Danger ahead of Ghana in 2012 if…

-Dr Kwesi Aning
Posted: The Chronicle | Wednesday, November 04, 2009

By Charles Takyi - Boadu

The head of the Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Department at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Dr. Kwesi Aning, has warned that the 2012 elections will undermine the peace Ghana is enjoying, if the current skirmishes at the Kokomba Market in Accra, and Bawku in the Northern Region are not contained.
Dr. Aning was speaking on the topic ‘Actors in election violence; motivations, causes and manifestations’ at a conference in Accra, under the theme ‘Preventing election violence through legal enforcement and political tolerance’.

The programme was organised by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), in collaboration with the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to provide an opportunity to discuss the problem of election violence in Ghana, in order to find a lasting solution to it.

Taking a cue from violence that occurred in places like Akwatia in the Eastern Region, Tain in the Brong Ahafo Region, and Chereponi in the Northern Region, during and after the 2008 general elections, he said, “I think it is natural to to recognise that 2012 has the potential of being the most violent elections in this country.”

He has therefore stressed the urgent need for all stakeholders, including civil society groups, security agencies, media, the various political parties, especially the two major parties, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), and their agents, to guard against it, since it had the tendency of plunging the entire nation into chaos.

“We are going to see a dramatic escalation of violence as we move towards 2012,” said Aning.

This, he said, was due to the fact that there was an incentive structure and a profit motive attached to the violence that has characterised certain areas, saying, “if we don’t deal with them, they may become the defining points in our history.”

He discounted the usual rhetoric that Ghanaians were friendly and hospitable, since, according to him, that is only meant to please the international community, whilst Ghanaians are enemies of themselves.

He noted that the two major political parties - NDC and NPP - are fond of promoting violence instead of giving Ghanaians hope.

The Security Expert envisaged that the violence that would characterise the 2012 elections, would start from the primaries and transcend to the national platform, believing that the oil find and exploration could also contribute to this violence, as witnessed in other countries.

Dr Aning said Ghanaians seem to have lost control, since, according to him, the country and its citizens are currently driven by monetary benefits, whilst the country is being militarised.

It is thus feared that by the year 2012, the tools for the perpetration of some of these violent acts that have characterised our elections, would be employed through the use of machetes rather than guns.

“I shudder to believe what will happen when we open the voters’ registration in 2012,” he said, with a note of caution, “let Rwanda stand as an abiding caution to us.”

He also cautioned the media to desist from writing things that had the potential of giving substance to acts of violence, since, in his observation, headlines of the various newspapers in the country, for the past one month, bear the semblance of a worrying trend of violence.

Chaired by a former Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice V. C. R. A. C. Crabbe, the programme brought together the Country Director of the UNDP, K. K. Kamalddeen, the Deputy Interior Minister, Kwasi Appiah-Kubi, and the head of Programmes at the CDD, Kojo Asante.

The forum provided an opportunity for participants to discuss the problem of election violence in Ghana, and to answer questions bordering on what should be done to rid elections in Ghana of violence and intimidation.

‘Tarzan’s salary claim has no basis’

-Budget Officer
Posted: The Chronicle | Friday, October 30, 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The Director of Administration at the office of the President, who is also responsible for Budget, Sam Azu Aziakor yesterday told the Ghana@50 probe that Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, the Chief Executive of the defunct Ghana@50 Secretariat is not entitled to any salary because he does not have any appointment letter.
When Wereko Brobby appeared before the commission recently, he appealed to the Commissioners to ensure that his salaries, which are in arrears, paid to him.

He however recalled that somewhere last year, the former CEO put up a memo which was addressed to him (Aziakor), asking him to initiate processes which would lead to the payment of his salary.

Upon receipt, Mr. Aziakor said he conferred with the former chief of staff, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani as to what should be done, since Dr. Wereko Brobby needed the money to go for some medical treatment. For this reason, he noted that they agreed to give him an amount of US$ 75,000 as advance payment of his outstanding salary arrears, which dated back to the year 2006, when he was employed as CEO of the Secretariat.

This claim by the Director of Administration baffled the Chairman of the Commission, Justice Duose, who ascertained from him the basis for which the said salary advancement was given to the former CEO, because the latter had not been given any appointment where his emoluments would have been stated.

Mr. Aziakor responded - “My Lord, I think in this case the salary had not been determined, so they were still working around it.” Aziakor, however, agreed that since no appointment letter was given to Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, he was not entitled to any salary.

He nevertheless acknowledged the amount of GH ¢200,000 that Dr. Wereko Brobby used as a start up capital to establish the Secretariat, which has since been paid to him.

When he appeared before the Commission recently, Dr. Wereko Brobby claimed he was entitled to a monthly salary of GH ¢5000 and the government owed him a total amount of US$ 146,000 covering the entire period he served as CEO of the Secretariat.

Earlier, Mr. Aziakor took time to take the Commission through the role he and the office of the President played in the activities and operations of the Ghana@50 Secretariat, which he said was to convey executive decisions to the Secretariat.

He insisted that no official at the office of the President was directly or indirectly employed, or paid any money for their individual and respective roles.

They only prepared the pay vouchers and forwarded it to the appropriate authorities for payment.

As at Wednesday, October 28th 2009, he said his office had released about GH ¢7.5million to the Secretariat, with an outstanding balance of GH ¢782,262.20. The total debt of the Secretariat as at now stands at GH ¢11million.

Though the office of the President was somehow involved in the disbursement of some of the monies, Mr. Aziakor noted that no payment was made without the knowledge and consent of the CEO, Dr. Wereko Brobby.

He could also not tell whether the Secretariat got any surplus on their accounts as asserted by Dr. Wereko Brobby.

The Director of Administration at the office of the President could also not confirm whether any funds were released by the Secretariat to Ghana’s missions abroad for the celebration.

Fallout from Ghana@50 Chairman's remark

DUOSE GROWLS OVER ATTACKS
...'I did not call for killing of journalists'
Posted: The Chronicle |Fri, 30 Oct 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu & George Frimpong

The Chairman of the Ghana@50 Commission, Justice Isaac Douse has told The Chronicle that he has no evil intension against any journalist in Ghana, and that his recent comment that Ghanaian journalists are overly crtitical on public office holders because they are not killed as it happens in other parts of the world, was reported out of contest.

Justice Duose, who invited these reporters to his office to express concern over the report, was also not happy with an editorial by The Chronicle on the issue, which according to him, sought to create the impression that he wanted people to take the law into their own hands and kill Journalists in Ghana.

Justice Duose was quoted as saying - “Rwanda was caused by the press and if the press wants Rwanda to happen in this country, they will get it.

Fortunately for them, in this country, people don't kill Journalists, so they are going on.” Though he admits saying the things attributed to him, the Chairman of the Commission said the import of the message he wanted to convey to the media was taken out of contest.

According to him, it was unfortunate for some media houses to create the impression that he was advocating for violence against journalists. Justice Duose, who is an Appeals Court Judge, told The Chronicle that he respects fundamental human rights and the tenets of democracy, and would therefore not do anything to undermine these values.

“I will not be happy if Journalists are killed because it is part of my obligation to protect the rights of Journalists”, he said, adding “I unreservedly apologize to Journalists, any individual or group of persons who may feel offended by those comments I made”, stressing that he did not have the slightest intention to cause disaffection among the media.

“The comments were not made to invite people to kill Journalists”, he emphasised. This, according to him, is due to the fact that both Judges and Journalists are enjoined to protect human rights and life.

Justice Duose's alleged comments on journalists and the Rwanda factor came after the former Chief of Staff who was also the Chairman of the National Planning Committee of the country's 50th independence anniversary celebrations, Mr. Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani raised concern about the way people express suspicions against public officials, when he appeared before the Commission recently.

“I hope the press which is leading the campaign of vilification in this country has heard you well. As I sit here, they have started vilifying me.

I'm going to sit here just for a short while but they have already started pulling me down,” myjoyonline quoted him as saying.