GHANA MOVES IN ONE ACCORD

…Devoid of politics and acrimony

Posted: The Chronicle Wednesday, February 2, 2009
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The feeling at the independence square, the venue for the National Prayer and Thanks Giving service yesterday gave a confirmation of the commitments of Ghanaians to bury their individual and collective differences to move the country forward in one accord in these times of global economic recession.
Speaker after speaker expressed concern about the level of acrimony and division that characterised the just-ended General elections and stressed the urgent need for all Ghanaians to adopt an attitudinal change that will help move the country forward.
Preaching the sermon, the Bolgatanga based Reverent Minister, Rev. Eastwood Anaba wondered why the Ghanaian society had become rife with intolerance.
He however foresaw a new kind of revolution coming to Ghana which surpasses the mere tenets of industrial, social or intellectual revolution but one that he called “spiritual revolution”.
In this kind of revolution, which he said is written in the constitution of the spirits of Ghanaians, Rev. Anaba noted that one did not require a Parliamentarian, lawyer or an intellectual to read and interpret but to do it with one’s own conscience.
“May the conscience of this nation and the conscience of our leaders evolve into that which is super-natural, may a super-natural change come upon this nation and seize us like the way an armed robber seizes an unsuspecting victim on the highway”, he prayed.
As a man of ‘Frafra’ origin who is married to a Kwahu woman, Reverend Anaba could not but use his family as an example of how people from various backgrounds and beliefs can co-exist without any acrimony whatsoever.
According to him, this has been made possible by the trend of love and understanding that lies between him and his wife and therefore charged all Ghanaians to take a queue from his example to help move the country forward in one accord.
For him, there can be no better time than this, stressing that this is the time for Ghana to move forward and had this to tell the President “Professor John Evans Atta Mills, what a moment and time you have in your hand, you hold in your hand, a nation at a time that many Presidents never had because at the time of unprecedented chaos, that is when you need a man to stand and we thank God that this is the man God has chosen for us through our prophetic thumb-print.”
Whilst he conceded that there are difficult times ahead, Rev. Anaba was optimistic of Ghana’s ability to lift itself from doldrums, emphasising “what a time so difficult a task and yet surmountable.”
On his part, President John Evans Atta Mills thanked God for his tender mercies and loving kindness to nation and prayed that he will continue to shower his blessings on his children.
“Any society that does not have God as its foundation, is likely to collapse, indeed the secret behind the successful nations is the fact that they all lean heavily on the Almighty”, he noted.
At certain times when we are weary as individuals and as a nation, Professor Mills indicated that the good Lord carries his children at his back.
He was optimistic that Ghana as a nation has a special place in the heart of the almighty and for that matter he will never abandon Ghanaians.
He commended each and every Ghanaian for their individual and collective roles which ensured peace before, during and after the elections which saw him becoming the President.
Now that the elections are over, the President noted that work has to begin in earnest, asking all Ghanaians to gird their loins to work hard to consolidate the gains made so far.
“We need to be united as a nation to face the challenges ahead”, he said.
For him, honesty, transparency, hard work and love for one another are the only virtues that Ghanaians need to build a strong and viable nation, “we need always to join hands as a people with a common destiny, we need to forgive one another, we need to move forward as a people who have a protector who never fails.”
In that regard, the President noted that he is considering the option of setting aside a day as a day national thanksgiving.”
He proposed that every last Friday in January be set aside to be observed as such by Muslims whilst the first Sunday in the month February will be reserved for Christians for the same purpose.

Parliamentary roasting awaits nominees

… At Appointments Committee

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Posted: The Chroinicle Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Even before they make their maiden appearance before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for consideration, issues have started popping up on four of the President’s nominees, including the likes of Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni and Sherry Ayittey.
Members of the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), led by Accra-based legal practitioner, Godfred Dame, have raised concerns over the nominations and possible approval of the Ministers-designate by Parliament.
They have thus tabled a petition before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, to, not only block, but revoke the nomination of the aforementioned individuals for ministerial positions.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, the leadership of AFAG noted that the actions, conduct and behaviour of the said Ministers-designate, reeked of disdain and conscious disregard for the basic laws of the country, since according to them, it has brought them into public disregard.
They recalled how a forensic audit report, commissioned by the Auditor-General in the year 2004, into the operations of the National Vocational and Technical Institute (NVTI), made specific findings of financial improprieties, corruption and fraud against Alhaji Mumuni during his days at the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, under the Rawlings National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime.
“It is remarkable that those findings were to the effect that through the gross negligence of Alhaji Mumuni, the state had lost a colossal ¢15 billion (old cedis) through his involvement with the NVTI alone,” they emphasised.
They further noted that the former Minister was found to have authorised the fraudulent release of amounts in excess of ¢19 billion from the Consolidated Fund, into undisclosed accounts.
To them, the fact that no punitive measures or criminal proceedings had not been instituted against Alhaji Mumuni, based on the report, was immaterial, since any future Attorney General could institute criminal proceedings against the Minister of Foreign Affairs-designate.
Mr. Dame, who was flanked by other members of AFAG, including the likes of Abeiku Dickson, Jojo Essel Cobbinah and Arnold Boateng, also raised issues with certain decisions taken by Alhaji Mumuni during his stint at the Ministry of the Interior during the transition, acting as the Representative of President Mills.
At a time when he had not been nominated by the President, they noted that the nominee dismissed the lawfully appointed head of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), and further extended his tentacles to the Ministry of Roads and Transport, to remove the acting head of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
They also questioned the authority with which Alhaji Mumuni imposed curfews in certain parts of the country, when he had not appeared before Parliament for prior approval.
“We think that for Alhaji Mumuni to engage in such palpable violations of the 1992 Constitution, he is unfit to be nominated by His Excellency the President to be a Minister of State, and also protect and defend the same 1992 Constitution,” they emphasised.
In the case of Sherry Ayittey, AFAG noted that grave and adverse findings of financial impropriety, fraudulent behaviour and forgery had been made against her in an audit report of the Auditor-General.
Ms. Ayittey was the trustee of the 31st December Women’s Movement share in Caridem, a company owned by the movement.
The Directors of Caridem were found, in a report prepared by the Auditor-General in 2004, to have fraudulently procured the GIHOC Nsawam Cannery.
Apart from not acquiring the sale of the GIHOC Cannery, the Auditor-General’s report said Caridem falsified documents, in order to reduce the outstanding liabilities of the company, on the purchase price of the factory.
In consequence, Caridem was said to have not paid the purchase price of the said factory, but still succeeded in securing the execution of a sale and purchase agreement, with the subsequent handing over of the factory in 1997.
It is the view of AFAG that in the face of this report of the Auditor-General, which has not been set aside, it would be totally wrong and prejudicial to the interests of the nation, for Ms Ayittey to be nominated by the President for a Ministerial position, saying, “Ms Ayittey must purge herself of these adverse findings, in order to be fit for consideration by Parliament, for approval as a Minister.
Meanwhile, the individuals involved have indicated their preparedness to institute legal action, to bring defamation charges against members of AFAG, who are making the claims.

Despite its intensive public relation work

More rot uncovered at Golden Gate
…As management pay monies to ‘ghost’ staff, companies

Posted: The Chronicle Thursday, January 29, 2009.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Though the management of Tema-based stevedoring company, Golden Gate Services Limited (GGSL), headed by Mr. Bennet Aboagye have embarked on an intensive face-saving media campaign over the last couple of days to safeguard its interests, there are still lingering questions of financial impropriator hanging on its neck.
A forensic audit report conducted by Messrs. Baffour Awuah and Associates at the instance of the Auditor-General continues to unearth damning findings on the activities and operations of the company.
In the course of its investigations, the auditors detected that huge amounts of monies mostly in dollars denominations had gone unaccounted since management could not reconcile the amounts involved with any documentary evidence whatsoever.
For instance, it was uncovered that during the period of February 23, 2005 to December 20, 2007, cash withdrawals totalling US $184, 354.03 were made from various bank accounts of GGSL, allegedly to pay salaries of the company’s staff.
However, a review of the company’s payroll, salary vouchers and a statement of account on the sale of dollars presented to the auditors by management revealed that for the period under review, the payment of management and staff salaries were made from cedi bank accounts of GGSL through the bankers of the management and staff.
The auditors were therefore unable to obtain documentary evidence from management on how the amounts involved were paid and to whom they were paid to.
In the absence of any documentary evidence to prove the otherwise of its findings, the auditors recommended that the amount of US $184, 354.03 should be recovered from the company’s Commercial and Administrative Manager, Mr. Rudolf Engmann.
Additionally, an amount of US $85,000.00 was alleged to have been exchanged for cedi equivalent from Index Link to pay for the wages of Ghana Dock Labour Company (GDLC).
However, there was not a single document to either confirm or prove that GDLC indeed received either the US $85,000.00 or its cedi equivalent.
It was again recommended that Mr. Engmann be made to refund the amount involved.
Similarly, management of GGSL failed to account for a total cash withdrawal of US $83, 500.00 allegedly paid as ‘special stevedore consultancy fees’ on five vessels during the period of December 2005 to December 2006 since management could not provide any documentary evidence in that regard.
It also emerged that from the period of June 13, 2002 to November 20, 2007 management of the company withdrew a total amount of US $187, 439.11 from various GGSL bank accounts, including those of the Tema branches of Standard Chartered Bank, Ecobank and Stanbic Bank.
However, management could not provide any documentary evidence to account for the total of US $187, 439.11 withdrawn.
In the absence of the documentary evidence to account for the amounts withdrawn from the various GGSL accounts, the auditors therefore recommended that the total amount of US $187, 439.11 should be recovered from the company’s Commercial and Administrative Manager, Mr. Rudolf Engmann who is also the officer in charge of accounts.
Also, between the period of July 2004 and December 2004, management of GGSL issued seven cash cheques totalling US $150, 880.00 which was cashed by the company’s staff and debited GGSL Tema branch of Merchant Bank account number 0250358016.
Management of the company could however not provide the auditors with any documentary evidence, such as payment vouchers and other relevant documentation to account for the total amount of US $150.880.00.
It therefore proved difficult for the auditors to confirm actual payment in order to ascertain the beneficiaries of the amounts withdrawn.
Besides, the investigations revealed that the transactions were not recorded in the out-going cash/cheques register.
Further, the auditors observed in the course of their investigations that management of the company issued two cash cheques totalling US $23, 500.00 which were cashed at the GGSL Tema branch of Merchant Bank account number 00001/01/002516/61 between June 10, 2005 and November 30, 2007.
That notwithstanding, it was detected that there were no payment vouchers and relevant supporting documentation to confirm actual payment, whilst the transactions were not captured in the outgoing/incoming cash/cheques registers.
This became evident since the cash withdrawals or corresponding cedi equivalent was not captured in the company’s statement on sale of dollars made available to the auditors.
Further, management could not explain and or provide any documentary evidence whatsoever to account for the total amount of US $23,500.00 cashed from the bank.
It was also unable to provide the auditors with any documentary evidence such as payment vouchers and other supporting documentations to confirm actual payments and to whom the amounts were paid.
In the absence of documentary evidence to account for the total amount involved, the auditors recommended that the amount should be recovered from the company’s Commercial and Administrative Manager.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of GGSL and the Commercial and Administration, Messrs. Bennet Aboagye and Rudolf Engmann have sought to ridicule the forensic audit report verbally but without any substantial and substantive documentary proof to back their positions.