Expert Fears For Ghana’s Oil

Posted: Daily Guide |dailyguideghana.com
hursday, 14 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Even before Ghana pours its first oil, many people have warned the country’s managers to avoid the Nigerian and Chadian experience since these countries have struggled for several years to overcome the various challenges in the oil and gas industry.

Tax Advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEB), Dr Joe Amoako-Tuffuor has called for prudent management of revenue that would accrue from the oil industry.

Speaking in an interview with DAILY GUIDE after a roundtable discussion put together by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on the theme, ‘How Ghana plans to manage its petroleum revenues:

A step towards transparency, accountability and governance standards,” he urged the leadership of the nation to be cautious about the way they handle the oil resources and other issues.

“We have to be very cautious; we have to seek national consensus in every decision that we make because this is a collective asset,” he warned.

He stressed the need for revenue that would be generated from the oil proceeds to be invested into productive investments.

Dr Amoako-Tuffuor also talked about the Ecuador experience where they wanted to share the oil revenue among the citizenry depending on their abilities, noting, “They earmarked so much that the Ministry of Finance had nothing else to manage the economy.”

“If you rush… the oil will settle the economy, and before you know it agricultural will collapse and food will be a problem.

Nigeria used to produce cocoa, groundnut and even before they knew it, nobody was not growing cocoa anymore,” he noted, emphasizing that “Nigerian became a net food importer because oil money can be easy to get… so why do you want to go and grow cocoa?”

He warned the managers of the Ghanaian economy against over-dependence on oil as the main source of revenue for the country.

Dr Amoako-Tuffuor said Ghana should therefore learn lessons from countries such as Norway and Trinidad and Tobago which have managed to use oil and gas as a basis for development and good planning, disclosing that Botswana, which was so poor, has managed to use its diamond to break themselves to become a middle-income country.

He also talked about how Norway had successful used the oil revenue to transform its economy, adding, “What I like about Norway is their sense of prudence and caution.

They’ve been very methodical in planning and in the way they have managed their resources; even the way they have managed their national oil company is exceptional.”

He said, “All politicians in Norway have come to understand that when it comes to oil money the rules are very clear, everyone must follow the rules. You don’t have to debate it anymore.”

For this reason, he stressed the need to build consensus in Ghana to manage revenue that would be generated from the country’s oil.

“It is not up to politicians alone to decide, the whole society must build consensus and put down the framework along which everyone would walk,” he said.

Obed Roots For Konadu

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Thursday, 14 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Dr Obed Asamoah
Dr Obed Yao Asamoah, former chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who was compelled by very bitter circumstances to leave the party, has ridiculed the credentials of President Atta Mills, with regard to leading the NDC for a second term.

He believed the law professor, who is also the sitting President, had contributed very little or virtually nothing to the development of the NDC as a party and therefore did not come anywhere near the achievements of former first lady Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, who from all indications, was ready to snatch the position from Mills when the party goes to congress.

Dr Asamoah, who was the Attorney General in the Rawlings regime, believed that the former First Lady was more qualified to lead the NDC as its flagbearer than Mills.

He made the analysis when he spoke on Adom FM’s ‘Adwaso Nsem’ morning show yesterday, indicating that Mrs. Rawlings’ role in the country’s politics and the development of the NDC remained unquestionable since she had been crucial to the sustenance of the party up till date.

The veteran politician, who left the NDC to form his own Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), however declined to make any categorical statement on whether or not the former first lady would defeat the sitting president when the party goes to congress to elect a flagbearer next year.

This, he said, was because Nana Konadu had not formally made clear her intentions to run for the position, except for speculations in the media.

On the controversial issue of whether or not Rawlings was the founder of the NDC as some elements in the NDC had sought to portray him, Dr Asamoah, who played a crucial role in the formation of the party, said, “At the time the NDC was formed, Rawlings was still in the army and under the constitution he could not have been the founder of the party.”

He noted with emphasis: “He was not the founder of the party. In fact, his name being linked with the founding of the party did not arise until later, after his term of office was coming to an end and we felt that [look] let’s find a role for him after he left office…”

For this reason, he insisted that “he Rawlings cannot claim to be a founder as per the political party’s law”.

Contrary to this fact, he said the constitution of the NDC was amended to indicate that the party was founded on the ideals of former President Rawlings, adding that “it was founded to promote his ideals. But he was not a founding member in the sense of the political party’s law.”

That notwithstanding, he said Mr. Rawlings and other elements in the PDNC were not in favour of the formation of a political party, noting that “but people like myself felt that we should form a party…NDC was formed largely through the ideas of some of us.

The question arose as to whether we should just leave the scene and allow political parties to be formed or whether, in fact, there was something in the revolution itself which needed to be preserved.”

According to him, there was therefore a justification for setting up the party to promote some of those ideals of the revolution which he said became a matter of disagreement among members of the government of the day.

“I was virtually in charge of the party even though there were officials occupying various positions,” he noted, stressing that the relationship between him and Rawlings turned sour when the former president did not like the idea of another person contesting Mills for the presidential slot, as he (Obed) chose to support Dr. Kwesi Botchway.

He stressed that he supported Mills’ candidature when the man was chosen as the running mate to Rawlings in 1995 and therefore had no problem with him.

He said his tenure as the chairman of the NDC was difficult because he was constantly under attack by opponents.

“People who did not want to see me as the chairman of the party were doing anything to undermine my authority.”

Diplomats Visit Mayhem On Ghanaians

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Saturday, 09 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
THE CASE of 39 year old construction supervisor, Pierce Tay in which he was verbally and physically abused and assaulted by a project manager of the World Food Programme (WFP) under the United Nations Humanitarian Depot (UNHRD), Jimmy Green may be one of several which go unheard in the workings of the diplomatic community.

It also raises questions over how some foreign diplomats take undue advantage of their ‘diplomatic immunity’ to perpetrate all sorts of inhumane things against their Ghanaian hosts.

Somewhere last year, specifically April 28, 2009, Green who used to work under the WFP Depot Manager in Ghana, Martin Walsh was said to have made very despicable and racial comments against Pierce who was then supervising the construction of a UNHRD depot at the project site near the Kotaka International Airport in Accra referring to him as a “black monkey.”

It did not end there; he was also alleged to have used words such as stupid and idiot on his victim and eventually said “even animals are better than you” and proceeded to physically attack him.
Obviously offended by the use of such disparaging words on him, Pierce lodged a complaint with the Airport police who issued him with a hospital form to go for treatment.

Subsequently the police arrested Green and questioned him about the issue which he denied in his caution statement.

The police thus granted him bail with the WFP Depot Manager, Martin Walsh standing as the surety and Green being asked to report to the police periodically.

On several occasions, Green failed to honour his commitment to report to the police and when the police managed to reach Walsh (the surety) for him to produce the suspect, he had the guts to tell the police he was not answerable to them but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and thus asked the police to contact the Ministry if they needed him for any reason.

These were all contained in a police report filed by the Airport District Police Commander, Superintendent A. Ofosu Ackah dated July 8, 2009.

Later, a hospital report from the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and signed by one Dr Daniel Lamptey on February 26, 2010 indicated that Pierce was first seen at the accident and trauma centre of the hospital on March 24, 2009 “with a history of inability to walk, abrasions and swelling on both knees as a result of an assault by a fellow worker.”

The injuries he sustained included abrasions on both knees, swelling at both knees and what the doctor said was a slight shift of the left knee cap.

It was later learnt that Walsh had managed to arrange for Green to sneak out of the country to Ireland in order not face prosecution since indications were that he was not covered by ‘diplomatic immunity’.

A Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Progressive Nationalists Forum (PNF) which has Richard Kwesi Nyamah as its spokesman took the issue up and wrote two separate letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni for him to take action in the case but has since not heard from his office.

It later wrote to the WFP head office in Rome, Italy who promised to investigate the issue but has since not heard from them three months down the line.

Meanwhile, the PNF says it has received a complaint to the effect that Mr. Walsh had illegally connected electricity to his residence.

It thus managed to secure a copy of a debtor’s ledger on Walsh’s electricity meter from the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) which confirmed the report.

For this reason, a Ghanaian house help at Walsh’s residence was sacked on suspicion that she might have leaked the information about the illegal connection.

PNF thus reported the issue of the lady’s involvement to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) since it thought it was an abuse of her fundamental rights considering the fact that she was only paid a month’s salary when she was sacked but CHRAJ indicated that they could not handle the case due to Walsh’s diplomatic immunity.

The Labour Commission also said same when PNF petitioned it to take action on the lady’s plight.

Meanwhile, the poor and innocent lady who was sacked by Walsh and his wife for supposedly leaking information about the illegal connection is struggling to cater for her daughter who attends one of the universities in the country.

She thus wants the authorities to take up the issue to enable her take care of her daughter.

NPP Warns NDC

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Thursday, 07 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has criticised the upsurge in the use of foul language by some members of the Mills administration.

It wondered why senior government officials and functionaries of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) had developed a penchant for insulting political opponents and people they disagreed with.

A statement issued and signed by Communications Director of the party said it had observed that the NDC government had adopted a culture of insults and indecent language in public discourse, describing this culture as primitive and completely unhelpful.

Deputy Minister of Health Rojo Mettle-Nunoo is reported to have described the action of striking nurses and midwives at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi as a “complete nonsense” since according to him “they have not even written their residential exams to become nurses and midwives, they are interns so if they think their allowance is not enough, they should fight for that instead.”

“…It is different if you are working with someone and he decides to top up your allowance…It is nonsense for them to go to the Labour Commission because they are not (officially) employed and they do not have appointment letters,” he added.

The NPP said it found some of the remarks from government functionaries as reprehensible because “it pollutes the environment for national debate and hurts the country’s image internationally.”

It would be recalled that Dr. Tony Aidoo, director of research and monitoring at the Office of the President, recently described Christians who spoke in tongues as “mad people.” Speaking in tongues is a spiritual (Christian) way of communicating with God. It is referred to by scholars as glossolalia.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mettle-Nunoo has since said he was not aware that his comments were live on the airwaves of the Kumasi-based radio station.

“The phone dropped, I thought the line had cut so I was talking to some people in my office and I think I must have been heard on air. I was not in the specific context of the interview talking to them in that kind of language. I was extremely frustrated,” he told Citi FM yesterday.

The NPP wants government to spell out their strategies for improving the lives of Ghanaians in order to engage them on those strategies and offer alternatives since it believes that is the least political leadership can do for the country.

It has thus asked government to focus on how to solve the several challenges facing the country instead of engaging in trivialities because the livelihoods of ordinary people were being destroyed by the unavailability of basic amenities including LP Gas whilst parents are anxious about the re-opening of school for SHS students.

“There is discontent on the labour front. Businesses (of both formal and informal sectors) are suffering because purchasing power and consumption have dropped. The list is endless,” the NPP said.

With all these problems at stake, the statement said, “What Ghanaians are expecting from government are clear policies and measures to address the rising cost of living and worsening living conditions in the country.”

Instead, it said, the NDC misled itself when it imagined that by insulting its political opponents, the electorate would think better of them and think less of those political opponents. It added that “Ghana needs contest of ideas between government and those who seek to govern; not insults.”

The party’s Communications Director stated that they would not be dragged into this unproductive culture of insults but would also not relent in their efforts to keep government on its toes, stating “we will continue to criticise government when necessary and to appeal to Ghanaians for the opportunity to govern and improve our previous and better performance (compared to what is happening now).”

They have thus asked members of the Mills administration to govern with a high sense of decorum and not insults.

Mills Boys Attack Nana

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Wednesday, 06 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
A group of National Democratic Congress (NDC) serial callers who identify themselves as the Media Analyst Group (MAG) met a stiff opposition from a journalist when they attempted to wage what some people have described as a ‘dirty propagandist war’ against the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo.

This was when the MAG, which has Accra-based legal practitioner Chris Ackummey as one of its leaders, organized a press conference at Kwesi Pratt’s Freedom Centre in Accra yesterday to outline a host of reasons they thought Nana Addo was not fit to be President of ‘Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana’.

Their emphasis was what they admitted in a statement read by Peter Ahmed Quarshie to be ‘speculations and supposed text messages’, which were sent to people by some faceless individuals and group of persons during the 2008 electioneering campaign.

Some of the messages alleged, among other things, that Nana Addo was addicted to alcohol and some illegal substances.

The group blamed Nana Addo for his supposed inability to exercise control and proper upbringing of one of his four daughters, Mary Fummy Gyankroma Akufo-Addo who was reported to have run her car into that of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Paa Amissah-Arthur last August and was subsequently charged for drunk driving.

They therefore asked, “If Nana Akufo-Addo has four daughters and if he cannot manage the upbringing of only four daughters, how on earth can we entrust the destiny of Ghana’s youth into his hands?”

But minutes after they finished addressing the press, Managing editor of the Bilingual Free Press newspaper, Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed Marzuk sought to know the essence of the press conference since he did not see it as something worth considering for an intellectual discourse.

The journalist did not understand why MAG said Nana Addo was not fit to rule the country, especially when most of the reasons they gave for their position was based on the actions of his 31-year-old daughter, a person old enough to take responsibility for her actions and inactions.

“I was expecting you to do a responsible analysis, out of which you will tell us that Akufo-Addo personally is proven to be a drunkard or proven to be a man of immorality. You have counted all the allegations,” he said.

As a group that claims to be media analysts, the Alhaji Marzuk said, “Contrary to your sense of analysis, you have just laid a very obvious contradiction.”

This, he said, was evident in the claim by MAG that a beach party was organized by Nana Addo at the La Pleasure Beach, where they alleged young men and women got drunk, smoked marijuana, sniffed cocaine, and had indiscriminate and unprotected sex, and the place was littered with condoms, “meaning there were still instances of protected sex.”

He asked, “How do you reconcile the two?” saying, “At anytime at all you come to raise these critical issues, the analysis must be responsible, must be critical, must be positive and must be concrete.”
The leadership of MAG did not challenge the editor’s criticisms of its analysis.

Meanwhile, aide to Nana Akufo-Addo Herbert Krapa, says what the NDC and MAG were doing confirmed their level of frustration in the Mills’s administration and the fact that they lacked ideas to manage the country to achieve the aspirations of the people.

This, according to him, was the reason they had resorted to such vile attacks on the personality of Nana Addo and those around him.

“If they think that they can be in office and fool the people with dirty politics, then they should know that they have more to lose than the NPP.”

“Our lawyers are looking at the document and what action has to be taken will be taken,” he said, adding, “but If the NDC feels that they are going to be re-elected by re-enacting a campaign of lies, insults and vilification, then the Good Lord and the majority of Ghanaians will show them the answer on election day.”

Mr Krapa said Nana Addo’s credentials in the various positions he had occupied in private and public service spoke volumes and that it would not be for the NDC or any of its groupings to tell whether he was fit to be President or not since Ghanaians would be the better judges in 2012.

According to him, Nana Addo was always guided by the three things that determined who could become President of Ghana or not, that is the “God Almighty, the Constitution of Ghana and the majority of the Ghanaian people.”

Mpiani takes a swipe at government

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Tuesday, 05 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The former Chief of Staff under the erstwhile Kufuor administration, Mr Kwadwo Mpiani has described the renaming of the Jubilee house to Flagstaff house as “very funny”.

The Flagstaff House, which once housed Ghana’s first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was rebuilt into a Presidential Palace and renamed Jubilee House by ex-president John Kufuor when the country celebrated its 50th independence anniversary in 2007.

Although it has not been officially confirmed, indications are that the Jubilee House built by former President Kufuor would be restored to its original name, the Flag Staff House. A metallic inscription to that effect has been embossed on the wall of the Presidential edifice.

Speaking to Citi Eyewitness News on Monday, October 4, Mr Mpiani said the name Flag Staff is not part Ghana’s history since that name was bestowed on the residence by the Americans. Mr Kwadjo Mpiani took a swipe at the Atta Mills-led government for what he sees as an attempt to obliterate the legacies of ex President Kufuor.

“How did we get Flagstaff House, who named it Flagstaff house, I hope you know the history of Flagstaff house, it is not part of our tradition or anything, it was named by the Americans during the war when they had their offices there. It wasn’t anything named by Ghana or Nkrumah or by any Ghanaian”.

“Nkrumah’s old residence is still there, the president took the decision that we should preserve it as part of the whole complex so that it could be sort of a tourist attraction so people can even go there and look at where the first President even lived…you know there is something funny going on in this country, we sit there and we hear assemblies renaming, facilities renaming because these facilities were named in Kufuor’s administration and we all sit there as if nothing is happening…I mean this thing is funny”

Asked whether there was any legislative instrument during the renaming of Flag Staff house to Jubilee House during the Kufuor administration, Mr Mpiani said he is unaware whether such legislative procedures were followed.

“I am not aware of that, I don’t know of any such legislative instrument”

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Kobby Acheampong, says the name Jubilee house was unnecessary because there was no legislative instrument to that effect.

According to him since the renaming of the Flag Staff House to Jubilee House under the Kufuor administration was done by the word of mouth, the name Flag Staff still holds.

“The fact of the matter is this the flagstaff house was the original name and when the new Presidential complex was built the name was supposedly changed to Jubilee house, go into our records, there is no legislative instrument that allows that to be made. It was done by word of mouth and as long as it was done by word of mouth the name flagstaff house still remains”.

Arrest NDC Anita

- NPP gurus charge police
Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Saturday, 02 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Three key and influential members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, General Secretary Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie aka Sir John and Frances Assiam, have asked the police to arrest and prosecute the National Women’s Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Anita De Sooso who ran her vehicle into some youth of Abomosu, during the recent Atiwa bye-election.

They cannot fathom why the police have still not arrested Anita, after her vehicle ran through a mob at Abomosu, some of whom are still nursing various degrees of injuries.

“The evidence is there for all to see. Instead of this woman being hauled before the police to help in investigations, they are now calling on other people who are alleged to have… you know reported on that incident,” was how Mr. Owusu-Afriyie, a lawyer, put it.

Sir John made this remark when he and his two other colleagues honoured an invitation extended to them by the police over the issue.

National Chairman of the ruling NDC, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, on the other hand failed to honour a similar invitation extended to him by the police for his infamous comments of ‘several ways of killing a cat’, following a complaint lodged by pressure group, Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), in which they called for his arrest.

However, Attorney General and Minister of Justice Betty Mould Iddrisu, to whom the docket of the case was referred, has ordered the police to discontinue the case against Dr. Adjei.

The invitation of the three NPP gurus to the CID headquarters follows a complaint filed with the police by NDC serial callers group Media Analyst Group (MAG), which is led by lawyer Chris Akummey. The group filed the complaint against the 3 persons for supposedly making statements to the effect that two or more people died on the day of the recent Atiwa bye-election which allegedly later proved to be false.

They therefore asked the police to investigate the three NPP chieftains for making those comments.

At about 10:50am, the trio arrived at the CID headquarters in the company of some party functionaries and their lawyers.

Though they were asked to come in to take their seats, Jake and his colleagues said they preferred to hang around for sometime until 11am, the time they were asked to report.

They were ushered into the office of the Deputy Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dogbeda to assist the police in their investigations into a complaint by the NDC group.

The meeting was held behind closed doors.

But the accounts of the trio indicated that the meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere since, according to Superintendent Kwesi Ofori, head of Public Affairs of the Police Service, the NPP gurus gave them the needed co-operation.

The police have thus resolved to invite them when the need arose whilst the trio also indicated their preparedness to honour any such invitation at any point in time.

According to General Secretary Owusu-Afiriyie, they were interrogated on the said comments but denied ever accusing the NDC of killing anybody.

Meanwhile, Anita’s victims, including an 18-year-old student of the Koforidua Senior High School, Isaac Agyemang-Duah, 40-year-old Ebenezer Adomako aka Kwasi Willie, a farmer, 38-year-old George Abu, also a farmer and 20-year-old Seth Ampofo and their relatives, have still not come to terms with the issue and the spin being put on it.

Gbevlo Lartey Strikes At KIA

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Monday, 04 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
THE ACTING National Security Coordinator, Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey (Rtd) has finally succeeded in carrying out his intentions of terminating the contract of some private security companies providing security services at the Kotaka International Airport (KIA).

This follows a decision by the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) to terminate the contracts of two private security companies that had been operating at the airport for the past 3 years, without reason.

Somewhere in February 2009, Gbevlo Lartey issued a directive asking the various state institutions operating at the airport not to renew contracts they had with the various security companies operating there.

Though these companies had managed to maintain sanity at Ghana’s main entry point which was once bedeviled with serious thefts, the National Security Coordinator exerted pressure on GACL to terminate the contracts of the companies without reason.

He is thus believed to have influenced the decision to terminate the contract of the two companies since he was said to have forced the new Board of the GACL, which is chaired by Deputy Majority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament (MP) for Mfantsiman East, George Kuntu Blankson, to take the decision.

Subsequently, the Board also caused the dismissal of the Managing Director of the GACL, Elizabeth Annor Sackey and her deputy Yaw Kwakwa.

Both were relieved of their appointments without any specific reason since none was stated in their dismissal letters.

This, according to sources, was because they were appointed by the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

The duo has since been replaced with Mrs. Doreen Owusu Fianko and J. Q Amedior, who are said to have strong links in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), as the new Managing Director and Deputy respectively.

Sources close to the GACL said part of the reasons Mr. Kwakwa in particular was booted out was because he insisted on the strict adherence to tender processes as stated in the country’s Procurement Law and for the contract to be awarded to any security company that met the standards set for the job in spite of its political affiliation.

He was said to have made this suggestion at a time when the authorities including Mr. Gbevlo Lartey and the GACL Board were said to be making frantic efforts to circumvent laid-down rules in favour of their preferred choice of company, Sohin Security, a company which has virtually no experience in handling security issues at the airport.

But Mrs Fianko says there was nothing wrong with the termination of the contract of the two companies, though it was subject to renewal.

She made the statement when DAILY GUIDE contacted her for her contribution to the story.

“It’s not termination, the contract has ended. There was a tender whoever is…if they are not there then it means they didn’t win the tender,” she said.

Attempts to speak to Mr Gbevlo Lartey proved unsuccessful since his phone was said to be switched off or out of coverage area.

DAILY GUIDE sources at the Ministry of Interior have indeed confirmed that Sohin, which is owned by a strong member of the ruling party, Solomon Adelaquaye, managed to secure an operating license as a recognized private security company only three months ago.

Meanwhile, one of the basic requirements, as stated on the tender document, was for a company to have 6years experience before it would be awarded the contract.

Barely a month ago, a similar move was undertaken by the management of GACL which led to the termination of a contract with advertising company Alliance Media, which was operating advertising concessions at the KIA, because it was said to have been awarded the contract during the NPP regime.

The company has since sued the GACL together with Speedmasters Limited, a new company which has taken over the advertising concessions from the plaintiff.

According to Alliance Media, the GACL had acted in contravention of the Public Procurement Act to the extent that it paved the way for the second defendant, Speedmasters, to be in gross violation of the same Act and the terms of the request for proposal.

The company is therefore praying the court to give an order of mandamus to compel the GACL to award its advertising concession on contract to the plaintiff, for being the best offer and responsible tender.

Now that the contracts of the companies have been terminated, several employees of the affected security companies are expected to be laid off.

This is likely to have a telling effect on an economy that is struggling to be on its feet. The situation has compelled some individuals and group of persons operating at the airport to raise questions about the prudence of the decision.

I Had No Sex With Secretary

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Friday, 01 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Mubarak
Former Minister for Youth and Sports, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak yesterday made his first appearance at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) probing him, admitting that he introduced his supposed ‘girlfriend’ Edith Zinayela to his former Ministry as his secretary.

Muntaka however denied having any romantic or amorous relationship with the said lady, who was a secretary to Alban Bagbin at the time they travelled to Germany together. He also denied influencing the processes that led to her acquisition of the German visa which enabled her to travel with him.

CHRAJ is investigating him for allegedly “fraudulently acquiring a German visa for his girlfriend, Edith Zinayela, under the pretext that she was an employee of the Ministry of Youth and Sports when Ms. Edith is an employee of the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana.”

He narrated the circumstances leading to the inclusion of the lady on the trip to Germany together with then acting Director of the National Sports Council (NSC), Charles Aryeh and one Kofi Kukubor, who facilitated the trip on behalf of the sporting kit company, Puma.

At the time he assumed the position, Muntaka said the Ministry was understaffed and so he could not have taken his secretary along on the Germany trip- a trip which was an all-expense one including flight, accommodation, food and others paid for by Puma with the exception of the visa application fee.

According to the embattled former minister, the trip, which was at the behest of Puma, was to explore avenues for the company to sponsor the national sports associations with kits, emphasizing that all the three persons who went with him on the trip went for a purpose.

The former Minister, who is also the sitting Member of Parliament (MP)for Asawase in the Ashanti region, said he followed established precedent and recommended Edith whose competence he could vouch for and therefore recommended her for consideration at a management meeting.

Edith, who was then secretary to the Majority leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin, was to serve as their secretary while in Germany.

“It was agreed that if I take my secretary, what it’s going to mean is that my office is going to be closed. So if I take any secretary within the block because we didn’t have enough of them (sic),” he noted.

For this reason, he said, “I just said, okay can that be left with me to deal with and it was agreed at that management meeting. So when I talked to the Chief Director that….can I bring a Secretary from the Majority secretariat (sic).”

An obviously frustrated Muntaka added “and all I did, Mr. Commissioner I know I’m under oath, was to submit the name and the telephone number of this lady. That was all.”

The former Minister said he submitted her name to the Chief Director of the Ministry, stressing that it was the Ministry and not he who applied for Edith’s visa for her since a Deputy Director at the same Ministry, Allen Agbenator was given that responsibility.

He tendered in copies of letters which were sent to the German Embassy to provide the needed assistance to him and members of his delegation for the trip and a copy of letter requesting a visa for Edith as evidence.

Muntaka also denied claims that his supposed ‘girlfriend’ was paid any per diem since no such facility was available.

Instead, he said it was only him and Charles Aryeh who took what he described as ‘abated’ (not full) per diem, indicating that Kofi Kukubor was also not paid anything.

Asked whether it was a standard practice for people who are not staff of the Ministry to be co-opted to travel with the Minister on foreign trips, as in the case of Edith Zinayela who is now at large, Muntaka answered in the affirmative and cited an instance in the year 2007 where a similar thing was done for one Georgina Abankwa, a Marketing and Advertising Manager at the same Ministry.

Muntaka thus tendered in a copy of the request for visa for Georgina Abankwa but the issues that it generated alone made his lawyers, William Kissi Agyebeng, a criminal law lecturer at the University of Ghana, and Kwesi Baffoe Instiful, to withdraw it immediately as evidence.

Hearing has been adjourned to Monday, October 4, 2010.

Konadu House Wahala Deepens

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguide.com
Friday, 01 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The controversy surrounding renovation works carried out on the private residence of the mother in-law of former President Jerry John Rawlings is far from over.

Yesterday, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah appeared before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to answer questions relating to comments he made about the renovation works on former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings’s mother’s house.

He virtually contradicted what his colleague deputy Minister of Information, James Agyenim-Boateng had earlier told the Commission that government indeed did some considerable renovation on the said building located at the Nyaniba Estates in Osu, Accra, to enable Konadu and her family to perch at her mother’s place after fire razed down the Rawlingses’ Ridge residence.

Whilst Mr. Agyenim-Boateng had claimed that government only did some painting works on the house, Dr. Omane-Boamah said there was more to it than the mere painting since “it was not just painting but something extra was also done.”

Though he could not give the details of what exactly went into the renovation works, Omane Boamah, a medical doctor-turned politician, told the Commission that apart from the painting, some security features were also put in place.

But sources close to businessman Herbert Mensah, who claims to have paid for the renovation works at the said house and had receipts to justify how much he expended on it, said he was extremely surprised at the spin that government was trying unsuccessfully to put on the renovation.

The source said Mr. Mensah was prepared to produce the receipts whenever the need arose and therefore challenged government to make any such receipts available to the Commission, if any, to back their claim of having painted the house and fitted it with some security equipment.

In a related development, the pressure group, Ghana Youth Movement (GYM) which petitioned CHRAJ to investigate the case has also asked the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to investigate Herbert Mensah for what they claim to be ‘false misrepresentation’ in the same case for possible prosecution.

A petition presented to the SFO and signed by Nana Prempeh Agyemang, Kwabena Tandoh and Paa Kwasi Boateng said the statement by Mr. Agyenim-Boateng at the previous hearing to the effect that government did some renovation works on the house, contradicted Mr. Mensah’s claim.

GYM said “It will be prudent to investigate his said involvement in this matter and if proven to be false claim, then he should be prosecuted as stated in our criminal code that false misrepresentation is a crime.”

Mr. Mensah however declined to respond to any of these statements when DAILY GUIDE contacted him.

Kufuor Jet Lands

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Friday, 01 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The much-awaited Presidential jet, Falcon 900EX Easy aircraft whose inauguration was postponed because of a delay in its arrival, has finally touched down at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra.

Sources at KIA told DAILY GUIDE that the aircraft, whose acquisition became the subject of a heated debate between members of the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration and the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 2008, arrived yesterday at exactly 5pm.

This was confirmed by Defence Public Relations (DPR) Director Colonel Akintande Mbawine.

At press time yesterday, the DPR was said to be preparing a statement to the media.

The aircraft is thus expected to be outdoored at what promises to be a colourful ceremony any time soon, after officials of the Armed Forces take delivery of it.

In the absence of President Mills, who is currently in Japan in search of financial assistance, Vice President John Dramani Mahama was expected to perform the inauguration of the jet. But it was cancelled at the last minute when the military authorities were not sure of the arrival of the jet.

The Falcon 900EX Easy Aircraft was purchased by the Kufuor administration to replace the Fokker 27, otherwise referred to as the ‘flying coffin’ that the Ghana Air Force had used for the past 37 years as a presidential jet.

It was scheduled to be outdoored on Thursday, September 23, but had to be postponed because the jet could not arrive in the country as earlier reported.

The acquisition of the jet by the Kufuor administration attracted criticisms from the then opposition NDC who questioned the rationale for the plane at a time when the NDC claimed critical sectors of the economy, such as health and education, were badly in need of funding.

However, when Professor Mills took over the reins of government, the plane was configured to his specifications.

President Kufuor refused to use a Gulf Stream Presidential jet acquired by the Rawlings administration because its transaction was shrouded in mystery. He therefore began the process of acquiring the US$37million Falcon 900 presidential jet and an Airbus for the Ghana Air Force in 2007.