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Friday, September 24, 2010

Mills Sacks ISD Boss


Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Friday, 24 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The dismissal of the Acting Director of the Information Services Department (ISD), Nee Agiri Barnor, has sparked controversy at the Ministry of Information, with the late Dan Lartey’s Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) calling for a refund of the over GH¢169,000.00 (¢1.69billion) which has not been accounted for by the Ministry.

Nee Agiri Barnor was relieved of his appointment through a letter signed by the Secretary to the President, Bebaako Mensah, directing Information Minister John Tia to look for a new person to take over from him.

His budget for a whole year to disseminate government information was ¢450 million as against ¢1.69billion given to Stan Dogbe to buy hampers for some editors and reporters.

Though no specific reason was assigned for his sudden dismissal, it is believed that Mr. Barnor was sacked following DAILY GUIDE’s publication on the over GH¢169,000.00 (¢1.69billion) hampers’ scandal involving Presidential Aide Stanlislav Xoese Dogbe, with some pointing accusing fingers at Mr. Barnor as being the architect of the story.

This, sources said, was part of reasons why the ‘group of five’ deputy directors deliberately petitioned the President to cause the ISD boss’s removal, accusing him of displaying arrogance, incompetence and selectively vindictive style of administration.

Unfolding events at the Ministry and the ISD have made close associates of the dismissed ISD boss who worked under him at the department and the Ministry become nervous since they are also seen as ‘saboteurs’.

Prior to his dismissal, there was a frosty relationship between him and his superiors, including the Minister, his two deputies and Stan Dogbe, the Presidential Aide since he was not included in any decision-making process. John Tia had denied that Nee Agiri Barnor was not a team player, promising to work with everybody at the ministry.

However, a week after John Tia’s assurance, the ISD boss has been shown the exit, leaving Stan Dogbe, the man who squanderedthe taxpayer’s money on trivialities, to work at the corridors of power with his shoulders high.

This was because Mr. Barnor was said to be showing gross disrespect to his superiors, especially the two deputies, James Agyenim Boateng and Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, who, it was rumoured, Mr. Barnor referred to as ‘small boys’ since he could not fathom why an elderly person like him was made a director whilst these two young men would be made deputy Ministers.

He was otherwise considered to be an outsider since he was said to have left the NDC to join Goosie Tanoh’s comatose National Reform Party which was formed out of the NDC.

Obviously aware of the accusing fingers that would be pointed at him as the only ‘black sheep’ among the lot, Mr. Barnor was said to have assembled his staff immediately DAILY GUIDE broke the story about the hampers, to dispel the probability of it being linked to him as the architect.

Despite the several spins and the obvious denial that have been put on the story by John Tia to cover-up for Stan Dogbe, (the man who signed and acknowledged receipt of the 1.69billion cedi cash in a ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag) and the Ministry, he has not been able to produce any documentary evidence to show how the ¢1.6billion cash was supposedly used for its ‘intended purpose’- the educational campaign on the 2010 budget.

But Stan himself admitted the money was expended on its intended purposes on hampers, workshops and payments to journalists and sympathizers of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who wrote articles in favour of the budget statement, as well as radio hosts.

Mr. Barnor has since responded to issues leading to his dismissal, indicating that he was consistently sabotaged in the department by those he described as elements who saw him as a nuisance.

In a statement he issued yesterday, the former ISD boss said he was suspected to have stepped on the toes of some people who were bent on removing him from office in the performance of his duties since “efforts at communicating government policies were consistently and systematically sabotaged.”

This, he said, was evidenced by the fact that the ISD as a department was given only GH¢45,000 (¢450 million) to carry out public education on government policies nationwide throughout the eleven months he served in office.

It is therefore not clear why over ¢1.69billion was given to Stan Dogbe to be spent on hampers and other fleeting purposes while the ISD, the implementing agency for government communication, received virtually nothing relative to what Stan wasted.

Mr. Barnor therefore could not fathom why when communications to the public on government policies failed, the scapegoat became the ISD. He described the petition submitted by five officers of the ISD to the Minister of Information as part of a larger vicious conspiracy against him.

Nee Agiri Barnor denied ever having any dealings with DAILY GUIDE or any other media house to thwart the work of the department and chided his detractors for using the Enquirer newspaper as a platform to discredit him.

For the over 30 years that he has been in politics and public service in Ghana, he swore, he had never caused any publication in DAILY GUIDE.

He believes the time and energy spent on sabotage and scheming in this matter against him could have been better applied to fixing the dismal state of government communications.

The GCPP cannot also comprehend why in the face of the several challenges confronting the nation including discontent on the labour front and lack of logistics for the security agencies, the government is unable to properly account for the over GH¢169,000.

A statement issued by the party and signed by its General Secretary, Ali Adam, said “the official explanation that the money was spent on the communication of the 2010 Budget Statement by journalists mostly through the Institute for Financial & Economic Journalists (IFEJ) has proven to be false” since IFEJ has come out officially to deny ever receiving even a pesewa from the ministry.

The GCPP identified with the general anger of Ghanaians about this reckless expenditure, noting “this government is becoming too eager to spend the nation’s resources on the wrong things while our development effort is starved of the needed resources.”

The party noted that the money could have been used to procure bullet-proof for policemen on patrol duty which could have saved the recent killing of a policeman in Kumasi in the line of duty.

It has thus called on the Mills administration to cause the refund of the ¢1.69billion to the Consolidated Fund without delay since “the GCPP will never allow this matter to be swept under the carpet unless this money has been restored to the public purse.”

Veep Probes Porno Saga


Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Friday, 24 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Vice President John Mahama has instituted investigations into the circumstances under which ‘hot and spicy’ pornographic materials were posted on his official website www.viceprez.gov.gh by some unidentified persons.

This follows a publication in the Wednesday, September 22, 2010 issue of DAILY GUIDE headlined ‘Porno Hits Veep, in which the paper revealed the publication of nude pictures of men and women, both white and black, engaged in ‘hot’ sex on a webpage of the vice president that was supposed to be promoting farming.

These scenes projected the Vice President and the Republic of Ghana as promoting a different kind of ‘farming’ to the country’s youth on the website posted by one Kapmimb Asperee with the following email address terrakot@gaymike18.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with http://lionsearch.ru/swinger/1, http://lionsearch.ru/swinger/2 and http://lionsearch.ru/swinger/3 links, all in jpg format to the sex scenes.

But a statement issued by the office of the Vice President and signed by his spokesman, John Abdulai Jinapor said Mr. Mahama had since ordered the immediate suspension of the discussion forum on the website. Mr. Jinapor had earlier, on a number of radio stations, denied that there were such pornographic materials on the website.

Consequently, the Vice President has charged the Information Technology (IT) department of his office and those responsible for the website to conduct an audit of the security features of the site.

For this reason, the interactive section of the Vice President’s website has been suspended until the security features are enhanced.

The Vice President indicated that the intended purpose of the ‘Forum’ was to serve as an interactive platform for visitors to the website and to enable Ghanaians and all others to follow his activities as well as have direct contact with his office, stressing “the reported posting of unacceptable materials in the discussion forum is obviously a problem, and the Vice President has accordingly directed that the forum be removed.”

He has thus resolved “to activate the ‘Forum’ when we are assured that the security features on that section of the website have been enhanced.”

The Vice President said he was more than merely convinced that the story was published with the intention to alert the general public, stressing the need for the paper to have drawn the attention of his office to this anomaly instead of putting the unsavoury pornographic photo next to a picture of him in a pensive mood.

He has therefore apologised to all who might have been embarrassed by the offensive materials on the forum’s page.

His office however says it is happy with the level of co-operation between it and DAILY GUIDE following the publication. It assured the paper that its doors are always open for future co-operations in a bid to serve this nation.

Kufuor Jet No Show


Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Thursday, 23 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The much-anticipated inauguration of the Falcon 900EX presidential jet in the country today has been cancelled as the military authorities have postponed the commissioning ceremony.

A statement issued by the Defence Public Relations (DPR) and signed by Flt. Lt. Francisca Aholo did not give any specific reasons why the ceremony could not be held today as promised.

The statement said the ceremony “has been postponed because the jet has not arrived.”

Attempts to get more details about the cancellation of the ceremony proved futile.

An official at the DPR told DAILY GUIDE that no reason was given and that a new date would be communicated to Ghanaians and the media later, probably when the jet finally arrives at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) where a hanger has been built for it.

The Falcon 900EX Easy aircraft was ordered by the Kufuor administration amidst scathing criticisms from the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

It was scheduled to be commissioned at what was expected to be a colourful ceremony at the Jubilee Lounge of the KIA at 3pm today.

When it finally arrives in the country, the Falcon 900EX presidential jet would replace the Fokker 27 aircraft ‘flying coffin’ that the Ghana Armed Forces have used for the past 37 years as a presidential jet.

Kufuor Plane Arrives


Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguide.com
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The much talked-about Presidential jet which was ordered by the Kufuor administration amidst wild criticism from the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has finally arrived in the country.

The ‘Falcon 900EX Easy Aircraft’ purchased by the then New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is scheduled to be commissioned at what is expected to be a colourful ceremony at the Jubilee Lounge at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra at 3pm today.

A statement issued by the Public Relations Directorate of the Ghana Armed Forces and signed by Flt. Lt. Francisca Aholo, on behalf of the Director, said “the Ghana Air Force has taken delivery of the newly-acquired Falcon 900EX Easy Aircraft, spares and tools on behalf of the Government of Ghana.”

The Falcon 900 Presidential Jet would thus replace the Fokker 27 aircraft ‘flying coffin’ that the Ghana Air Force has used for the past 37 years as presidential jet.

Ghanaians would recall how the Kufuor administration was heavily criticized by the NDC for putting in the order for the purchase of the aircraft.

When the NDC eventually assumed power in 2009, there were widespread speculations in government circles about the intentions of the Mills administration to cancel the deal. It later ordered more jets.

A proposal was taken to Parliament by Defence Minister Lt. Gen. J.H Smith, in which the NDC government requested the approval of the House to purchase another jet for the exclusive use of the President.

This generated a heated debate between a former Minister of State at the Interior Ministry in the Kufuor administration, Nana Obiri Boahen and a former deputy Minister of Defence in the Rawlings administration, Dr. Tony Aidoo.

Nana Obiri Boahene was utterly shocked at the “quick u-turn” by the Mills administration to purchase an aircraft for the state after “harshly criticising” former President Kufuor when he attempted to acquire one for the same purpose.

Dr. Tony Aidoo, who is Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at the Presidency, however denied the claim since according to him, the NDC in opposition did not describe the purchase as needless, but only complained about what he termed ‘proper procedures’ for the acquisition which were not followed.

He noted that the NDC also felt that placing orders for two planes was uncalled for, especially when neither of them could serve the Armed Forces and both were solely to be used by the Presidency.

He said the NDC in opposition then took into account too much expenditure at the time, including the construction of the Jubilee House and the celebration of Ghana@50 which made it unwise to spend that huge amount on the two jets.

However, Nana Obiri Boahene disagreed with Dr. Tony Aidoo’s justification for the purchase of the jets.

Nana Obiri Boahene, a Sunyani-based lawyer, said it was a “misplaced priority” for the NDC government to purchase an airliner in the face of high unemployment and general economic hardship nationwide.

Porn Hits Veep

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The official website of Vice President John Mahama, which has the portal of the government of Ghana and its coat of arms, has been inundated with disturbing scenes of pornography which some have described as ‘hot and spicy’.

Daily Guide made this discovery when the paper attempted to access some information on the Veep’s website on the topic ‘Youth and Agric: the Way Forward for Ghana’s Economy’.Daily guide learnt that the site is very popular because of the steaming sex scenes posted on it. Noticeably, there is no discussion on agriculture but rather visitors to the site seem to be interested in the hot pornography.

The website, which is regularly updated with the vice president’s official activities, shows a rather shocking revelation of nude pictures of men and women, both white and black, engaged in ‘hot ‘ sex on a page that is supposed to promote farming. Consequently, these scenes project the vice president and the Republic of Ghana as promoting a different kind of ‘farming’ to the country’s youth on the website.

The obviously ‘nasty’ scenes which were supposed to have been posted by one Kapmimb Asperee, with the following email address terrakot@gaymike18.com , have been logged in the discussion forum of the Vice President’s website.

It is so easy to access t he site and post a comment as visitors are invited to ‘Join the discussion on http://www.viceprez.gov.gh/forum_list.php which eventually leads to the 15th comment where a sender has created the following link http://lion-search.ru/swinger/1, http://lionsearch.ru/swinger/2 and http://lionsearch.ru/swinger/3, all in jpg format showing these ‘despicable’ sex scenes.

The nicely designed site has on the portal ‘Home Vision, Media, Events and Contact’, with the veep in pictures with Chinese officials, South Korean officials, Kofi Annan, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and some important chiefs that he recently interacted with.
When browsers click ‘Contact’, it leads you to “John the discussion” which shows today’s topic as ‘Youth in Agric, the Way Forward for Ghana’s Economy. Then you are asked to ‘Join Now’ with no inhibitions whatsoever, which leads you to ‘view discussions’ which, when clicked, opens you to the scenes on uninhibited pornography for free, lots and lots of them. The first entry seemed to be from a serious forum discussion member.

Among other things that have been written there are “gangbang wife swingers black swingers porn mature free porn video swinger free porn swingers free movie pussy swinger gang bang swinger pics anal sex fetish swingers interracial sex free mature swinger vids mature swingers blow job free bi swinger porn nudist swingers and naturalist nude beach swingers young swinger wife amateur swinger sluts free real stories swingers fuck site swinger xxx amateur home.”
Another of these comments and pornographic materials was posted by one Lizant Axialar on Saturday, September 18, 2010 with the following email address commonee@mail.ru, with comments like “Russian baby girls names Russian woman of darts – leading to a Russian dating club at http://alfredler.info/dating/iri-online-dating-agencies/russian-woman-of-darts.html” whilst another from sub0@capitalshield.net, with the website address http://babeblogx.co.cc/teens.jpg also saying “Get your access to a huge archive of nasty teen porn.”

It further stated, Barely legal teen amateurs and hot 18-20 y.o. models expose their young fresh bodies to camera and get dirty in thousands of breathtaking hardcore scene. Premium quality high-resolution pics and videos bringing you the hottest teens to ever appear on the Internet await you inside! Teen filled with jizz video teen sex school vids movies sex videos for teens gay black twink sex movies bukkake gangbang teens videoscute ten camp video teen tube videos black teen booty video xnxx teen Japanese sex videos teens in stockings videos”.

These revelations indicate that a lot of seeds were being sown, but unfortunately not the kind of seeds that will grow on Ghana’s fertile farmlands, indicating the truth about the care and professionalism of the administrative minders of the site and the vice-president.
The postings were obviously made by spammers who may have even done it through automated posting, but with the veep’s site administrator keeping mute, he or she may apparently be having fun.

Even the most primitive of webmasters know that there are two golden rules when you allow comments on your website.A webmaster told Daily Guide, when contacted that the golden rule of administering websites are never to allow comments to be posted unless approved by the webmaster, and to institute a “Captcha” facility to prevent automated postings (A Captcha or Captcha is a type of challenge response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer).

He said there was no excuse for this kind of sloppiness on the website of the Vice President of the Republic, as it is accessed throughout the world. He therefore called for the immediate dismissal of the webmaster and anyone involved in managing the site who should have known better.

Initially, the paper thought it was an unfortunate oversight.
This has been on the webpage for a while and has remained there since Daily Guide accessed it on Sunday, September 19, 2010 and neither Vice President Mahama nor the managers of his website have thought it wise to remove them.

It is therefore not clear whether or not the office of the vice president or the managers of the site have seen the page or do follow the discussions on the forums that have been created for such intended purposes.