We’ll End Load-Shedding – NPP

Published in Daily Guide on October 25, 2012

 

Nana Akomea

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has promised to end the load-shedding exercise that the country is often bedeviled with when voted into power.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, Communications Director of the party Nana Akomea said, “When it becomes necessary to ration electricity, the NPP will depart from the current situation where whole areas are blacked out totally.”
He believed the current mode of load-shedding, which was ‘total blackout’, was “archaic and too distressful”, wondering why the nation would undergo a load-shedding exercise when the Akosombo Dam was operating normally and at its peak.
The situation is said to be having a terrible toll on businesses, industries and households, welfare and social lives of millions of Ghanaians as some households have been exposed to robbery attacks.
Nana Akomea said the NPP was considering a number of options in regulating efficient power supply to every Ghanaian home including “simple (radio controlled) domestic devices that shut off parts of the electricity supply (say higher power consuming devices), leaving power available for essentials (lighting, radio etc)”.
He stated that the party planned to “assist domestic consumers to acquire portable, battery-operated power banks (akin to UPS) that store power and make it available for considerable time when the mains is off”.
Another backup arrangement, according Nana Akomea, was to “assist and encourage consumers to install simple, inexpensive solar systems to provide power to essential domestic devices when the mains are off”.
He disputed the NDC government’s claim to have increased power supply over the last three-and-a-half years, noting that “this ‘unprecedented’ boost is being made and repeated even as the nation has for months been suffering from electricity rationing.”
In order to achieve its promise of an industrial and economic transformation, he said, there was need to boost energy supply in the country.
In that regard, the party’s Communications Director stated, “Our presidential candidate is solidly committed to investment”; the reason for which Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had “outlined his commitment to investment in energy to spur our industrial take off”.
He urged Ghanaians to support the NPP by voting for the party to achieve these energy goals for Ghana.

Doctors Give Out Cocaine Man

Published in Daily Guide on October 25, 2012

The cocaine pe;;ets retrieved from Kwaku Sarfo at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Ghana seems to be gradually becoming a hub for the trading of narcotic drugs, with the latest being the bust of another Ghanaian, Kwaku Sarfo, in possession of 77 pellets of substances suspected to be cocaine.
This time around, it was not at Heathrow Airport in London but right here in Ghana where the suspect has been arrested and detained by the police.
The officers at the Korle Bu Police Station received a call from medical doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to attend to an emergency at the facility.
The officers arrived at the facility to witness a suspect who had been operated on to retrieve swallowed pellets of cocaine.
Director of Narcotics Unit of Police Criminal Investigations Department, Superintendent Cuthbert Aapenguo, who confirmed the story to DAILY GUIDE, said upon arrival, the police officers were ushered into one of the male wards at the surgical block of the hospital where 59-year-old Kwaku Sarfo lay.
Surgeons had then removed as many as 77 thumb-size pellets of the substances which were neatly wrapped in condom-like rubbers.
The doctors were said to have called in the police because they were not sure of the substance.
They therefore took an inventory of the drugs and took over the case.
Sources at the hospital said the suspect first went to a private clinic complaining of severe stomach pain but had to be rushed to Korle Bu upon realising that there was more to it than he had merely said since his condition was degenerating and there was a need for a surgical operation.
Upon reaching the hospital, Kwaku Sarfo was said to have been taken to the surgical/medical emergency ward but he had to be taken to the theatre for surgery after which the drugs were detected.
Though he was said to be in a critical condition yesterday, Superintendent Cuthbert said he was responding to treatment.
The police are yet to ascertain where the suspect took the drugs from and other details about him.
“We are continuing investigations to find out how he even got  to the hospital…so when he is okay, then we will be able  to get that information,” the police chief said.
He has since been placed under a 24-hour police guard at the hospital.
A couple of weeks ago, cannabis weighing 1.5 tonnes which was concealed in fresh fruits and vegetables from Ghana, with a street value of $8.6 million, was busted at the Heathrow Airport.
A day after the wee arrest, British officials announced the interception of some cocaine consignment smuggled from Ghana weighing 7.5 kg, with a street value of $ 1.5 million, virtually making nonsense of government’s claim to have clamped down on the drug trade.

Prophet Nkansah Runs Away Over Bribery

Published Daily Guide on October 24, 2012

 

ON THE RUN! Prophet Daniel Nkansah

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The man at the centre of the bribery scandal that has hit the Electoral Commission (EC), Prophet Daniel Nkansah, seems to be playing a game of hide and seek with the police, as all efforts to get him to give his side of the story have proved futile.
This was after the failed presidential aspirant of the New Vision Party (NVP) reported two officials of the EC, Isaac Kofi Asumaning, Director of Elections and his colleague director in charge of Logistics, Emmanuel Asante Kissi, for allegedly collecting an amount of GHC1,600 from him to circumvent the electoral process.
While Mr Asumaning has vehemently denied the allegation and has been speaking to his lawyers, the man who is making the allegation, Prophet Nkansah, a notorious fraudster, can only be contacted on telephone.
The two EC officials were arrested on Monday by the police and charged with bribery and corruption.
But Accra Region Police Public Relations Officer, Freeman Tettey, told DAILY GUIDE yesterday that the man had been evasive.  “Today, he says he will report and at another time tomorrow.”
DSP Tettey expressed surprise at the cold feet developed by Odeefuo Nkansah who prides himself as a ‘man of God’ because he has since refused to answer calls put to his phone to report to the police.
The self-styled man of God is already on police wanted list as an Accra Circuit Court has issued a bench warrant for his arrest over a fraud case.
The police PRO therefore concluded “he is on the run; we can’t find him” insisting that “if you know what you are saying is credible, come and substantiate it.”
The police sent men to his house and office but he was nowhere to be found.
What seems to frustrate the police is the fact that he is ‘jumping’ from one radio station to the other spewing out damning allegations, threatening to sue the EC.
Odeefuo Nkansah is suspected to have gone into hiding because a court in Accra has issued a bench warrant for his arrest for supposedly defrauding one Aisha Nurudeen to the tune of GH¢19,000.
But DSP Tettey indicated, “I think after tomorrow (referring to today), we have to think of what to do because this man cannot be let off the hook like that…we need to get him; he needs to give us some information.”
The Law
DAILY GUIDE has learnt that Asante Kissi is reported to have admitted to collecting the money but told the police it was a gift.
But Accra-based legal practitioner, Ace Anan Ankomah, has rubbished the claims by the EC officials that the money was a gift.
In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, he argued that “the law is clear that if you give money to a public officer to influence the work that he does, it amounts to corruption.”
“If you ask for any recompense, if it’s a gift or reward for doing or not doing your duty, then it’s a bribe. I don’t know what they are talking about,” he said and insisted that “the law says the gift is a bribe; it is corruption of a public officer…and both the giver and the receiver will be guilty.”
Asked whether this development could affect the credibility of the electoral process, the lawyer noted, “It suggests that there is probably something that has been going on…if I were the EC, the people would be interdicted immediately.”
Adamant
However, the embattled director of elections has denied ever receiving any financial inducement from the rampaging prophet. In an interview he granted Accra based Citi Fm on Tuesday, he stated, “I am surprised and shocked about this allegation. I have not demanded anything from this man.
“I don’t know what the man is up to. I don’t know anything about it. I have not taken any money from anybody,” he lamented.
Mr. Asumaning challenged calls for him to step aside for thorough investigations to be carried out. “How do I step aside? What have I done?” he asked rhetorically.
This is not the only allegation that the EC is currently battling to deflect.
The Deputy Chairman of the EC in Charge of Operations, Kwadwo Safo Kantanka, has also been accused by another political party, the United Front Party (UFP), of trying to demand bribe.
Nana Agyenim Boateng, popularly called Gyataba, the National Chairman of the UFP, is alleging that the deputy Chairman received GHC35,000 from the party’s controversial flagbearer, Akwasi Addei, popularly called Odike.
According to Gyataba, Odike is not the UFP’s legitimate flagbearer as he had earlier been sacked from the party.
Odike allegedly greased the palms of the EC deputy Chairman to push his bid through.
Uneasy Calm
When DAILY GUIDE visited the Ridge headquarters of the Commission yesterday, its workers were seen undertaking their daily tasks and speaking in hushed tones.
Groups of EC staff could be heard discussing the scandal.
Attempts by DAILY GUIDE to sample the opinions of personnel of the EC proved futile as many people considered the subject too dangerous to discuss openly.
The few people DAILY GUIDE attempted to interview declined to talk.
Expressions such as “embarrassment” and “shame” were occasionally heard around the EC headquarters.
By midday on Tuesday, all the top officials at the EC could not be contacted.
The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, was said to have gone out of town, his deputy, Mr Kwadwo Safo Kantanka was on a trip to Abuja, Nigeria, while the Deputy Chairman in charge of Finance and Administration, Sulley Amadu, was also absent.
Attempts to reach the Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Christian Owusu Parry, also proved futile, as he was out of his office and he could not be reached on telephone either.

Konadu Sues EC

Published Daily Guide on October 24, 2012

Dr. Josiah Aryeh (left) with Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings is getting ready to meet the Electoral Commission (EC) in court as she challenges her disqualification from the presidential race.
Nana Konadu’s application to contest the upcoming elections as the presidential candidate of the newly-formed National Democratic Party (NDP) was rejected by the EC.
Though the leadership of NDP has had cause to petition the commission against the decision, the chairman of the party, Dr Nii Armah Josiah-Aryeh, has dropped hints the party is likely to file for an order of ‘mandamus’ to compel the Commission to include Mrs. Rawlings’s name in the list of candidates on the ballot paper.
Dr Aryeh, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE yesterday, said, “I have finished drawing up the pleadings…I am hopeful that it will be filed tomorrow but we’ve finished with the document.
“We are filing the substantive case tomorrow. Additionally, we are filing an order of mandamus compelling the Electoral Commission to do what they must do because we think that there is a public duty; there is dereliction of duty; there is breach of duty and they must be directed to do what must be done,” he noted.
The NDP Chief said “we also believe we may have to go back to court for an injunction because we’re going to the Human Rights Court and the Human Rights Court if you look at the procedures, if you file a case, the other party has 21 days to respond and we can’t afford 21 days.
“So, in addition to what we file, we may also go for an injunction to restrain or stay the hand of the Electoral Commission from proceeding while this matter is still at it.”
In a statement issued in Accra yesterday, the NDP said “we have written to the Electoral Commission asking them to rescind their otherwise unlawful decision.”
The leadership of the party re-assured its numerous supporters and the general public that the party is doing everything in its power to overturn the disqualification of their flag-bearer for the December 2012 elections.
“This unfortunate and unlawful disqualification flouted the constitution of Ghana, the Electoral Commission’s own regulations on elections and, above all, international Human Rights Laws on the right to political participation as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civic and Political Rights, which Ghana has since ratified.
“We wish to state in no uncertain terms that we will fight tooth and nail to avert the possible disenfranchisement of all our supporters whose choice for the next president of Ghana is Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.”
Plot
The NDP also said it has uncovered a plot by some top personalities from an unnamed political party going round the country to use financial and material inducements to influence its leading members to defect from the party.
The executive of the party claimed they have various tape recordings from four regions in which a high profile government official was asking NDP members to leave their account numbers for money to be deposited into them.
“Indeed, all these go to confirm the assertion of former President Jerry John Rawlings that there is deep seated corruption among political office holders,” the statement indicated, whilst hinting that “in the coming days, we will release these recordings to the media for Ghanaians to know what type of people are seeking their mandate.”

Nana Sets New Target

Published in Daily Guide on October 23, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

 

Nana Akufo-Addo with AGI members after yesterday’s meeting

The flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has promised to build 100,000 houses annually to solve the country’s housing problem when he is elected.
At a meeting with captains of industry in Accra yesterday, he proposed to establish a ‘new economic order’ when given the mandate.
He said he would “add value to our natural resources and manufacture what we need and consume” and lead the country to “become an export-oriented economy” with the West Africa sub region as the main target.
“We very much still believe that for our economy to grow, we need to support and energise the private sector to grow exponentially, create jobs and be the main instrument for economic growth,” he said.
“Should I, God willing, be voted as president of Ghana come December 2012, a new era of ascendency of Ghanaian business will also come into play,” he stated, adding, “Government’s role in this regard will to be to ensure that we have a globally competitive business environment and private sector.”
The components of this ‘transformational agenda,’ according to him, would include “increasing agricultural production and adding value to products through agro processing, developing and adding value to natural resources, including oil and gas, salt, gold, bauxite, iron ore, manganese and other natural resources”.
Apart from that, he also spoke of supporting and promoting industry, especially small and medium scale entrepreneurs and businesses to be competitive in import substitution and exports through what he described as “a comprehensive review and reform of our trade policy” whilst promoting high-value services including concentration on ICT services, financial services, education, health and tourism.
Plan
Under an Akufo-led NPP government, he promised to support and make Ghana the pharmaceutical manufacturing centre for the West Africa region.
“We need to tackle the barriers that hinder our becoming a true modern economy,” he explained.
In the light of this, he stressed the need to “implement an aggressive infrastructure programme focused on expanding the key areas of economic activity”.
As part of the plan, Nana Addo also gave his word to “reduce the overall cost of doing business and make Ghana attractive as an investment opportunity by streamlining bureaucracy, and achieving macroeconomic stability” since “the NPP has always been at the forefront of empowering our businesses to lead the economy”. He insisted that “the time has come to cement further this notion and make private sector the largest actor in the economy.”
“It only takes true committed leadership and the support of our hard-working entrepreneurs and business people to achieve this aim.
“That is why I find it possible to sign, on behalf of the NPP, the document setting out the commitment to the private sector facilitation and development to the AGI.
“In our manifesto, we have outlined an audacious and forward- thinking blueprint that we believe will change the economic landscape and fortunes of our country,” he stated.
100,000 Housing Units
The NPP presidential candidate said his government, in partnership with the private sector, would reduce Ghana’s housing deficit by 10 percent in his first term.
“We believe that government’s role is to facilitate strong collaboration between land agencies, family/stools/skins, banks, insurance companies, mortgage houses, building material suppliers and real estate developers like GREDA. Our goal is to reduce the housing deficit by about 10% within the four-year term, by increasing national annual output from 40,000 units to 100,000 units,” Nana Akufo-Addo said.
The NPP presidential candidate made this known when he addressed members of the Ghana Real Estate Association in Accra yesterday.
Ghana’s housing deficit currently stands at some 1.5million housing units.
The demand for housing units every year, according to him, currently stood at 70,000 units.
However, only an estimated 40,000 housing units were added to the housing stock annually, leaving a deficit of 30,000 housing units.
Out of the 40,000 housing units delivered annually, only 10% was provided by the real estate developers, a contribution described by him as “a minute proportion”.
That, among others, the NPP presidential candidate stated, was why he had requested to meet with GREDA specifically to outline his housing policy proposals and to seek the association’s support.

Konadu Fired Up

Published in Daily Guide on October 18, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

 

 

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings

The flag-bearer of the National Democratic Party (NDP), and former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has said she is not perturbed by the string of resignations that has hit her party in the past couple of days.
Nana Konadu told a group of journalists in Accra yesterday that she was in the presidential race to win the elections in December and take over from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Nana Konadu is expected to file her nomination today ahead of the deadline for all presidential and parliamentary candidates for the December 7 polls.
Unconfirmed sources said Martin Alamisi Amidu was likely to be Nana Konadu’s running mate.
The wife of the NDC’s founder insisted that she was in the presidential race not necessarily because she wanted to split the vote of the NDC as being speculated.
The NDP, barely four months ago, broke away from the NDC amidst serious rifts between factions in the party.
“We cannot engage in destructive political banter while the people of Ghana are not certain whether their lights will be on today or not; we cannot engage in destructive political banter while a mother has to wake her six-year-old child up at 4am, feed her child hurriedly in order to get her child to school by 8am, and get herself to work by 9am, because very little effort has been made to ease the traffic congestion in our cities,” she stated.
At the media encounter, Mrs. Rawlings stressed the need to chart a new future for Ghana since “we cannot be politicking while our youth have no jobs, or while access to clean potable water is still a luxury, or while eating three times a day for the ordinary Ghanaian is still a dream”.
“The ordinary Ghanaian works very hard to earn a living, and yet hard work today is not rewarded because of the growing culture of nepotism and less [emphasis] on meritocracy” for which reason “we need to build a nation that respects honest hard work” because “people of this nation deserve the best, not better,” noted the NDP flagbearer.
“We cannot continue to engage in destructive political banter while people cannot live a life with value. We cannot continue this way because we do not have the luxury of time.
“Let us place people over politics, and start empowering people of this nation today, not tomorrow and definitely not in another four years. Today!” she stressed.
She emphasised the need to create equal access to education, potable water, healthcare, adequate housing, insisting that “every hard working Ghanaian has the right to own his or her own home.”
For her, the country’s most valuable resource is not its gold, cocoa or its oil, insisting, “We, all of us, are the most valuable resource of this nation.  Our youth; our women; our children; our men; our elderly are the most valuable resource of Ghana, and therefore deserve to be invested in.”
To this end, she emphasized, “let us together take that bold step; let us seize this moment to chart a new future for Ghana”.
Carpet Crossing
Meanwhile, confusion has rocked the camp of the Rawlingses, with the latest being a resignation of two of their trusted aides, Emmanuel Saint Osei and Alhaji Mohammed Nasiru.
The duo announced its decision Monday afternoon on Accra-based Hot FM and quickly declared an unflinching support for President John Dramani Mahama, to the surprise of many, especially its other colleagues in the Rawlings camp.
Until their resignation, the two played active roles in the Rawlings camp, with Saint Osei serving as a protocol officer in Mr. Rawlings’s office, running errands for the former President whilst Alhaji Nasiru was also an active member of Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (FONKAR) which seems to have metamorphosed into the Mrs. Rawlings-led National Democratic Party (NDP).
Nasiru was an aide to Ekwow Spio-Garbrah before pitching camp with FONKAR.

Martin Amidu

They add to the several numbers of individuals including the likes of Dela Coffie, Ruth Sedor, Sidi Abubakar, Chris Dugan and the NDP’s interim general secretary, Dr Joseph Mamboah-Rockson, who have left the stables of the Rawlingses to join forces with government.
Somewhere last year, Dela Coffie, who used to be a member of the FONKAR and a staunch critic of the NDC administration, said President Mahama, who was then vice president, was so corrupt that he likened him to a person so easily enticed with money, like a fowl being lured with corn.
But many, including FONKAR’s Operations Director Ernest Owusu-Bempah, believe the two and their other colleagues who have fallen out with them were influenced by monetary considerations to take the decision.
He therefore described the action of the latest two to leave the camp as “an act of betrayal at the highest level” which he said would affect them politically.
Owusu-Bempah stressed the belief that his colleagues were bought since, “looking at what is happening, nothing has changed since Mahama took over; so what has gone wrong that these comrades of mine will just suddenly switch when things are getting worse and worse every day and the true principles that we fought for are still there.”
Owusu-Bempah, who is now a deputy director of communications of the NDP, was of the opinion that his former compatriots had hanged themselves politically.
“…They’ve committed political suicide and they have written their political obituary,” he said.
Re-affirming his support for Nana Konadu, Owusu-Bempah said if Judas Iscariot had known that betraying Jesus Christ would lead to his glory being magnified, he would not have gone ahead with the decision.
“…some of us can never be bought; I am telling those people who are going round thinking money can buy everybody’s conscience that some of us can never be compromised,” he told Okay FM.

Chinese Company Bribes NDC Over $43m Tax

Published in Daily Guide on October 17, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

 

President John Mahama

The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been caught in a deal that smacks of fraud with a Chinese company, Hauwei Technologies Ghana Limited.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, spokesman for the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), Davis Opoku produced documentary evidence to prove how the Chinese company, which office is located on the 5^th and 6^th floors of the Adwoa Adjeiwaa building in Osu, has been funding the activities and operations of the NDC, contravening the country’s electoral laws, apparently in exchange for $43million tax exemption.
The documents, which included invoices and plane tickets for some government officials, indicated that Huawei had been printing campaign paraphernalia, T-shirts, cups, caps and key holders, worth millions of dollars, for the NDC campaign.
These include the printing of 50,000 pieces of t-shirts at $395,000, in addition to 60,000 pieces of assorted paraphernalia including key rings (holders), posters and banners worth $42,040, which were shipped into the county between May and July 2012.
All these campaign materials had the picture of the late President Mills embossed on them.
DAILY GUIDE has learnt that new campaign materials for President Mahama from China had arrived.
Section 23 (1) of the Political Parties Act, Act 574, states that “only a citizen may contribute whether in cash or in kind to the fund of a political party.”
Section 24 of the same Act states that “A non-citizen shall not directly or indirectly make a contribution or donation or loan whether in cash or in kind to the funds held by or for the benefit of a political party and no political party or person acting for or on behalf of a political party shall demand or accept a contribution donation or loan from a non-citizen.”
It also emerged that the company had allegedly been financing the foreign travels of some key and influential members of the ruling administration and their families’, chief among them being Dr. Cadman Mills, the brother and economic advisor of the late President Mills.
The National Security Coordinator, Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, some ministers and senior members of the NDC administration are reported to have also benefitted from the largesse of Huawei, which flew them- all expenses paid- to China.
In return, the NDC government granted the Huawei group a tax exemption of $43 million.
The tax exemption recently generated a furore in Parliament, with some MPs kicking against it.
At that time, it was not known that the Chinese company, which has been cited for fraud in other countries, had been secretly financing the ruling party which was pushing for the tax exemption.
Huawei was also awarded what the leadership of AFAG believed could arguably go down as one of the ‘juiciest contracts’ to be doled out by the NDC administration-  the E-Government platform project worth a whopping $127.5million  and a shocking GH¢1 as tax for this contract.
Track Record
The company is said to be involved in several international scandals which have led to the termination of its contracts in countries such as the USA, Australia and India, for security reasons whilst the Algerian authorities were said to have banned its operations somewhere in June this year following a bribery scandal which involved the company and some executives of the state-owned telecom.
AFAG indicated its preparedness to lodge an official complaint with the police to commence investigations into the dealings of Huawei and the ruling NDC.
In view of the fact that political parties were public entities, AFAG also asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to publish the annual report of the NDC to ascertain whether these donations had ever been reported.
Until standing issues were addressed, Davis Opoku said, “AFAG will not rest”.
If found culpable, Huawei and the NDC could face hefty sanctions, in view of the provisions of the Political Parties Act 25 (1).

JJ Booms At NDP Congress

Published in Daily Guide on October 11, 2012

Jerry John Rawlings

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The National Democratic Party (NDP) seems to be making serious incursions into the fold of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), with the latest catch being the founder of the NDC, former President Jerry John Rawlings.
Mr Rawlings is said to be waiting for the NDP congress to unleash venom on the NDC leadership, especially ‘the old evil dwarfs’ who have virtually hijacked the party he founded with his blood.
A day after he indicated his preparedness to support his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings’s decision to run for the flagbearership position of the NDP, a breakaway party from the NDC, the former President’s name has popped up as the one scheduled to be the ‘special guest of honour’ for the NDP’s national delegates congress slated for Saturday, October 13, in Kumasi.
A full-page advertisement placed on page 53 of yesterday’s issue of the state-owned Daily Graphic newspaper said Mr Rawlings, who had been linked to the new party, would take centre stage at the congress.
Sources said Mr. Rawlings had already accepted the invitation and confirmed his participation.
Interim General Secretary of the party Dr Rockson Mamboa has indicated that the event, expected to take place at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, would see not less than less than 7,500 members and 2,500 delegates attending.
Unlike other congresses that elect executives, the NDP scribe said, “we are going in there for the national executives and then we can also endorse our flagbearer.”
Mr Rawlings is therefore expected to storm the place in the company of his wife before the event starts at 8am on Saturday, with the support of his aides.
Nana Konadu is contesting after incessant appeals from the grassroots.
Rawlings told journalists at a CDD programme on Tuesday, “I would support her (his wife) as I do for a good number of candidates. If she intends to stand for the new party, I guess it might be right for her to resign from the NDC.”
He said, “Frankly, I will support any party with a high level of credibility and integrity, and that I know they (NDP) have.”
The former President added that “that doesn’t mean I am leaving the NDC either.”
Rawlings’s short speech at the NDC manifesto launch could best be described as a dress rehearsal of what he is expected to say at the NDP congress on Saturday.
For him, even if what his wife was embarking upon “does not amount to much, the very fact that they are putting together a party with a high level of moral credibility is an investment for the future”.
NDP Here To Stay
The Interim National Youth Organiser of the NDP, Dr David Sunu, said the party would not “stumble and fall” as its detractors had hoped for but would grow to restore integrity to the nation’s politics.
The election of the flagbearer, he explained, would put “the doubting Thomases to shame”.
“…For all those who believe in restoring integrity to the politics of this country…for all those who think that participatory democracy is the way to go, for all those who believe that we all must contribute not only during elections but also at every step of the developmental process; and that politicians must not take us for granted, they all must come on board the agenda of the NDP,” because “our nation will be our future,” he stated.

Police ‘Chief’ Busted

-For Fraud

Published in Daily Guide on October 11, 2012

‘DSP’ Mohammed Abu

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

A 39-year-old man is in the grip of the James Town Police for defrauding a number of unsuspecting persons under the pretext of enlisting them into the Ghana Police Service (GPS).
The young man, who gave his name as Mohammed Abu, reportedly introduced himself to his victims, some of who are traders and shop owners at the Agbogbloshie Market in Accra, in June 2012 as a senior police officer with the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP). He claimed he was stationed at the national police headquarters, with his office on the third floor of the building.
He subsequently told them he had been tasked to enlist drivers into the Police Service and managed to convince two persons, one Mohammed Yussuf and Moses Arubaturo Nabasa, to pay GH¢3,100 and GH¢3,100 and GH¢3,170 to him to facilitate the process.
The James Town District Police Commander, DSP Francis Somian, who narrated the incident to DAILY GUIDE, said Abu collected from the victims two passport sized photographs each; photocopies of their drivers’ licence and educational certificates.
After duping them, Mohammed was said to have gone into hiding and lodged at a guest house around Tabora area in Accra called ‘One Stone’.
But luck eluded him on Tuesday, October 9 when he was spotted along the Graphic road area by a witness in the case who quickly called in the victims. They accosted him and handed him over to the police.
A search conducted on him by the police led to the recovery of a police recruitment application form with the serial number NOR00701711, of an applicant named Aminu Mohammed.
Two mobile phones, a toy gun and an amount of GH¢620 were also found on him.
A further search by the police in his room at the guest house revealed eight more copies of the enlistment forms, 13 blank police extract forms, three copies of birth certificates of prospective applicants, copies of testimonials, result slips and educational certificates.
In addition to that were copies of dismissal letters of two policemen, Escort/Constable Seth Quaye with number 44624, and Escort/Constable Stephen Baffoe with number 44634; and three passport sized pictures of the applicants.
Mohammed also allegedly managed to use his fraudulent position of a ‘Deputy Superintendent of Police’ to endorse the entry forms of his girlfriend’s daughter and duped the lady of an amount of GH¢1,000.
But police investigations revealed that he was not the person he claimed to be.
The police charged him for defrauding by false pretense and impersonation.
DSP Somian entreated members of the general public who might have fallen victim to Mohammed Abu’s scheme to come forward to assist in investigations.

Trouble In Police

- IGP Powerless

Published in Daily Guide on October 9, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

 

IGP Paul Tawiah Quaye

Confusion has engulfed the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Command following the return of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Robert Ayalingo to his post after he was served with his retirement correspondence.
His return has sparked disquiet in the command structure, with officers grumbling over the confusion, a situation which is threatening morale.
The man who took over from Ayalingo, his former second-in-command, DCOP Isaac Alex Quainoo, would not leave his newfound position because he has not been informed to do so officially; therefore the two could be on an open collision course if the authorities do not intervene.
Information reaching DAILY GUIDE suggests that President John Mahama authorised the extension of service for Robert Ayalingo as part of an election 2012 strategy under which some retired superior officers would be retained.
The Chief Constable, Inspector General Police, Paul Tawiah Quaye, is said to be unaware of the contract to DCOP Ayalingo, with the correspondence covering it emanating from the Interior Ministry.
The IGP is said to have thrown his hands in despair over the unnecessary executive intervention in the Police Administration.
DCOP Ayalingo claimed he was in a meeting when DAILY GUIDE contacted him around 3:15pm with a promise to call back.
At the time of going to press, he had still not called to enable the paper to clear issues with him.
Commissioner of Police Hamidu Mahama of the Police Headquarters and other senior police officers were in the same messy situation in order to do the bidding of the NDC, sources said.
Mr Hamidu was the officer who granted bail to some drug dealers in Takoradi when he was the Western Regional Police Commander, when Araba Tagoe, Western regional NDC women’s organizer, intervened.
Under the provisions of Police Service regulations, retired officers- even when they are offered the privilege of contract under police convention- should not don uniform and should be one rank down.
Under the present disposition, the convention has been breached as Hamidu Mahama is donning the uniform and maintaining his COP rank, raising lots of questions about the ability of the Ghana Police Service as a law enforcement agency to hold their own in check and uphold the law.

Konadu For President

Published in Daily Guide on October 9, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu 

 

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings

Former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has finally taken up the challenge to contest the flagbearership position of the newly formed National Democratic Party (NDP).
The interim general secretary of the National Democratic Congress’s breakaway party, Dr Joseph Mamboa-Rockson, who confirmed the information said, “Yes! The former First Lady is one of them; we are still waiting for her to come up at the congress as the flagbearer.”
She is expected to resign from the ruling NDC, a party founded by her husband and former President Jerry John Rawlings.
Nana Konadu, a former vice chairperson of the NDC, contested the flagbearership slot of the ruling party with the late President John Evans Atta Mills, but lost at the party’s congress at Sunyani last year.
Apart from Mrs. Rawlings, two other persons are also said to have expressed interest in the position.
But speaking on Accra-based Joy FM, Dr Mamboa-Rockson said, “The three of them are currently and I believe that they are talking in terms of merging up and getting us a formidable person.”
He, however, declined to disclose the name of the two other persons in contention for the flagbearership position of the NDP but indicated that “now that she (Nana Konadu) has shown the interest, we believe that a consensus would be reached among the three so that Mrs. Rawlings becomes the flagbearer and then we get the running mate.”
The party expects no less than 7,500 members and 2,500 delegates to converge on the Kumasi Sports Stadium on Saturday, October 13, when it goes to congress to elect a flagbearer and substantive national executives.
Unlike other congresses that elect executives, the NDP scribe said, “We are going in there for the national executives and then we can also endorse our flagbearer.”
He could neither confirm nor deny whether former President Rawlings would be at the event but expressed hope that the ‘old man’ would make time to grace the occasion.
“You remember that I was always saying that the Rawlingses are behind us; now we’ve got one out of the …let’s hope that the other one follows,” he noted.
Nana Konadu is said to have picked up forms to contest the flagbearership position.
She was said to have bought her forms on Monday afternoon and expressed her willingness to keenly contest.
The deputy communications director for the NDP, Ernest Owusu-Bempah, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE, was optimistic that Mrs. Rawlings would accept the call on her by the rank and file of the party and accept the challenge to lead the party into the 2012 elections.

How $8.6m Wee Left Kotoka

Published in Daily Guide on October 8, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

  

The scanner at Aviance Cargo Village, Airport. Inset: Akrasi Sarpong – NACOB Boss

There seems to be more than what Ghanaians have been told about the strange and bizarre circumstance under which a haul of cannabis (wee), weighing 1.5 tonnes with an estimated street value of £4.3 million ($8.6million), left the Kotoka International Airport in Accra to the Heathrow Airport in London in the United Kingdom.
A Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera captured the in and out movements of operatives at the Aviance cargo village at the airport leading to the flying of the drugs to Heathrow without passing through the scanner.
A copy of the video has been watched and analysed by DAILY GUIDE, with a strong indication that contrary to suggestions that the scanner was faulty, there was nothing wrong with it.
The wee, concealed in fresh fruits and vegetables, left Ghana unnoticed until it was arrested by UK Border security agents.
The seizure has put the spotlight on Ghana in what appears to be a losing battle against the drug war.
DAILY GUIDE investigations have uncovered the activities and operations of the drug cartel, which allegedly used Kwaoso Enterprise, the company behind the export of the drug, concealed in fruits from Ghana to the UK, at the Aviance Cargo village where it all started.
Investigations have also revealed that the drugs were being sent to a consignee in the UK with the address Kwaoso Enterprise, c/o Saint Mark Freight Services, 132 Inner Street, Enfield, UK.
The operation was carried out in the early hours of Monday September 24, between 4:30am and 5:05am.
It involved agents of the cargo airline (Virgin Atlantic) with flight number VS658 which carried the ‘wee’ to London.
It also included men who were supposed to be providing security services at the airport such as Customs officials, the Aviation Security and agents of Air Ghana, a company contracted by the airline to handle its cargo at the airport.
All these were captured on a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) installed at the place by the company in charge of the scanner at the airport, Nick TC-Scan Limited, an affiliate of Ghana Link Network Services Limited.
DAILY GUIDE has managed to watch the recordings of the video footage which exposed the rot at the cargo village.
The footage shows how the various actors deliberately played along what looked like a well choreographed plan.
Minutes after the goods containing the neatly wrapped drugs arrived at the ‘cargo village’ around 4:00am, agents of Aviation Profile and Security Services (APSS) started processing them.
APSS is the company contracted by Air Ghana to handle the Cargo of Virgin Atlantic airline.
The Operation
Interestingly, it was only the driver who sat on the vehicle though a security man was supposed to be with him.
The standard procedure, according to sources, was for a security man to accompany a vehicle that conveys all goods for export to the scanner with documents covering the cargo in hand.
But this time around, after the preparation of the documents, two of the goods by-passed the scanner on a truck to a security check point a few meters away from the scanner round 4:30am on Monday September 24, without a security man inspecting it.
Minutes later, the driver was seen detaching the load from the truck and went for another two of the same kind, making four.
He then went in for the remaining two and offloaded one onto the conveyor belt of the scanner with the other one still on the truck.
The driver appeared restless and was seen perambulating as though something was haunting him.
After the container he sent for screening was approved as normal, the driver went round the scanner to carry the scanned one back onto the truck, an indication that at no point was the scanner not working at the time the marijuana was sent to the ‘cargo village’ for processing and inspection.
He then parked the truck in front of the scanner and went into the Customs office where an officer on duty approved the document and dispatched the goods to proceed to the security check point.
Even before the truck approached the check point, the gate was widely opened with the security man allowing all the six loads, including the un-scanned ones to pass through without checking.
The obviously confused customs officer who was on duty forgot to put off the light in the office and had to return to put it off before setting off for home after the deal.
Security Ploy
The same is believed to have happened at the last security check point before the tarmac, since, according to a source, assuming without admitting that the scanner was not functioning, the security men at the various posts, including the Customs officer should have detected the anomaly since only one of the loads was scanned and same was approved on the document.
“When the scanner breaks down for even maintenance for a few minutes, we tell the Customs officials to take over; so now the physical inspection will be more vigorous,” the source told DAILY GUIDE.
According to the source, this was done “because our people have not been trained to do physical examination. Apart from that we are not mandated to do any physical examination; Customs has the mandate; so as soon as the machines break down, Customs back the system up.”
DAILY GUIDE sources at the Aviance cargo village hinted that a day before the incident, speculation became rife that the scanner had developed a technical fault when indeed it was functioning, ostensibly to prepare people’s minds in case the deal was uncovered.
By international convention, only diplomatic goods are not allowed to go through the scanner, but even those are occasionally scanned and searched when any of the security agencies at the airport including the National Security, officials of the NACOB, Customs and Aviation Security, raise issues with the content or suspect they contain contraband goods.
Some have suggested that the leverage provided by this international treaty in a way, contributes to the incidents of illicit drug trade since it provides an escape route for certain diplomats to engage in the ‘business.’
Decoy
Documents covering the five un-scanned cargos which contained the illicit drugs were uncovered on Tuesday September 25, when officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) stormed the place in a bid to probe what might have gone wrong.
Apparently, a worker with Nick TC-Scan, called Monica, had kept a dossier of all documents covering un-scanned goods.
It was then that it emerged that only one among the six goods in question went through the scanner and that documents covering the said goods were marked as normal, whilst those covering the other five which contained the cannabis had been marked ‘scanner faulty’ by the agents with the date as September 25, 2012, which was a Tuesday, when the flight indeed left on Monday September 24.
A ground agent of APSS whose name was given as Charles was captured by the CCTV as the one who went to dump the five other documents at the offices of Nick TC-Scan Limited to make it seem as though it was the negligence of the scanning company that resulted in goods getting to Heathrow.
Apart from that the security agencies have also been able to uncover that Monica who was off-duty, received a call from an agent of the airline on the morning of Tuesday September 25, asking her whether she was at post and if she could talk to some of the analysts to fidget with the scanner to make it look like the cargo containing the drugs were scanned because his people were in trouble.
She was said to have responded in the negative.
The said gentleman whose name is not yet known is said to have been picked up by the security agencies.
So far five officials of NACOB, namely Kamaldeen Awudu, Worlanyo Fiano, Ibrahim Badoo, Marvin Amon-Kotei and Ben Kusi Asante have been arrested and released on bail over the busted wee.
A supervisor at Aviance has also been picked up for interrogation.
Bemused Executive Secretary of NACOB, Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, also called ‘Crazy Sarpong,’ put up a façade, contemplating whether or not to resign over the image-denting narcotic heist.
But National Security Coordinator Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd) insists the man would not resign.
Gbevlo himself has visited the place.

NPP Jabs Nyaho Over Mahama Saga

Published in Daily Guide on October 3, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

 

Dr Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is fighting one of its leading members and former Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro, Dr Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe, over his statements regarding the Ibrahim Mahama-Merchant Bank loan saga.
The party said Dr Nyaho Tamakloe could stay off in the quest to recapture power if he was not ready to put his shoulders to the wheel.
Last week, the tough-talking NPP chieftain descended heavily on some members of his party over their decision to question a deal involving Engineers and Planners, a company owned by the brother of President John Mahama, Ibrahim Mahama, which is believed to have contributed to the near collapse and sale of Merchant Bank to a South African company, FirstRand.
In the heat of his anger, Dr Nyaho Tamakloe described those behind the press statement that was read by Deputy Communications Director of the NPP Yaw Buaben Asamoa, in disparaging words, referring to them as foolish and stupid since he saw their action as tantamount to a ‘pull him down’ syndrome.
But at a press conference in Accra yesterday, National Youth Organiser of the NPP Anthony Karbo and convenor of a forum dubbed ‘The People Must Know’, had this to say: “If Dr Nyaho Tamakloe says that we are stupid, we are foolish; okay, this is the party he belongs to, so he is also proudly part of it.”
He was not surprised at the tantrums thrown by Dr Tamakloe on Asempa FM when he called into the live programme since according to the NPP youth organiser, the former diplomat was related to the vice president’s brother.
Dr Tamakloe is said to be a brother of Ibrahim’s late mother, Joyce Tamakloe.
Apart from that, he considered the man as a person who was detached from the general happenings in the NPP.
Much as he respected his opinion, the NPP youth organiser stressed the need for Dr Tamakloe to come to terms with the fact that the NPP as a party was bigger than him and for which reason “he cannot superimpose himself on this party”.

Anthony Karbo

Karbo asked rhetorically, “Who will not defend his relative if he buys a plane?”  He said, “I will defend anybody in my family who buys a plane because it’s very far from here to my hometown so one can engage in that way.”
He served noticed, “We in the party are not going to allow anybody who has his own interest or has his own personal affiliation with anybody to delay force.”
He stressed the firm belief that “the few days left are going to be very very engaging”; therefore “anybody who is going to be a distraction for us on our way; we will please ask you to step aside and allow us to prosecute our victory agenda”.
The Bank Deal
The NPP group is daring President Mahama to come clean on the bizarre circumstances leading to the sale of Merchant Bank, a fully-owned Ghanaian company to the South African company if he has no hand in the deal.
“The forum for ‘the people must know’ is asking President Mahama to help us unravel the mystery surrounding the sale of the Merchant Bank,” it said.
This was in view of the fact that Engineers and Planners company is indebted to the bank to the tune of GH¢57.2m, representing 19.1%, adding to its total burden of GH¢330million owed the bank before it was sold to the South African at GH¢170million.
Though Merchant Bank was sold to FirstRand for 746.2 million South African Rand, the equivalent of $91million for a 75 percent stake in a deal that was approved by the government, the NPP believed that it was the indebtedness of the president’s brother’s company that led to the virtual collapse of the bank since the loans were non-secured.
Private Jet
The president’s brother recently bought a private plane worth about $30million. The plane was recently used to ferry former Nigerian strongman President Olusegun Obasanjo to broker peace with NDC founder President Jerry John Rawlings.
The loans have become a bad debt in the bank owned by contributors of the state-owned pension scheme, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
The NPP youth organiser therefore believed that “there are some unseen hands pulling some strings to further the interest of Mr. Mahama against the collective interest of all”.
The group sought to know why Merchant Bank was sold and why “Mr. Mahama has blatantly failed to honour his obligations to the bank since the NDC assumed office in 2009?” and “why Mr. Blaise Mankwa, a former Managing Director of Merchant Bank who got sacked by the Board of Directors for facilitating an unsecured loan to the tune of $46million to Mr. Mahama has been rewarded with an ambassadorial position by President John Dramani?”
The group also asked “why Mr. Jonas Koranteng Smith, the union chairman who was responsible for loan recoveries was sacked after testifying in court against Mr. Mahama’s Engineers and Planners?”
They equally sought to know why in spite of the fact that government had denied selling Merchant Bank, there was no official record produced to support its claim, wondering, “Why should state institutions like SSNIT and SIC life play lead roles in ring-fencing the debt of a private citizen of Ghana?”

Gbevlo Storms Airport Over $10m Cocaine/Wee

Published in Daily Guide on October 2, 2012

 By Charles Takyi-Boadu & Stephen Zoure and Raphael Adeniran

 

Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, National Security Coordinator

Checks at the Aviance Cargo village at the Kotoka International Airport, where drug traffickers have in recent times been using for their booming drug trade, have revealed that the cargo scanner at the facility has been tampered with.
According to reports available to DAILY GUIDE, the scanner broke down suspiciously soon after some containers had gone through it, a reason for which the drug lords were able to beat the security checks.
The latest arrests prompted the National Security Coordinator, Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd), to make an unannounced visit to the Aviance Cargo village at the airport where the 1.5 tonnes of cannabis and cocaine busted at the Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom originated last week.
The cannabis, which was concealed in fresh fruits and vegetables, weighing around 1.5 tonnes with a street value of £4.3 million ($8.6million), was busted at the Heathrow Airport.
A day after the wee arrest, British officials announced the interception of another drug (cocaine) consignment smuggled from Ghana, weighing 7.5 kg with an approximated street value of £750,000 ($1.5million).
The National Security Coordinator stormed the place in the early hours of Saturday around 9am in a Rambo-style in the company of other security capos, in a bid to uncover the mystery surrounding the circumstances under which the seized cannabis and cocaine departed the airport without being detected with all the security scanners in place.
Gbevlo’s first port of call was the warehouse where goods earmarked for export are usually kept.
He, then in the company of one General Mankarta, an official of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) in-charge of security at the cargo village, moved straight to the said scanner which could not detect the busted drugs to inspect the facility and afterwards went to the various security check points to assess things.
The two looked quite disturbed about the security breach which led to the bust of the cocaine and cannabis haul and its implications for the country in view of government’s claims to have put adequate measures in place to curtail the drugs trade.
It is unclear what the National Security Coordinator told the security men manning the various checkpoints at the cargo village but sources said the move was to ostensibly put some fear in workers at the place in a bid to tighten security and to avert any future occurrences.
Booming Drug Trade
Ghana, in the past week, has been in the international news for drug trafficking to the United Kingdom and other countries.
The immediate past United States Ambassador, Donald G. Teitelbaum, had criticised the growing narcotic drugs trade in Ghana.
“Narcotic trafficking, narcotic uses are threats to all of us and Ghana is increasingly becoming a transit point for narcotics. It is also pretty clear that the use of narcotic drugs is on the increase in Ghana,” Ambassador Teitelbaum told a group of Ghanaian journalists at the US Embassy just before he left the country after the end of his duty tour in August.
Though some workers at the Aviance claimed the scanner in question developed a technical fault on the fateful day when the drugs left the country, others also believed it was deliberately rendered useless to enable the narcotics to go through without detection.
The Executive Secretary of the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB), Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, was fuming on radio when he alleged that security officers at the cargo village who were on duty on the day of the drug bust were strangely asked to go home.
The NACOB boss pointed accusing fingers at Airport Profiling and Security Services, the company responsible for assaying goods before loading onto outbound aircraft.
In the case of the busted cannabis at the London Heathrow Airport, it was loaded onto a Virgin Atlantic airline.
Broken Down Scanner
Credible information indicated that on that fateful day, only one cargo went through the scanner at the cargo village and cleared for export.
The rest, including those that contained the cannabis, according to sources, did not go through the scanner because of a supposed technical fault but were cleared for export.
It is believed that a drug syndicate, in league with some workers at the cargo village, was behind some of these narcotics trades.
The man behind the busted drugs is believed to have fled the country to an unknown destination.
Sources in the UK also hinted that the smugglers usually used one of the weakest security links at the Heathrow Airport, Terminal 3, where most flights from Ghana often offloaded their cargo.
Heathrow has tightened security at certain terminals upon realising that some flights from Ghana preferred to offload their goods through those places.
Border Force officials at the Heathrow afterwards indicated that the busted cannabis in tape-wrapped compressed packages within boxes was the biggest cannabis seizure in three years.
Investigations have been launched and five officials of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Kamaldeen Awudu, Worlanyo Fiano, Ibrahim Badoo, Marvin Amon-Kotei and Ben Kusi Asante have been rounded up by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) in connection with the seizure. They have however been released on bail.
A supervisor at Aviance was also picked up on Friday evening for interrogation.
Resignation
The embattled Executive Secretary of Narcotics Control Board, Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, has indicated that he might resign over the image-denting narcotic incident.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that preliminary conclusions from police investigations had cited official complicity and negligence of all the other security agencies at post.
Mr Sarpong said he was ready to take full responsibility for lapses in his outfit: “I am a strong believer in God, I take full responsibility.”