We Painted Konadu Mum’s House - Minister

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
It seems there is some confusion in government or a deliberate attempt not to tell Ghanaians the truth about the renovation works carried out by the Mills administration on the private residence of the mother of former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.

This became evident when a deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim-Boateng appeared before the Commission on Human Rights and Administration Justice (CHRAJ) to answer questions about the issue which became a matter of public interest, when the Ridge residence of former President Rawlings was razed down by fire on Valentine’s Day, this year.

Mr. Agyenim-Boateng told CHRAJ yesterday that some works including painting were carried out on the private residence of the mother in-law of former President Rawlings at Nyaniba Estates, Osu, Accra.

But government, in a statement to the commission, said no state funds were used for the renovation, raising questions about the credibility of the deputy minister.

Agyenim-Boateng, in reaction to a statement that the former first couple was homeless after the February 14 fire, had said that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government had spent money to renovate the private residence of Mrs. Agyemang to enable Nana Konadu to stay with her.

This statement was greeted with a petition by a pressure group, Ghana Youth Movement (GYM), in which its spokesman, Kwabena Tandoh charged CHRAJ to investigate the use of state funds being used to renovate the said private residence.

The group said it was illegal and unacceptable for government to spend state funds on the private residence of the former First Lady or her mother.

CHRAJ Commissioner Emile Short sought to know the basis of Mr. Agyenim-Boateng’s claim during an interview he granted Joy FM, in which the latter stated that the government had indeed carried out some considerable amount of work on the said building.

CHRAJ had meanwhile received responses from the office of the President and the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing indicating that no state resources were used in the renovation works on the former First Lady’s mother’s private residence at the Nyaniba estates.

But Mr. Agyenim-Boateng contradicted this other official account, insisting that at least some renovation works were carried out on the said residence at government’s expense.

“I have said that at least painting was done. That I still want to stay on the records,” he told CHRAJ.

Herbert Mensah, a businessman and close pal of the former First family, had said that he paid for the renovation works on the said house after fire razed down their Ridge-based official residence but had not been reimbursed by government.

The deputy Minister of Information said he could not tell which office funded or carried out the painting on the residence of Mrs. Agyeman because “it’s a security issue.

“Even though I serve as deputy Minister of Information, I am clearly not privy to every single issue that borders on the security.

There are issues that sometimes depending on the situation that one may or may not know. I think that clearly in this case, it is a security issue and the security people would have handled that. I don’t want to believe that My Lord, it took the former First family to move on their own.”

He added “the security authorities would have done reconnaissance, what they call Recce to be sure that they were taking them to a place that was safe and reasonably guarantee their safety” and “maybe what we are yet to hear is what the security authorities themselves have said about this issue.”

At the time he made those comments about the renovation works on the building, Mr. Agyenim Boateng told the Commission he was away on a duty tour in the Brong Ahafo region and that he was completely out of touch with base (his office in Accra) and therefore told Ghanaians what he knew about the issue.

This, he said, was because the state was duty-bound to ensure the safety of the former First family.

When asked whether his comments were based on facts or assumptions and where he got the information from, the deputy Minister insisted they were facts, noting “as deputy Minister I’m privy to all sorts of information within the set up.”

Muntaka Disowns ‘Girlfriend’

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has denied having any amorous relationship with Edith Zineuali, the lady he was said to have assisted to procure a German visa as alleged in the infamous ‘pampers and khebab’ scandal.

This was revealed when one of the lawyers representing him at the ongoing investigations by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Kwesi Baffour Intsiful was cross-examining his (Muntaka’s) accusers, the Progressive Nationalist Forum (PNF), led by its spokesman Richard Kwesi Nyamah.

Muntaka, who was alleged to have ordered the release of over GH¢1.4million to the Sports Council without the approval of the Chief of Staff when he was the Sports Minister, was not at the hearing because he was said to have traveled to the United States on official assignment and scheduled to arrive yesterday evening.

Prior to the commencement of the hearing, Mr Nyamah and his lawyer, Anthony Namoo indicated the PNF’s discontinuation in pursuing 15 of the 16 allegations that they had earlier made against the former minister who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Asawase constituency in the Ashanti region, with the exception of one that has to do with the acquisition of a German visa for his supposed ‘girlfriend’.

This, he said, was because the witnesses on whom they were banking their hopes to prove their case, especially the former chief director and principal accountant of the Sports Ministry, Albert Anthony Ampong and Adim Odoom respectively, have all declined to testify before the Commission in order not to compromise the case they are currently pursuing against the state in court for their wrongful dismissal from the civil service, which is scheduled to be heard sometime in November this year.

During cross-examination, lawyer Intsiful asked Mr Nyamah the basis of his allegation, to which he indicated that the said Edith Zineuali was Muntaka’s girlfriend.

Mr Nyamah said his claim was based on the fact that President Mills had at a meeting with the media sought to ask whether Muntaka was the first government official to have travelled with a girlfriend; and the fact that the MP himself had indicated his preparedness to pay for any such liabilities was in itself an admission of guilt.

He tendered in as evidence a copy of the government white paper that was issued and signed by then Presidential Spokesperson, Mahama Ayariga, after the National Security had conducted investigations into the allegations against Muntaka.

Though counsel for the embattled MP raised issues about the authenticity of the document because it did not bear the insignia of the Government of Ghana (the coat of arms), the chairman of the Commission, Emile Francis Short, admitted it in evidence.

Mr Nyamah also tendered in a copy of the petition sent to the President by Mr Odoom, in which he asked the President to cause investigations into the allegations he made against the Minister in question as evidence.

But Muntaka’s lawyer put it to him that his client had no such relationship with the woman, Edith Zineuali.

Aside that, lawyer Intsiful said his client (Muntaka) did not have anything to do with the lady’s visa application; let alone the processes that led to its acquisition from the German Embassy. And neither did he have the opportunity to vet the application since it did not come before him.

For this reason, he said his client might have been misrepresented, taking into consideration the fact that the officer who processed the visa application described her as a staff of the Ministry of Youth and Sports when she was indeed a staff of Parliament and specifically the Secretary to then Majority Leader in the House, Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin.

The Commission has since adjourned sitting to Thursday, September 30, 2010, by which time Muntaka would have returned to the country to enable him cross examine his accuser.

Muntaka, who was barely four months in office, reportedly traveled with Edith Zineuali to the finals of the 1st CHAN tournament in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, under very unusual circumstances.

He was said to have presented the lady as an employee of the Ministry of Youth and Sports when Edith was indeed a staff of the office of Parliament.

Muntaka Faces CHRAJ

-Over Pampers and khebab
Posted: Daily Guide | www.dailyguideghana.com
Monday, 27 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
FORMER YOUTH and Sports Minister and Member of Parliament for Asawase, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak is appearing before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over the ‘pampers and khebab’ scandal.

All things being equal, CHRAJ boss Francis Emile Short and his team of lawyers will today start hearing the case in which the Minister was alleged to have blown over GH¢16,640 of the taxpayers’ sweat on his child’s pampers, food, oil and a host of other fleeting desires.

He was said to have ordered for the release of over GH¢1.4million to the Sports Council without the approval of the Chief of Staff.

Muntaka, who was barely four months in office, reportedly traveled with his girlfriend, Edith Zineuali, secretary to then Majority Leader in Parliament and now Minister for Works and Housing, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, to the finals of the 1st CHAN tournament in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, and slept in a plush hotel, tossing the bills to the State.

Under the circumstance, Muntaka was said to have presented the lady as an employee of the Ministry of Youth and Sports when Ms. Zineuali was indeed a staff of the office of Parliament.

He is thus being investigated by the Commission on allegations of abuse of office and conflict of interest which has earned him the nickname ‘Muntaka pampers’.

This follows a complaint filed by a pressure group, Progressive Nationalist Forum (PNF) dated January 11, 2010, in which it asked CHRAJ to launch full-scale investigations into the circumstance under which the then Sports Minister "personally arranged for the accommodation of the Black Stars and officials in Navaisha, Kenya, in a pre-match camping against Sudan, without the involvement of any other official of the Ministry."

PNF, through its Spokesperson Richard Kwesi Nyamah, also enjoined CHRAJ as an investigative body to look into the trip of the former Minister with his girlfriend to Germany with State support.

CHRAJ suspended investigations into the allegations on Monday May 31, due to a petition filed by PNF, asking for a stay of proceedings because witnesses for the case were unavailable.

The Commission granted the petition pending the outcome of the court case filed against the Attorney General by Albert Anthony Ampong and Adim Odoom, former chief director and principal accountant respectively of the Sports Ministry, both of whom are principal witnesses in the case.

Now that the case has been determined in court, they thought it wise to resume the hearing.

The group thus charged the Commission to cause the former minister to refund an amount of GH¢664.02 in respect of baby oil, baby food, mouth wash and other household items charged on the ministry’s imprest account.

PNF also alleged that the former Sports Minister requested GH¢1,000 per match for the services of a ‘mallam’ (spiritualist) and demanded cash immediately for the purpose, adding that “... a director, Alhaji Abdullai Yakubu, was asked by Respondent to authorize payment without passing through the director, who is the spending officer”.

Furthermore, the pressure group accused Muntaka of fraudulently using his office to acquire a German visa for his girlfriend, Edith Zineuali.

The group therefore wants criminal charges to be preferred against the former Minister for Youth and Sports where he was found to have engaged in any fraudulent act; and a declaration amongst others, that he abused the trust and confidence reposed in him by the good people of the Republic of Ghana and his oath of office.

It is also asking CHRAJ to declare that the former minister was fraudulent in obtaining a German visa for his girlfriend.

In spite of the fact that the National Security made adverse findings of impropriety against Muntaka when it investigated the case, President Mills only asked the former Minister to resign his position whilst no other punitive action was taken against him, except to be asked to refund money unlawfully spent.

The President and his advisors thought it ‘wise’ to interdict and later relieve the then Principal Accountant, Adim Odoom and the then Chief Director of the Ministry, Albert Ampong, on the grounds that they failed to ensure that laid down procedures were followed to guide the former Minister’s 'reckless' expenditure - a decision the Human Rights Court has overturned.

This was probably part of the reasons the likes of presidential aide, Stan Dogbe are still hanging on to their jobs even after blowing over GH¢169, 000 at the Ministry of Information on supposed hampers, when the money was meant for educational campaign on the 2010 budget whilst the wrong person, the Director of Information Services Department (ISD), Nee Agiri Banor had been made a ‘sacrificial lamb’.

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.

Minister John Tia Goofs

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The Mills administration is making frantic but unsuccessful attempts to put a spin on the ¢1.6bn scandal that has rocked the Ministry of Information, in which presidential aide Stanlislav Dogbe’s name has popped up as the culprit.

Barely 24hours after the story broke and generated impassioned debate across the country, Information Minister John Akologu Tia issued a statement denying the matter.

Though he claimed the money was received and had been used for its intended purposes, he could not provide any documentary evidence to justify how it was expended.

DAILY GUIDE has learnt that auditors are finding it difficult to close the account of the Information Ministry because of the inability to retire the ¢1.6bn cash received for the supposed 2010 budget public education.

Instead, the Minister described DAILY GUIDE’s publication as false in spite of the fact that Stan himself has admitted that the money was expended on hampers and workshops for some journalists including the Institute for Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ).

However, IFEJ President, Lloyd Evans who doubles as Business Editor of Daily Graphic, has denied Stan’s claim that the Ministry sponsored the group’s programmes.

Speaking on Joy FM yesterday, Mr. Evans explained that IFEJ’s programmes had never received financial support from the Information Ministry as had been suggested.

He added that not even the budget seminar they had with the Ministry was supported by the Ministry. He explained that it was the World Bank that had been supporting the group’s programmes.

Mr. Evans has since dared Mr. Dogbe and the Ministry to come out and tell Ghanaians when and how they sponsored any of their programmes.

In his statement, Mr. Tia described DAILY GUIDE’s story as baseless, unfounded and without merit “as available records here indicate that the said fund was used for the intended purpose and the project account is awaiting validation by external auditors”, saying “indeed, Mr. Dogbe was not in charge of disbursing the fund.”

It is therefore not clear why the Minister and his Ministry are not putting out the facts and figures about how the money was used and exactly which individuals and institutions it was expended on during the said public education campaign on the 2010 budget.

Also, the Ministry said it found it unfortunate that even after Mr. Dogbe provided DAILY GUIDE with details of his role and what he knew about the campaign, the paper went ahead to suggest that he personally carried out those activities and handled its allocated funds, stressing “it is even more absurd when the newspaper claimed that the money was spent on Christmas hampers.”

Interestingly, that was exactly what Stan told DAILY GUIDE when he was contacted on the story before its publication. The tape of the interview is available if the minister would need a copy.

As Minister for Information, John Tia wondered why the reporter and the newspaper did not contact his office on the allegations though he was not the Minister at the time.

The Minister, a journalist before going into politics, blamed some disgruntled staff of the Ministry for packaging the story for DAILY GUIDE, confirming that all is not well with the staff of the Information Ministry, particularly the directors.

He failed to acknowledge the fact that DAILY GUIDE spoke to Zita Okaikoi, the Minister at the time who declined to comment on the issue.

That notwithstanding, John Tia, a former correspondent of the Ghana News Agency, said the Acting Director of the Information Services Department (ISD), Nee Agiri Barnor, has not been sidelined, saying “we have and will continue to work effectively with staff of the Department”, insisting that “the Minister believes in teamwork and has been sparing no effort at building an efficient and effective team to manage government’s communication.”

Anita’s Victims Rain Curses On NDC

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Monday, 13 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Abomosu (Atiwa)
The families of the victims who were maimed by the vehicle of the National Women’s Organizer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Anita De-Sosoo, have cursed the woman and her party for the tortuous ordeal they (NDC) and their assigns took their children through during the just-ended bye-election in the Atiwa Constituency.

They have prayed for the god’s of the Birim River not to spare any individual or group of persons who were part of the brutalities that were visited on the people of Abomosu during the bye-election.

They have also warned the NDC and its agents not to step foot in the village since they are more than willing to demand their pound of flesh from the perpetrators.

Speaking in separate interviews with DAILY GUIDE, some of the embittered family members, including a woman in her early or mid 60s, Auntie Akua Nana, could not fathom why the NDC decided to bring thugs to Abomosu, a town known for its peacefulness.

Auntie Akua narrated that she was on her way to visit one of her sons who had lost the wife when some natives run to her that the NDC hoodlums had pounced on her son, whose name she only gave as Nana Osei, and are beating him mercilessly.

When she got to the scene, she saw her son with a swollen arm and when she demanded to know what he had done to warrant such beatings from the thugs, Osei said he had done nothing and that he was only going to vote when they pounced on him without any provocation whatsoever.

She believes it is only God who saved the town since according to her, from what NDC and its machomen were doing, there was no way people like herself would have survived if it had been the general elections.

The old woman was sobbing as she narrated the incident to DAILY GUIDE in the company of other relatives.

She said there was nothing she could do as she is an old woman and has therefore left everything to God since even the police could not do anything to save her son when he was being tortured by his assailants. The attack on Osei happened in the full glare of the police.

She believes each and every one of them who were involved in the incident will be made to pay a price for their sins.

Thirty-eight year old Kwaku Obeng is related to Seth Ampofo, one of the victims.

For him, what the NDC Women’s Organiser did was a virtual representation of the NDC as a party since he could not understand why the NDC will be running riot in an election which was expected to be won by the NPP.

He therefore prayed for the ‘law of nemesis’ (unavoidable punishment) to catch up with those who visited brutality on his friends and relatives.

Wisdom Head Ohene, 52, a mason, recalled how some of these machomen chased him into the bush on that fateful day.

According to him, he had been sent to go and fetch mortar for a construction work when he met the goons, who were throwing stones into a house, after which they pounced on another young man.

Immediately they spotted him, he said one of the thugs shouted “you are among” and then they started chasing him with clubs and machetes.

Wisdom said he had no option but to flee with his head pan into the bush. He returned later in the evening when he realized things had calmed down.

According him, this caused most of the youth in the village to also go into hiding until the declaration of the election results.

Veronica Kennedy, a 39-year-old woman, narrated that it was one NDC supporter in the village who was taking these thugs from house-to-house, asking them to vote for the NDC or incur their wrath.

A day before the elections, she noted that the man brought the thugs to her house and told them that she was an NPP supporter and that they should be careful of her.

The following day, which was the election day, she said they came to her house to attack her but only God saved her when the club one of them wanted to hit her with hit a tree.

Veronica said she passed out urine out of fright, which made the thugs to spare her life.

She expressed hope that the law will catch up with all those who perpetrated acts of hooliganism during the election.

Mills Boy Blows ¢1.6bn On X’mas Hampers

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Extensive investigations conducted by DAILY GUIDE have led to a startling revelation suggesting that some officials at the Ministry of Information are dipping their hands into state coffers under the pretext of rewarding journalists.

Documents available to DAILY GUIDE reveal how a Presidential aide and member of government’s communication team, Stanislav Xoese Dogbe, is said to have collected GH¢169,000, the equivalent of ¢1.6 billion in a ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag under the pretext of an intensive public education campaign for the 2010 budget statement read by Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor in November 2009.

Mr. Dogbe, who describes himself as a special aide to President Mills, however told DAILY GUIDE that the money was approved by Zita Okaikoi, former Minister of Information as well as the Chief Director of the Ministry, Victor Horla Kwashie Senaya.

According to him, part of the cash was used to buy Christmas hampers for selected journalists and to influence articles published in the media.

The amount of GH¢169,000 was signed and approved by L.F Dzakpa and first released to the Chief Director of that Ministry with a payment voucher dated December 15, 2009, over a month after the budget had been read.

The particulars of payment read “being release of funds to enable the Minister to meet expenses on the public education campaign on the 2010 Financial Budget Statement.”

Interestingly, Stan who enjoys all the privileges of a deputy minister, by virtue of his position as a presidential aide, said the money was expended on activities like organizing an event for the Institute for Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ), radio and television interviews, paid-for feature articles in selected newspapers and a programme for editors of some media houses which were held before and during 2009 Christmas, which he said included hampers given to editors and reporters as Christmas gifts.

Ministry of Information sources have, meanwhile, explained to DAILY GUIDE that government education campaigns were usually carried out by the Information Services Department (ISD) but Director Nee Agiri Barnor was kept in the dark about the money cashed for the so- called education campaign.

The money was released following a memo dated December 8, 2009 from the Director of Finance and Administration of the Ministry to the Principal Accountant with the consent of the Minister, asking for the release of an amount of GH¢169,000.00 to undertake what it described as “media management and co-ordination” in connection with the public education campaign on the 2010 budget.

The request for the money was placed almost a month after the budget had been read. This has raised questions of impropriety since the money did not go to the right channel- ISD- for the public education.

Mr. Dogbe duly acknowledged receipt of the amount from the Principal Accountant of the Information Ministry with a receipt dated December 21, 2009 (3 days to Christmas), indicating it was to “enable me to carry out public education on the 2010 annual budget”, which interestingly was read on November 18, 2009 by the Finance Minister.

Though the stated reason for the release of the amount was for public education on the 2010 budget, it is not too clear what exactly the money was used for, as there is virtually nothing to show for it while Stan stammered through some explanations when contacted.

DAILY GUIDE has learnt auditors are finding it difficult to close the account of the Information Ministry because queries raised have still not been answered.

Workers of the Information Services Department (ISD) have been alarmed at this and other developments at the Ministry, since Stan seems to have taken over most of their roles and responsibilities.

They are equally not happy with the way he seemingly throws his weight about as though he wields more powers than the Director of the ISD, Nee Agiri Barnor who has virtually been sidelined in the running of the Ministry. Stan is in full control of the dissemination of government information and occasionally issues statements on behalf of the two deputy ministers, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and James Agyenim-Boateng.

Stan was however not forthcoming with information about how he spent the GH¢169,000 released to him in cash when contacted, as he initially pretended not to know anything about the money.

In a quivering voice, he said “I don’t even remember”, but quickly changed his statement to: “I know that there was education on the budget activities but I don’t remember what…because… fine, I never handled funds related to that project. So I’m surprised that I would have signed for it.”

He told this paper that he would check with the Chief Director and get back as quickly as possible the same day.

When reached later, he asked for a meeting which he said would be attended by the Minister of Information, John Tia Akologu and the Chief Director, the next day, Friday, so he could explain how he expended the taxpayer’s money since he had managed to secure the needed information on the issue.

When he was called again on his cell phone, he said he could not hear well and after several “hello… hellos”, he suddenly dropped the call.

He later sent a text message saying there had been a change in plan and that he was travelling on an impromptu national assignment with Vice President John Mahama to Cape Coast to launch the National Youth Policy programme, with the promise to give details of the information about how the taxpayer’s money had been spent.

Later when DAILY GUIDE managed to catch up with the presidential aide and a member of the government’s communications team, on the evening of Friday, August 13, 2010, he admitted to signing for and collecting the said money but said he did so on behalf of Zita Okaikoi who was then the sector Minister.

He however claimed “there was absolutely nothing wrong with it”, and emphasized that “I don’t regret signing on behalf of the Minister”, suggesting the money was spent with the minister’s blessing.

When Minister Okaikoi was contacted, she advised DAILY GUIDE to sort it out with the Chief Director of the Information Ministry.

Sakawa Victim Sues Stanchart

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Monday, 13 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Marian Little, the retired British businesswoman who fell prey to internet fraud popularly known as ‘sakawa, through her supposed lover, is putting up a strong legal team to sue one of the leading banks in the country, Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart), for their alleged involvement in the scam that led to her losing her life-long savings of $100,000.

In an almost two hour-long interview with DAILY GUIDE last Thursday, Marian narrated what could easily pass for a Hollywood movie since the scam was so sophisticated to an extent that even the fraud department of the famous Lois Bank in the United Kingdom, which conducted extensive initial investigations into it before she transferred the $100,000 to her supposed lover’s account in Ghana, could not detect anything.

Marian claims to have sighted the account dossier of her victim, the 25-year-old boy, who used the name of Frederick Stark to dupe her in what was supposed to be a love affair, and realized that the bank broke all protocols in the banking since it failed to do due diligence in the discharge of its duties.

So far, five people including the 25-year-old principal suspect who used the name Frederick Stark, his supposed 22-year-old daughter, Agnes Anang and a staff of the Tudu branch of Standard Chartered Bank have been arrested and are facing trial in at a High Court.

According to her, the money hit the account on Monday, September 14, 2009, two working days after it was transferred from the UK and was surprised why the management of the bank allowed an amount of GH¢50,000 to be cashed from an account which had known very little or no transaction the very morning the money hit it.

Later the same day, she narrated, the supposed Fredrick Starke went to cash another GH¢40,000 and came back on Wednesday to remove another GH¢20,000 and a further GH¢31,000.

On the Thursday, she stated, he withdrew GH¢51,000, saying “and nobody checked with me where the money had come from, whether the reasons he gave that he got it were true. I had no knowledge at all that money had arrived and was being taken out of that account.”

“There is an undercurrent here, I have to say the youth because I’m not sure, they don’t use their names but most of it, coming back to it, feels like it’s payback time for the whites.

They’ve come; they’ve stolen our gold and its time for us to fight back,” she noted, emphasizing that gradually, Sakawa is becoming an institution in Ghana because it is controlled by some high-profile personalities, some of who are not in the country but supervise the activities and operations of these syndicates.

From the narration that she gave, the account that was used to dupe her was opened for just that purpose since it was not a running account.

Marian said the fact that the owner of the account, who happens to be her supposed lover, claimed to be a sole trader when he was going to open the account and considering the fact that no serious transactions had occurred in it for the whole 18months that it was opened as well as the spate of withdrawals, should have prompted the bank and its management to investigate it when the money hit the account.

She could therefore not fathom why a highly-rated bank such as Stanchart would allow itself to be used for such a scam in which they presented the said account as a dollar account when indeed it was a cedi savings account.

Marian was therefore not the least surprised that a staff of the bank had been named and currently standing trial in connection with the case.

The retired businesswoman is bent on not just getting justice but also exposing the schemes that these fraudsters use on their unsuspecting victims in order to help reduce the spate of internet fraud in Ghana.

Though down, she stated that it is not the end of the road for her since she is more than willing to help the police and other security agencies in Ghana with her little experience to clamp down on the activities and operations of these scammers.

Meanwhile, Attorney General and Minister of Justice Betty Mould-Iddrisu has indicated her interest in seeing to the case having logical conclusion, since it is tarnishing the image of Ghana internationally; hence transferring the case from a circuit to a High Court.

Marian was hoping to enjoy the full benefits of her retirement with her ‘internet lover’ but she ended up being duped when she transferred part of her life-long savings to Frederick Stark who claimed to be a retiring American Colonel.

She however has a glimmer of hope in the country’s judiciary and the security agencies, with the conviction that at the end of the day, she can get justice or better still get her money back since the Serious Fraud Office, the Attorney General’s office, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and the British High Commission in Ghana all have an interest in the case.

‘Rawlings Is Doomed’

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Thursday, 09 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The struggle for power in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was taken to another level yesterday when Mills’ bloc claimed victory over the founder, Jerry Rawlings and his faction.

This was when a member of the Mills’ camp, Alhaji Iddrisu Bature, made claims on Adom FM’s morning show that the Mills camp had succeeded in taming or confining Rawlings to the cooler.

Bature was responding to claims by a youth activist of the party and General Secretary for the Youth for Leadership (YFL), a pro-Rawlings group, Sacut Amenga-Etego that President Mills ‘lacks wise counsel’ in his administration.

Sacut stated in his latest articles to the press that he was sure the biggest problem of President Mills was that of the lack of wise counselors, noting with emphasis “I’m even surer that he needs an inclination for that kind of desired wise counsel- an inclination the president has woefully failed to demonstrate since he became President.”

He proceeded to ask a rhetorical question: “why, how can any leader ever lead successfully without the benefit of such counsel?” stressing “perhaps, only in an Atta Mills Presidency can people delude themselves with such a notion.”

Among other things, the youth activist claimed that the President was not living up to the virtues of the June 4 revolution on which the NDC, as a party, was founded.

These claims by Sacut triggered Alhaji Bature to shoot out of his shell, strongly defending President Mills.

In the heat of the argument on the radio, Alhaji Bature said people like Sacut meant nothing to the Mills camp since they had ‘finished’ the founder of the party, adding “don’t you see we have finished Rawlings. Why can’t we hear from him again?”

Bature wondered what Sacut and his other colleagues who made claims of owing unflinching allegiance to Jerry Rawlings could do since they are now ‘small flies’.

For him, the only thing that these Rawlings followers could do, would be to destroy the chances of the party in 2012 and not that of Mills as a person since according to him, the President was God-given and the best thing to have happened to Ghana as a country.

“What is the difference between you that you cannot use official channels to resolve, you need to go to the media often to expose and embarrass the President,” he asked.

Instead, Bature said Professor Mills was prepared to resign as President and nothing would happen to him, predicting that “it is the NDC that will suffer.”

However, spokesman for the former President, Kofi Adams said nobody could confine Rawlings to silence and that he would speak when he had to.

“Who is in the position to do so? When he has to talk, he will talk.”

Mr. Adams laughed away suggestions that Alhaji Bature is a leading member of the NDC since according to him “we don’t have anything like a leading member.

We have executives; I don’t know him as a leading member. Who does he lead in the NDC?”

That notwithstanding, he said the founder of the party would not allow any individual or group of persons to influence his thoughts and that he would speak when the need arose.

IGP Must Go

Posted: daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Wednesday, 08 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) has added its voice to calls for the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Paul Tawiah Quaye, to do the honourable thing by resigning his position to save the “sinking” image of the Service.

AFAG says it is convinced that the IGP’s continuous stay in office would bring civil actions and lawlessness when Ghana goes to the polls to elect a president in 2012, thereby undermining the country’s long cherished peace and political stability.

This, they said, was evident in recent events including the brutalities visited on innocent residents of Abomosu in the just-ended Atiwa bye-election, in the full glare of the police, which have led to a mistrust of the Service.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, spokesman for the group, Samuel Adjei-Mensah Korsah said “our worries are reinforced by the inability of state institutions as the Ghana Police Service and the security agencies to defend our constitution and protect the liberties and human rights of all Ghanaians.”

AFAG noted that it is becoming clear that the police are failing to operate in a balanced manner in the moderation of political activities in the country.

They could not fathom why the police arrested and invited Nana Adarkwa of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Joy FM’s Ato Kwamena Dadzie for purportedly ‘causing fear panic’ and yet allowed the chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Kwabena Adjei to go scot free when he indicated their (NDC) intentions to ‘clean’ the country’s judiciary and even proceeded to dare any individual or group of persons to raise and issue with it and vowed to take them on.

“The police’s conduct is starting to breed deep mistrust and insecurity amongst large sections of our people, such that many of them are beginning to think of taking up citizens’ actions to protect themselves, their freedoms and their political interests,” AFAG stressed.

The pressure group believes the NDC chairman’s vitriolic attack on the Judiciary, which set off “an organised chorus of threats and ugly noises by NDC functionaries and assorted bedfellows to purge and clean up Ghana’s Judiciary in general, and remove the Chief Justice in particular”, poses the gravest challenge to the sacred principles of the separation of powers under the country’s constitution.

For them, these unguarded utterances, which they said included direct and unsubtle threats to let loose the ruling party’s ‘foot-soldiers’ on members of the Judiciary, if Government failed to interfere, have created a state of panic, insecurity and fear of intimidation amongst many members of the Judiciary.

However, AFAG said it was not the least surprised at these unhealthy developments, considering the historical antecedents of the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) government which metamorphosed into the modern-day NDC, with specific reference to the cold events that led to the abduction and subsequent murder of three High Court Judges in 1982.

For this reason, the group said, “It is not surprising therefore that a senior Judge of the High Court publicly expressed fear for his safety when he recused himself from the Ya Na murder case and went on to challenge the Attorney-General’s office to substantiate its attempt to bully and blackmail him.”

Ordinarily, the leadership of AFAG said, it would have been comforted by the president’s reassurance that the Executive will not interfere in the Judiciary, but cannot help but point out that “his Excellency’s statement was negated and totally undermined immediately by that of the regional chairmen of the NDC, which threatened to unleash the wrath of their unrepentant foot-soldiers to chase out those judges that the party believed were unfit for their jobs.”

The group stated that it was worried that this ‘organised network of advocates’ has shown great disregard for the President’s position because it poses a real and present danger to the country’s Judiciary in particular and all law-abiding citizens in general, stressing that “the President’s position only absolves the Executive and not the party, of which he is the leader.”

AFAG said “the NDC party and its men have an agenda to prosecute and the President as the leader of their party has not succeeded in sufficiently re-assuring Ghanaians of a non NDC party aggression and future attacks in any form on the Judiciary.”
It called on all Ghanaians, both home and abroad, to join in a massive civil action in the coming weeks, to demonstrate the full and unflinching support of the good people of Ghana for judicial independence, the rule of law, civil liberty and continuing peace in the country.

Nana Addo flays NDC propaganda

Posted: Daily Guide :www.dailyguideghana.com
Tuesday, 07 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Some elements in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) are trying strenuously to incite the chiefs and people of the Central region against the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its presidential candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

This campaign is being spearheaded by the NDC’s former Central regional propaganda secretary, Bernard Allotey Jacobs, who currently heads the party’s communications team in the region.

This follows comments by Mr Allotey Jacobs claiming that Nana Addo made a remark to the effect that he will ‘show’ the chiefs and people of the area if he and the NPP should come to power in 2012.

The comment was supposed to have been made after the Ogua Fetu Afahye over the weekend when Nana Addo and his entourage were not given the expected recognition.

Allotey later stated that it was some of Nana’s supporters who followed him when he was leaving the durbar grounds that made the comment.

A strongly-worded statement from the office of Nana Addo and signed by his aide, Herbert Krapa said “this is just one of the many crude tactics of the NDC meant to generate discontent and dissatisfaction against Nana Akufo-Addo” and described it as “a blatant lie”.

Nana Addo said he did not make any such comment at the durbar grounds or elsewhere since ethnic or tribal sentiments are not part of his vocabulary, just as the language of reprisals and punishment is foreign to him.

The statement stated, “Clearly, Allotey Jacobs and the NDC spin doctors are worried about the warm reception that the people of the Central Region accorded Nana Akufo-Addo and his entourage at the durbar grounds”, stressing that “the people of the Central Region are not excluded from the hardships being visited on the Ghanaian people by the NDC administration of President Mills and are looking to the NPP and their flag-bearer, Nana Akufo-Addo, to bring them in the near future much needed relief.”

The statement said “no amount of malicious propaganda will eradicate the goodwill that the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo are currently enjoying in the Central Region and, indeed, throughout the country”, emphasising that Nana Akufo-Addo is content to leave propaganda politics and the politics of lies and fabrications to those who know no other politics.

The statement further said that “the people of the Central Region and those of the other nine regions of Ghana are an essential part of our nation’s fabric and an Akufo-Addo presidency will treat them with respect, dignity and fairness. The good people of the Central Region are fully aware of this.”

Close aide to Nana Addo, Boakye Agyarko says Allotey-Jacob’s comments could only be borne out of malice and mischief since according to him, neither Nana Addo nor any member of his entourage made any such comment.

In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, Mr Agyarko, who was part of the delegation, asked rhetorically “where was he Allotey Jacobs standing to have heard…in this noisy crowd, to have heard Nana Addo made a comment.”

According to Mr Agyarko, he could not fathom how Mr. Allotey Jacobs could have heard Nana Addo make such a comment in the midst of the drumming and dancing, insisting “it’s a fabrication just to incite the Central region against Nana Addo.”

“Nana never said any thing like this. He never spoke anywhere and never granted an interview to anybody,” he said.

Right from the durbar grounds, Mr Agyarko said, “he walked straight to the car and we drove off so where was he standing to have heard Nana make a comment to punish Cape Coast, for what? What did Cape Coast do or what did Oguaman do?”

He thus believes “the people who did all of these machinations have exposed themselves as liars and they are trying to cover up.”

At the time of the supposed incident, Allotey claimed he was talking to one Kwamena Duncan and another person who is the chairman of the Nasara club.

For this reason, he said he would be surprised if Nana Addo and members of his delegation claimed they did not hear what their supporters were saying.

Mr Allotey thus attributed the comments to Nana Addo since according to him, he failed to stop his supporters from coming out with what he described as an emotional outburst, saying “that does not help Nana Addo himself.”

Interestingly, responding to queries from the paper yesterday, Mr Allotey Jacobs said he cannot identify any of the individuals who said the NPP will ‘show’ the chiefs and people of the Central region when they come to power, saying “actually I don’t know them.

It was just this morning that I heard Nitiwul saying on Metro TV that he was part of the entourage but I don’t know him personally.”

He noted that “I even heard that Isaac Edumadze was part of it, I even heard that the former Minister for Works and Housing, Kwame Bartels was part of it. We didn’t see them.

You see Nana Akufo-Addo was surrounded by some few people, some of them ordinary supporters. I mean you can’t identify that this was that or this one is this.”

Meanwhile, the Central regional executives of the NPP have protested against what they believe to be a deliberate plan to ignore their leader even though he (Nana Addo) had informed the organizers of his participation in Saturday's festival.


The executives are incensed because they claim regional executives of the NDC were acknowledged during the programme, whilst Nana Addo was ignored, accusing President Mills of leaving out Nana Addo while greeting dignitaries at the durbar.

Mr Allotey Jacobs believes what happened over the weekend was in response to Akufo-Addo’s reference to Prof Mills as 'Prof do little', saying “I think that statement made by the NPP flag-bearer didn’t go down well with the people of Cape Coast.”

Anita’s Victims Cry Out

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Monday, 06 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
FOUR persons who were injured when the vehicle of Anita De-Souza, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Women’s Organiser, ran into them in the heat of the recent bye-election in the Atiwa constituency have spoken to DAILY GUIDE about their tortuous ordeal.

This was when the paper visited them at the Enyiresi Government Hospital to obtain first-hand information of what they recall about the incident.

The four are 18-year-old Isaac Agyemang Duah, a student of the Koforidua Senior High School, 40-year-old Ebenezer Adomako aka Kwasi Willie, a farmer, 38-year-old George Abu, also a farmer and 20-year-old Seth Ampofo.

They gave their accounts of how the ash-coloured Toyota Prado 4 wheel drive with registration number GE 5440-10 maimed them.

The vehicle, at the time of the incident, was said to be driven by a certain Akwasi Ernest, who is yet to report to the police.

At the time of the visit, some family members and New Patriotic Party (NPP), faithful led by the Eastern Regional Chairman of the NPP, Dr. Samuel Annor, had gone to visit the victims and presented some items to them.

Isaac was at home listening to radio, Oman FM, when he heard that the voter turnout at the Presby Junior High School polling station was very low.

He therefore informed the NPP treasurer in Abomosu, one Mr. Oboubi about what he had heard and told him he knew some old women including his grandmother in the area who might not be able to walk to the polling station so they could organize a car to convey them to the polling station, which he agreed to do.

On their way back from seeing the old women, Isaac narrated that Obuobi had a call from his son, one Agyepong that some NDC members (Azorka Boys) had come to steal ballot boxes at the polling center.

ImageAt this point, he said they parted ways since Mr. Obuobi told him he was going to make arrangements for a vehicle to go and pick up the old women to enable them to vote.

Isaac said he proceeded to the area where the supposed Azorka Boys were reported to be causing mayhem.

In the heat of events, he said one Kofi Akuoko and several other people were butchered with machetes and clubs, with blood oozing all over their bodies.

Just as he and some of the bystanders were about to flee from the wrath of the thugs, Isaac said the only thing he could recall was a vehicle running over them.

Isaac said the next thing he realized when he opened his eyes was that he was on a hospital bed at the emergency ward.

Since the incident happened within seconds, Isaac said he could not see the vehicle and that even if he did, the excruciating pain he was going through was enough to make him forget how it looked like.

He admitted there was a roadblock in the middle of the road in front of Mona Palace where the incident occurred but could not tell whether it was mounted by the townsfolk or the police since there were policemen also there.

On his part, Ebenezer Adomako aka Kwasi Willie, said he and some other friends were there when some NDC thugs attempted to steal the ballot box.

According to him, a heated exchange ensued between them and the thugs and in the process, the thugs slashed a certain young man’s head.

This angered the townsfolk since they could not comprehend the action of the thugs.

In the heat of the argument, he said, a vehicle which he later got to know was owned by the National Women’s Organizer of the NDC ran into them, with his right thumb virtually splitting apart whilst the vehicle ran over some of the boys.

George Abu claimed that he was on his way home after going to cast his vote when he heard a friend shout out his name.

Image
Seth Ampofo
As he turned around, he was hit by the vehicle and fell unconscious before he was taken to the hospital.

According to him, he was surprised and angry at the spin being put on the entire story since some individuals had come to interview him and his other colleagues and were asking them to lie that they were knocked down by an articulated truck.

Seth Ampofo could not tell his story since the pain he was going through did not allow him to speak.

When this paper visited the hospital, Ampofo’s wounds were being dressed.

The anguish, wailings and screams of the patient sent chills through the ward, and the DAILY GUIDE team, unable to stand the pain, packed their tape recorders, cameras and notebooks and slipped out of the ward.

Not even the consolation of his attendant nurses could stop the wailing and pain that he felt.

He cried like a baby while invoking curses on whoever might have caused him this predicament.

Meanwhile, some residents of the area have corroborated the stories of the victims and have confirmed the colour and number of the vehicle which ran through them, which is no different from what has already been put out as an ash Toyota Prado with registration number GE 5440-10.

Alan Party’ Shot Down

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Friday, 03 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Even before it established itself as a recognised political force in the country, issues have started popping up about the credibility of the so-called United Front Party (UFP).

The intention behind its formation was exposed yesterday when the founder of the party, Kwasi Addae, could not even tell the motto of his party.

This was when he spoke on Adom FM’s morning show concerning unfolding developments about the new party.

Kwasi Addae is the owner of Odike ventures, a shoe trading company which has branches in Kumasi and Accra.

He could also not tell the logo of his party which he claimed to have a membership that cuts across the political divides.

Addae admitted to have been a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and lately a New Patriotic Party (NPP) member.

Even though he admitted that the Electoral Commission (EC) had asked him and his cohort to revise their party colours since it had some semblance with that of the NPP, he could also not give the new colours, asking that he be given time to go to the office to confirm that.

This therefore raised doubts about the credibility of the party and its founders, considering the vile efforts being employed to link it to Alan Kyerematen, even though he has not only denounced the speculation but has also declared his unflinching support for the NPP presidential candidate, Nana Addo.

With the exception of Mr Addae, the founder of the party, who has come out openly to defend it, all other persons who have been linked to it have disassociated themselves from the party.

Chief among them was J.K Owusu-Boakye aka Albito, the man who was speculated to be the general secretary of the party. He has completely denied his involvement in the party.

Albito, who used to be part of Alan Kyerematen’s campaign team in the Ashanti region during the NPP presidential primary, could not conceive how he was named as part of the supposed disgruntled Alan supporters who have decided to leave the NPP to form their own party since according to him, he has not thought of any such thing.

Though he supported Alan’s campaign, Mr Owusu-Boakye said after the election of Nana Addo as the NPP presidential candidate, they decided to bury their differences and throw their weight behind him, stressing that his allegiance was to the NPP and not any individual in the party.

For this reason, he said they have since been working to secure victory for Nana Addo and the NPP in the 2012.

Another person who has also distanced himself from the UFP is Kumasi-based businessman Joseph Amoah, former Co-ordinator for Alan Kyerematen’s campaign team in the Central region, who was also speculated to be the chairman of the party.

In separate accounts, they narrated that just after the NPP primary, Alan himself who contested but lost the flagbearership to Nana Addo asked them and all other persons who supported his presidential bid to throw their weight behind Nana Addo.

They therefore could not understand why any individual or group of persons would concoct stories to cause confusion in the NPP, especially when no such thing exists.

NPP General Secretary Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie has condemned calls by a newspaper for Alan Kyerematen to distance himself from the new party.

A statement issued under his hand yesterday described these speculations and Alan’s supposed involvement in the UFP as completely untrue.

He noted that “the leadership of the New Patriotic Party has noted the unsuccessful attempt by our political opponents and their partners in the media to create some impression that the followers of Mr Alan Kyerematen have defected from the party to form a new party.”

This, he said, was because “all the unsuccessful aspirants in the August 7 congress (including Mr Kyerematen) have committed themselves by word and by their actions to the success of Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP in the 2012 general elections”, indicating that the NPP would go into the next elections more united than ever.

He recalled that prior to the party’s recent presidential primary, some of their political opponents, especially the NDC and their media accomplices, suggested that the NPP was likely to break up after the congress.

Though nothing of that sort happened, he noted that the NDC and its agents were not moving from their malicious ways as they continued to peddle false information that followers of Alan Kyerematen were planning a defection from the NPP.

Whilst he admitted that any Ghanaian had the liberty to form a new political party, the General Secretary said “it is completely dishonest for anybody to suggest that any rumour or any formation of a new political party must be a defection from the NPP.”

The NPP has accordingly asked the newspaper to retract that false story and its call on Mr Kyerematen to dissociate himself from anything.

The party also had a word of advice for the NDC and its proxies in the media: “Instead of dedicating so much time planning defection fabrications about the NPP, they should dedicate the time planning measures to honour their many failed promises.”

It added, “They should spend time doing something about the worsening conditions of living in the country.”

Mayhem At Atiwa

Posted: Daily Guide | www.dailyguideghana.com
Thursday, 02 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The events that characterised the just-ended Atiwa bye-election have sent worrying signals to several Ghanaians, especially the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) who are raising concerns about acts of atrocities perpetrated by elements of the ruling party in recent polls.

The NPP is not sure the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in a peaceful atmosphere considering the manner in which the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) used intimidation to contest the recent elections, with the police looking on helplessly.

It said it could not understand the brutality that was visited on members of the NPP in Atiwa, Akwatia and Chereponi by the NDC and its assigns.

With police’s failure to protect them, the youth in Atiwa on Tuesday mounted road blocks to prevent attacks inflicted on them.

At Abomosu, the NDC Women’s Organiser Anita De-Souza’s Toyota Prado vehicle crushed several people at a road block in the full glare of policemen, after some hoodlums imported by the NDC had assaulted residents.

Even though Anita denied running over some residents who are in critical condition at various health facilities in the region, with some nursing broken limps and peeled skins among other bodily harms, reports have been made at the Abomosu Police who confirmed to DAILY GUIDE that three cases of violence were reported to them by three people.

According to the police, Kofi Bremang, who arrived at the police station with blood all over his body, complained that he was beaten and hit with clubs by suspected NDC goons.

The NDC ‘Sese’ Group, headed by a certain Polo, confirmed on Oman FM that he had led his boys to the constituency on the day of the bye-election.

Polo, who described the group as a very dangerous one, said they were funded by some key people in the party as well as businessmen.

Kofi Gyampo, Abuakwa South constituency chairman of the party, was also attacked by the hoodlums at a settler community near Asunafo where he was a polling agent.

Complaint about Anita’s 4×4 car running over some youth was reported at the police station by Evans Adjei-Mensah.

A statement issued by NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie yesterday said “the implications of such negative signals even ahead of 2012 for the economy and the country as a whole are obvious” since “the recurring failure of state security to protect these bye-elections poses a frightening threat to our democracy”.

The NPP scribe asked President Atta Mills, Minister for the Interior and Inspector General of Police to explain this failure.

The party said what are being presented as ordinary security lapses “are indeed a deliberate strategy to intimidate political opponents and give electoral advantage to the ruling NDC”.

For him, the inability of the country’s security agencies to provide adequate security in the Atiwa elections should be a great worry to each and every Ghanaian since he could not fathom why the election recorded the same security failures that occurred during the Akwatia and Chereponi bye-elections.

“Under this administration, armed policemen looked on unconcerned while organised thugs, wielding arms and other dangerous weapons, attacked innocent people at will.”

Sir John, as the NPP scribe is affectionately called, said “the persistent excuse given by such well armed but indifferent security personnel that they are unable to act because they have not received instruction to do so is, to say the least, ridiculous!”

He asked: “What is the use of security presence if the personnel would look on unconcerned while armed thugs assault innocent voters and scare off others?”

The NPP does not rule out the complicity of senior elements in the security agencies, since according to its General Secretary, “it is obvious that police personnel sent to election premises are instructed not to act without specific command from above while thugs are encouraged to intimidate political opponents and their sympathisers”.

Unless these threatening developments are addressed by government, “the country stands the danger of violent elections in 2012 when 230 constituencies (not one constituency) will need state security.”

The NPP therefore asked government to explain these security failures and the measures being taken to ensure that they would not happen again especially during the 2012 elections.

Pollster and editor-in-chief of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson shares a similar view since he also believes that the events that characterised the Atiwa bye-elections could be repeated in 2012 if adequate measures are not put in place to forestall any such unhealthy occurrences.

He said, “These are signs we must work towards... we shouldn’t always think that God will always be a Ghanaian. God can decide to shift his attention to another country.”

This, according to him, is because “He (God) has done enough for us and we have to be innovative and find out ways of preventing it.”

He had a message for the so-called foot-soldiers who are often used by politicians to perpetrate some of these dastardly acts against their fellow human beings for paltry monetary benefits:

“If somebody tells you that, ‘look, get this money and let’s go and show we have macho, we have this or that’, you should tell that politician to bring the daughter or the son to accompany you to do the violence and see whether he will bring the relative to accompany you to do the violent act.”

But the Member of Parliament for Okere, Dan Botwe says if he were the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), he would resign (over the issue).

Speaking on Joy FM, he said, “You had policemen on the ground, you had the topmost police people there, and there was mayhem.

People were holding guns, beating people openly and they openly and freely did it in the daytime. …the police were there, our cars were smashed, the police were standing by helplessly.”