Mabey and Johnson bribery scandal

CHRAJ Begins Probe
Posted: Daily Guide |Monday, 15 March 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
THE COMMISSION on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) will today begin public hearing and possibly receive testimonies about some top members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) accused of receiving kickbacks in the infamous Mabey and Johnson (M&J) bribery scandal.

CHRAJ Commissioner, Francis Emile Short, told DAILY GUIDE over the weekend that all was set for him and his team to begin proceedings into the bribery scandal.

Mr Short hinted that his outfit had already received all the needed information on the case, and expressed optimism that the commission would take off on schedule since CHRAJ, as an institution, had started the needed contacts to get documents from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the UK.

It was also revealed that in spite of all the noise about the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould-Iddrisu’s trip to the UK to meet officials there to get details of the case, she managed to give CHRAJ only part of what was needed, and that there were still more materials expected from her outfit.

“There are quite a number of documents which she is trying to get for us,” Mr Short said.

Though he admitted meeting the Chief Prosecutor in the M&J case, John Hardy, who was in the country on the invitation of the Danquah Institute (DI) to deliver a series of lectures on money laundering and international corruption, Commissioner Short noted that their discussion mostly centered on the lectures he delivered and not on the M&J case.

This, he said, was because “the main things that we want are the documents but he is not in a position to give us those documents.”

The M&J scandal involves six current and former government appointees including former Finance Minister, Kwame Peprah; Alhaji Baba Kamara, Ghana’s High Commissioner to Nigeria; former Minister of State at the Office of the President, Alhaji Amadu Seidu; Dr Ato Quarshie, a former Minister of Roads and Highways, who allegedly received the largest chunk of the bribe money; former Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, Alhaji Saddique Boniface; former Minister of Health, Dr. George Adja-Sipa Yankey; and Edward Lord Attivor, currently Acting Managing Director of Intercity STC. He was Board chairman of STC at the time he allegedly took the M&J bribe.

The NDC officials, who mostly served in the Jerry Rawlings regime and carried over to the Atta Mills Administration, were accused of taking bribes totaling over £750,000, when M&J took up contracts to build bridges in Ghana in the 1990s.

From the mid 1980s until approximately 1996, M&J’s interests in Ghana were represented by one Kwame Ofori, also known as Danny Ofori-Atta, who controlled a Ghanaian bridge-building company, and apparently had influence within the circles of the then ruling NDC government then.

It was accepted by M&J that through the creation of the Ghana Development Fund (GDF), its executives facilitated corruption on behalf of the company and that they were in (or sought to create) a corrupt relationship with a variety of decision-making Ghanaian public officials.

These funds were purportedly for the development of M&J business in Ghana but, in reality, were capable of and were understood to be capable of being used for corrupt purposes.

Mr. Peprah was at that time Minister of Finance. The role of Baba Kamara and his value as an agent to M&J was made clear in a document authored by an M&J executive, probably prior to July 1996, and sent to its Directors.

Dr. Ato Quarshie, according to the report, received a cheque when he visited London in July 1995 in the sum of £55,000 for supposed ‘contract consultancy’.

This cheque was drawn on M&J’s Clydesdale Bank account at the Victoria branch in Buckingham Palace Road, and signed by two of the company’s Directors.

It was therefore the case of the prosecution that the payment to Dr. Quarshie and the following payments were but examples of a series of bribes to various ministers and officials.

Other relatively junior officials who were also alleged to have received some of the bribes included Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, then an ECGD desk officer at the Ministry of Finance.

He had a bank account at the National Westminster Bank in Rickmansworth. On 29th February 1996, Saddique Boniface received a transfer of £10,000 from M&J to an account at Barclays Bank Plc in Watford.

On 29th October 1996, the same account received a transfer of £13,970 from M&J. On or about 29th October 1996, Amadu Seidu, the Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Roads and Highways, received £5000 in his Woolwich account held in St. Peter Port, Guernsey.

Dr. George Yankey, the Director of Legal and International Affairs at the Ministry of Finance, received £10,000 in his Midland Bank account in Hill Street, London W1; and Edward Lord Attivor, also received £10,000 in his London bank account.

Interestingly, it was the same branch of the Clydesdale Bank which was used by M&J.

Amadu Seidu received a further £5,000 on 7th March 1997, the same date on which Saddique Boniface received a further £2,500.

Although the amount was relatively small, the prosecution noted that it was indicative of the nature of the corruption M&J was then practising.

M&J's payments to Dr. Yankey were not confined to the payment on or about 24th October 1996, since his Hill Street account received £5,000 on 26th August 1998 from M&J.

Following the revelations, Dr. Yankey resigned as Health Minister, ostensibly to clear his name in the matter. And in the heat of the brouhaha, Alhaji Amadu Seidu was dropped as Minister of State at the Office President Mills, even though it was not clear why he was removed.

A potential appointee to the High Commission to Nigeria, Alhaji Baba Kamara, was however confirmed.

Dr Ato Quarshie also resigned his position as Probe Chairman of Metro Mass Transit while Lord Attivor and Kwame Peprah hold on to their positions as STC MD and SSNIT Board Chairman respectively.

Tension Mounts At Tamale Poly

Posted: Daily Guide |Monday, 15 March 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
GOVERNMENT MAY have to intervene before deep-seated and growing tensions on the campus of Tamale Polytechnic escalate into angry demonstrations.

Credible information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that both teaching and non-teaching staff of the school are gearing up for what looks like an angry demonstration over the continuous stay in office of the Rector, Dr Yakubu Seidu Peligah, since his tenure of office elapsed on February 28, 2010.

The angry staff have thus written a petition to President John Evans Atta Mills, copies of which have been sent to the Minister of Education, Alex Tettey-Enyo, the school’s Governing Council and other concerned institutions, to take steps to remove Dr Peligah or they would be compelled by circumstance to cause his forceful removal.

“Your Excellency, your early intervention in this matter is very necessary to avert the loaming mayhem in the Polytechnic,” they noted in the petition.

If the situation is not remedied before the commencement of the second semester, staff of the Polytechnic have vowed to use “all available means” to seek redress.

Whilst appreciating the fact that the Governing Council can, in consultation with stakeholders, appoint and disappoint officers of the Polytechnic, the staff noted that the unilateral exercise of power by the Council Chairman, Dr Mohammed Seidu Mustapha, to extend Dr Peligah’s term of office was unacceptable.

However, Dr Peligah has declined to comment on the petition and the series of allegations leveled against him by his own staff.

When DAILY GUIDE reached him for his comments, he noted, “Whatever anybody has done, it is left to the President”, and declined to make any further comments on the matter.

Chairman of the Polytechnic Council, Dr Seidu Mustapha, has also refused to speak to the issue.

When he was reached, Dr Mustapha said he was at a programme and therefore asked DAILY GUIDE to call him later but has since refused to answer his mobile phone.

In the petition, the staff catalogued a wide range of issues and reasons why they believe the rector must go without a renewal of his four-year mandate.

They alleged, among other things, that Dr Peligah’s tenure of office was characterized by embezzlement, wrongful terminations of appointments, student and labour unrests, and several acts of alleged financial malpractices, which they said have been proven by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

The staff therefore stressed the belief that an extension of Dr. Peligah’s tenure by the new chairman of the Governing Council, Dr Mustapha, will fuel the existing tension and job security of some staff of the Polytechnic who have been critical of his administration.

“The action of the Council chair has the greatest tendency of throwing the already ailing Polytechnic into chaos,” they noted, emphasizing that “from all indications, the leadership of the governing council and some individuals in the Ministry of Education wish to use the supposed unavailability of the Alemna Report to renew Peligah’s appointment for two years or more.”

Suspicions are that some members of the Polytechnic’s Governing Council are employing all available tricks to extend Dr. Peligah’s appointment whilst others are against it in view of the several issues it has generated in the campus.

According to the aggrieved staff, the Dr. Mustapha’s decision to extend Dr Peligah’s appointment is a heavy indictment on the reputations of his senior colleagues, Dr. Sulley Gariba and Professor Alemna, since according to them, before Dr. Gariba’s resignation, a professional and scholarly assessment of the problems of the Polytechnic was carried out without placing premium on religious and ethnic considerations, but purely based on Dr Peligah administrative record.

For this reason, they noted, “Circumventing the wheel is a recipe for mediocrity.”

They have therefore asked Dr Mustapha to, as matter of urgency, rescind his decision to extend Dr Peligah’s appointment since “the criterion for a second term of office is never dependent on how a Council chair is being pushed around by lobbyists but by satisfactory performance, as contained in Paragraph Seven of Peligah’s appointment letter.”

That notwithstanding, they noted, “His decision to impose the rector on staff and students of the polytechnic is overstretching people’s patience in the Polytechnic”, emphasizing, “His imposition also makes mockery of the scholarly work of Professor Alemna and others.”

Ibn Chambas:

We Can’t Achieve MDGs
Posted: Daily GUide | Monday, 15 March 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
THE IMMEDIATE past President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, is overly convinced that Africa cannot achieve the much-touted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 as expected.

The eight targets, which are expected to be achieved by 2015, include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, attainment of the universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and women empowerment, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, combating of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases to ensure environmental sustainability and development of a global partnership.

However, Dr Chambas, who has an extensive knowledge about happenings and developments in West Africa and beyond said, “The sad news is that we are not meeting those targets.”

He disclosed this was when he had the opportunity of giving a public lecture at the Mensah Sarbah Hall of the University of Ghana at the 19th edition of the Hall’s ‘Celebrity Platform’ over the weekend.

According to him, preliminary surveys have shown that the West African sub-region would not achieve the MDGs by 2015.

He therefore challenged leaders of the continent “to make sure that even if they are not achieved, we must arrive at a point where we can reduce poverty by 50 percent.”

Dr Chambas, who has now been elected as the Secretary General of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group further noted that “when we create viable, effective and efficient regional economic communities, we can bring added value, the advantage of regional integration, to add to the national effort.”

In spite of the fact that Africa is far from achieving those targets, he noted that the continent had been doing fairly well until the recent global economic crunch.

Dr Chambas revealed that for more than two decades, the growth rate in Africa was either zero or in some cases negative.

“However, somewhere around 2000, we begun to see an improvement in the performance of African economies,” he emphasized, attributing the development to the resolve of some countries to embrace the good tenets of democracy.

He noted that prudent management of resources and a number of reforms that was adopted has impacted the higher growth rates over the years.

This, according to him, was evident in the fact that “by 2005, the regional growth rate was about 5 percent, but in some countries it was a bit higher; just one or two countries were not doing well.

“In 2006, 2007 we had moved to 6.1 and 6.5 percent respectively and 2008-2009 we were working to see this growth rate move into the second percental rate, but the global financial crisis came and the result was that there was a fall in the demand for our commodities,” he stressed.

That notwithstanding, Mr. Chambas said in 2009, the growth rate in Africa was much higher than most regions of the world, which according to him, was a good and encouraging sign that Africa is coming out of the recession much faster than expected.

Meanwhile, the growth rate for 2010 is projected to be higher.

Unfortunately, Dr Chambas envisages that it would only be in the region of 4 to 4.5 percent, explaining that continent must achieve 7 to 8 percent if it is to make progress in the fight against poverty.

He therefore challenged Africans to help reach these targets.

“Until we are able to reduce the high levels of poverty in the country and the continent, it will be difficult to talk about sustainable peace and development,” he noted.

The MDGs were drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration, which was adopted by 189 nations and signed by 127 heads of state and governments during the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000.

Gbevlo Lartey Speaks

Posted: Daily Guide |Saturday, 13 March 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
THE NATIONAL Security Coordinator, Lt. Col. (rtd) Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, has told DAILY GUIDE in an interview at his ‘Blue Gate’ office that he is not aware of the role he is expected to play as a member of the ‘Political Committee’ of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

DAILY GUIDE was seeking clarification from Mr Gbevlo-Lartey on his controversial role since the President swore in the 23-member committee last week.

DAILY GUIDE also sought to solicit his perspective on concerns raised by former Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Kofi Bentum Quantson, which suggested that socio-economic conditions in the country could lead to a possible social uprising against the ruling elite.

Mr. Gbevlo-Lartey, who was wearing a white smock with blue stripes, warmly welcomed DAILY GUIDE to his office but declined to answer the question on what role he would be playing as a member of Political Committee of the NDC.

As a security chief, he said, he did not want to be drawn into any ‘unnecessary political debate’ since according to him, he would have preferred to speak to the issue from an academic point of view and not with political coloration.

He wondered why those raising issue with his new appointment were not interested in knowing why the President, John Evans Atta Mills, his Vice, John Dramani Mahama and other Ministers were also on the same committee.

Gbevlo-Lartey, who was absent at the inauguration of the committees recently, said he did not know the specific role he was to play on the committee.

Pressed further, he asked DAILY GUIDE to speak to the party executives who may know more about his role on the committee.

The NDC chairman, Dr Kwabena Adjei, also appears not to know the role of Gbevlo-Lartey in the committee.

The National Security Co-ordinator also declined to comment on the question of whether or not his appointment as member of the political committee of the NDC would not put him in a position of conflict of interest.

It will be recalled that when DAILY GUIDE spoke earlier with NDC chairman, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, after several efforts, his initial comment was “no comment at all”.

He however said: “Why should I give you comment about his (Gbevlo-Lartey) involvement, is he not a politician?”

Though the position of National Security Coordinator was a political appointment, it had always been the norm to detach the security agencies from political activities so that their decisions would not be influenced by their partisan affiliations.

However, Dr Kwabena Adjei, also known as ‘Wayoo, Wayo’ wanted Ghanaians to accept that Gbevlo-Lartey was a politician since according to him, “He is managing the security aspect of politics. So can’t you make sense out of it?” he asked.

Sarcastically, he quizzed DAILY GUIDE, “Don’t you know what committee members do?” and then answered his own question thus: “They contribute; they don’t do anything, they contribute to discussions.”

The NDC boss would not agree that Gbevlo-Lartey’s role as National Security Coordinator, could conflict with his ‘political committee’ appointment.

He hastily advised DAILY GUIDE: “Go and ask him; go and ask Gbevlo-Lartey that now that they have made him chairman of that committee what is his role. I have nothing else to tell you.”

On the issue of red flags raised by the former BNI boss, the National Security Coordinator, on his part, stressed the belief that what Mr Quantson said was taken out of context by the media since according to him, the briefing he got was that the man made a general observation and not specifically about Ghana.

Gbevlo-Lartey was quickly informed that the very reporter interviewing him was at the said Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) programme when Mr Quantson raised the issue, but he would not change his mind on the issue.

According to him, Mr Quantson’s opinion did not necessarily reflect the true situation on the ground.

For this reason, Gbevlo-Lartey said he saw nothing wrong with Quantson’s opinion and that the beauty of democracy was ‘like noses’ where everyone’s opinion about issues and developments differed.

The some-what ‘cagey’ chat with the coordinator lasted about 45minutes, after which hands were shaken and promises made to respond to future queries.