Ghana's President Orders New Private Aircraft

According to the AFRICA INTELLIGENCE n°528 - 8/11/2007 (LA LETTRE DU CONTINENT), the President of Ghana, John Kufuor, has ordered a New Falcon Aircraft. The 900 series, was sold by DASSAULT, at the cost of $37 Million and the plane is scheduled to be delivered in February 2010. The deal was done through SSB Bank in Accra.

"This must be a mistake, because parliament knows nothing about this deal" , said an NDC member of parliament(MP), when asked to comment on the news item. "He [Kufuor] leaves office in 2009, so I wonder why this deal was done in such a hurry" said an MP of the ruling party.

Aggudey fails tax test - can't stand for CPP flag bearer

Mr. George Aggudey, is likely to miss the chance to contest for the flag bearer race of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), as the 48 hour deadline for submitting his tax clearance certificate expires today Thursday December 6, 2007.Mr. Aggudey and two others, Accra based lawyer, Bright Akwetey and Dr. Kwaku Osafo were expected to submit their tax clearance certificates as requested by the party.

To qualify to contest for the position to lead the party in the 2008 elections, candidates were required to submit their tax clearance certificates before the December 15, 2007 congress. The deadline for submission was however set on Thursday December 6, 2007.By the close of Thursday December 6, 2007, Mr. Aggudey was yet to submit his tax clearance certificate.Last Monday December 3, 2007, the party gave the three contestants 48 hours to submit personal documents to certify that they had fulfilled their tax obligations.

In the case of Mr. Aggudey, who led the party in the 2004 elections, he is also expected to submit proof of payment of his employees’ Social Security contributions to dthe vetting committee.The other two, Mr. Akwetey and Dr. Osafo have submitted their tax clearance certificates.

President Kufuor off to Portugal

President John Agyekum Kufuor, who is the African Union Chairman, leaves Accra on Thursday night to attend the European Union-African Union (AU) summit in Lisbon, Portugal. The AU Chairman would also lead Africa in the summit scheduled for December 8-9, 2007.

A statement signed by Mr Andrew Awuni, Press Secretary to the President and Presidential Spokesman, said the meeting would discuss contemporary global issues that affected the two continents and establish the basis for a long-term strategic partnership between Europe and Africa.

The statement said the summit was expected to adopt a joint strategy and an action plan to deal with the many outstanding commitments in Trade, Aid and Development Assistance made in the past.

It said the summit would also discuss peace and security, democracy and human right, migrations as well as energy and climate change. Some senior government officials would accompany President Kufuor. Eighty countries that make up the EU-AU partnership as well as Heads of Regional Institutions from both continents will be attending the Lisbon summit.

Source:

GNA

Giver and taker wrong, says GJA ......Soli = Bribe

The Ghana Journalist Association is asking its members to file a complaint against event organisers who offer gifts including money to influence their reportage.

The GJA says event organisers have repeatedly been asked to stop offering cash, usually in envelopes, widely know to journalists as ‘soli’. But it says the practise seems to be continuing.

The case against financial inducement was highlighted at a round table discussion, which equated the payments of money to journalists to taking bribes.

Within the Journalist Association executives are divided in their position on the issue. The Acting President of the association in the Ashanti Region says it is not wrong for journalists to accept money from people who appreciate their work.

But the national President of the GJA, Ransford Tetteh says the association’s policy frowns on it and urges journalists not to hesitate to revert to the association if an event organiser offers to give them soli.

Meanwhile the General Secretary of the Advertisers Association of Ghana, Francis Dadzie says it will not be fair to ask journalists to lodge complaints against event organisers.

According to him, pressmen must bear equal responsibility for demanding money from event organisers and said he would be glad to see the day journalists would be bold enough to stand up against monetary offers from people who require their services.