Twists and turns in MP's "fake gold" case

The Accra Regional Police Command has denied that the National Democratic Congress MP for Sene, Felix Twumasi-Appiah who was arrested for allegedly attempting to sell fake gold to a businessman was detained on "orders from above."Mr Douglas Akrofi-Asiedu, Accra Regional Police Commander has told the Ghana News Agency that, he was surprised that the MP had the audacity to "peddle such lies." "I never know him, till after telling his story and mentioning his name, he added that he was an MP".Mr Akrofi-Asiedu said, "I told him that for him to invite Mr Charles Dejoe the businessman to be defrauded, he could be held responsible for his actions."He said his outfit took action before informing his superiors so the claim that the MP was detained on orders from above was not true but an attempt to put a spin on a purely criminal matter. Mr. Felix Twumasi-Appiah, and three others were arrested for allegedly attempting to defraud a businessman by selling to him fake gold dust to the tune of 800,000 dollars.The other suspects were Wallace Mensah, Kwantwi Barimah and Tony Delor.DeputySuperintendent of Police Kwesi Ofori of the Police Public Relations Directorate told the Ghana News Agency that Mr Charles Dejoe, the complainant, said he was outside the country when the MP called him that he had 50 kilogrammes of gold to sell at 16,000 dollars per kilogramme.Mr. Dejoe came to Ghana to buy the metal but suggested that the gold should be sent to the Geological Survey Department for testing. Mr Ofori said the suspects suggested that a sample should be tested and after the test, Mr Dejoe requested that the whole quantity, packed in a metal box and sealed, should be tested as well, but Mr. Twumasi-Appiah objected.Mr Ofori said the complainant became suspicious and informed the Police who stormed the Survey Department premises and arrested the suspects.Speaking to the GNA at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters on Saturday, Mr Twumasi-Appiah said earlier in the month, a friend called him to say that he had some people who had 50 kilogrammes of gold to sell and whether he (Twumasi-Appiah) could get a buyer for the precious metal.Mr Twumasi-Appiah, who is also an investment consultant, said he then got in touch with one Mr Charles Dejoe, a friend and a gold dealer, about the offer.Mr Dejoe, he said, then told him that he was out of the country but that, in view of the quantity of gold involved, he would personally come down to Ghana for the transaction.Mr Twumasi-Appiah said on Thursday, November 23, Mr Dejoe contacted him and he told him that the consignment was in.Mr. Dejoe then asked that they should meet at the Geological Survey Department (GSD) to test the quality, quantity and carat level of the gold.He said he got to the GSD on Friday after 1200 hours and met the said sellers of the gold numbering about six.He said, in view of where Dejoe's office was located at East Legon, and the fact that he Twumasi-Appiah did not have enough time to spend at the GSD he called Dejoe to ask that he named someone at the GSD who would witness the test.Dejoe gave him two names of the staff of GSD, but they were both not at work.He then proceeded for testing of the sample of gold brought by the sellers as a representative of the buyer.Mr Twumasi-Appiah said when Mr Dejoe finally arrived at the GSD premises he asked that the whole consignment be tested instead of just the sample at the expense of the sellers.Mr. Dejoe then requested that the 50 kilogramme box which the sellers had brought to the GSD be opened, whilst he Twumasi-Appiah was in the laboratory.He said Mr. Dejoe then called him in the laboratory and said that the sellers were not genuine people because they had refused his request for the box to be opened.But to ensure that the sellers paid for the cost of testing the samples, and because both he and Dejoe had unspecified amounts of cash in their vehicles, he Twumasi-Appiah called the police to give them adequate protection, in case the sellers turned out to be fraudsters.He said Mr. Dejoe also called the police 20 minutes after he had placed his call.When the policemen he had called arrived, they were able to arrest and handcuff two of the sellers after four of them had bolted.He said they were in the process of conveying the two sellers to the police station when the other policemen Mr Dejoe had called arrived and helped them to send them to the Accra Central Police Station.Mr Twumasi-Appiah said at the station, he was waiting for the statements of the two suspects to be taken when he was informed that the Regional Commander, ACP Akrofi Asiedu wanted to see him, only to be told by the Commander that there was order from above to detain him.He said he insisted to know by whose orders he was being detained but the police did not divulge that information to him.He was detained from 2100 hours to 2300 hours and later called from the back of the counter to go home and to report at the same police station on Saturday but when the Regional Commander arrived at post he asked that he should report back on Monday, November 27.He expressed amazement on how he had become the accused when he had requested the people to arrest the gold sellers. GNA

Central Bank to re-denominate Ghanaian cedi

The Bank of Ghana says beginning from the middle of next year, it will re-denominate the nation’s currency, the cedi. When the policy is implemented, the cedi will be set at 10,000 cedis to one new Ghana cedi, meaning an item that costs 10,000 cedis will be priced at one cedi. The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr Mahamadu Bawumia who confirmed the new upcoming policy, assured that it will not affect the value of the currency in anyway. The Governor of the Central Bank Dr Paul Acquah revealed the re-denomination at the annual dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Accra. The Governor explained that after years of economic stability, it was time to re-denominate the cedi to prevent the situation where people had to carry large sums of physical cash for transactions. Explaining details of the exercise to Joy News, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Dr Mahamadu Bawumia said the value of the cedi will not change but a smaller amount of money will be required for transactions. According to the Bank of Ghana, new notes and coins will be issued when the re-denomination exercise comes into effect by July next year and the highest cedi denomination will be 50 cedis which will be equivalent to present day 500,000 cedis.

Dr Bawumia assured the public that there was no cause for panic, as enough time would be allowed for people to change over when the policy was implemented.

The decision to re-denominate the cedi is to reduce the cost and risk associated with having to carry large sums of money in transacting business, the difficulties in calculating or preparing accounts with huge figures and the strain on the use of ATMS.

The success of the nation depends on education-Kufuor

President John Agyekum Kufuor has stated that, the success and development of the nation depend greatly on the education of its people. He has therefore called on all Ghanaians, especially parents to endeavour to invest in the education of their children. President Kufuor, who was addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Offinso Traditional Area to climax their week-long Mmoaninko Festival at Offinso on Saturday said the acquisition of knowledge formed the basis of offering employment to people. He said but for education, do you think Kofi Annan would have been elected as General Secretary of the United Nations, he queried. The celebration was under the theme, “Quality Education for Better Health, Environment and Rapid Progress”. He said there was the need for people to ensure peace and understanding and eschew lawlessness and anarchy. President Kufuor appealed to the chiefs to release land to people who want to venture into farming so that they contribute meaningfully to the development of the country. He said the government would continue to support the development of the area, adding that the Dwamena Akenten Secondary school would be made a model school, while other development projects like roads, both highway and feeder roads would continue to receive the attention from the government. He thanked Offinsohene and the people for voting for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to win the recent by-election in the area that brought Dr.Owusu Achaw Duah as the new Member of Parliament (MP) for the area after the death of Mr Kwabena Sarfo. President Kufuor donated 50 million cedis towards the celebration of the Festival which was meant to raise funds to support the development of the area Nana Wiafe Akenten III, Paramount chief of Offinso Traditional Area said the festival was a treasure and a gift of victory for the people of Offinso and it recalls the good deeds of the heroism of nana Wiafe Akenten in the second Dormaa and Ashanti war. He said it was also to portray the unity of purpose of the people in the area and also to afford them the opportunity to take stock of the achievements of the Traditional Authorities and the Offinso District Assembly He indicated that the celebration of the festival has been used to award scholarships to 150 students who are now pursuing their Masters Degree programmes in various disciplines in the nation’s Universities. He said proceeds from the current celebration would be used to expand the scholarship scheme to cover boys entering Senior Secondary schools and tertiary institutions as against girls only which was hitherto the case and persons undergoing vocational training programmes. He said the week-long celebration has been used to educate the people on the need to ending unnecessary invocation of curses which had brought untold hardships and deaths to some people and their families and to reduce funeral expenses in the area. Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto II, Paramount Chief of Bechem, who represented Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene underscored the importance of education and good health and called on the people to take advantage of the Government’s Capitation grant and send their children to school.GNA

Tourism must build mutually beneficial relationships- Tourism Advisor

Mr Corjon Van der Haat, Senior Tourism Advisor of the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), has stated the need for all activities around tourism related parks to promote mutually beneficial relationships between the parks and stakeholders in those areas. Mr Haat made the point at a two-day joint workshop for identifiable groups from Ghana and Togo to draw a tourism development plan for the Kyabobo National Park in Ghana and its counterpart Fazao-Malfakassa in Togo. Those who attended included chiefs, tour and transport operators, security officials, Ghana Tourist Board, hotel and restaurant operators, wildlife officers and community members. Mr. Haat said the development of park related tourism must include the protection and enhancement of natural resources around those parks. He warned that ethnic, chieftaincy and land disputes hurt tourism. Mr Haat said the Kyabobo National Park was yet to attract the attention of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Step programme because it was yet to come into the limelight. He said the UNWTO, which is a multi-destination marketing programme covers Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana Benin and Togo. Mr Joseph Denteh, District Chief Executive for Nkwanta said, in addition to the Kyabobo National Park and Fazao-Malfakassa, the area has other tourism attractions such as mountains, waterfalls, climate and rivers, which needed to be developed. He drew the workshop's attention to the need for hotels of international standard, safari lodges and camps and recreational infrastructure and restaurants and car rentals along tourist routes in the area. Mr Denteh said plans were far advanced to construct the Brewniase-Nkwanta-Damanko trunk road to ease traveling in the area.GNA