Spies Set On Journalists

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Friday, 08 October 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The recording of a private conversation between ace journalist Ebo Quansah and another colleague by unknown persons, and how it subsequently ended up being played in the studios of Accra-based private radio station Asempa FM, has raised security and ethical concerns on invasion of privacy.

On Monday, October 4, 2010, Mr. Quansah, who is a former editor of the ‘Evening News’ newspaper, a former journalist of Ghanaian Times and former President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), went to the International Press Centre, the home of all Ghanaian journalists, around mid-day to have lunch while conversing with a friend.

They sat at the ‘Skuup’ restaurant which is located at the Press Centre and engaged in a chit-chat over lunch, oblivious of the fact that every word of theirs was being secretly recorded by someone closely seated by.

After lunch, Mr. Quansah, a weekly columnist with DAILY GUIDE, who has since reported the incident to the National Media Commission (NMC), said he left the Press Centre to follow up on other errands in town only for him to receive a call from the Member of Parliament for Adansi-Asokwa, K.T Hammond, seeking to know whether he was on Asempa radio station.

The veteran journalist said he was completely lost as to what the MP meant since he did not recall granting any interview to the station or being a panelist on the widely-listened-to station.

He therefore denied granting any interview on the radio station or any other station that day.

According to him, the MP asked him to tune in and listen to a programme which was being aired on that network and that a recording of his voice was being played loud and clear to the hearing of all listeners.

Unfortunately for him, the former SWAG President said he could not listen to the programme since he did not have a radio at that moment.

Apparently, he said the private conversation he had with his friend earlier in the day at the Press Centre had been recorded and played on Asempa FM, hence the numerous calls he received.

“From the afternoon till the next morning, I had more than 20 calls from seriously worried family members in my hometown Ekumfi Ekrawfo and all over the country,” he said, emphasizing that “friends and well-wishers also called in to find out what was happening.”

The playing of the said voice recording was said to have provoked a lot of comments from the panelists on the programme, some of whom were also said to have taken serious issues with Ebo Quansah and his friend with whom he had the conversation.

It is believed that some spies operating for National Security had been deployed and planted at some leading churches across the length and breadth of the country, media houses and political circles to not only record, but also monitor the activities and operations of these personalities who are perceived to be anti-government.

Veteran journalist Ebo Quansah thus considers these and other developments as very serious issues which need national attention and has petitioned the NMC and the Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA) to investigate the matter and apply the necessary sanctions against the radio station and the yet-to-be identified reporter who recorded their private conversation and subsequently aired it for obviously mischievous purposes, before things get out of hand and control.

This, he said, was because the recording was neither done with his or his friend’s consent.

He asked a question which begs for answers, “If one cannot feel safe enough in a private conservation at the International Press Centre, then where is this nation heading to? Surely, this nation is not drifting to the era when it was dangerous to have a chat anywhere.”

According to him, this is because “Some of us have battled over the years to help entrench free speech and freedom of association in the conduct of affairs in this land of our birth”, adding, “We would not abandon our role in safeguarding our hard-earned freedom.”

In these times when Ghanaian politics is gradually being eroded with insults and hate speeches, Ghanaians may have to be careful about their utterances since one, especially journalists and politicians alike, maybe targets of some of these smear campaigns and diabolical recordings.

Copies of the petition have also been forwarded to the GJA, Multimedia Group of companies, owners of Asempa, and the General Manager of Asempa for action.

Porno Hits Veep

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The official website of Vice President John Mahama, http://www.viceprez.gov.gh/index.php 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 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , have been logged in the discussion forum of the Vice President’s website. It is so easy to access the 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://lionsearch.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 “Join 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 blowjob 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 amature home.”Another of these comments and pornographic materials was posted by one Lizant Axialar on Saturday, September 18, 2010 with the following email address comomonee@mail.ru This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , with comments like “russian baby girls names russian woman of darts – leading to a Russian dating club at http://alfredler.info/dating/irish-online-dating-agencies/russian-woman-of-darts.html” whilst another from sub0@capitalshield.net This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , 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 scenes.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 teen camp video teens tube videos black teen booty video video xnxx teen 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.

Kufuor Plane Arrives

Posted: Daily Guide | www.dailyguideghana.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.

Sekou Strikes Again!

Posted: Daily Guide |Monday, 16 August 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The dismissed Co-ordinator of the National Youth Council (NYC), Dr Sekou Nkrumah, has explained why he thinks President Atta Mills does not deserve a second term to lead Ghana, as the nationwide discomfort in every facet of life is just unbearable.

Sekou has therefore rubbished the president’s intention to seek re-election in the 2012 polls, saying President Mills, who prides himself of building a ‘better Ghana,’ does not deserve the honour and favour of Ghanaians again since he is a bad case for the country.

Sekou is particularly not happy with the way the president is handling the affairs of the nation, especially with the recently-outdoored national youth policy.

Dr. Nkrumah therefore regrets spending his precious time to campaign for the president since he (Mills) is being polluted by the people around him.

Speaking to Citi FM about the youth policy, Sekou, who was sacked from his position after criticizing President Mills and his leadership style, wondered why the Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration outdoored the National Youth Policy without an action plan for its implementation.

“I think people are getting worried. I mean this is only one aspect of youth development, but the way we are going about it is most unfortunate,” he said.

He could not fathom why it took government that long to launch the policy, considering the fact that it came without a programme of action attached to it, saying “the national youth policy cannot be launched without the action plan, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Sekou recalled that the Kufuor-led NPP administration could not launch the policy which had then been approved by cabinet since it was not backed by an action plan.

Whilst he admitted that some minor changes were made to the document, regarding some priority areas like the action plan, Sekou said “I don’t know why that action plan does not come with the launch; it doesn’t make any sense”, asking “so how are they going to implement it? If there is an action plan as they say, where is it? Why are they hiding it?"

Considering the fact that it took the NDC almost two years to launch the policy, Sekou wondered “how long will it take you to implement it with two years to finish your term?”

Meanwhile, various interest groups including the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), have kicked against the policy which was launched by Vice President John Mahama last week.

As it stands now “it looks like some of us are even regretting campaigning for a leadership that will put this country in this embarrassing situation.

I regret campaigning for Professor Mills because I believe the NDC can do much better than that so it’s a question of people sitting up and changing this leadership that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.”

He said, “From where I stand, it’s a big embarrassment for me and I don’t even know where to take it from here, but I guess I will have to consult with other people and see how we can move this country forward,” he noted.

Sekou said he only joined the NDC because it served as the probable leftist party that was left in Ghanaian politics since his father’s CPP was not going anywhere “and that’s why some of us had to eat humble pie and go to the NDC.

“But if it is looking like there are people in the NDC who are obstructing this whole forward march, then those of us on the left side of Ghanaian politics really need to advise ourselves.”

In the current situation, he thinks things are not clear and therefore he is not sure which individuals and group of persons are advising the President, saying “I think he is surrounded by people who are misleading him and things are not going to be good for the NDC.”

We’re Ready For Betty

Posted: Daily Guide |Thursday, 12 August 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Lawyers for former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, and Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana @50 secretariat, say they are more than ready to meet the Attorney General (AG) and her prosecuting team in court at any point in time.

They have therefore called the bluff of Attorney-General Betty Mould-Iddrisu to haul their clients back to court on charges of allegedly causing financial loss to the state.

Lawyer for Mr Mpiani, Yoni Kulendi, yesterday told DAILY GUIDE he and his legal team were unfazed by the decision of the AG to appeal against the High Court’s decision to discharge Kwadwo Mpiani and Dr Wereko-Brobby.

Hours after the High Court struck out the case involving the two, the AG issued a statement and granted an interview to several radio stations in which she indicated her preparedness to appeal against the decision.

Though she had not taken time to study the court’s ruling, Betty Mould-Iddrisu insisted that “the discharge of the accused persons by the court is not a determination of their guilt or innocence.”

She therefore indicated that after studying it, she would take such appropriate actions that would address the procedural issues raised by the court.

“I will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the probity and accountability we require from every person entrusted with public money is held accountable and most importantly suffers the penalty for stealing and wasting such funds,” she stated.

“This is an interlocutory proceeding and the court only discharged and not acquitted them. They can therefore be tried again and we will do that by all means,” the Attorney General said in a statement issued in Accra.

Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu was in Namibia at the time the court gave its ruling.

But Mr Kulendi has stated that “they have an uphill task overturning that verdict, we do not. Our responsibility will be to sustain the verdict to show the court was right.

“It is proper for them to go back to their books instead of these unexamined comments they are making in the air when they haven’t even read the judgment.”

Whilst he agreed that the AG had a legitimate option to appeal the High Court’s decision, he said “we will be ready to meet them any day anytime.

But my sense is that anybody who reads the ruling…it’s a very compelling, erudite, lucid reasoning based on the law. I think it’s a correct statement of the law.”

That notwithstanding, Yoni noted “if you are stuck with a very compelling decision and you persist in the way in which the indications are coming, then your good faith becomes questionable.

“It’s the AG’s constitutional prerogative to mount an appeal which is what it sought to do. If it turns out that she is wrong, she is wrong. I think that anytime the law is upheld, the Attorney General wins. The courts have spoken, they have upheld the law.”

He hoped that the AG and her legal team would stick to their legitimate option which was the essence of the rule of law.

In his ruling, which lasted an hour and nine minutes, Justice Samuel Marful-Sau, a Court of Appeal judge, sitting as additional High Court judge, described the Attorney General’s action as “unconstitutional” and said it was an “abuse of the AG’s powers under Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution”.

The court said the prosecution of Dr. Wereko-Brobby and Mr. Mpiani was based on the White Paper issued by the government after the Ghana @ 50 Commission of Enquiry report, adding that the constitution frowned on any attempt to mount criminal proceedings against any person who testified before a Commission of Enquiry and the prosecution was based on adverse findings of that Commission.

The judge said the essence of a Commission of Enquiry was to afford the President the opportunity to establish an independent body to investigate any wrongdoing and make adverse findings.

Once the President went ahead to issue a White Paper, the findings became a judgment of a High Court.

“If the intention is to prosecute public officials, then the way to go is not to use findings of a Commission of Enquiry.

The state is at liberty to use the traditional way of prosecuting public officials so that the AG can exercise the powers rightly,” the presiding Judge said.

JJ Turns To God

Posted: Daily Guide |Thursday, 12 August 2010

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Despite government’s claims that it has put the economy on a sound footing, the party’s founder, Jerry John Rawlings insists “Ghana is facing serious social, cultural and political challenges.”

He has therefore entreated all Muslims nationwide who would be fasting to pray for God to give the leadership of this country a good sense of direction.

This was contained in a statement issued by the former first family, Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings, as part of their message to Muslims for the Ramadan fasting.

“Our country, and indeed the whole world, is engulfed with several challenges - hunger, poverty, enmity, hatred, war and natural disasters,” the statement said.

The former President and his wife believe “these are signs of the negativity we create because we fail to express love to our fellow humans.”

It is therefore their prayer that at the conclusion of the Ramadan period, “we would have prayed for God to give us a sense of direction and to make us bold” since “Ramadan is an opportunity to pray to Allah for his mercies for him to give us strength of character to stay pure throughout the year and foster friendship, peace and love with our neighbours.”

The statement added: “Let us not lose this opportunity to seek Allah’s favour to turn around the atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust that has engulfed the world through concerted prayer” since “Ramadan gives us great opportunities and lessons, which we see through sight and insights.”

The Rawlingses asked Muslims the world over to strengthen cohesion and the feelings of compassion, love and the rebuilding of their respective common national aspirations based on great and high morals.

They asked Muslims embarking on this annual religious journey to re-evaluate their lives and enhance their inner purity, saying “Ramadan is the month of revelation of the Quran and the month of reading and reciting the whole Quran.”

It is also a month of significant demonstration of the love of Allah towards mankind and between Muslims and peoples of all faiths.

As Muslims embark on this month-long period of fasting, prayer and restraint from human pleasures, they urged them to use the opportunity to enhance the unity and strength of communities by praying for love and peace.

“Nana (Konadu) and I take this opportunity to wish you all a sound body and an enlightened mind and a pure heart so you may be able to fast and recite his revealed thoughts in the Quran, for only he is unhappy who is devoid of Allah’s forgiveness during this Holy month,” the statement said.