| News Home (Main Page) |  | | LATEST WORLD NEWS | | | | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2009 | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2008 | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2007 | | PHOTO REPORTS | | VIDEO REPORTS | | ARTS in GHANA | | Food & Drinks in Ghana |  | | Africa Cup 2008 | | Ghana Hotels | | Links / Websites | | Ghana Districts | | Ghana Tourism | | Ghana Adinkra | Names in Ghana | | | | * 11.03.2010 | Policemen in Northern Region complains about political interference * Source: GNA | Tamale, March 11, GNA - The Northern Regional Crime Officer, Superintendent Peter Baba has expressed concern about political interference in the work of the Ghana Police service in the region. He said as soon as someone was arrested in connection with an offence, calls from various politicians come from every angle to influence the police to release the person.
Supt. Baba made this known at a day's stakeholders workshop in Tamale on Wednesday organised by Ghana Network for Peace-building (GHANEP), aimed at strengthening Police- Public relations in averting violence. The workshop was part of GHANEP's Ghana Alert Programme funded by the Department for International Development and implemented by Christian Aid. Supt. Baba said the perception about some people that they were above the law because their party was in power was inimical to peace in the region.
He said despite these challenges, the police would continue to carry out their duties professionally without bias to promote peace and order in the region.
Supt. Baba urged civil society groups and individuals to collaborate to bring lasting peace to the area.
Mr. Justin Bayor, National Network Co-ordinator of GHANEP said early warning signals was one of the best non-violent conflict prevention methods. He said GHANEP has surveillance and focal persons in six regions in the country, who pick signals of violence and alert the security agencies to act to pre-empt them.
Mr. Bayor said GHANEP's activities would soon extend to the Western Region to help prevent any activity unfavourable to the oil and gas find. The stakeholders advocated a joint collaborative programme with the media, the security agencies and civil society to promote peace in the country. | Government renews curfew on Bawku and Gushegu * Source: GNA | Accra, March 11, GNA - The Minister for the Interior has on the advice of the Upper East and Northern Regional Security Councils and by Executive Instrument, renewed the curfews imposed on the Bawku Municipality and Gushegu Township.
The curfew which covers the immediate environs of the conflict area for another week took effect from Tuesday, March 9.
A statement issued in Accra on Wednesday by Mr. Martin A.B.K. Amidu, the sector said the curfew hours for the Bawku Municipality and Gushegu Township remain from 12 midnight to 0400 hours each day. It said "Government wishes to commend the chiefs, elders, opinion leaders and the people of Dagbon for the peaceful celebration of the Damba festival this year".
"It is our expectation that peace would continue to prevail in both the Bawku Municipality and the Gushegu Township and their immediate environs to ensure the socio- economic development of these areas." Meanwhile, the government has reiterated that there is a ban on all persons in the Bawku Municipality, Zabugu, Binduri, Pusiga, Zoasi and Gushegu townships and their environs from carrying arms, ammunitions or any offensive weapons, and any person found violating the directive would be arrested and prosecuted. | No locally grown rice in Koforidua * Source: GNA | Koforidua, March 11, GNA - Despite the efforts being made to encourage Ghanaians to consume locally produced rice it is not easy to find one at the Koforidua market.
Out of over 20 shops surveyed by the Ghana News Agency (GNA), in the central part of the New Juaben Municipality, only one shop located in an obscure corner behind the South Akim Rural Bank was the place, which deals in locally produced rice.
However the shop does not open regularly and had been closed for the past four days, the survey revealed.
Speaking to the GNA, Ms Sophia Kissi, a shop owner at the market, said some time in January, a representative of a company that distributes locally produced rice came to register shops dealing in rice.
She said the agent promised to start the supply of the locally produced rice in February but had not honoured the promise. Koforidua is not far away from Asutuare, Kpong and the Kwaebibirim District where rice is grown on a large scale | Ghana is first African country to open tourist office in Europe * Source: ghanabusinessnews.com | Ghana has scored a first in tourism. The country is the first African country to open a full scale tourist office in Europe. The Ghana Tourist Board opened the office in the Netherlands in September 2009 according to to ghanabusinessnews.
The office known as “Ghana Verkeersbureau” will focus on destination branding of Ghana. It also circulates information on tour operators and tourist destinations to the European consumer and media.
According to the office, the Netherlands was chosen because Dutch travellers are considered trendsetting in the eco travel market.
Tourism is important to Ghana’s economy. A former Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Azumah Mensah was quoted as saying that the sector is the fourth highest foreign exchange earner for Ghana, and the country earned a total of $1.3 billion in 2008.
And being one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy it is expected to grow at an average rate of 4.1 % per annum over the next two decades. Moreover, Ghana is the third most important tourist destination in West Africa according to Luigi Cabrini, Director, Sustainable Development of Tourism of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO).
The GNA had reported him as saying international tourist arrivals in Ghana for 2007 was 587,000 whiles tourism receipts for the same year amounted to $908 million with an average annual growth rate between 2000–2007 pegged at 5.7 percent.
According to a B&FT report, projected tourists arrivals for 2008 was pegged at 698,069 with receipts in monetary value amounting to US$1.2 million, as against 586,612 arrivals in 2007 amounting to US$1.17 million and one million visitors were targeted for 2009.
The San Francisco based Ethical Traveller included Ghana this year on its select list of 10 developing countries that attract tourists based on ethical values, and the country’s peaceful and progressive democratic practice also makes the country a tourism destination of choice.
Last week the Ghana Tourist Board announced the formation of a tourism police task force to enforce law and order in the tourism sector and protect tourists. If more focused and result oriented programmes are pursued, the tourism sector in Ghana can become stronger economically. By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi | Made-In-Ghana Solar Panels Launched * Source: GBC | Atlas Business and Energy System (ABES) a private solar energy firm yesterday launched its solar panel to help ease the power shortage in the country. Mr. Nathaniel Gyibah, the Managing Director, said that its solar panel was built in Ghana and that the only components imported from their collaborators from Finland were the inventors, charge controllers and the batteries.
Mr. Gyibah said that the energy industry in Ghana is a major concern to many people, adding that the introduction of the solar panel will curb the power shortage that often causes inconveniences to the people of Ghana.
A special guest of honour, Dr. Charles Martinson, General Manager of the HFC Bank, said that the solar equipment will help eradicate poverty and thereby contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
He noted that the dependency on fossil fuel sources have resulted in the present climatic conditions with devastating effects on the global environment.
“It has therefore become imperative to seek and develop new, innovative and affordable energy sources to contain the effect of green house gases on the global economy,” he added.
The answer, he said, lay in renewable energy technologies which can bring about both environmental and socio-economic benefits as they generally entail fewer emissions.
Dr. Martinson regretted that renewable energy projects are often promoted by comparatively smaller entrepreneurs who lack credit worthiness for large long-term financing.
He urged the public to support the idea of renewable energy system.
In an interview with The Ghanaian Times, Mr. Emmanuel Ndzibah, a researcher from Finland, said that the solar energy comes as a back-up which is normally used when the light goes out whilst the hybrid is used when the light is on.
| | ______________________ |
| 
| Latest Ghana News Thursday, 11 March 2010 WEEK 10 - 2010 | * Thursday, 11 March 2010 | Kufuor calls for more private sector participation in education * Source: GNA | Pampram (GAR), March 11, GNA - Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has called for more private sector participation in the educational sector to meet the demands of population growth and human resource development in the country.
He decried the deplorable conditions in public universities and stressed that public-private partnership would help lessen the stress most teachers and students had to endure in institutions of higher learning.
Former President Kufuor made the call during an official tour of Miotso campus of the Central University College (CUC) at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region on Thursday.
He was impressed with the use of environmentally-friendly technology to harness power and harvest rainwater after touring the science laboratory, lecture hall, architectural studio and laboratory. Addressing a section of the students at the end of his tour, Former President Kufuor called on them to learn hard to brace up the developmental challenges in the country, stressing that determination and hard work were essential to succeed in the world which technology had turned into a village (global village).
He asked the students to make use of the richly experienced and highly qualified faculty members and teaching staff in the university to develop both their spiritual and moral lives in order to meaningfully contribute to national and international development. Former President Kufuor paid glowing tributes to some religious leaders whose contributions had ensured that the country's educational system was raised to a higher pedestal.
He mentioned Dr. Mensah Otabil, Chancellor of CUC, for his contributions in the educational sector and stressed the fact that private sector participation in education was essential in developing human resource base in the country. Former President Kufuor pledged support, goodwill and encouraged Dr. Otabil to continue to serve as an inspirational speaker for not only the students but the rest of Ghanaians. Dr. Otabil expressed appreciation for the visit and gave the assurance that CUC would continue to provide quality and accessible higher education to students pursuing secular education and religious learning. He said it was heart-warming that the university placed 58th in the recent top 100 universities in Africa but third in top 10 universities in Ghana. Dr. Otabil announced that the authorities would soon introduce law and technology degree courses for students interested in those fields. | | > BACK to TOP < | CJA Pushes For Prosecution Of Gh¢166m Embezzlers * The Enguirer | The Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has called on government to immediately prosecute all public officials cited for embezzling about GH¢166.1 million in the 2008 Auditor General’s report.
According to the committee, it will be detrimental for government to ignore the call for accountability on the part of public officials, who have engaged themselves in financial malfeasance and blatant thievery, as has been officially captured by the report.
“Government must, as a matter of urgency, prosecute these crooked officials,” a leading member, Mr. Edward Bawah, charged, insisting that “punitive actions ought to be taken against the offending officials in order to deter others from engaging in similar practice.”
Mr. Bawah, who was speaking at a press conference in Accra, warned that, the CJA will not relent on its call for corrupt officials named in the report to face the law.
He regretted that despite numerous exposures made by the CJA in the past, government, especially the Kufuor-led administration, made no effort at instilling accountability in government agencies by prosecuting offenders. Giving details of the report, Mr. Bawah mentioned that over 20 government agencies, including some ministries were involved in cash irregularities which amounted to GH¢166.1 million, representing 177.4% over that of 2007.
He stated that the cash irregularities accounted for 92.8% of the total financial irregularities mainly due to four factors, which are imprest holders refusing to account for imprests, lack of supervisory controls over revenue collection; failure of officers to obtain supporting documents for funds disbursed, and the ineffectiveness of Internal Audit Units within the Ministries.
Procurement and stores irregularities cost the nation GH¢ 898,350 in 2008, indicating an increase of 24% over that of 2007. Payroll overpayments amounted to GH¢ 762,886, while contract irregularities amounted to GH¢3.4 million.
Stating some specific findings, Mr. Bawah mentioned that the VAT Service acquired the Bannet building, near Busy Internet, Accra, for GH¢874,154. He stated that interestingly, the building was rehabilitated at a cost of GH¢ 2,387,216 although it was leased for only 11 years with no possibility of extension.
He added that three Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), which reneged on their scheduled payment plan to the tune of GH¢ 2,768,908.00 were not asked for guarantees and have not paid their debts.
MINISTRY OF TRADE
On Ministry of Trade, Mr. Bawah quoted from the report that “contrary to regulation of the Financial Administration Regulation, the Ministry opened and operated an account at the Accra High Street Branch of Barclays Bank in October 2005.”
“An amount of GH¢2 billion was transferred into it from the ministry’s main account which earned an interest of GH¢7.8 million, and the GH¢ 2 billion withdrawn,” he said, adding that the GH¢2 billion was not accounted for, neither was the GH¢7.8 million,” he asserted.
Still on the Ministry of Trade, the report captured that two private enterprises in the garment industry that were given grants totaling GHc288,000 to undertake capacity building abandoned the projects . “No attempt has been made to recover the monies,” he said, pointing out that a draft agreement commissioned at a cost of GHc 4,650 were never utilized. A building in Kumasi that was renovated by the ministry in 2006 at a cost of GHc11,492 was still standing unused in 2008 because additional funds were not made available for completion of the project.
Also, a strategic plan prepared at a cost of GHc45,696 in 2006 has been left to gather dust, he added.
He stated that the ministry made payments amounting to GH¢ 273,310 for repairs and maintenance without certification.
MINISTRY OF INTERIOR
Under the Ministry of Interior, cash irregularities amounted to GH¢286,241 and US$13,485.
These were in respect of misappropriation of proceeds of tender documents; disbursements from revenue collected and unauthorized use of internally generated fund.
MINISTRY OF HARBOURS AND RAILWAYS
Here, management misapplied an amount of GH¢600,000 out of GH¢2,150,000 voted for the payment of end of service benefits for 674 retrenched Railway workers. “It is worth noting that during this period, workers of the Railway company had not been paid for years,” he said, hinting that it may have accounted for the non-payment of salaries.
MINISTRY DEFENCE
Mr. Bawah stated that in the Support Services Brigade, cash irregularities totaling GH¢473,61) for repairs was unsatisfactory completed and had no certification.
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
An amount of 76,761 euros which was transferred to the Copenhagen Mission on 2nd August 2006, could not be traced to the Mission’s accounts.
MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC PLANNING
The Audit report captured that, total release from Non-Road Accounts in violation of procedures for accessing funds from the consolidated amounted to GH¢3,066,742.
Also, the ministry failed to collect taxes amounting to GH¢2,590,922 at the Abeka Lapaz DTO alone. CEPS The CJA concluded that post clearance short collections amounted to GH¢13,655,166. | | > BACK to TOP < | Create Jobs in Africa, and All Else Will Follow * Source: The Whitaker Group | by Rosa Whitaker
Bill Gates’ commitment at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to give $10 billion over the next decade to develop and distribute vaccines to children in the world’s poorest countries has stimulated an interesting discussion on what would be the best use for such a large charitable gift. It’s an important discussion too, as more very wealthy entrepreneurs use their charitable giving to change the whole paradigm of aid to the “bottom billion.”
The Wall Street Journal recently asked eight prominent philanthropists and NGO executives how they would spend $10 billion to achieve the biggest and longest-lasting impact on the world’s problems. All eight came up with great ideas, but the clear winner in my opinion came from leading Swedish businessman and philanthropist Percy Barnevik, who said he would use the money to unleash the entrepreneurship of the world’s poorest citizens.
My experience in Africa over the past 27 years has convinced me that this is the only way for people to break out of poverty. People are poor because they have no sustainable income. It’s as simple as that. They must be given the tools, training and opportunities to earn an income that they can then put to work to improve the lives of themselves, their children and their communities. That is how the United States achieved prosperity and that is how Africa will do it as well.
Barnevik points out that in the developed world, countries with 5% to 10% unemployment put the issue at the very top of their agenda. Yet, in aid programs for developing countries with 50% unemployment, job creation is hardly a priority at all.
Devoting that $10 billion to creating jobs in the developing world is not only the most sustainable solution to poverty, it also offers the best return on investment. Barnevik quotes research that suggests that it costs $200 to create a single job in the developing world, and that eradicating extreme poverty would require 250 million productive new jobs, costing $50 billion in total or $5 billion a year over 10 years – less than 5% of the $110 billion currently spent each year on aid.
Figures released in 2009 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) support this argument. In 2008, Africa’s non-oil exports under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) earned $5.1 billion for a cost to the U.S. of about $2 million. In my work over the past decade facilitating trade through AGOA and bringing new investment to Africa, I have seen firsthand the tremendous value of programs like AGOA that grow wealth and jobs rather than dependency.
Barnevik knows whereof he speaks. His career has been a testament to both wealth and job creation. As CEO of first Asea and then Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), one of the largest engineering companies in the world, he increased the value of the company’s stock by an average of 30% a year for the 17 years he was at the helm. He has also been the chairman and CEO of the Swedish steel company Sandvik, and chairman of the multinational companies Skanska, Investor AB and AstraZeneca.
Since 1999, Barnevik has used his entrepreneurial skills to create jobs in the developing world by being a major donor, advisor to and now Chairman of Hand in Hand International, an NGO first launched in India to eradicate child and bonded labor. Now, with partner programs in Afghanistan, Brazil and South Africa, Hand in Hand focuses on empowering women by promoting income-generating activities and the growth of micro-enterprises. So far the non-profit has trained over 525,000 women who have started 376,463 small businesses. Its goal is to create 10 million jobs in 10 years.
The organization takes a holistic approach to job creation, providing job and business training and microfinance, and promoting health, hygiene and protection of the local environment through solid waste management and watershed programs. It also works to strengthen grassroots involvement and democracy by setting up Citizens’ Councils – almost 2,000 so far - where the community comes together to solve problems and pool resources. Barnevik and the team at Hand in Hand are planning on replicating the model in other African nations.
This is the kind of program that brings real and sustainable results. It is precisely the approach advocated by Columbia University economists R. Glenn Hubbard and William Duggan who, in their book The Aid Trap: Hard Truths About Ending Poverty, call for a modern-day Marshall Plan for the poorest countries of the world. Not the Marshall Plan that most people wrongly imagine as a large scale government-to-government aid program where the U.S. rebuilt Europe after World War II – but what the Marshall Plan was in reality: a program designed primarily to stimulate local businesses so they could sustain and create jobs.
As I mentioned before, the other seven respondents to the Wall Street Journal’s question all had terrific ideas – building schools, stimulating medical research, encouraging innovation, tackling climate change, creating social investment banks, improving statistical research and developing carbon-capture toilets – but none of these ideas deal head-on with the direct cause of poverty: a lack of money. Grow jobs and the rest will follow.
Rosa Whitaker is President and CEO of The Whitaker Group. She was a hands-on architect of the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the first ever Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa. To read other columns by Rosa Whitaker, please visit us at our website. | | > BACK to TOP < | | Accra Mall, Action, Trassaco Face Demolition * Source: The Enquirer | … For Encroaching on Accra-Tema Motorway Reserve
Encroachers of state lands, especially, in Accra, are soon going to come face-to-face with the full rigours of the law, following recommendations by the Lands Commission to government on the level of encroachment of public lands. An ‘Inspection Report of Encroachers on the Accra-Tema Motorway,’ sighted by this paper, identifies 15 structures along the motorway, as having violated the reserve area along the sides of the road.
The reserve was zoned out at the time of construction of the Motorway, to cater for future expansion needs, as well as prevent easy access to the motorway by dwellers along either side of the 30-kilometre road.
The original reserve zone along either side of the Motorway was 400-feet. However, this was reduced to 150 feet by the John Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration. This was done, using state institutions such as the Lands Commission, Town & Country Planning Department, and Department of Urban Roads.
It is this 150-feet reserve, which has also been violated, posing an impediment to future expansion of the Motorway, which is also part of the trans-continental highway.
If the 150-feet reserve is to be preserved, then all structures that have encroached upon it ought to be demolished.
The encroachments have now led to a situation where vehicles now drive onto the Motorway from all sides, heightening danger to motorists traveling along the highway.
Among the encroachers named in the report, dated February 24, 2010 are: Game (Accra Mall), which is within 45 feet into the reserve zone; Trassaco, which attracted a public outcry in 2007, following an attempt to construct an access road to join the Motorway when it was housing some foreign dignitaries during the AU conference in Accra, is located 20 feet from the Motorway.
Other structures which are visibly in clear violation of the reserve area are: Action Chapel, 20 feet: MTN Warehouse, 20 feet; Metalic, 35 feet; Edd Gate, 53 feet and Baff Estate Warehouse, 17 feet.
The rest are Grand Oak, 68 feet; O.I.C. Vocational Institute, 18 feet; G.H.A. axle checkpoint, 46 feet; and five others between 20 and 40 feet.
The ‘Report of Encroachers,’ which was written by the Greater Accra Regional Head (Survey and Mapping Division) of the Lands commission, Mr. J. C. Acquaah, was addressed to the Regional Lands officer, Alhaji Abibu Alhassan. Also, a report by the Acting Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, dated December 2, 2009 advises government on the need to respect the 150-feet reservation.
Sources within the Lands Commission indicate that the reduction of the reserve area from 400 feet to 150 feet was made after some persons and organizations had encroached upon the reserve and therefore their private interest was made to override the larger public interest.
There are fears that beneficiaries of these wrongdoings always find people in government to protect them and therefore not much would be done to correct the wrongs.
Questions have been raised as to why public officials who are paid to protect state lands look the other way, while encroachers have a field day. All the structures of the encroachers could be seen while travelling along the Motorway that it would be inconceivable for those tasked with the responsibility of protecting state lands not to have seen their actions in progress.
The primary function of the Lands commission, as provided under Article 258 of the 1992 Constitution, is to manage, on behalf of government, all public lands which are vested in the president on behalf of, and in trust for the people of Ghana. The Lands Commission is charged also under the constitution, to “formulate and submit to Government recommendations on national policy with respect to land use and capability.
The Commission is additionally, charged to advise the Government, local authorities, and traditional authorities on the policy framework for the development of particular areas of Ghana to ensure that the development of individual pieces of land is coordinated with the relevant development plan for the area concerned.”
After the Lands Commission advises Government, it is for the Minister of Lands, and Natural Resources, with the approval of the president to give directions on the course of action to be followed for the Lands Commission to comply with. Planners are therefore observing whether President John Evans Atta Mills would take the bull by the horn and give a clear policy direction to sanitize the eye-sore along the Motorway and other areas or allow these acts of impunity by encroachers to continue. | | > BACK to TOP < | Defilement cases on the rise in Kasoa District -Police commander * Source: GNA | Kasoa C/R, March 11, GNA - The Kasoa District Police command has expressed concern about the rate of defilement and rape cases in the area, during the last three month of 2009. The District Police commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Jordan Quaye, expressed the concern in a statement he issued to the press in Winneba on Wednesday. DSP Quaye said between October and December 2009 his outfit handled a total of 32 defilement and 11 rape cases. He explained that 8 defilement and 2 rape cases were recorded in October 2009, 13 defilement and five rape cases in November and 11 defilement and 4 rape cases in December 2009. According to the Police Commander all the cases were pending at the law courts.
The Kasoa Police has therefore warned parents and guardians to desist from sending female children to sell on the streets of Kasoa on their own, especially during the night. He asked parents to be nice and open up to their little daughters so that can freely report any defilement attempt on them. The police commander suggested that, teachers and parents should educate young girls about the tricks most commonly used by those who defile. DSP Quaye advised against getting drunk at parties, pubs, beaches and recreational areas to avoid being "sexually harassed tortuously". | | > BACK to TOP < | | Court grants bail to Tuobodom chief * Source: GNA | Sunyani (B/A) March 11, GNA - The Sunyani Magistrate court 'B', on Wednesday granted GHC 10,000 self recognisance bail each with surety to Nana Baffour Asare II, Omanhene of Tuobodom and Samuel Adjei Boahen his secretary.
Nana Asare and Boahen are standing trial at the court presided over by Mr. Joseph Mensah for abetment of crime and attempted murder. They would reappear on March 16.
The two were in court for allegedly aiding and abetting Kwaku Addae, Appiah Kusi Kwabena Marcus, Seth Boadu, Kwaku Abraham and others now at large to commit murder. The presiding judge ordered that all prosecution witnesses must be arranged for the trial to commence in the next adjournment. Police Sergeant Faustina Anaman, prosecuting told the court that the complainants are the chiefs and errand boys serving under the traditional command of the Omanhene of Techiman Oseadeyo Akumfi Ameyaw IV. She said at about 1300 hours of October 8, 2008 the Omanhene of Techiman was on his way to Tuobodom to attend the annual yam festival. On reaching the outskirt of Tuobodom near the Seventh Day Adventist School, a mob mounted a road block and fired gun shots indiscriminately from a nearby bush under the command of the two accused persons. Sgt. Anaman said two young men, Kwame Ameyaw and Stephen Afrifa who were in the convoy of Oseadeyo Akumfi Ameyaw's sustained gun shots wounds and were rushed to the Techiman Holy Family Hospital where they treated and discharged.
She said on February 16, this year, the five suspects were arrested and had been remanded in prison custody to reappear on March 17. Nana Obiri Boahen, counsel for the accused persons described the attack on Oseadeyo Akumfi Ameyaw's convoy as barbaric and primitive, which should not be tolerated.
He pleaded to the court to grant self recognisance bail to his clients since they were being tried for abetment of crime. Nana Boahen intimated that his clients were not arrested but kidnapped by some able-bodied men from Techiman. He explained that he was travelling to the Wenchi High Court with his clients when six men arrived with a car, abducted the chief and his secretary and send them to the Techiman palace. Nana Boahen alleged that the kidnappers tied the Omanhene, stripped him naked and subjected him to severe beatings, whilst his secretary was also tortured.
He said the Techiman police rescued the Omanhene and his secretary from their attackers.
"It is so painful, pathetic and worrisome for a paramount chief to be striped nakedly in public," Nana Boahen told the court. On Friday March 6, three people were shot dead whilst four others including a police man sustained gun shots wounds when violence broke out between supporters of the two traditional factions at Tuobodom in the Techiman Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region.
The sporadic shooting incidents started when some young men abducted Nana Asare and his secretary and subjected them to severe beatings. Relative calm had since returned to the town after the Regional Security Council deployed a contingent of 92 military and police personnel to restore peace in the area. | | > BACK to TOP < | Nana Owusu-Afari, Togbe Patamia VII appointed to VORDA Board * Source: GNA | Accra, March 11, GNA - The Board of the Volta Region Development Agency (VORDA) has appointed Nana Owusu-Afari, Chairman and Chief Executive of Africa Group of Companies, and Togbe Patamia Dzekley (VII), Paramount Chief of Bator and Chief Executive of First Ghana Building Society, as its Directors.
A statement by VORDA and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday said it (VORDA) resolved to appoint the two personalities at a meeting it held in Accra on March 3, 2010. The statement said the appointees would bring their immense experience and widely acknowledged business, managerial and economic development skills to the work of the Board and the development of the Region.
It said the appointment of Nana Owusu-Afari, who is also the current President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Co-founder and Director of Amalgamated Bank Limited, and serves on the Board of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) and Togbe Patamia Dzekley (VII), also a renowned Banker and Business Executive, meant that the VORDA Board had reached its full compliment of 13 members. Other members include Togbe Afede (XIV), Agbogbomefia of Asogli State and President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, Board Chairman, Nana Soglo Alloh (IV), Otekple of Likpe Traditional Area and Vice President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, Togbe Tetpre Hodo (IV), Fiaga and President of Anfoega Traditional Council, Nana Mprah Besemuna, Krachiwura, Togbui Kporku (III), Dufia of Alakple and Mamaga Akosua, also known as Cornelia von Wulfing, Ngoyifia of Sasadu Traditional Areas.
The rest are Mr Ernest Kwame Nyagbe, a Public Sector Management Expert, Mr Victor Chubby Larbi, a Business Executive, Geologist and Oil Trader, Mr Appiah-Danquah Kufuor, Business Executive and Economist, serving as Member and Chief Executive. It said with the Board membership now fully constituted, it would now focus on its immediate priority which was to see to the full delivery of the five-year Volta Region Economic Development Plan, in particular the implementation of its three-year flagship projects 96 the building of an Agro-Fish Farming Processing Centre at Dambai, a Hospitality and Catering Skills Facility in Ho and a Construction and Enterprise Centre of Excellence at Denu. | > BACK to TOP < |
_____________________________________________________ ----- | | | Thursday, 11 March 2010 | | MIDDLE Kufuor calls for more private sector participation in education CJA Pushes For Prosecution Of Gh¢166m Embezzlers Create Jobs in Africa, and All Else Will Follow Accra Mall, Action, Trassaco Face Demolition Defilement cases on the rise in Kasoa District -Police commander Court grants bail to Tuobodom chief Nana Owusu-Afari, Togbe Patamia VII appointed to VORDA Board | RIGHT NDC Thugs Chase Out NHIS Boss EPA Exposes AngloGold Ashanti Phase three of Kotoka International Airport project begins M&J: ‘Half-Baked’ Prosecutor In Town | LEFT Policemen in Northern Region complains about political interference Government renews curfew on Bawku and Gushegu No locally grown rice in Koforidua Ghana is first African country to open tourist office in Europe Made-In-Ghana Solar Panels Launched | _________________________________ | Your Opinions | Have Your Say!
| Archived News for 2010 | Go to 10.03.2010 | News Page was last modified on Friday, 12 March 2010 10:22:15 | 
| All about the Ghana Election 2008 | | | | * 11.03.2010 | NDC Thugs Chase Out NHIS Boss * Source: Daily Guide | THE SCHEME Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at Dunkwa-on-Offin in the Upper Denkyira East municipality of the Central region was on Tuesday driven out of his office by club and machete-wielding thugs believed to be members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The NDC goons invaded the offices of the NHIS with cutlasses and other deadly weapons to move the Scheme Manager, Charles Ackom Hayford, out of the place.
The group, numbering about four, stormed the premises of the municipal office and asked the manager to get out or risk loosing his life. Not even a plea by the manager to pick his mobile phones and lap-top computer was granted.
They ordered all the other workers to follow suit, locked up the building with a new padlock and drove away in a waiting taxi. Due to the intensity of the threats, the workers left behind their bags, mobile phones and other valuable items.
The irate ‘machomen’, according to sources, locked up the place with giant-sized padlocks.
Ackom Hayford, who could not stand the threats, ran to the police station to lodge a complaint.
The sources disclosed that the NDC constituency chairman of the area, Dr Mark Nawany, was supposedly operating a private clinic, of which he was accredited with health insurance facilities.
An intensive auditing was allegedly carried out at his hospital and it was realized that he did not have qualified staff and had also inflated bills to the tune of GH ¢81,000 which made the authority abrogate his contract indefinitely.
This, according DAILY GUIDE investigations, made some supporters of the party hold an emergency meeting on March 6, 2010.
In the process of lodging the complaint, special aide to the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the area, one Kwesi Dramani alias Kwesi Accratown, submitted the keys of the new padlock to the police.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that the police only asked Dramani to write a statement and he was released, an act which made the scheme manager wonder why the police were not able to detain the suspect.
Meanwhile, Ackom was said to have identified two of the persons that attacked him, while the MCE, Kofi Eshyia, was said to have also had a meeting with the staff, asking them to get back to work.
The Scheme Manager, Charles Ackom Hayford, told DAILY GUIDE that the assailants did not give any reason for the attack and declined to comment when asked whether he suspected any foul play.
Narrating the incident, he said he heard an unusual noise at the office’s reception but decided not to check because he was busy; but the thugs suddenly barged into his office and asked him to vacate the place.
Mr. Hayford said he complied but pleaded that they allowed him to pick his belongings; but one of them told him to move out or be killed.
The Scheme Manager said he had since reported the matter to the regional NHIS office for further investigations.
In an interview with a cross-section of residents, they condemned the behaviour being put up by some NDC members on issues relating to the health insurance and the School Feeding Programme.
Later, the Municipal Chief Executive, Peter Kofi Owusu Ashia toured, the offices of the scheme with police personnel and advised that the security apparatus within the municipality tightened up protection for the Scheme Manager at his private residence and at the work place.
The police were said to have mounted a serious search for the assailants and at the time of going to the press, only one person had been arrested and discharged.
From Sarah Afful& Frank Ossei Kwame, Dunkwa-on-Offin | EPA Exposes AngloGold Ashanti * Source: The Enquirer | As it Orders Company to Close down Operations
Following closely on the 7- million- Ghana- Cedi compensation payment imposed on Newmont for spilling cyanide and covering up, Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem mine has suffered a close-down order of tailings disposal facilities which are important part of mining operations where mine wastes from extraction of gold are stored.
The waste stored in the Tailings Storage Facilities(TSF) contain some levels of cyanide and heavy metals like arsenic and the close down of the TSF (block 1 and 2) means that the company cannot dispose of the waste generated from the processing plants and as such the company cannot operate at full capacity. The Environmental Protection Agencys’s letter on the close down of the TSF dated 26TH February 2010, recounted how Anglogold Ashanti Iduapriem Limited (AAIL) had not complied with best practice regarding the operations of the tailings storage facility. Additionally the AngolGold Ashanti Iduapriem mine refused to address the socio economic problems of communities in its catchment area even when the company’s attention had been drawn to these problems since 2002.
According to a press statement of EPA, the company ignored the directive of EPA to stop the use of storage facility within 6 months in a letter dated 4th August 2009.
Since tailings storage facilities contain poisonous chemicals like cyanide and heavy metals, they could be a source of pollution of water bodies including ground water pollution.
It would be recalled that communities in the catchment area of AAIL such as Teberebie have complained bitterly about the pollution of their rivers which they traced to the TSF which have been closed down by EPA.
The EPA also damned AAIL for not having an environmental permit for a haul road the company constructed for its Ajopa operations and also for the negative effects of its operations on Teberebie including cracking of buildings. The company had not implemented the “Land for Land” agreement of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) which requires that the company to replace the large tracts of land it had taken from the Teberebie community for rock waste dump and wants to implement “Cash for Land” which involves the payment of small amounts to the farmers whose lands had been taken for the establishment of rock waste dump at Teberebie.
NGOs like Wacam and FIAN that have been involved in the preparation of the RAP had opposed the “Cash for Land” struggle.
The seriousness of the environmental offences of AAIL warranted the harsh actions by EPA.
The press statement of EPA stated “In line with Section 13(1-4) OF act 490, December 1994, the Agency issued an enforcement Notice to the Iduapriem mine to undertake the following;
Cease the deposition of tailings material into Blocks 2and 3 tailings storage facility by 11th February 2010 and or any other area/site unless otherwise permitted by the Agency and subsequently, remove all tailings discharging facilities; submit to EPA, a comprehensive report on water requirement within one month from the date of the enforcement notice; Provide within one month from the date of the enforcement notice an Action Plan for treatment of excess process water to meet EPA’s Sector Specific Effluent Quality Guidelines for discharge into water bodies; The company to engage a third party acceptable to the Agency to conduct independent requisite studies with regard to surface and ground water quality within the catchment communities and submit monthly reports to the Agency.
Furthermore, the company was directed, in the interim, to initiate action to assess and augment the potable water needs of the catchment communities within Two months from the date of the enforcement notice.
Prepare and submit a Decommissioning and Reclamation Plan covering Blocks 1, 2, and 3 Tailings storage Facilities.Moreoverer, the plan must include among others schedule of rehabilitation, proposal on end use(s) and cost estimates. The plan must be submitted within three three months from the date of the enforcement notice and report on displaced farmers from Teberbie community as a result of AAIL’s operations with requisite strategic interventions (land for land) within four 4 months from the date of the enforcement notice; and report on the assessment of all affected buildings/structures that have experienced cracks one month from the date of the enforcement notice and commence repair works by 15th April 2010.
In a bid to mitigate the harm caused to its reputation, AngloGold Ashanti put up a press release ahead of EPA’s press statement that it had suspended its operations | Phase three of Kotoka International Airport project begins * Source: GNA | | Accra, March 11, GNA - The Minister of Transport, Mr. Mike Hammah on Wednesday cut the sod for the commencement of the phase three of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) development project, estimated at 51 million dollars.
He noted that the construction of a new fire station which formed part of the project was expected to be completed by the end of the year. "The construction of a modern fire station will enable the airport achieve the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommended response time of not exceeding two minutes to the end of the operational runway in optimum visibility during an emergency," he said. Mr. Hammah observed that the rehabilitation of the KIA had improved upon the aviation industry in Ghana, adding that the number of airlines at the facility had increased as a result.
He charged contractors on the project to do a "qualitative job that would ensure value for money".
Mrs. Doreen Owusu Fianko, Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company Ltd (GACL), said air traffic projections in Ghana indicated growth in aircraft movement from 15,225 in 2009 to 27,882 in 2024, with its accompanying passenger growth from 980,468 to 2,021,291 in that order, representing an average annual growth of 18 per cent.
She said cargo would grow from 60,550 in 2009 to 130,170 tonnes in 2024, representing 47 per cent growth over the projected period.
Mrs Owusu Fianko said against this back ground, it was necessary to continuously improve technical systems and infrastructure to match growth in the industry.
Touching on an ultra modern fire station under construction as part of the phase three project, she said the GACL placed high premium on rescue and fire fighting service, as enjoined by the provision of Annex 14 to the Convention of ICAO to which Ghana was a signatory.
The KIA phase three development project includes reconstruction of the taxiway pavements, apron pavements, installation of aeronautical ground lighting systems and fuel mains to the new aprons. The rest are construction of a new fire station aswell as apron drainage facilities. | M&J: ‘Half-Baked’ Prosecutor In Town * Source: The Catalyst | • To Continue Dirty Work Against Ghanaian Officials Ahead of Commencement of Public Hearings by CHRAJ
The man, who presided over the ill-conceived prosecution statement of the British Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the matter of the Mabey & Johnson bribery allegation involving some Ghanaian officials, is in town.
Mr John Hardy QC arrived in Ghana a few days ago and is on the move delivering lectures on bribery and corruption, and money-laundering. He is also expected to meet officials of Ghana’s Commission for Human Rights & Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), which is investigating the accused Ghanaian officials.
The irony however is that even though Mr John Hardy QC brandishes an impressive profile, the mediocre prosecution statement he presided over in the Mabey & Johnson bribery allegation and the resultant unfair treatment of the Ghanaian officials accused by the British undoubtedly paints a picture of him as being intellectually dishonest.
At best, the SFO prosecution statement, which has since put the fate of Dr Sipa-Yankey and others in the balance, could be described as the handiwork of half-baked prosecutors and not people of the kind of pedigree that the world is being told that Mr Hardy has.
The SFO Chief Prosecutor came to Ghana to make his presentations and deliver lectures on the request of Danquah Institute, an ideological institute of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Before he returns home, Mr. Hardy is also expected to meet with officials of CHRAJ in this country, to as it were, continue with the ‘dirty job’ that he had helped the British SFO to perpetuate against the Ghanaian officials. Beginning with a public lecture yesterday on the platform of NPP’s Danquah Institute in Accra yesterday, Tuesday 10th March 2010, he will delivered a second lecture today Wednesday 11th March 2010 at the Busia Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon.
What The Catalyst finds difficult to understand however is as to why a man of his stature could be involved in a process that exhibited total disregard for the human rights of Ghanaian officials including Dr. Sipa-Yankey who are non-British citizens, whilst at the same time protecting to the letter the rights of the British citizens who were Directors of Mabey & Johnson at the time the British SFO and the new directors of the British bridge construction company claimed the Ghanaian officials were bribed by the former directors of the company.
There are strongly held beliefs in Ghana that the British authorities are only using the Mabey & Johnson bribery allegation as a decoy to try and muzzle the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of Ghana to rescind its decision to review the questionable sale agreement of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone, a British telecommunications company, under the previous NPP government.
An obvious exposition of the dirty work done by the British SFO prosecutors against Dr Sipa-Yankey in particular is contained in the legal opinion of Owen Davies QC. He questioned the flagrant disregard to the code of conduct for barristers in British law which states that a barrister when conducting proceedings in court must if possible avoid the naming in open court of third parties whose character would thereby be impugned.
Trying to defend the indefensible, John Hardy stated on Joy FM Morning Show on Tuesday that the reason his outfit did not mention the names of the M&J Directors accused by the SFO of bribing the Ghanaian officials was that they were still under investigation.
It is interesting to note that John Hardy chose to come to Ghana only a few days to the 15th March commencement of CHRAJ’s public hearings into the case of the Mabey & Johnson bribery allegations at the behest of an NPP organisation.
| | . |
|
|