Despite its intensive public relation work

More rot uncovered at Golden Gate
…As management pay monies to ‘ghost’ staff, companies

Posted: The Chronicle Thursday, January 29, 2009.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Though the management of Tema-based stevedoring company, Golden Gate Services Limited (GGSL), headed by Mr. Bennet Aboagye have embarked on an intensive face-saving media campaign over the last couple of days to safeguard its interests, there are still lingering questions of financial impropriator hanging on its neck.
A forensic audit report conducted by Messrs. Baffour Awuah and Associates at the instance of the Auditor-General continues to unearth damning findings on the activities and operations of the company.
In the course of its investigations, the auditors detected that huge amounts of monies mostly in dollars denominations had gone unaccounted since management could not reconcile the amounts involved with any documentary evidence whatsoever.
For instance, it was uncovered that during the period of February 23, 2005 to December 20, 2007, cash withdrawals totalling US $184, 354.03 were made from various bank accounts of GGSL, allegedly to pay salaries of the company’s staff.
However, a review of the company’s payroll, salary vouchers and a statement of account on the sale of dollars presented to the auditors by management revealed that for the period under review, the payment of management and staff salaries were made from cedi bank accounts of GGSL through the bankers of the management and staff.
The auditors were therefore unable to obtain documentary evidence from management on how the amounts involved were paid and to whom they were paid to.
In the absence of any documentary evidence to prove the otherwise of its findings, the auditors recommended that the amount of US $184, 354.03 should be recovered from the company’s Commercial and Administrative Manager, Mr. Rudolf Engmann.
Additionally, an amount of US $85,000.00 was alleged to have been exchanged for cedi equivalent from Index Link to pay for the wages of Ghana Dock Labour Company (GDLC).
However, there was not a single document to either confirm or prove that GDLC indeed received either the US $85,000.00 or its cedi equivalent.
It was again recommended that Mr. Engmann be made to refund the amount involved.
Similarly, management of GGSL failed to account for a total cash withdrawal of US $83, 500.00 allegedly paid as ‘special stevedore consultancy fees’ on five vessels during the period of December 2005 to December 2006 since management could not provide any documentary evidence in that regard.
It also emerged that from the period of June 13, 2002 to November 20, 2007 management of the company withdrew a total amount of US $187, 439.11 from various GGSL bank accounts, including those of the Tema branches of Standard Chartered Bank, Ecobank and Stanbic Bank.
However, management could not provide any documentary evidence to account for the total of US $187, 439.11 withdrawn.
In the absence of the documentary evidence to account for the amounts withdrawn from the various GGSL accounts, the auditors therefore recommended that the total amount of US $187, 439.11 should be recovered from the company’s Commercial and Administrative Manager, Mr. Rudolf Engmann who is also the officer in charge of accounts.
Also, between the period of July 2004 and December 2004, management of GGSL issued seven cash cheques totalling US $150, 880.00 which was cashed by the company’s staff and debited GGSL Tema branch of Merchant Bank account number 0250358016.
Management of the company could however not provide the auditors with any documentary evidence, such as payment vouchers and other relevant documentation to account for the total amount of US $150.880.00.
It therefore proved difficult for the auditors to confirm actual payment in order to ascertain the beneficiaries of the amounts withdrawn.
Besides, the investigations revealed that the transactions were not recorded in the out-going cash/cheques register.
Further, the auditors observed in the course of their investigations that management of the company issued two cash cheques totalling US $23, 500.00 which were cashed at the GGSL Tema branch of Merchant Bank account number 00001/01/002516/61 between June 10, 2005 and November 30, 2007.
That notwithstanding, it was detected that there were no payment vouchers and relevant supporting documentation to confirm actual payment, whilst the transactions were not captured in the outgoing/incoming cash/cheques registers.
This became evident since the cash withdrawals or corresponding cedi equivalent was not captured in the company’s statement on sale of dollars made available to the auditors.
Further, management could not explain and or provide any documentary evidence whatsoever to account for the total amount of US $23,500.00 cashed from the bank.
It was also unable to provide the auditors with any documentary evidence such as payment vouchers and other supporting documentations to confirm actual payments and to whom the amounts were paid.
In the absence of documentary evidence to account for the total amount involved, the auditors recommended that the amount should be recovered from the company’s Commercial and Administrative Manager.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of GGSL and the Commercial and Administration, Messrs. Bennet Aboagye and Rudolf Engmann have sought to ridicule the forensic audit report verbally but without any substantial and substantive documentary proof to back their positions.

MILLS SUCCUMBS TO ‘BOYS SCOUT HONOUR’

…As he confirms he is not ‘his own man’
Posted: The Chronicle Wednesday, January 28, 2009.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Political observers in the country have expressed the fear that President John Evans Atta Mills is gradually giving in to the perception being held by sections of the Ghanaian populace especially members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that he is not his ‘own man’.
Some, including the likes of former Presidential Spokesperson under President Kufuor’s administration, Kwabena Agyepong and NPP General Secretary, Nana Ohene-Ntow have started reading meanings and drawing conclusions into certain decisions that the President have had to take since assumption of office as President of the republic.
Key among the issues of reference included the President’s decision to revoke the appointments of thirty percent of government appointees from the local assembly level and the and the sudden removal of the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Major-General J.B Dankwah and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong from their respective positions on forceful retirement.
These come against the backdrop of certain comments and reservations expressed by former President Jerry John Rawlings, who happens to be the founder of the ruling party of which Mills is the leader.
In all these instances, the sitting President, Atta Mills is noted to have taken action after former President Rawlings had expressed grave concern and reservations about the continuous stay in office by the affected individuals and group of persons since he doubted their commitments to the government.
This is what the two leading members of the NPP believe goes to confirm the fears the party expressed during the political campaign season, to the effect that ‘a vote for Mills is a vote for Rawlings’.
Under the current circumstance, they both believe that Professor Mills has virtually bowed to the whims and caprices of Rawlings since in their opinions ‘he is being remotely controlled’.
In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Agyepong said he was not the least surprised by the actions and inactions of President Mills since according to him, ‘he is still reeling under the shadows of Rawlings’.‘But of course how can Mills control things, the party does not belong to him, it is Rawlings’ party, we have said this long before, I mean we didn’t need this for anybody to prove anything.
The fact of the matter is, Rawlings formed his party out of the PNDC government, finished; it is his personal party that he formed and Mills cannot do ‘foko’ without Rawlings…’like some sort of ‘boys scout honour’.
Kwabena Agyepong noted that thus is evident in President Mills’ appointment of Colonel Gbevlo Lartey as the National Security Coordinator, saying ‘it means Rawlings has taken over security; that is his boy who commandeered the disbanded 64Battalion who visited all sorts of brutalities on Ghanaians’.
For him, the posture that former President Rawlings and the NDC government has taken is likely to affect the level of investment and interest businesses into the country, stressing that it has the tendency of driving away investors.
Instead of focusing on the nation, Mr. Agyepong emphasised that the NDC is rather engaged in pettiness whilst nothing is functioning in the country, with contracts having being put on hold.
He asked rhetorically ‘what is it that the likes of Tony Aidoo and Victor Smith are walking about and running riot and creating confusion’.
For him, the action of some NDC functionaries after the elections amounts to nothing but impunity.
The former Presidential Spokesperson thus had cause to warn ‘but they should know that nobody will allow them to do that, the country does not belong to them, they are going to run this country by the law, not by the law of one man; the country will be run by the laws of this country, by our constitution and not by the dictates of Jerry Rawlings’
On their parts, Nana Ohene-Ntow and the Editor-In-Chief of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. who spoke on the Peace FMs ‘Kokrokoo’ Morning show also condemned the action of former President Rawlings since in their opinion, it sought to undermine the authority and independence of the sitting President in taking certain decisions that affect the nation.
According to Ohene-Ntow, Rawlings’ behaviour goes to confirm the NPPs assertion that Mills would be subject of his (Rawlings’) control when elected into office, but Kwesi Pratt disagreed with him.

After treacherous Mumbai bombing

India resolves to fight terrorism
…with legislative changes

Posted: The Chronicle Wednesday, January 28, 2009
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The government and people of India have resolved in one accord to fight terrorism and its related incidents. On the eve of the country’s 60th Republican anniversary, the government of Indian announced a new plan to clamp down on the activities and operations of terrorists.
In a statement read on her behalf, the President of India, Mrs. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil has called on all Indians to brace up to the challenges ahead and face them.
“I call on fellow citizens and the media to be part of the security network”, she emphasised.
The call entreated all Indians to exhibit a high sense of responsible behaviour in which they would be aware of their surroundings and not to inadvertly create an atmosphere of fear and insecurity.
In a statement read on her behalf by the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mrs. Ruchi Ghanasyan, at India House in Accra, the President announced the setting up of a new agency to deal with terrorist threats, coupled with legislative changes.
She thus stressed the urgent need for a determined, coordinated and concerted approach by all agencies to tackle this menace, saying “our security personnel can be confident that every citizen of India is with them as they take action to safeguard our borders and secure our safety and security within the country.”
In her message to all Indian citizens, both home and abroad, the President further stressed the urgent need for Indians to bury their individual differences to move the country forward, noting that “we cannot give in to regional, sectarian or caste considerations.”
This, according to her, was because these concepts militate against the very principles that Indians as a people chose to follow when they began the journey as a free nation.”
“All Indians, undoubtedly have many identities but with an underlying common identity of being Indian. We may hail from one region but belong to a different caste or religion, or speak a different language that cannot dilute our Indian identity”, she emphasised.
That identity, according to her, in essence meant a civilizational ethos of a shared experience of living together in harmony through generations, in a milieu of great diversity, but in a spirit of tolerance and forbearance that flows from basic belief of unity.
In furtherance of her speech, the High Commissioner cautioned that the incidents of violence by one community against another would have no place in a pluralistic society, and thus appealed to fellow citizens to “fight divisive agendas and work for an India in which our first identity is Indian and only thereafter our other descriptions follow.”
On the economy of India, the President noted that the country has been impacted by the global environment. That notwithstanding, she indicated that the country’s economy has the fundamental strength and resilience to remain on course for economic growth, stressing that “the global financial crisis can be an opportunity to reinforce the structures of our domestic economy.”
For that matter, the government of India has announced monetary and fiscal stimulus packages to increase liquidity in the market and encourage investments.
Considering the fact that it has a large domestic market, and by increasing the purchasing capacity of all sections of the society, the government believes that it can afford to stimulate its economy.
“We could even be one of the nations who can act as an engine to help revive the global economy”, the President noted.
On the occasion of the celebration, three Ghanaian students were honoured for their sterling performance in an essay competition organised in remembrance of Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam, the eleventh President of India, who served from 2002 to 2007.
The three included Messrs. Kwabena Kwegyir-Aggrey who took home the first prize, whiles Jemima Owusua and Elvis Buule annexed the second and third positions respectively.

Mills keeps mum

…over controversial Chinery-Hesse report

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Posted: The Chronicle Friday, January 23, 2009

President J. E. Atta MillsPresident John Evans Atta Mills has decided not to comment on the raging controversy surrounding recommendations of the much-publicised Chinery-Hesse Report, on the retirement package for members of the Executive and Legislative arms of government. Sources close to the President told The Chronicle that he did not intend to comment on the issue, considering the heat it has generated over the last couple of days, since news of the whooping emoluments to former Presidents, Ministers and Members of Parliament broke.
Though Presidential Spokesperson, Mahama Ayariga, has persistently refused to answer his phone to respond to questions bordering on some of these issues that the press would like to know the President’s position on, Head of the Communications Directorate at the seat of government, Koku Anyidoho, told that the paper that a decision would be taken without the President necessarily commenting on them.
According to him, the government would consider the opinions and sentiments being expressed by the teeming Ghanaian populace on the subject matter, since it would impact on the decision-making process.
This, according to him, was because “it is the will of the people that must reign supreme, and once the will of the people is moving in a positive direction, the government will have no option, but to take that into consideration.”
Whilst admitting that he had not picked the President’s thoughts on the issue, Koku was of the conviction that Professor Mills would not like to comment on the issue.
Instead, he noted that he would take the concerns expressed by the teeming Ghanaian populace into consideration, before he takes any concrete decision on the matter.
Meanwhile, would-be members of the Castle Press Corps, who have been covering the activities at the Presidency, have expressed reservations about the lack of communication between them and the Presidential Spokesperson, Mahama Ayariga.
Most of them believe Ayariga has been avoiding the press for unknown reasons. Several attempts made to interview him, to know the President’s position on the ongoing debate about emoluments for former presidents, have proved futile.
Hesse Committee Report on Emoluments for former presidents.
The Chinery-Hesse report entitles former Presidents to a fully-furnished residence in Accra and another outside the capital, with office and guest accommodation to be maintained by State Protocol with adequate staff, paid overseas travels, six comprehensively insured, fuelled and chauffeur-driven vehicles, to be replaced every four years, and the provision of $1 million as seed money for the establishment of a non-governmental organization, to be managed by the former President, among other entitlements.
It further suggests that physical assets in the ex-gratia award should revert to the family of the former President in the case of his death.