Rainstorm flattens Volta River Estates plantation
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 October - The former Deputy Minister of Finance, Victor Selormey, who is serving a four-year jail term for defrauding the state, has been brought before court again.
Selormey was put before the Accra Fast Track Court on Monday on another charge of causing financial loss of ¢2.7b to the state. But this time, he is there with his colleague, former Deputy Minister of Trade, Dan Abodakpi.
They have both pleaded not guilty to seven counts of conspiracy to commit crime, wilfully causing financial loss and defrauding the state. The court, presided over by Justice S.T. Farkye granted them ¢3b self recognisance bail each.
They are to report again on 28 October when the prosecution is expected to bring in witnesses for the hearing of the case. According to the prosecution, the accused conspired with Dr Frederick Boadu off Leebda Corporation in the USA, from May to December 2002 to defraud and cause financial loss of $400,000 (¢2,732,382,880) to the state.
The money was paid into the personal account of Dr Boadu in two instalments of $100,000 in August and $300,000 in December 2000 as fees for feasibility study towards the establishment of a Science and Technology Park/Valley.
The accused are being represented by Koblah Dogbe Senanu. On the prosecution side are Osafo Sampong, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Anthony Gyamby, Principal State Attorney (PSA) and Augustine Obuor, an Assistant State Attorney.
Presenting the facts of the case, Gyambiby stated that the accused as part of their official duties as Deputy Minister of State, jointly chaired a Trade and Investment Programme (TIP). The programme, he said, started in 1992 and ended in 1997 and under it, the USAID provided 80m dollars as a grant to develop and promote trade in traditional goods.
The prosecution said the accused took undue advantage as joint chairmen of the oversight committee tasked to disburse the funds to defraud the state of $400,000.
The accused between the period did make a representation to the Managing Director of Ecobank (Ghana) Limited that Dr Boadu had conducted a feasibility study on the establishment of a Science and Technology Community Park/Valley and by that obtained the consent of the government to transfer the money to Dr Boadu’s account. But they knew the representation was false and made it with intent to defraud.
According to the prosecution, no feasibility study was ever conducted by Dr Boadu and even the Controller and Accountant General was not aware of any such contract agreement between Dr Boadu and the Ministry of Trade. Besides, the science project was under phase two of the World Bank funded Gateway project, which did not require any disbursement from the TIP fund.
The prosecution said personnel of the Gateway Secretariat had denied knowledge of any such project. The defence counsel, Sewanu, prayed the court to grant his clients bail because the charges preferred against them did not belong to the offences for which bail should not be granted.
He said that given the fact that the accused were former ministers of state and Ghanaians with places of abode, the court should therefore take into consideration their onerous duty to the state.
He said that if granted bail his clients would make themselves available to the court to stand trial because even though they received the summons at a very short notice they managed to appear before the court. – The Ghanaian Times
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 October 2002 - The Convention People’s Party (CPP) has cautioned Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom and Freddie Blay to “uphold the highest sense of discipline” in the pronouncements regarding the party’s association with the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
“These pronouncements from high ranking members of the party such as Dr Nduom and Freddie Blay are acts of indiscipline and irresponsibility,” remarked Dr Nii Noi Dowuona, general secretary of the CPP.
Dr Dowuona, who was reacting to questions about assertions made by Dr Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Integration and Blay, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament that the CPP would support the ruling NPP government in the 2004 presidential elections, noted that the party would do everything possible to stop such manner of high-profile indiscipline being exhibited by the two high ranking members of the party.
It is recalled that Blay, also a member of the Parliamentary Action Group (PAG) recently pledged the group’s unfettering support for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the forthcoming 2004 presidential elections.
Blay was also quoted as saying that his group, the PAG, being “motivated purely by the greater need to strengthen democracy in the country would defy the CPP and go along with the NPP if the CPP refused to see wisdom in an electoral pact with the ruling party come 2004.
According to Dr Dowuona, the CPP was going to ensure that any party member in any position, whether within or outside the party, showed mutual respect, discipline and responsibility to other members because none was above the party’s rules and regulations laid down by the CPP’s governing constitution.
“We are equal because we are not flouting our positions, decrees, wealth, our stature or might; we say we subscribe to the ideas of Nkrumah and that is why we are members of the CPP.” “If you want to belong to it, there are rules which every member, status notwithstanding, must adhere to,” he said.
The general secretary stressed the CPP’s independence of the ruling NPP and entirely dissociated the party from President Kufuor’s administration saying that “the CPP is not in alliance with the NPP.”
Reacting to whether Dr Nduom and Blay’s inseparable affinity to the NPP government had not developed consequent chasms within the CPP, Dr Dowuona responded thus: “People are entitled to device different meaning from their (Nduom and Blay’s) role in the NPP government but the two do not in anyway represent CPP in Kufuor’s administration.
The party is well focused as an independent political party and, therefore, two people from the CPP serving in the NPP government will not determine the fate or future direction of the party,” he emphasised. He contended that the CPP was the greatest potential party in the country despite its current misfortunes. “We may have some reverse in our fortunes for now but that does not mean we are not capable of turning the scale around to our advantage.”
With regard to the constitutionality of the Parliamentary Action Group, he retorted that the Central Committee (National Executive Committee) and even the leaders or the group had concurred that it was not a constitutionally recognised body since the party’s constitution made no provision for the setting up of such an entity.
Throwing more light on the on-going unity talks among the three Nkrumaist parties together with their prominent ally, the National Reform Party (NRP), he said should the unity pact be eventually ratified with the NRP, they would be heading for congress to elect a flagbearer by the middle of next year. – The Evening News
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 October 2002 - There is 16 days more to go for the International Finance Consortium (IFC)’s $350m to land in Ghana and be fully lodged in the Ghana government accounts.
The loan agreement, originally for $1b but forced to be scaled down to a first tranch of $350m following trenchant criticisms by the NDC Minority in Parliament, was finally approved by the NPP rubber-stamp Majority plus their PNC acolytes in Parliament.
The loan agreement required that a Sovereign Guarantee should be issued to the “IFC” by 31 July 2002 and that the funds should be transferred into government accounts within twelve weeks or 90 days; that is, by 31 October 2002.
That leaves the NPP government exactly 16-days within which to deliver, or else be ready to answer some pertinent questions from an expectant public. The relevant terms of the agreement read as follows:
Paragraph 2.3 “…To assure this interest rate all documents must be completed and finalised before 15 July 2002 and the requisite Unconditional Sovereign Government Guarantee must be issued and deposited by 31 July 2002. Paragraph 8.1 “…The first tranch of funds, will be transferred, beginning approximately twelve weeks after receipt of the Sovereign Government Guarantee.”
Paragraph 13 “…A copy of this executed F.P.A. (Final Project Agreement) must be received by fax at the International Finance Consortium by 15 July 2002 at the latest, to maintain and assure the validity of this loan.”
It was in order to beat these deadlines that the government rushed to have the loan agreement approved before Parliament rose on 12 July 2002.
Senior Minister J.H. Mensah’s explanation at the President’s recent press conference, and that of President Kufuor’s own response in an answer to a question that a statement will be issued on the loan beg’s the question.
What was approved by Parliament was the final loan agreement, not a request to negotiate for a loan. Once approved therefore, no further negotiations are envisaged and no further statements are required. The loan must land in Ghana by 31 October 2002 or the government must be ready to admit that it has been duped and prepared to repay $350m for which there is no back-to-back security guarantee whatsoever.
The nearest to a security guarantee in the loan agreement is in paragraph 7 which provides that “Should the Consortium fail to perform its obligation with timely Bank to Bank SWIFT Transfers, the Sovereign Government Guarantee will be returned without cost, unused and unconditionally to the government within ten working days from the due date of the first tranch of the funds.”
In other words, if the money is not in
Ghana government account by 10 November 2002, the Sovereign Government
Guarantee must be returned to the Government of Ghana. – Ghana Palaver
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 October 2002 - The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has signalled that it is going all out to ensure that manufactured food and drugs put on the market are safe and wholesome.
Consequently, the board has given a three-month deadline to all manufacturers to label their products as required by the Food and Drugs Law.
The Deputy Chief Executive of the FDB, Ben Botwe who disclosed this in an interview in Accra on Monday said the board cannot guarantee the safety, wholesomeness, quality and efficacy of products not bearing registration numbers issued by it.
The aim of the directive is to create awareness among members of the public to easily recognise products registered with the board and also be in a position to inform the board of unregistered products. Botwe stated that it is also to ensure that products on the market are safe and of good quality.
He noted that the board recognises the fact that manufacturers still have some stocks of labels printed and directed that "if they are in the process of printing or making new orders between now and December, they must adhere to the directive”.
On how to prevent imitation of the labels, Botwe noted that a post surveillance system of the board would be used to check indiscriminate copying or imitation of registration numbers issued by the board.
Botwe warned that the board will take appropriate sanctions against manufacturers who fail to comply with the directive and urged all stakeholders to cooperate with the board to protect the health of consumers. “The board will confiscate products from manufacturers who do not comply with the directive”, he said. “We will not hesitate to prosecute those we find needing to be taken to court for being recalcitrant”, said Botwe.
For sometime now the general public has expressed concern about sub-standard food and drugs on the Ghanaian market and some members have called for drastic action to deal with the situation. – Daily Graphic
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 October 2002 - The government is constructing 10 receptive facilities in seven regions to boost the tourism industry in the country.
One of the facilities under construction at the Wli Water Falls in the Volta Region is expected to be completed within six months. This will be followed with another facility at the Kintampo water falls in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The acting Minister of Tourism, Hon Kwamina Bartels, said this in Accra on Monday at the opening ceremony of the United Nations Eco-Tourism Year. The ceremony is being organised by the Eco-Fest Ghana Foundation on the theme, “Eco-Fest - Celebrating the New Millennium”.
Participants included service providers in the hospitality and tourism industry as well as students from the second-cycle institutions.
Bartels said that the effort by the government in this direction is to encourage the private sector to venture into the tourism sector and to raise the level of income to help boost tourism.
“It is the expectation of my ministry that investors will see this gesture as a seriousness on the part of government to promote tourism and invest in the other areas that will promote eco-tourism”, he said.
The minister expressed his concern about the indiscriminate felling of trees, destruction of forest cover and wildlife, bush burning and bush fires and their resultant degradation of land as well as the water and air pollution.
He said all these activities pose a threat to efforts towards sustainable development and stressed that “Ghana’s poverty reduction strategy would fail to make the right impact if the activities of few individuals to destroy the natural environment is not halted”. “Sustainable development can be achieved only through environmental conservation and preservation,” Bartels said.
He called on stakeholders in the tourism industry to support programmes such as the eco-tourism that will help boost the promotion of domestic tourism in the country as well as help foster national cohesion, understanding and peace.
Bartels used the occasion to launch a book entitled, “A Guest In Ghana”. The book shows the abundant tourist attractions in the country.
In a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of Environment and Science, Prof Dominic Fobih, the Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, said eco-tourism has the potential for rural development and employment generation. He said the government has made funding available for the development of some of the eco-tourism sites in the country.
Alhaji Mahama urged participants to come up with policies that are implementable and will ensure the development of the eco-tourism in the country.
The Chairman of the Eco-Fest Foundation, Mr Joe Nyarko, said that eco-tourism has a tremendous opportunity and stressed that “it should be exploited for income generating purpose.” – Daily Graphic
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Akrade (Eastern Region) 15 October 2002 - A severe rainstorm which hit parts of the Asuoagyaman District in the Eastern Region at the week-end virtually flattened the 240-hectare banana plantation belonging to the Volta River Estate Limited (VREL) at Akrade near Akwamufie.
The damage, which affected about 80 per cent of the VREL’s banana plantation, now leaves the company with only 40 hectares bananas on its Akuse farm.
Van de Broeke, the General Manager, said this when the Member of Parliament for Asuogyaman, Dwamena Bekoe, visited the farm to inspect the damage. The manager said the company might not be able to export bananas to the European market for the next two or three years owing to the heavy loss.
He estimated that the company would be losing more than $1 billion in export revenue, while it would have to decide the fate of its 640 workers.
Van de Broeke told the MP that the setback, which is the first in the history of the company’s operation in Ghana, would create a serious financial problem for both its local and external operations, especially its commitment to its bankers. He said management has begun consultation with the local labour union of the company on the fate of the workers.
He appealed to the government to immediately come to the aid of the company to help it out of the predicament.
In another development, a new paper factory located at Ghanakope near Atimpoku was also hit by the storm destroying equipment worth more than ¢70m.
The company, which employs more than 60 people, has therefore, been temporarily closed down and the management also appealed to the government through the MP to come to their aid to enable it to resume production.
Bekoe, who sympathised with the two
companies over the loss, urged both management and workers to collaborate to
restore production activities of the companies to normalcy. – Daily
Graphic
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 October 2002 - A massive exercise to apprehend and punish filling stations currently hoarding fuel in anticipation of fuel increases will swing into action from Tuesday 15 October 2002.
The exercise, to be undertaken by a Task Force comprising personnel from the Tema Oil Refinery, Energy Commission, the Police and Ghana Standards Board, will randomly visit filling stations, which are believed to be hoarding fuel in anticipation of fuel price increases.
The hoarding speculative buying of fuel follows an exclusive story last Friday by The Statesman of an imminent increases in prices of petroleum products as a result of a combination of factors which have led to current huge debts for TOR. “This was unacceptable since it is creating not just unnecessary inconvenience for motorists and the public, but has the potential of dislocating the economy,” said a visibly angry official of the Ministry of Energy.
According to TOR officials, the queues are unnecessary since there has been no interruption in the production and supply of petroleum products from the refinery. “Indeed, we have pumped more than we usually do, realising the potential for unscrupulous people to resort to panic buying as a result of the publication and confirmation by the Minister of Finance that price increases were inevitable,” said an official of TOR.
Referring to greed as the only explanation for hoarding of fuel at such times, the source said that apart from the genuine problems of the need to increase one’s capital outlay to meet demand after every increase, the desire to make undue windfall profit at the expanse of motorists is always at the heart of such increases.
Cautioning filling stations against further hoarding, the source which disclosed that government, “takes a very serious view of such clear acts of sabotage,” said that penalties for filing stations caught hoarding fuel include closing them down for a specified period. – The Statesman
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 October 2002 - In the heat of the controversy generated by the alleged bribery of a senior editor with the sum of $ 125,000 Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Managing Editor of The Insight has expressed grave concern about the whole saga.
Readers will recall that an Accra based daily newspaper, The Accra Daily Mail recently carried a front-page story with the headline “Whose $125,000”.
In a letter to the newspaper signed by him and copied to the President and Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) respectively, Pratt stated that “though your story did not mention my name as the senior journalist involved nor did it state that the money allegedly paid to this journalist was a pay of for unprofessional or biased reportage services, your story has launched very unhealthy public speculation about media professionals in general and myself in particular.
According to Pratt, “there is a rumour doing the rounds identifying me as the senior journalist involved. Indeed at least one person has phone into Radio Gold’s morning news review and stated categorically that I am the journalist in question”.
He added that the caller suggested that the information was widely known among media practitioners, claming that he knew and had spoken to the lady who allegedly received the money from him (Pratt).
The Managing Editor of The Insight dismissed the allegation that he had received $125,000 from anybody as an investment or gift. To him, the speed with which the story was spreading was nothing short of a calculated plot to defame him for political reasons and requested that the Editor of the Accra Daily Mail newspaper to either publish the name of the senior journalist involved or state publicly that he (Pratt) was not the journalist the newspaper had referred to. – The Crusading Guide
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As the Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA) Ethics Committee prepared for its investigation into the allegation that a senior journalist had been bribed with $125,000 on Monday, the names of two top government officials were linked to the story.
The Hon Freddie Blay, first deputy Speaker of Parliament’s name was mentioned by Kwesi Pratt Jr., Editor of the Insight, on Metro TV’s newspaper review programme and government’s spokesman, Kwabena Agyepong, was mentioned by a journalist on GTV Breakfast show on Monday. And that was the first time tha names were mentioned, exactly a week after the story broke out.
Pratt, commenting on the $125,000 bribery scandal alleged that one Jonathan Addo, a ranking official of the National Reform Party (NRP), had quoted Blay as putting the amount involved in the bribery at $200,000 instead of the $125,000 that was earlier put about.
He further told his audience that a similar statement was said to have been made on the GTV show by a journalist who stated that Kwabena Agyepong had confronted him, Pratt, about the money. Pratt, according to the report allegedly, told Mr Agyepong that the $125,000 was meant for investment purpose.
Pratt had therefore, challenged both Blay and Agyepong to publicly substantiate those statements. But both men denied ever commenting on the issue, in separate interviews with the Chronicle on Monday refusing to be dragged into the $125,000 saga.
Agyepong speaking on his cell phone, said that was a matter between the newspaper which published the article and those involved. He expressed shock by the association of his with the matter. “I do not know why my name should come up in this matter, I can’t understand, but I am trying to find out the reporter who said I said this. I have not spoken to any reporter, just leave me out,” Agyepong told the Chronicle reporter.
Like Agyepong, Blay expressed a little surprise not only at the mention of his name but also at the attitude of Pratt, saying it was a mere diversionary attempt by him to divert the allegation of having taken money. “I don’t know who has accused him, but definitely I know Jonathan Addo,” he told Chronicle adding, “but I haven’t told him that I am aware that Kwesi Pratt has taken $200,000. I have not told him that,” Blay said.
“Let me be very frank with your,” Blay went on. “Addo had been to my house about three or four times. After this break of rumours that Kwesi Pratt had… and the discussion of that thing had come up and he commented on it and I commented on it. And we said well, it is a rumour that is going on and that was the end.”
Kwesi Pratt, Blay argued, is politicising the story and making it look as if it is a conspiracy to smear him with that allegation.
Meanwhile, a Joy FM news bulletin reported on Monday of busy speculations that the unnamed journalist could be Kwesi Pratt Jr. The story said the allegation of the $125,000 had also exposed the sharp division among many of the country’s senior journalists.
It said, while no names had been mentioned by the Accra Daily Mail which first published the story, subsequent reports, commentaries, radio discussions and rumours labelled Pratt as the man believed to have received the bribe. But Pratt has challenged the allegation and asked the Accra Mail to come out boldly to declare who the said journalist is. – The Chronicle
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Sankore (Brong Ahafo Region) 14 October 2002 - The Chronicle has gathered that some police personnel at Sankore, in the Brong Ahafo Region, have tortured a 21-year old Senior Secondary School graduate, Sumaila Azumah, to death and sexually abused his brother’s wife who is five months old pregnant.
This incident came in the wake of increased media reports about the conduct of some police officers, which had resulted in the death of civilians in the country.
Azumah who visited his brother after he graduated from SSS met his untimely death when the police subjected him to severe beatings with wood boards and other missiles at the police custody whiles Zenabu Abugre, the pregnant woman, was also abused sexually.
Chronicle learnt that Sumaila fell ill in the cell as a result of the brutality he was subjected to. He was rushed to the Hwidiem hospital also in the Brong Ahafo Region but was pronounced dead on the same day, 30 August, this year. The body is still in the hospital mortuary.
The brother of the deceased, Salaam Azumah, told the paper that after the death of his brother, he reported the case to the police at Sankore. He said the station officer and the inspector threatened to send them to court to get them imprisoned if they dared expose them as the cause of his brother’s death.
Sumaila was said to have been challenging the police for sexually abusing his brother’s wife, saying it was a taboo. This confrontation did not go down well with the police who brutalised him any time he challenged them. The deceased, according to his brother, told the police: “If one of three people in police custody should die as a result of brutality and assault and one remains, unless they also kill the person, they, the police, would be in trouble because it is taboo.”
The inmates could not bear the sight of Madam Abugre who was chained to a table by the right hand and who used her left hand to eat for three days as she screamed and protested against the conduct of the police.
The police inspector, Odame, with his colleagues, Boateng and Manu, allegedly tore the lady’s panties anytime they wanted to have an affair with her.
Narrating the incident to the Chronicle, Madam Abugre said the police always covered her mouth with pieces of cloth to avoid her being heard screaming. A relative who bailed them from the police cells after four days told the paper that he could not contain the way his relatives were being subjected to inhuman treatment. He said food brought to them were even seized by the police making them go hungry for the whole four days and nights.
The aggrieved family therefore petitioned the IGP to institute an independent investigation into the matter and arrange to transfer the body of the deceased to the Police Hospital in Accra for post-mortem examination to be conducted. According to the petition, the doctor asked them to be buying drugs to preserve the body, otherwise the clots of blood would make the body go bad in no time.
The petition indicated that Madam Zenabu Abugre had a misunderstanding with a trader, Laadi Seidu, over some corn she (Seidu) bought from the former without paying. It generated a heated argument as they exchanged words and the latter together with her husband beat her up. The deceased joined the woman to fight. The case was however reported to the police and the three accused persons were arrested.
Chronicle can reveal that, the residents in the area always influence the police to maltreat the new residents in the area and subjected them to series of intimidation.
When the paper reached ASP David Eklu, Public Relations Officer at the Police Headquarters, he confirmed the story and said monitory and inspection teams have been directed to investigate the case and submit their report within two weeks. – The Chronicle
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 October 2002 - The new producer price of cocoa has been lauded by the Agricultural Producers Council (APC). A release signed by the APC Secretary-General, Samuel Ohene-Kontoh, said the increase demonstrates the government’s faith in the farmers.
“This is also out of the government’s desire to ensure that agriculture assumes its rightful role as the number one employer in the country”, it said. He therefore called on cocoa farmers to reciprocate the price increase by working hard to increase productivity and fighting against the smuggling of their products across the borders.
Kontoh said much as the council appreciates the new price of cocoa, it hoped attention would equally paid to other crops. “Farmers have all the time been crying for another look to be given to subsidies on agricultural products,” he said. He gave the assurance that farmers would produce enough food to feed the country with reserves for export if this was done.
Kontoh took the opportunity to renew the appeal to government, state organisations, and NGOs to come to their assistance with trucks to haul food from the hinterland for sale in the urban areas.
The government on Friday announced a 37 per cent increase in the producer price of cocoa. The Minister of Finance, Yaw Osafo Maafo, at a news conference announced the new prices as ¢8.5milion per tonne or ¢531,250 per bag of 64 kilogrammes.
This is the third time government has
increased cocoa price since coming to power in 2001. - The Ghanaian Times
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 October 2002 - Prof John Evans Atta Mills, former Vice President of Ghana and a leading candidate for the NDC flagbearership race, has welcomed the return to Ghana of Dr Kwesi Botchwey, former Finance Minister, also a leading NDC presidential aspirant, to join in the race and to help to strengthen and unify the party.
This was contained in a release signed by Ekoww Spio-Garbrah, chairman Communication and Media Committee of the NDC.
Speaking on behalf of Prof Mills in Accra, Fred Ohene-Kena, a leading member of the Mills Campaign Team and Eastern Regional chairman of the NDC, said Dr Botcwey’s entry into the race underlines the democratic traditions of the NDC that Prof Mills cherishes.
He urged the supporters of Dr Bochwey to emulate the high standard of campaigning begun by Prof Mills by keeping the campaign. – The Crusading Guide
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