
"If throughout the 8 years rule of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), we the people of Anomabo Pomase could boost of some non-functioning bore hole projects then, what at all did we get from the NDC?" he queried.
The borehole and the day care center in this village were given to us in exchange for votes and we all voted for the NDC. That is why Konadu must not think that those projects were done through her personal initiative," he underscored. "The stool name, Nana Apabah VI should not have been given to Mrs Rawlings on a silver platter.
One Yaw Anaman contended that the branch of the 31st DWM in the town was in coma, adding he was therefore surprised that the Mrs Rawlings made it look as if 31st December of Anomabo Pomase was active.
"These are lies, Konadu and the members of 31st DWM here know that if the poor state of this community is termed as development, it is not Konadu who must take the credit, it was through our self help spirit" he concluded.
Mrs Rawlings was made named "Mpuntuhemaa" of Anomabo Pomase at a ceremony last week. Clad in kente and adorned with traditional ornament, Mrs Rawlings was paraded through the village in a palanquin. She swore her oath of allegiance to Nana Okwan VI at the ceremony. - Crusading Guide
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Another bank staff charged over ¢1.1bn theft
Accra (Greater Accra) 9 September 2003 - Barely three days an Accra Circuit Court remanded Bernard Ofori, a staff of SSB Bank Limited, in prison custody for stealing ¢1.4bn, another staff has been arraigned before the court for a similar offence.
This time, Cephas Asuo, a System Analyst, is facing the court siphoning ¢1.1bn from the bank between November and December last year. His plea was not taken and the court, presided over by Williewise Kyeremeh, remanded him in custody until 15 September to enable the police to conduct thorough investigations into the case.
According to the prosecution, during a recent auditing conducted by the bank, it was detected that Asuo had manipulated the computers and succeeded in withdrawing ¢1.1bn. It was also found that the accounts of some customers were used in committing the crime.
The prosecution said the police have retrieved four cars and four computers and their accessories from the accused. He owns four shops located at Kaneshie, which the police suspect were built from the proceeds of the theft.
Last Friday, the Circuit Court remanded Bernard Ofori, a Computer Analyst, in custody over charges that he has manipulated the bank's computer software to steal ¢1.4bn with two years. Ofori was attached to the Information Technology Department of the bank and between 2001 and 2003, he allegedly connived with some customers to use the software system to change figures on payment vouchers.
The police have recovered six vehicles - an Iveco pick-up, 2 BMW 5 series saloon cars, a Nissan Urvan bus, a Nissan Primera saloon car and a Mercedes Benz pick-up - which Ofori allegedly used part of the money to purchase. The bank has also recovered ¢32.5m from the accused. - Times
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About ¢140m for Speaker of Parliament's holidays
Accra (Greater Accra) 9 September 2003 - The Speaker of Parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey has taken time off his hectic parliamentary duties to cool off at Dublin, Republic of Ireland for two weeks. For his two weeks annual leave, which runs from September 1 to 14, the Speaker has been given an amount of $15,974.00, the equivalent of over ¢140m (¢140,394,048.34) to cover his expenses.
Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Yaw Osafo-Maafo (MP) in a letter dated 26 August 2003 authorized the release of the over ¢140m to the Clerk of Parliament for the Speaker's trip. He also directed that the money be charged to the Contingency Vote.
By a copy of the Minister's letter, the Director of Foreign Operations, Bank of Ghana was requested to provide the requisite foreign currency to the Office of Parliament for the Speaker's two weeks trip. Network Herald newspaper's investigations have revealed however that the Speaker and indeed, all Members of Parliament are not entitled to any such leave. Leave is not captured by any of the provisions of the Greenstreet Report.
The paper is informed that the Speaker had written to the President, requesting for an annual leave and the all expenses paid trip to Dublin. The Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpianim however wrote back to the Speaker, and explained that the president has no mandate to grant the Speaker the leave requested. The Clerk of Parliament then wrote to the leadership of Parliament for clearance for the Speaker to go on leave. Here is the Minister's letter authorizing the release of the money for the trip: - Network Herald
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Mpiani blamed for Kufuor's inaction on report
Accra (Greater Accra) 9 September 2003 - The Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, has been blamed for the apparent delay by President Kufuor to act on a committee report that was submitted to him in Dec. last year on the wrongful dismissal of about 500 ex-workers of the National Oil Palm Limited (NOPL), which is based at Pretea in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region.
Some sources that spoke to The Chronicle said the Chief of Staff might have forgotten to inform the President of receiving the committee's report, hence the apparent silence by the President.
Speaking to reporters in Takoradi, the ex-workers of the company, now known as Norwegian Palm (NORPALM), expressed their surprise at the delay of President Kufuor to take action on the committee's report ,which he instructed the District Chief Executive for Ahanta West, Kwesi Biney to set up to investigate their grievances.
Investigation conducted by The Chronicle revealed that when the PNDC government decided to convert the then state farms into a limited liability company, the workers were prevailed upon to invest in the new company that was going to be set up.
When the workers accepted the proposal, their management, then headed by Squadron Leader Sowu decided to convert the welfare fund of the workers into equity in the new company. By this decision the workers were given 15% shares in the company, which they named National Oil Palm Limited.
The Chronicle gathered that after this accord had been reached with the workers, Squadron Leader Sowu left the company. The new management that took over also had friction with the workers so the latter started agitating for the return of their money, which was 15% equity, shares in the company. The ensuing confusion led to the arbitrary dismissal of the workers after some military personnel had been sent to the company.
After the dismissal of the workers in 1991, the new management still refused to pay back the money to the workers. Whilst the issue was dragging on, the then NDC government again divested the company in the year 2000 to some Norwegians investors, who now renamed the company. In fact the company has now become a wholly privately owned entity.
When the company was being divested for the second time, the government still did not consider paying the workers the amount they had invested in the company.
When President Kufuor visited the Western Region about two years ago, the workers raised the issue at a durbar organized in his honour at Agona Nkwanta, the Ahanta West district capital and appealed to him to intervene for the state to refund their money to them.
At the same function chiefs from the area led by the Ahantahene, Otumfuo Baidoe Bonsu, also complained to the President that the land for the cultivation of the oil palm in question was not paid for by the then CPP government led by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who took it over from them to make state farms.
The chiefs told the President that, though no compensation was paid for the land, the state had also divested the palm and the land into private hands who were now cultivating it to make profit at their expense. The chiefs therefore appealed to the President to look into the issue and recommend appropriate compensation that must be paid to them as landowners.
After receiving these two complaints, the President also instructed the District Chief Executive, Kwesi Biney, to set up a committee to look into the complaints and submit its report to him later in Accra for him to take action.
DCE Biney, subsequently, set up the committee as recommended by the President, who after going through the cases, submitted their report to him including recommendations they had made. Biney later sent the whole report to the Regional Minister in Sekondi.
The Chronicle gathered from an unimpeachable source that after receiving the report, the Regional Minister, Hon. Boahen Aidoo and his Regional Security Council deliberated on it before they finally submitted it to the Office of the Chief of Staff in December last year.
Investigations revealed that almost a year after the submission of the report to the chief of staff neither the Chief of Staff nor the President had made any comment on the report, which the ex-workers, who now find themselves in abject poverty ,have been waiting for.
When The Chronicle contacted Biney on phone last Thursday afternoon, he confirmed that the President instructed him to set up the committee to look into the issue. According to him, the committee had already submitted their findings to him, which he had also sent to the Regional Minister for onward submission to the President.
He refused to make further comment saying he was waiting for the action the President would take on the report. - Chronicle
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Mim citizens threatens to boycott future elections
Nana Kofi Boffah, acting President of Mim Traditional Council, has complained about the poor state of Mim in spite of its significant contributions to the national economy.
He claimed that although Mim contributes largely to the country's foreign exchange earnings, it remains the poorest in terms of infrastructure and cautioned that it should not be a surprise if the people refused to exercise their franchise in the next elections.
Nana Boffah, who is also Nifahene of Mim, was speaking at a durbar organized in honour of Nana Kwadwo Seinti, Regional Minister, who toured the town as part of a working visit to the Asunafo District.
"Notwithstanding series of official approaches to successive governments to come to the aid of the people, the town still lacks a full-fledged hospital, post office facilities and other basic amenities," the chief said. He said the few amenities in the town, were provided by the management of the original Mim Timber Company (MTC).
"If the government does not effect change in our lives it will not be surprising if people in the area refuse to exercise their franchise come the 2004 elections", he said. The chief alleged that the people had learnt that Kukuom in the district has been tipped to become the capital of the proposed new district within Asunafo, saying Mim with a population of 22,000 with adequate resources should rather be made the capital.
Nana Seinti said creation of a new district capital is the sole responsibility of the President and asked Nananom in the traditional area to channel their petition in relation to the location of the capital to the appropriate quarters.
He advised the people to exercise restraint and promised that the NPP government would do everything possible to satisfy every part of the nation with amenities as and when necessary.
At Goaso, Nana Seinti interacted with Heads of Departments and advised them to change their attitude to work. The Regional Minister inspected extension work being carried out at the Goaso Government Hospital.
He visited the ¢160m medical stores funded under the Social Investment Fund (SIF) and the construction of new wards being funded by the Asunafo District Assembly at a cost of ¢200m. The people and chiefs of Goaso appealed to the Regional Minister to provide the District Office of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) with a fire tender.
They also called for the extension of electricity to the zongo community and the upgrading of one of the Senior Secondary Schools as a model institution. The chiefs complained about the poor state of the Goaso-Bechem Junction road and called for its rehabilitation as well as the installation of telephone facilities in the area.
Nana Seinti said the government has contracted $150m loan to ensure that all towns in the country enjoy the facility and mentioned Alcatel as the contractors to handle the telephone project. Nana Seinti commissioned a ¢160m block for the Methodist Junior Secondary School constructed under the SIF programme.
At Ayomso, the Regional Minister on behalf of President Kufour, presented a sewing machine and ¢4m to Ms. Janet Nyametease who was the only person who registered during the recent registration of the unemployed in the Asunafo District and has completed a six-month sewing training at the Fawohoyeden Youth Leadership Training School (FLTS).
The Regional Minister said the presentation was the President's appreciation to Janet for appreciating what the government was doing for the unemployed.
Nana Seinti expressed surprise that only one person registered in the district, saying, the government believed that poverty alleviation meant a change in policy to assist the unemployed to be gainfully employed through training and acquisition of skills. - Chronicle
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NDC is doomed forever - Okumkom
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 9 September 2003 - The former Metropolitan Chief Executive of Kumasi, Nana Akwasi Agyeman has stated that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is doomed forever as a political party. According to Akwasi Agyeman, a.k.a. Okumkom, "the NDC would never (again) make any gains in the country's political game and would be better off, if the leadership of the party give up any hope of ever capturing political power".
The former Kumasi Mayor who used to be a strong bulwark of the former ruling party in the Ashanti Region disclosed this in an interview with the Independent newspaper at his plush residence in Kumasi.
Nana Akwasi Agyeman was unperturbed when NDC picketers last week referred to him as a traitor. Instead he praised the NPP government for its achievement in the socio-economic sector. "Judging from what I have seen during rounds with President Kufuor in the Ashanti Region, three years of the NPP is far better than almost twenty years of P(NDC)", he said. - Joy FM
"Rename Kotoka Airport after Nkrumah" - Dr Otibu-Asare
Accra (Greater Accra) 9 September 2003 - The government has been urged to change the name of the Kotoka International Airport in Accra and rename it after Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Dr Dee Otibu-Asare, Chief Executive Officer of West Africa International magazine, who made the call, explained that it was Dr Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana who built the airport and not General G.E. Kotoka.
He was speaking at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial lectures and Awards Night in Accra, organized by the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation (KNF) and West African magazine.
Dr Otibu noted that although after the 1966 coup, Dr Nkrumah was maligned, condemned and rejected, successive civilian governments have lifted up his image. "In as much as past and present governments have appreciated what our great leader did for Ghana and Africa, one is quick to ask if there is any moral justification in naming the Accra Airport built by Dr Nkrumah, after General Kotoka who, to me, was never known in the army until the coup in 1996", he stated.
He said that if a plebiscite were to be conducted on the issue, he was certain that 100 percent of Ghanaians would vote in support of the renaming. - Times
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SFO Directors at engaged in open recriminations
Accra (Greater Accra) The Serious Fraud Office (SFO), a statutory body set to help weed put corrupt practices from the society, particularly white collar crimes in official circles, is fast losing credibility in the eyes of the public. This is because directors who are supposed to be supervising the office are themselves embroiled in verbal exchanges against each other.
Only last week, reports were rife in the media that the directors of the office engaged in open recriminations in the full glare of bemused staff who watched on as they accused each other of being corrupt and in the pockets of unnamed politicians.
Not only have people been skeptical, lately, about the SFO's undue delays investigating and reporting on clear cases of malfeasance and outright crime by some members of the public officers; indeed some members of the public are now questioning the loyalty of the personnel of the office.
"Evening News" newspaper attempts at getting to the bottom of some of the allegations drew uncooperative responses the whole of last week, as one excuse after another was given for the inability of the directors to speak to the newspaper.
It has been reliably gathered that there is indeed, tension between the acting directing, Theophilus Cudjoe, Assistant Director in-charge of Investigation, Tetteh Mensah and Flt Lt (Rtd) Yaw Kutsienyo, Assistant Director in-charge of Administration.
The suspicion, politicking and alleged corrupt practices are seriously undermining the ability of the SFO to conduct professional investigations and come out with honest findings without raising doubts in the mind of the public - Evening News
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Accra (Greater Accra) 9 September 2003 - Thirty-Eight out of over 600 vehicles acquired for the Ghana Police Service by the government recently, have been damaged through major and minor motor accidents. ASP David Eklu, Public Relations Director of the service, confirmed this in an interview in Accra.
He explained that all but two of the vehicles have been repaired and are back on the road. He indicated that the accidents were the results of highway and high-speed chase of suspects in the country. He noted that in one of the accidents, a suspect who was being conveyed to a police station broke the glass in an attempt to abscond, but was apprehended after the vehicle crashed.
According to him, seven drivers were interdicted and investigations were conducted into their performance as drivers of the Service. They have since been re-instated, but have since been suspended from driving until further notice. - Daily Guide
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Kafo didi a la NDC: Adjaho keeps 2 official houses
Accra (Greater Accra) 9 September 2003 - Edward Korbly Doe Adjaho, the Minority Chief Whip and MP for Avenor, has been keeping two official houses.
The NDC top man has kept a plush holiday resort, on the account of the State, virtually on the quiet, since 1997. His official residence, as a Parliamentary frontbencher, is on the posh estate near the BNI headquarters, Ridge, Accra, where he lives with his family.
He is also holding on to the keys of House No. B2 Jogis Estate, near the exclusive Trassaco Valley, East Legon. According to THE STATESMAN, for a while, he gave the use of that state property to a friend of his, Fred Nutsugah, an Assistant Clerk of Parliament.
But, when Nutsugah left for Canada to pursue an academic course, Doe Adjaho refused to return the East Legon property to the State, using it instead, sparingly, as his holiday base. - The Statesman
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