* Saturday, 9 January 2010

 Accra, Jan. 9, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills, on Friday expressed confidence of better economic times ahead and stated Government's commitment to transparency and best practices in the management of the nation's oil revenue.

He said 2010 and after promised to be eventful in the domestic context as Ghanaians awaits the commencement of the flow of crude oil and its anticipated benefits.

Government, the President said has also laid a solid foundation and put in place structures that would ensure that it stayed glued to its "Better Ghana" agenda of investing in people, providing infrastructure and managing the affairs of the State in an open honest and transparent manner. In an exchange of New Year greetings with members of the Diplomatic Corps and heads of international organisations in Ghana, at the Jubilee House in Accra, President Mills pledged that "every pesewa" of the oil proceeds that accrued to the nation would be accounted for. It is an annual tradition for the President of Ghana to meet members of the Diplomatic Corps early in the year, to seek their support for the development objectives set for the nation and to reassure the foreign missions of the commitment of Ghana to continue to work closely with their Governments and organisations.

President Mills assured the Diplomatic Community that Government would continue its efforts in 2010 to strengthen and deepen its relations with foreign partners for mutual benefits. He observed that the international spot light was turned on Ghana when US President Barack Obama chose Ghana as the destination for his first official visit to South Saharan Africa and for Ghana to come out of its last general election in 2008 on a high pedestal.

"The historic visit did not only reaffirm the level of Ghana's liberal relations with the United States but also recognises our achievements as a nation that is committed to peace, stability and democratic governance," President Mills said.

He expressed appreciation to the exchange of high level visits between Ghana and its neighbours, believing that the bilateral relations with Ghana's neighbours would greatly impact on integration process in the West Africa sub-region.

President Mills reaffirmed Ghana's commitment to the Economic Community of West African States as a pivotal instrument for the promotion of sub-regional peace, security stability and economic development.

President Mills said Ghana would continue to support every effort to entrench democracy on the continent and thanked the Governments of African countries for making the birthday of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana a special day on the AU Calendar. The President, last year declared September 21, a statutory public holiday in Ghana, to immortalise the country's founder, whose birthday falls on that day.

African leaders had earlier at the 13th AU Summit in Sirte, Libya, last year unanimously adopted the centenary birthday of Dr Nkrumah, as an AU activity.

President Mills reminded the Diplomats and Heads of the international originations in Ghana that the centenary celebration of the birthday of Dr Nkrumah would be climaxed and threw an invitation to the dignitaries from far and near in the celebration in honour of "this great African personality and leading light in the emancipation of the Containment". He congratulated Egypt for successfully hosting the Under 20 World Cup tournament and thanked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for his personal support for Ghana, and also Ivorian President Laurent Koudou Gbagbo for honouring Ghana's Black Satellites for wining the U-20 World Cup.

President Mills wished Angola and South Africa well as they host the Africa and World Cup tournaments respectively.

He assured the diplomats of Ghana's continued role in international organisations by participating in the deliberations that sought solutions to problems that threatened international peace, security and development. Mr Tete Jean- Pierre Gbikpi-Benissan, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps said the Diplomatic Community could bear witness to the vibrancy of the democratic dispensation of Ghana.

Mr Gbikpi- Benissan said President Mills had lent a listening and careful ear to the demands of the people and proved that corrupt practices would not thrive under his stewardship.

He mentioned the continuation of poverty alleviating programmes of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, initiation of new interventions, as well as improvement in the security situation as some landmarks of President Mills.

He commended Ghana for fostering domestic peace and the promotion of peace stability and sub-regional integration. Mr Gbikpi-Benissan thanked President Mills for his personal solicitude to ward members of the Community and Government assistance extended to them.

Source: GNA

Togo's national soccer team has agreed to stay in the African Nations Cup competition, despite an attack on the team bus which killed three people, an Angolan government source said on Saturday.

Source: Reuters

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According to Joy Business News in an interview with the Attorney General, Betty Mould Iddrisu, the government has initiated extensive investigations into activities of Kosmos and its partners EO Groups in the oil industry in the country.
The government of Ghana has reason to suspect that criminal activities have taken place in the company which holds a stake in the the Jubilee field.

Ms Iddrisu: 
“The signs are pointing to the fact that we have gathered enough evidence we believe in order to give us serious concern about the activities of the company offending against the laws of this country,” she said.

She - however did not disclose the extent of the investigation or the level of criminality.

According to a report of the Financial Times news paper - possible charges may include causing financial loss to the state, money laundering and making false declarations to public agencies.

Bongo, (U/E), Jan. 9, GNA - The Bongo District Assembly in the Upper East Region has rejected the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) proposal for assemblies to either purchase a grader, a water tanker and a tipper truck.

Payments for these heavy-duty equipments would deducted from the District Assembly Common Fund, a proposal the Assembly says would over burden its coffers and draw back essential services to the people. Majority of members of the Assembly who disagreed with the LGRD proposal said that was not among its top priorities since they had other important needs to attend to in their communities.

The heated debate on whether to purchase the grader or any of the items was brought to rest when majority of members voted against the proposal. Mr Alexis Ayamdor, Assemblyman for the Zorko Kanga Electoral Area, explained that before the assembly got its portion of the common fund, several deductions would have been made leaving it with little funds which could not meet the teaming demands for development projects.

He indicated that there were a number of projects in the Bongo District as well as other districts in the country which should have been completed by now, but because of the deductions made from the Fund at the centralized level those projects had come to a standstill.

Mr Ayamdor underscored the need for the LGRD to allow the municipal and district assemblies to take their own decisions since they were at the grassroots and knew the communities' pertinent problems. The Assembly, through its "Model Standing Order" called on Mr. Albert Abongo, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing and Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, to inform it on how he was dealing with the long standing water problem, especially the ground water fluoride content in the district.

Picture taken in Bongo district. (c) EventPicture.co.uk

In his response, the MP said the Upper East Region would be benefiting from 200 boreholes of which the Bongo District would be entitled to 30. He also stated that an Israeli Consultant who was asked to conduct a research into the fluoride content of the water and give recommendations had already submitted his report which were being studied by the Ministry. Mr Abongo indicated that the "Small Town Water Systems" for Bongo District would be completed and handed over to government by the end of January and said it would help solve the water problem in the district. On projects he had so far invested his Common Fund in, he said he would make the list available through the District Finance Officer to be forwarded to the Assembly in its next sitting. The Assembly members commended the MP for his hard work and urged him to continue with it.

Source: GNA

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It is indeed true that when a dog bites a man it is no news, but when a dog groans in pain from the bite of a man it is news.

As the NDC National Congress draws near, there seems to be a strong urge by those contesting against the old executive to dethrone them to put in place a new National Executive Committee to achieve the party's "A Better Ghana" agenda in order to keep the party in power.

One of these is Mr. Kweku Eshun, the Parliamentary Candidate for North OkaiKoi Constituency in the last election, who is currently vying for the position of General Secretary of the Party. In a recent interview, he literally sank his fangs into the feeble body of Mr. Asiedu Nketia, the incumbent General Secretary aka General Mosquito, tearing his administration into shreds, and calling for a change at Congress in mid-January this year.

Mr. Nketia, who is embattled due to current developments in the party that show signs of the Rawlings factor winning in most of the regions across the country, seems to suffer a gloomy fate in the upcoming National Congress of the party. This is coming on the heels of insinuations he has made against the founder of the party, President Rawlings, and former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. These seem to be making him unpopular among party members. Speaking on Radio Golds newspaper review programme on Monday, January 4, 2010, Mr. Eshun predicted that he would crush General Mosquito at the Congress. I am confident, he stated emphatically.

Asked why he thought General Mosquitos administration was poor, he replied that there were many reasons, but the most important was that since General Mosquito assumed office the Party had continued to rent a place for its head office. This he stated was not a sign of good performance by leadership of big political party as the NDC. He stated that as General Secretary, General Mosquito was supposed to superintend over this great party of ours, which since he took office has not been able to initiate action to put up its own office.This is not a good signal for a good administrator. I am not saying he could have finished building one by now, but if he had put a programme in place since he took over, the Party would have made progress with the provision of an office complex for the party.

Mr. Eshun explained that even though the National Executive as a whole failed he was zeroing in on General Mosquito because for now he was the one he was contesting.

He said the administrators have woefully failed despite the fact that the party won the last elections. I dont think we should sit there and watch the people become disillusioned the way it is happening now. This is because if things are not corrected, we may not be able to go back to them in 2012 to ask them to vote for us.

He stated that he was drawing the attention of all the foot soldiers, the women NGOs to give him their support to enable him excel, insisting that the current executive members have failed so much that they should not be allowed to continue in office.

When the host of the radio programme, Mr. Suhuni, asked him whether he was aware that there was a dinner party organized by the NDC sometime last year, the purpose of which was to plan for an office building for the party, he snapped that might be just window dressing.

Regarding his campaign, Mr. Eshun, a smart and soft-spoken man, said it was going well, and that he had visited almost all parts of the ten regions in the country even though he was yet to really begin his campaign towards the Congress.

Turning to the reason for his confidence to win against General Mosquito, Mr. Eshun said he was drawing on signs from the last parliamentary elections when he stood on the ticket of the NDC in Okaikoi North.Although I could not win, the constituency which is a strong hold of the NPP which it had won by between 25,000 to 35,000 votes since 1992, I pulled votes in the last elections that indicated a difference of only a little over 2,000 and this rings a bellIt tells you that we did so much work. I also know the promises that we gave people when we went around the country during the election campaign. We promised them that if nothing at all, those of them who lost their jobs when NPP came to power would at least have their jobs back. We also promised that we were going to make the party people smile, but we havent done that. We think the administrators have failed. We do not think we should sit there and watch the people disillusioned like that. Can we go back in 2012 and ask them to vote for us again? he queried.

He also lamented that there was so much gap between the constituency executives and National Executives. He explained that the NDC party does everything with the grassroots - the people on the ground.

We are Social Democrats generally, so everything we do should be for the benefit of the grassroots. It was the people in the various constituencies who helped us to win, but he goes round telling people that he is the General Secretary who won the elections for us. I am telling him that is not true. I was also a parliamentary candidate but he never came to my constituency. I dont know how many constituencies he went to. It was the constituency executives and members who made sure that we won the elections, and I am asking, what have we done for these people on the ground?

“The NPP sacked some workers perceived to be NDC sympathizers and I am saying that the government must ensure that these workers are made to return to work or legal action should be taken.

Mr. Suhuni pointed out that some workers who were victims of the NPP action have returned to work, citing the examples of the NADMO and DVLA bosses who have been called back, and asked if Mr. Eshun knew any more of such workers who have not been recalled. Mr. Eshun replied quickly that he knew a lot more but was not on the programme to mention names.

The aspiring General Secretary said he was worried about the foot soldiers, those party members on the ground who are disillusioned by the inaction of the party executives. “It is incorrect. That is not what we promised the people. If you go to very sensitive government institutions, it is NPP functionaries that are manning the places.

In response to a question as to why people were opposed to the NPP functionaries being in key positions, Mr. Eshun explained that it did not augur well for the Mills administration for functionaries of the previous administration to continue to man some of the most sensitive security installations. He was of the view that in every country a new government makes changes to effect maximum security to prevent information from leaking out to the public or its foes. But in our case, it is as though the government is showing its backside to the people after helping it win power to allow weakness that could make it possible for NPP to return to power, he emphasised. Some of us have monitored the activities of the National Executives for a long time and can say they have not done the best for the party. He cited the example when the founder of the party receives calls such as o your Excellency, wont you thank me for what I have done for you, and the founder has to ask back, Thank you for what? The people then say they had paid some amount to him for the campaign, and all he can do is to say, Sorry I didnt see that.What does that mean? Mr. Eshun asked.

He explained that he was not saying that everyone who donates to the party must report to the former President or the founder. Instead, he found it embarrassing when people complained that they had assisted the party but had not received any acknowledgement and that was how the founder would get to know. This could probably be because monies were expended without being accounted for.

He concluded that he could detect that there was so much anger within the people about things not going in the right direction. I think the grassroots members, women and the entire population must feel the change and smile with it.

When Mr. Asiedu Nketia was asked to react to Mr. Eshun's submissions, he excused himself, explaining that he was attending to some party members who were involved in an accident on the Accra-Kumasi road.

However, party members have found reports that he later indirectly turned his venom on the founder, stating that the NDC party was not a church headed by a bishop and for that matter could not belong to anyone rather worrying. It seems the General Secretary has lost touch with reality and refuses to acknowledge that fact that the NDC is strong because its visionary founder is alive and has a large following that positively affects the fortunes of the party. It is for this reason that some political analysts and callers into phone-in programmes have averred that General Mosquito by his unguarded remarks has tripped at the edge of an endless pit. Some party members have also opined that Mr. Nketia is losing his wings and sting that conferred on him the General Mosquito accolade. They believe he is in for a shock in his political life in the upcoming Congress.

Source: The Ghanaian Democrat

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