It's Not Been Easy

The President, Mr. J.A. Kufour has acknowledged that his leadership as the Chief Executive of the Republic of Ghana has been tough and challenging.He said for the past seven years, he has led a government that has ensured a holistic national development, thus making his experience as the President fulfilling as well as sobering.

President Kufuor was speaking at the inaugural lecture of the Association of Black Rhodes Scholars at the Oxford University in UK, last Monday.The Black Rhodes Scholars Association was formed primarily to encourage brilliant but Black needy students who are not privilege to be enrolled in universities and also to ensure effective representation of black student at Rhodes.Members of the association are drawn from the US and Canada as well as from all former British colonies.

Oxford University enrolled its first black student 900 years after its establishment and even today, as the oldest English University and in deed one of the oldest in the world, has only one percent of its entire student population as black.The inaugural address by President Kufour also marked this year’s black history month as well as Ghana’s 50 independence anniversary at the university.The Rhodes House, the venue of the lecture which is the first in the series of lectures planned by the association, was filled to capacity long before the schedule time but the blacks were very few.

President Kufour noted that in a month’s time he will be entering the final year of his rule and the legacy he will want to leave behind for the youth of Ghana and Africa in general will for them to seize the opportunities of global system to secure a dignified position for the continent.He said, as he left the walls of Oxford University some fifty years ago “there was no certainty of becoming the President of Ghana”, but by dint of hard work and unwavering focus he today finds himself as the President of Ghana, The Chairman of the African Union and two-term Chair of the ECOWAS.

In a very motivational disposition, President Kufour remarked “I have been careful with the choices I make and how I make them. I was also aware of the potentials of what I can do for my country” He noted that it has not been easy for the past forty years. “What has made the difference though has been the constant vision to make myself relevant to the development of my society and therefore I have sustained the spirit of perseverance in spite of the heavy odds.”

He said he has used a blended values of his family background, the culture of Ghana as well as the faithful application of educational precepts and influences of the various institutions he attended especially Oxford university. He also mentioned the traditions of the New Patriotic Party as very useful to him.He mentioned some of his government’s achievements as the turning around of the nation’s stagnant economy by attaining a record and steady GDP growth rate of 6.5 percent currently as against 3.2 per cent in the year 2002.

President Kufour predicted that all being equal Ghana’s GDP growth rate will be at 10 percent within the next four years especially at a time Ghana has discovered off-shore oil.He also touched on the improvement and expansion in the health, educational and agricultural sectors adding that production of the country’s main cash crop, cocoa, hit 700 thousand tones and expressed the optimism that cocoa production in Ghana will hit one million tones by 2010.
Source:Nana Sifa Twum & Isaac Amo-Kyereme

GHANA 08: 18 Players Already Known

Claude Le Roy, Coach of Ghana's Black Stars has only five places left to make up for his 23-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations next January.

The Frenchman is certain about his first 18 and intends to channel his focus on searching for the additional five to make up the mandated 23 for the biennial party with the January 20 commencement date rolling closer.
He told GNA Sports "It will be stupid if I didn't have an idea about a bulk of my team at this moment."I know who the first 18 are and my vision is to get the five as soon as possible to enable us to begin full scale preparations."

The Trainer told GNA Sports that a fair representation of experienced and young players with regard to selection have been taken into consideration ahead of the three-week tourney, which his employers have mandated him to win."I have plans of including some young players into the team for the sake of the maturity and exposure they need beyond Ghana 2008. "One cannot win a major competition with young players but one can always win if they are part of the team."What is always required is a good balance - experience, hunger to win and the maturity to keep going on big stage like the Nations Cup."

Le Roy told GNA Sports that it will be ensured that the team make great sacrifices aimed at winning the trophy on home soil to equal Egypt's fifth record."There will be no compromise with regards to making sacrifices to become champions on February 10."We will ensure that the boys do not feel caged but they must also appreciate that without sacrifices, one cannot triumph and be successful."Coach Le Roy envisages no challenge in assembling his team for the planned two weeks camping before the Stars tournament opener with Guinea on Sunday, January 20, in Accra.
Source:GNA

NPP Grills Aspirants Today

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) today, Tuesday October, 2007 begins the vetting of its aspiring presidential candidates to ensure that the aspirants qualify to contest the position of President of Ghana.

The nine-member vetting committee consists of five chairpersons of the standing committees of the National Council and three persons appointed by the council, one of whom shall be designated chairperson of the committee.Briefing the Daily Graphic in an inter¬view, the National Chairman of the NPP, Mr Peter Mac Manu, said the national council shall also ensure that at least two of the nine members were women.Although he did not give any specific date for the submission of its report, he said the committee would finish its job before the congress in December 22 to give room for the filing of appeals, if any.

The members of the committee include Major Courage Quashigah; the Minister of Health, who is also the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee; Brigadier Obeng, the Chairman of the Organising Committee; Mr Samuel Odoi-Sykes, the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee; Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, a former Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the Constitutional Committee.It is chaired by Prof Daniel Adzei-Bekoe, the Chairman of the Council of State. The two women include Madam Ama Busia.Article 9 (C) (f) (iii) of the NPP constitution says, "The vetting committee shall disallow the candidature of any aspirant when it finds that such an aspirant does not qualify to be a presidential candidate.

It shall submit such a finding in writing to the National Executive Committee, with a copy to the aspirant."Sub-section (iv) also states, "An aspirant who is dissatisfied with such a finding, may appeal against it to the National Executive Committee within 48 hours of receipt of notice of the finding by filing an appeal in writing with the General Secretary.The National Executive Committee shall give its decision within seven days of receipt of the appeal. The decision of the National, Executive Committee on the appeal shall be final."
Source:Daily Graphic

Osafo Maafo--NPP not about blood relationship

Former Finance and Economic Planning Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo has stated that the contest for the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not about blood relationship and family issues, but basically about the future of the country and who is most suitable for the job.

The former minister, who is the MP for Akim Oda, said these when he formally launched his campaign to contest the flagbearership race of the party last Friday at Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region.He told the cheering crowd in Twi: ?Moma yenhwe no yie. Party asem na yeka no, enye anuasem, enye abusua asem. Eye oman neyie ho asem na yeka. Eye oman ne mpuntuo ho asem na yeka?. ("Let us be very careful.

This is a party matter and has nothing to do with family or blood relationship. It is about the country and its development").He claimed that amongst the 19 presidential aspirants of the ruling NPP, he was best placed and prepared to lead the party in the 2008 elections."I am not running for the presidency for the sake of being president. I want to move the nation to the next level, and that can only be done by a man of vision," he said.Describing the forthcoming general elections as a super final match between the two major political parties in the country, the ruling NPP and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Osafo-Maafo said in a contest like that only skilled and proven players were selected to play.

He therefore urged the delegates not to view the flagbearership race through family or ethnic lenses.The Electoral College of the party, he said, ought to be quick in listening to what the rest of the country was saying about the aspirants before making any ultimate choice at the party's National Delegates? Congress scheduled for December 22 at the University of Ghana, Legon.The former Finance Minister further told the delegates to bear in mind that the candidate they would elect on December 22 would not only serve the interest of the NPP but also that of the whole nation, adding that NPP supporters alone could not vote for the party's candidate to win the 2008 elections.

Hon. Osafo Maafo told delegates that the party?s flagbearer should be a person who would be accepted by a vast majority of the population so they should scrutinize the backgrounds and achievements of each of the 19 aspirants to establish who was best placed to lead the party to victory.To him, the eventual candidate must be able to attract the votes of the floating or undecided voters, whom he said usually voted based on the candidate's track record and capabilities.Mr. Osafo-Maafo recalled his achievements in the Finance Ministry, and how he took the nation to the completion point of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative within a record time of two and a half years.

He said through his efficient handling of the economy, some $4billion of the country?s foreign debt was cancelled by her creditors, saying funds ploughed back as a result of the HIPC initiative were going into the provision of schools, hospitals and feeder roads."It is about time Ghanaians began to think outside the box and develop a new economic paradigm for this country". He said Ghana at her present state should graduate from production of raw materials to provider of services in West Africa, stressing that but for his hardwork, the country would not have benefited from the Millennium Challenge Account.

The official launching of Hon. Osafo Maafo's campaign attracted hundreds of party activists, constituency executives and sympathizers from various parts of the country, with traditional rulers also in attendance. An unprecedented crowd of nearly half a kilometer long of human traffic greeted and escorted him on a march through the principal streets of the Ashanti Regional capital, amidst drumming and dancing. The retinue moved from Adum, through Kejetia, Central Market to the Prempeh Assembly Hall at Fante New Town.

Riding in an open Toyota Land Cruiser, the MP for Oda and his convoy responded to cheers from the thick crowd that thronged the streets, some of them climbing on rooftops.
Source:Daily Guide

995 million cedis down the drain...

THE Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday heard how 2,153 garments, worth ¢995 million, sewn to promote the “National Friday Wear Programme”, were distributed free of charge by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and Presidential Special Initiative to unknown people.

The distribution list could also not be produced for verification by the audit team, an audit report said.The PAC also heard how the Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited awarded 14 contracts worth ¢1.4 billion in 2004 through single sourcing, instead of through competitive bidding as provided by Section 43(1) of the Public Procurement Act, 2003.

“To enhance transparency, efficiency, and fair prices in the award of contracts, we recommended to management to apply competitive bidding to all contracts,” the audit report said.Other areas queried by the audit report is the double payment of ¢185.7 million the ministry made to Toyota Ghana Limited for the same repair service it offered the ministry in 2004.The payment of unlawful emolument of ¢122 million between September 2002 and May 2005 to Mr Victor Owusu, Brong-Ahafo and Ashanti Regional Co-ordinator of the Rural Enterprise Development Programme was also queried.

However, Mr Owusu, the report said also enjoyed monthly salary as a full-time employee of the Ghana Energy Commission, within the same period.The report said Mr Owusu enjoyed double salary from the Consolidated Fund, and recommended that his appointment should be terminated and the emolument paid to him recovered.An unexecuted consultancy fee of ¢221 million was paid by the ministry to five consultants it engaged between January and November 2004 to provide business plans for eight districts, within 35 days of their engagement.

The audit report, however, said no business plans had been submitted as at June, 2005 to the ministry by the consultants.The ministry was also queried for its failure to bond a sponsored employee, Mr Kojo Ofori-Safo, who was employed on April 1, 2005 as the Co-ordinator of the Ghana Investors Advisory Council on a monthly salary of 1,500 US Dollars.The audit report said, in June, 2005 barely three months after his appointment, Mr Ofori-Safo gained admission to the University of Ghana Business School.

The report said, the ministry sponsored him and paid his tuition fee of 2,000 US dollars per semester for the 2 years period of his course.It called on the ministry to bond him to serve the ministry on completion of his programme.The PAC was also told about an outstanding Business Assistant Fund Loan of ¢1.3 billion that had been outstanding in the name of five companies since 1996.The report said the ministry contracted M/S Global Consultants for the recovery of the loans but the companies could not be traced except M/S New Kool Bottling, which has since paid ¢20 million out of its outstanding debt of ¢308 million.

The Minister for Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and Presidential Special Initiative Mr Joe Baidoo-Ansah, and his Deputy, Ms Gifty Ohene Konadu, appeared before the PAC to respond to some of the queries.The minister said he had given his accounts clerks one month to produce documents and receipts covering payment of ¢27 million as contingency to some contractors who did not issue receipts to the ministry.On all the queries raised, the minister said most of them have been resolved, and that the ministry will take steps to resolve the rest in due time.

Mr Samuel Sallas-Mensah, chairman of the PAC and most of the bi-partisan PAC members were not satisfied about almost all the explanations the minister and his technocrats gave on the queries raised.“Most of the explanations are not acceptable. By the 15th of November, your accounts officers should retrieve the money or be surcharged,” Mr Sallas-Mensah said.
Source:Times

Refund The Money...Police Told

Eighty-six policemen who, out of the ignorance of a judge, received a total of ¢3.1 billion as compensation from a circuit court, have been ordered to refund the money.

The directive from the Public Accounts Com¬mittee (PAC) of Parliament at its sitting in Accra Friday to consider the Auditor-General's Report, said the practice of paying such compen¬sation from fines imposed by the courts was improper.

The PAC further directed that should any portion of the amount become irrevocable, the judge and the registrar of the court concerned should be called upon to make good the shortfall.At the sitting, officials of the Judicial Service were queried over missing transcripts; cash shortage and the payment of compensation to policemen.According to the Chairman of the PAC, Mr. Sallas-Mensah, an audit of fines imposed by the Circuit Court B3 in Accra between August 2002 and August 2004 found that the court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Ankamah, had imposed a fine of ¢5.2 billion on motor traffic offenders.

He said out of the total amount of fines imposed on offenders, ¢3.1 billion or 59% was paid as compensation to 86 policemen who prosecuted the cases in the court.“Payments to individual policemen ranged between ¢200,000 and ¢1.4 million, while the Judicial Service legitimately retained 15% of the total fines for administrative expenses and the remaining 26% paid into the Consolidated Fund as revenue,” he said.

The report, the Chairman pointed out, attributed the irregularity to the ignorance of the judge of the repeal of the previous legislation which sanctioned such payments.He said the report further noted that the number of traffic offences referred to the court for prosecution was an average 668 per month from August 2002 to August 2004.Mr.

Sallas-Mensah explained that when the Auditor-General’s Department started the audit in 2004, it directed that the payment of compensation be discontinued, since it was improper.“The number of motor traffic offences sent to the Circuit Court B3 reduced from 668 per month to 84 cases per month from September 2004.This suggests that the policemen could be adjudicating the traffic offences themselves. We are liaising with the Police Administration to resolve this issue,” he said.He said the report also uncovered that at the Agona Swedru High Court in the Central Region, between April and October 2005, unearned salaries totaling ¢5 million were paid to two members of staff, namely Miss Emelia Forson and Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, because of the inability of management and the Controller and Accountant General’s (CAG’s) Office to promptly delete the names of the officers from the payroll.“We drew their bankers’ attention to the irregularity but noted that only ¢1.4 million was in Miss Forson’s bank account at the Awutu Beraku Rural Bank, while the unearned salary of ¢1.7 million had been withdrawn by Mr. Iddrisu,” he said.

The PAC Chairman said the report advised the Judicial Service to ensure that the remaining amount of ¢1.4 million in Miss Forson’s account was transferred into the CAG’s Suspense Account, while steps were taken to retrieve the ¢1.7 million withdrawn by Mr. Iddrisu.Responding to some of the queries, Judicial Secretary, Madam Regina Abotsi, said the service had taken notice of the development and had, therefore, put in place a number of interventions to forestall its recurrence.

Members of the committee expressed their displeasure over the delay in the establishment of the Financial Administration Tribunal as provided for in the Financial Administration Act, 2003, and questioned why the Judiciary had not made it a priority. In response, Madam Abotsi said efforts were being made to establish the tribunal, adding that at the moment, the issue was in the domain of the Attorney General. Source: Daily Graphic

Ghana to camp in Dubai for Nations Cup

Ghana's Black Stars are expected to camp in the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirate, Dubai ahead of the 26th Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for January 2008. Black Stars manager, Claude Le Roy told GNA Sports that the choice of Dubai was deeply thought of considering the need to have the best facility to prepare the team for the competition with the aim of lifting the trophy."We need the best facility to be at our peak to win the trophy as all Ghanaians expect."Defending the choice of venue further, the coach said, "the weather condition in Dubai is 24 degrees Celsius and I do not think that should affect our acclimatization for the tourney".The Stars are housed alongside Morocco, Guinea and Namibia and are expected to camp for 14 days before the biennial party commences at the national stadium, Ohene Djan in Accra on Sunday, January 20. The Stars may however consider camping in South Africa should the unexpected happen."South Africa has great facilities and a favourable weather and it will be a perfect replacement for Dubai when the need arises". Coach Le Roy told GNA Sports that the responsibility to win the Nations Cup on home soil has got to a fever pitch after the official balloting was held at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) last Friday."I feel we are on the last line after the draw last Friday. Every minute, I think of how to deal with the opponents at the group stage because we must qualify from there to stay on course."To win the trophy, it means we must win six games and to achieve that means winning all from our group and completing it with the last three".The Frenchman said the Stars must be ready for all teams in their search for the fifth trophy that would equal Egypt's record. "We need to be ready because we cannot afford to be trapped. We must be compact because our opponents will be hoping to catch us on the break and we cannot afford that."
Source:GNA