Another Kofi Annan Witch Hunt?

He not only lives rent-free on one of New York's swankiest blocks, but outgoing UN head Kofi Annan also got a subsidized apartment after first arriving in the city, it was revealed yesterday. Annan, then a Ghanaian official with the United Nations, moved into the Roosevelt Island flat in 1978 under the state's Mitchell-Lama program, which helps low- and moderate-income New Yorkers find housing.


And in a twist most New Yorkers would envy, the three-bedroom unit passed to his brother's family when Annan became UN secretary general in 1997 and moved to a brownstone on Sutton Place.



"I think you know that my brother lived there, so I don't think I can say any more about that," Annan said yesterday.
The apartment is now a home to Kobina Annan, who is Ghana's ambassador to Morocco, and Kobina Annan's wife and son.



Over the past 10 years, the subsidy could total well over $100,000, according to a tally in The New York Sun, which disclosed the Annans' sweet deal in yesterday's edition.
Peter Moses, a spokesman for the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which administers the Mitchell-Lama program, said it's agency policy not to comment on tenants.
But, he said, "In order for someone to initially occupy a Mitchell-Lama apartment, they have to fall within Mitchell-Lama guidelines."



Moses added that in 1997, regulations would have allowed Annan's brother to claim succession rights if they had jointly occupied the apartment, which they say they did.
Kofi Annan held onto the apartment even after marrying Nane Lagergren, who comes from a wealthy Swedish family, in 1984.



A UN spokesman said, "During his many years in New York he has always been a law-abiding resident." Kofi Annan Sidesteps Questions About Roosevelt Island ApartmentUNITED NATIONS (The SUN) — In his last U.N. press conference, Secretary-General Annan yesterday sidestepped a question about how the lease of a sought-after low-income residence he once lived in came to be held by a member of his family. State and city legislators have expressed outrage over the Annan family's use of the Roosevelt Island apartment — which Mr. Annan lived in before becoming U.N. secretary-general 10 years ago — calling it "corrupt" and "unreal."




Although much of Roosevelt Island is dedicated to low- and middle-income housing, many of its current residents are U.N. employees or foreign diplomats. Among them is a recent influx of North Korean diplomats, who have been seen on the island in cars bearing official emblems of the communist state.




Mr. Annan indicated yesterday that since he no longer lives in the Roosevelt Island apartment, he has nothing to do with it. He did, however, confirm that his brother lives there. The brother, Kobina Annan, is Ghana's ambassador to Morocco.



"I know that my spokesman answered the thing," Mr. Annan told The New York Sun at his press conference yesterday. "I do not hold the lease on an apartment or own an apartment on the island, and I think you know that my brother lives there."Mayor Bloomberg, who has had friendly relations with the secretary-general, said yesterday that he had "no idea whether Kofi Annan's brother is living there or what the terms of him living there are, if he's living there. So I really just don't know."



As Claudia Rosett reported in the Sun yesterday, Mr. Annan moved out of the apartment in the federally subsidized building in the mid-1990s, but his brother's wife, Ekua Annan, says she now holds the lease.



The Sun sent a list of detailed questions about the apartment for yesterday's article, but Mr. Annan's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, limited his response to two blanket statements.The outgoing secretary-general "has always lived within his means,"Mr. Dujarric said, and during his many years in New York, Mr. Annan "has always been a law-abiding resident."
The explanation was not sufficient for some New York legislators.



"You figure with all the illegal oil deals, you think the Annan family would have the courtesy of paying for market rate housing," City Council Member James Oddo, a Republican of Staten Island, said."It is unreal.Just put it on New York's tab, with unpaid diplomatic parking tickets," he added, saying the affair involving Mr. Annan is "just another reason to bid him a fond adieu."
State Senator Martin Golden, a Republican of Brooklyn, compared the Annans' Roosevelt Island residence to the oil-for-food scandal, saying the continued use of the apartment is typical of Mr. Annan's "fiefdom"and "the culture that has been accepted within his family for years."



"I have never seen anything as corrupt as this," Mr. Golden said. "If this was an American corporation, these people would be taken off in cuffs."Mr. Annan and his family have been embroiled in several scandals during his tenure as secretary-general; at the press conference yesterday, Mr. Dujarric also shielded him from a reporter who was planning to ask about the use of Mr. Annan's name to purchase a Mercedes-Benz, reportedly for his son Kojo.



Yesterday's snub of the reporter, James Bone of the London Times, attracted some attention, as Mr. Annan's tongue lashing of Mr. Bone at a previous press conference made international headlines and was included in a recent biography of the secretary-general."I am flattered," Mr. Bone said later. "He obviously doesn't want to take my still-unanswered questions about the Mercedes."



Asked yesterday if he had any personal regrets about his 10-year tenure, Mr. Annan said, "I think I'll pass on that one."
Source:The Sun

NDC Holds Congress On Thursday

Ghana’s main opposition national Democratic Congress (NDC) will tomorrow Thursday hold its delegate congress to elect a presidential candidate for next year’s general elections. About three hundred and fifty international and local observers have been invited to monitor the elections at the congress. The party said the presence of the observers would give credence to its promise to adhere to international democratic values.Kwabena Adjei is the chairman of the (NDC). He said the party is growing stronger, especially with multiple presidential aspirants.“This year we have four candidates and we’ve given them guidelines as to how to go about their various campaigns prior to the congress on Thursday…. We have established an inter-aspirants committee to try to ensure that internally the NDC has as little problem as possible,” he said.Adjei said the party recently brought the four presidential hopefuls together to talk to members of the party; something he said was unheard of in the party.“We held a family meeting last Tuesday where we introduced our candidate to the electorate. They came and talked to the people not in a debate form but each one of them tried to state clearly what their visions and missions are as they relate to the party’s vision and political philosophy. After that there was a rally and everything went well,” Adjei noted.He said though the party has had a checkered past, plans are afoot to change the negative perception of the party.“We are a growing organization and initially we had to manage the party and our membership. So we are gradually democratizing. So we have taken advantage of various criticisms from other political parties, from the media and so on. But in doing that, we have not allowed ourselves to be dictated to until the time has come when we think that we must do the right thing and that is what we are doing,” he said.Adjei said any of the presidential hopefuls are capable of wrestling power from the ruling New Patriotic party (NPP).“Sure, who ever emerges, we the NDC and the structure that we have put in place would be mobilized fully for that person to wrestle power from the NPP. Resource or no resource we will wrestle that power,” he said.Adjei accused the ruling party of trying to create a bad image for the NDC. But he said the party has taken precaution to prevent that.“We have put our security on the ground based on the intelligence we have gathered from the grounds about what the NPP wants to do again in order to consolidate the labeling that we are a violent and an eternally undemocratic party. It won’t happen this time,” Adjei said.
Source:VOA

International Reserves Crosses $2 Billion Mark

Ghana’s international reserves crossed the $2 billion mark for the first time in the economic history of the country at the end of October 2006.“These reserves are enough to cover 3.5 months of imports of goods and services,” the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Paul Acquah, has said.Dr Acquah, who was speaking at a press conference of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the BoG, said the external payments position was robust, with a reduced current account deficit in 2006 and a further build-up of gross international reserves.He said private inward transfers attributable to non-governmental organisations, embassies, service providers, individuals, among others, and channelled through the banks and finance companies from January to October 2006 amounted to $4.79 billion.He said that represented a 25.9 per cent increase over what was recorded for the corresponding period of 2005. Of the total transfers in the period, $1.22 billion (about 25 per cent) accrued to individuals, compared with 30.6 per cent over the same period in 2005.He said the foreign exchange market also saw an increased volume of activity during the year and reduced volatility in the market.He disclosed that the purchases and sale of foreign exchange by banks and forex bureaux in the 11-month period to November 2006 amounted to $6.01 billion, an increase of 13.9 per cent over the same period in 2005, and stated that the volume of dollar transactions dominated the market, accounting for some 80.4 per cent in the month of November, with the pound sterling at 7.3 per cent and the euro at 12.3 per cent.Measuring the cedi against international currencies, the governor said the cedi remained relatively stable against the US dollar during the year, explaining that cumulatively the cedi depreciated against the dollar by 1.1 per cent.He said the cedi depreciated much more against the euro by 12.2 per cent and the pound sterling by 14.2 per cent for the period January to November 2006.“This compares with a depreciation of 0.6 per cent against the US dollar and an appreciation of 14.3 per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively against the euro and the pound sterling in the same period a year earlier,” he said.He said in trade weighted terms, the cedi appreciated cumulatively by 1.1 per cent for the period January to October 2006 and by 5.2 per cent in foreign exchange weighted terms.On the issue of imports during the period under review, Dr Acquah said strong domestic demand reflected in a strong import growth and that amounted to $5,414.80 million in total imports for the period January to October 2006.That, he explained, represented an increase of 27.2 per cent, compared with a total import bill of $4,255.76 million for the same period in 2005.Non-oil imports amounted to $4,202.86 million, an increase of 23.0 per cent over the $3,416.30 million recorded for the same period in 2005.Consumption goods imported, he said, were estimated at $966.3 million, an increase of 17 per cent over the previous year’s level of $826.1 million.Capital goods imports, on the other hand, amounted to $873.5 million, representing a 22 per cent increase over the amount for the same period in 2005.Intermediate goods imports were estimated to be $3,213.0 million, compared with $2,404.0 million in 2005. Of these amounts, fuel and lubricants accounted for $1,164.47 million and $839.48 in 2006 and 2005 respectively, with the increase reflecting mostly in the rise in oil prices on the international market.These developments, Dr Acquah explained, resulted in a trade deficit of $1,871.56 million for the period up to October 2006 but stated that the current account turned in a reduced deficit of $45.6 million, compared with a deficit of $581.7 million recorded in 2005.He said the overall balance of payments recorded a deficit of $111.04 million, compared with a deficit of $195.29 million recorded for the corresponding period in 2005.He said provisional estimates indicated an overall surplus of $406.73 million for the year, bolstered by the seasonal inflows of cocoa proceeds.
Source:Graphic

350 observers to monitor NDC Special Congress

About 350 international and local electoral monitors would observe the Special National Delegates' Congress of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) slated for December 22 in Accra to elect the Party's presidential candidate for Election 2008.The observers include the Diplomatic Corps, representatives of African Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), local electoral monitors as well as representatives of all political parties in the country and other democratic stakeholders.Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on final preparations for the Congress, Mr Baba Jamal, NDC Deputy General Secretary, explained that the invitation of foreign and local observers to monitor the election of the potential next President of Ghana was to give credence to the Party's vow for democratic values."NDC is demonstrating and setting a new political agenda especially on the selection of a presidential candidate for other parties to emulate us. Therefore, throughout the process, the Party spelt out high standards for all the aspiring candidates; national and regional executives, Members of Parliament and the rank and file,=94 he said. "These standards, we believe, had enhanced internal politicking and projected the Party as a responsible democratic opposition waiting to annex the reins of governance of the country in 2009."Mr Jamal said 1,720 delegates would be attending the one purpose Congress to elect the presidential candidate.The delegates include national and regional executives as well as other special representatives from the constituencies and executives from six foreign branches, who had confirmed their participation. The four candidates contesting the election are Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Former Defence Minister; Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Former Minister of Education; Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, Former Vice President and Mr Edward Annan, a Businessman.On arrangements for security at the Congress, Mr Jamal said the Police Service and other national security agencies had been fully entrusted with the responsibility to ensure the safety of delegates. "The Party has discussed security arrangements with the Police High Command and we expect nothing else than the exhibition of professional standards by the men and women in uniform, who would be deployed on Congress grounds," he said.Mr Jamal said all logistics had been secured for the Congress, adding "we are surely ready for the Congress".He advised delegates, representatives of all the aspirants; the rank and file; local and international observers; representatives of political parties; media and cross-section of the public to strictly adhere to the rules and regulations of the Congress to ensure a successful event.A congress a year ago to elect national executives experienced incidents of violence when some delegates were attacked. Some NDC members led by Dr Obed Asamoah, Former chairman, later broke away to form the Democratic Freedom Party.The NDC has taken a series of steps to ensure that it buries its tag of a party that does not have a democratic culture. Last Tuesday, it organised a ballot to determine the position of the four candidates on the ballot paper, as it took another step to democratise its activities and make its actions transparent. Alhaji Iddrisu would occupy the top of the ballot paper, according to the balloting conducted at the NDC Headquarters by the Electoral Commission.Dr Spio-Garbrah would be at the second spot; Professor Mills would be third while Mr Annan would be the fourth.The four candidates at a family meeting organised by the Party, stressed unity as the most important factor that would ensure victory for the Party in Election 2008.The four who took turns to address a national stakeholders' forum, indicated that upholding the Party's interest was paramount in consolidating intra-party democracy.The forum dubbed: "Family Meeting" was organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Netherlands Institute of Multiparty Democracy as part of efforts to deepen intra-party democracy and to provide a platform to the candidates to sell their vision to the public. Alhaji Mahama said people must be allowed to freely make their choice of a flagbearer, adding that intolerance of other peoples' views would not promote unity in the Party.He said while it was natural for supporters of the various candidates to disagree on issues, they should, however, not fight each other.Dr Spio-Garbrah said there was the need for the Party to build alliances with others to ensure victory in 2008.He pledged his commitment to focus on re-branding and the marketing of the Party to make it attractive and appealing to Ghanaians. Prof. Mills said the success of the Party must be put above any individual interest, adding it was the duty of all to forge oneness before and after the National Delegates' Congress.Mr Annan said he would bring his business acumen to bear on the development and forward march of the Party.
Source:GNA