- Drama at PAC hearing: Betty Mould fights to clear her name
* Source: CitifmOnline


Drama unfolded at the Public Accounts Committee’s sitting in Parliament on Thursday where a former Attorney General, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, fired salvos at the Kan Dapaah-led committee of aiding with other witnesses to trample upon her right.

Mrs. Mould-Iddrisu, who went to the hearing with three counsels, in her opening statements expressed her dissatisfaction with the manner in which Hon. Dapaah has handled the CP judgment debt hearing.

She said the chairman’s choice of words such as “conspiracy, fraudulence and unprofessional” among others to describe the contract in which she sanctioned were “damaging to her reputation as a good citizen of Ghana.”

“The procedures adopted by the committee have given rise to criminal incrimination at my person,” the former Attorney General pointed out at the sitting that intermittently generated into exchange of words among committee members.

“My right in this regard has been violated and trampled on by this committee. I put it to you that you have sat by and allowed my right to be trampled upon by this manner. Notwithstanding this Hon. Chair, I am here ready to give evidence in protest. I am now in a position to hear you,” she pointed out.

Mrs Mould-Iddrisu singled out Hon. Isaac Asiamah to have said at one of its hearings that she conspired with “CP to fraudulently pay to defraud the good people of Ghana. I heard this. With the greatest of respect they are criminal insinuations on the character of a former A-G.”

She also mentioned that she heard and saw the chairman brandishing the “agreement” on national television insisting that it was “not signed, it’s undated and how come this can be an agreement… The words unprofessional and fraudulence were used to stamp this agreement. I was the A-G and duly vetted. It was unfair and damaging to my reputation.”

Mrs Mould-Iddrisu added: “Conclusive and categorical prejudicial statements were made against me.”

After close to an hour of debate, Mrs Mould-Iddrisu has begun addressing the CP judgment debt saga before the committee.


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Ghana to spend US$30million on New GH¢50 Notes
* Source: Business Crusade


Signals picked from the strong room of the Bank of Ghana indicates that it will cost the government a lump some of US$ 30 million (thirty million dollars) to print the new fifty Ghana cedi notes with the enhanced features aimed at stemming counterfeiting .

Though this can be regarded as a big money, experts believe it has been the norm. Every year, the Bank of Ghana prints new currency notes to replace the warn out ones.

According to officials of the bank, the cost of printing increases when the currency is printed in higher denominations. Every cocoa season, the bank of Ghana prints currency notes to purchase cocoa beans from farmers to the international market with the Cocoa Board serving as the intermediary.

Dela roué is the official currency printer for the bank of Ghana, making sure that features are well secured and enhanced to avoid counterfeiting. De La Rue is world’s largest integrated commercial banknote printer and a trusted partner of governments, central banks, issuing authorities and commercial organizations around the world.

In the past five years alone, the Group has been involved in the design or production of over 150 national currencies. De La Rue also produces a wide range of security documents including passports, driving licences, authentication labels and tax stamps. In addition, the Group manufactures sophisticated, high speed cash sorting and inspection equipment

According to officials of the central banks it cost the nation between thirty and thirty five million dollars to print new cedi denominations every year.

The Bank of Ghana this week announced at an editor forum that it is introducing an upgraded GH¢50 banknote, which has been enhanced with new security features to stem counterfeiting of the currency.

Mr Millison Narh, second Deputy Governor of the Bank, said due to technological advancement, there was the need to continuously improve the security features of banknotes to make them more resilient to potential counterfeits. He said like most currency notes the world over, the Ghana Cedi banknotes have been under pressure from counterfeiters both internal and external with the GH¢50 banknote being the most sophisticatedly counterfeited due to its high value.

“To ensure that banknote security is not unduly compromised and to maintain the integrity by avoiding a general loss of confidence in the denomination, the Bank has decided to introduce an upgraded GH¢50 banknote with a more secured public recognition feature called 'SPARK’, together with other features,” he said. The Spark, which replaces the hologram, is in the form of a green cocoa pod at the bottom right hand corner of the banknote. When the upgraded banknote is tilted, the cocoa pod changes colour progressively from green to blue and back to green. A beam of light rolls on the cocoa pod.

The upgraded GH¢50 denomination is expected to be introduced into circulation by early August 2012. The current one will be withdrawn gradually till it gets out of circulation.

Business Crusade with Adu Koranteng-Email Korantengadu@yahoo.com


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NPP illegally terminated our contract - ISOFOTON
* Source: Radio XYZ online


Spanish company ISOFOTON has challenged the position of former Attorney General Joe Ghartey that the state under the Kufuor administration had no liability in the abrogation of their contract.

Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on Tuesday told journalists that former Chief of Staff Kwadwo Mpiani caused the judgment debt by wrongfully terminating a contract against an advice by the then Attorney General and Deputy Agric Minister Clement Elady.

The contract was for the execution of the rural solar electrification project.

Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa accused the former Chief of Staff of acting improperly by abrogating the contract and creating a 1.3 million dollar liability for the state.

Local representative of ISOFOTON, Anane Forson in an interview with XYZ News said accusations that the contract was not approved by the Spanish government are false.

“I have heard him [Joe Ghartey] he was talking about the fact that our contract was not approved by the Spanish government, that is wrong.

“The protocol agreement is with me and there is nowhere it has stated so and the Spanish government was even worried about the fact that they had abrogated the contract” Mr. Forson said.

But former Attorney General Joe Ghartey says eight conditions were contained in the said agreement which was filed on 26th December 2005.

However, when he filed the processes in November 2008 those conditions had not been fulfilled.

“The agreement we are talking about is an agreement of 26th December 2005, between government of Ghana and the company. We said the agreement will not come into force until all formalities written were fulfilled” Joe Ghartey said.


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John D. Mahama makes history
* Source: Abdul-Rahman Harruna Attah


His “first coup d’etat” debuts

Story and Pictures from Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Harruna Attah, New York

With the intriguing title of “My First Coup D’Etat” Ghana’s current Vice President, John Dramani Mahama has taken a plunge into the often turbulent waters of book authorship and publishing. A number of years in the making, the book made its debut in New York this month to a generally favourable reception. On Tuesday, the Vice President, accompanied by family, friends and media, personally launched the book at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in Harlem New York with readings from the book, a “Conversation” with Andrew Solomon (National Book Award winner), a Q&A session and book signing conclusion. The book was sold out from the Schomburg bookstore and extra copies had to be rushed in from another bookstore nearby.

The book, from a sitting Vice President would no doubt give a fillip to the struggling Ghanaian book writing sector. He has already had interactions with various Ghanaian literary groups and personalities, including the Ghana Association of Writers (GAW), of which he is now a member, on how to encourage reading, writing and publishing of books in Ghana.

It is common knowledge that reading and writing have seen a dramatic decline in Ghana as the educational system has not been very kind to the liberal arts. Combined with the new multi-media culture of the so-called social networking media, many young people hardly touch books these days and the result has been catastrophic, to be seen in the atrocious writing and comprehension skills of the current generation of school going youngsters, all the way from the primary to university levels. The book may be a personal triumph to the Vice President, but its significance is wider as a vehicle to engender Ghana’s literary renaissance, as can be seen in the titles from Ghanaian writers in the last decade that are trickling back to the bookshelves. The Ghana Association of Writers and Ghanaian Centre of PEN International have reading and writing programmes targeted at Ghanaian schools, for in the end, it is Ghanaian schools that stand to benefit from any resurgence in Ghanaian writing.
In writing the book, the Vice President must have been mindful of that as he interacted with Ghanaian literary giants like Ama Ata-Aidoo, Atukwei Okai, Kofi Anyidoho and others whose writings are included in literature syllabuses for Ghanaian schools.

The sting in the tail of “My First Coup D’Etat” can be seen in the subtitle of “And Other Stories From The Lost Decades of Africa”.
It weaves a fascinating vignette of the author’s life and national and international events from the mid-sixties of the last century when Ghana experience d her first coup d’etat, to the present.
Sometimes playful, generally humorous, but mostly serious, it is an exercise in what Africa got wrong, what Africa could have done differently and certainly, what Africa must not do again! In his review, Chinua Achebe, the doyen of African writing had this to say: “With crisp, yet sweeping prose, John Mahama’s memoire, My first Coup D’Etat, provides insights into Ghana’s and by extension, Africa’s struggle to weather its historical burden and engage with a world much removed from her dilemma. Without sentimentality or condescension, he exposes homegrown African pathologies and helps us understand several contradictions of our postcolonial condition. His is a much welcome work of immense relevance to African studies and deserves serious critical attention.”
John Dramani Mahama’s relevance in the context above is to be seen in his intellectual capacity to distance partisan politics from the pages of the book. Politics did come up during the Q&A, which he skillfully parried with the answer that he is a social democrat and left of centre and nothing more! He had earlier explained his socialist antecedents, from an Nkrumahist father to a university exposure where he consumed left wing literature to his current “pragmatic” position on national and international realities. For example, on American bases on the African continent, it was not a straightforward yes or no. Ghana, he said, would join the world to fight terrorism, drug trafficking and other cross-border crimes. That would mean collaboration, for no one country can do it alone, and if that meant bases, “so be it”. That was a courageous and honest admission.
And what about Election 2012? Yes, he admitted, there was a lot of tension and some of the language inappropriate but Ghana would sail through and become an even shinier example for Africa. And the media: As a politician, if you survive from 6.00am to about 10am daily, then you would survive the whole day!

My First Coup D’Etat, would have its detractors, but as a first attempt, especially from the pen of an active politician, the Ghanaian literary scene can only be enriched by it. The literary consultant was Meri Nana Ama Danquah, a Ghanaian author and the book was published by Bloomsbury, an international publishing company. A Ghanaian launch has been planned before the end of year.


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NPP Replies NDC
* Source: Radio XYZ online

-Most of your feats were initiated by Kufuor

The leadership of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has lashed out at the ruling NDC accusing the party of being mischievous in putting out achievement records of President Mills.

The NDC forum for setting the records straight on Tuesday outlined what it described as major accomplishments of the Mills government in the last three years.

It said the strides made by the current administration in the area of economic infrastructure far surpasses what the NPP achieved at the end of their first four years.

But speaking to XYZ News, a member of the NPP communications team, Sahaka Salia said the NDC is being unfair to Ghanaians.

According to him, majority of what is being touted as feats of the NDC government are projects that were started by the erstwhile Kufuor administration.

“The records speak for itself, we have constructed over 1950 boreholes, two mechanized pipe system, eight gravity pipe system and 10, 285 households places of convenient. We have always been fair to the record”

But the ruling NDC insists the figures are true reflections of what the party has done for the country.

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development said despite the figures being put out by the NPP administration Mills’ three years achievement supersedes Kufuor’s administration.

“We are saying that if you look at what they did in eight years and you look at what we have done in this three and half years…it supersedes and dwarfs the eight years” Mr. Ankrah said.


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JJ & Mills Mend Relations
* Source: Al-Haji


Disgruntled NDP elements will have a shock of their lives as…

Am not coward to leave the party I have founded- Rawlings

Despite continued insistence by the interim General Secretary of the yet to be registered National Democratic Party (NDP), Dr Mamboah Rockson that former President Jerry John Rawlings will certainly leave the NDC to join the NDP, The Al-Hajj can confirm today that, the NDC founder and his once protégé, president John Mills have on the quiet patched up and mended their differences.

Communications between the former president of Ghana Jerry John Rawlings and his former vice, John Atta Mills gleaned by your authoritative Al-Hajj indicates that the bitterness and the hitherto cold war between them have given way to once again cordial and warmth relationship.

Although Dr Mamboah Rockson told the GBC that the interim executives of the party have had the blessings and endorsement of former President Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings after fruitful discussions with them and was therefore confident of them dumping the party they, (former first couple) have founded to the NDP, The Al-Hajj can assertively state that, on the contrary, Jerry Rawlings has decided to stay put and wont in any way jump ship; as interim executives of the NDP want the world to believe.

According to Jerry Rawlings, it will amount to abdicating his responsibilities and an act of cowardice to leave the party he founded and toiled to bring back to power simply because of differences on the way forward between him and other key members of the party, a close confidant has told this paper.

“I will be giving up my task as the founder of the NDC and also depict myself as a spineless fool leaving my party to another just because of my disagreement with the Mills-led administration. I would rather stay and ensure that the values and principles underpinning what we stand for are restored”. The former president disclosed at a high level discussion recently.

Just after the formal announcement of the formation of the proposed National Democratic Party and linkage with political soul mates; former President Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings was made last Thursday, the duo have been compelled in less than 48 hours to have a change of mind in as far as the floatation of the NDP is concern.

The former first couple, The Al-Hajj gathered are reported to be having sleepless night following the announcement of the formation of the NDP which has been traced to them.

Party founder and Chairman of the NDC Council of Elders, Jerry Rawlings in particular, is said to be troubled as a result of unrelenting prodding from a swarm of party supporters, devotees, senior citizens, traditional leaders and some former and sitting presidents of foreign friendly countries to discard the idea to back the formation of any new party. The former first couple have also been worried because of their inability to commiserate with their party leader and sitting president, John Mills during the period of his medical check-up abroad. Their empathy with the former Law lecturer and sitting president for his condition of health, it is believed also precipitate this latest patch up. Since the announcement of the coming into being of the NDP, political watchers believe the promoters are rather out engaging in mind games than real politicking, citing statements so far from activists of the NDP.

Whiles for example, interim Chairman of the party, Dr Josiah Aryeh in debunking news reports that it has rescinded its decision of contesting the 2012 polls boastfully says, the NDP must not be blamed if the NDC receives a pounding at the elections; the interim General Secretary, Dr Mamboah Rockson says the party has been successful in poaching former president Jerry Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings from the NDC.


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Govt not liable for payment of Allied Air compensation
* Source: CitifmOnline

The Minister of Transport, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has stated that it is not the responsibility of the government to provide compensation for the families of those who perished in the Allied Air cargo plane crash at the Kotoka international Airport in June this year.

Rather, he explained that the company that insured the Boeing 727 cargo plane was supposed to appropriately compensate the families of the 10 people who lost their lives in the accident.

The aircraft, which took off from Lagos in Nigeria, was carrying general goods, including textiles, perfume and clothing, from Nigeria to Cote d’Ivoire via Accra when the incident occurred about 7 p.m. on that fateful day in June.

On landing, the aircraft overshot the runway, went through the airport perimeter fence, before crashing into a 207 Benz bus, with registration GE 5471 Z, on the 37 Military Hospital-Burma Camp road, instantly killing all the 10 passengers and the driver on board the bus.

The deceased were identified as Kennedy Hlordzi, 18; Kwame Boadu, 24; George Osei, 33 (the driver); Castro Abuchow, 26; James Yaw Norgbolo, 26; Gideon Ansah Kumi, 19; Mawuli Lavor, 22, and Evans Abanyel Tabanyeng, 34, a graduate student of the University of Ghana.

But Alhaji Dauda told graphic.com.gh Wednesday that the decision to compensate the families did not rest with the government and explained that as pertained in the normal scheme of things, the insurer of a vehicle took financial responsibility for any disaster the vehicle caused in the event of an accident, which equally applied to the Allied Air cargo plane.

He indicated that days after the disaster, officials of the insurance company were in the country to hold meetings with the management of the airline and officials of the Ministry of Transport to commence the process of compensation.

Though the minister declined to further comment on the matter, he gave assurance of the government’s interest in ensuring that the proper thing was done.

Preliminary investigations into the plane crash suggested possible pilot negligence.

A confirmation of the initial findings of the Accident Investigations Bureau (AIB) on the possible causes of the accident will only be known after the black box of the cargo plane has been assessed in the United States.


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Akufo-Addo Caused Judgement Debts Mess
* Source: The Catalyst


CP’s €94 million, CCWL’s $12 million and AAL’s $1.5 billion claim

Story : Akua Sarpong

Facts emerging from judgement debts paid to Construction Pioneers (CP), City & Country Waste Limited (CCWL) and the ongoing tussle over another financial claim by Africa Automobile Limited (AAL) for unlawful abrogation of contracts under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, not only suggest that the then Attorney General & Minister of Justice, Mr Williams Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was not only sleeping on the job but exhibited worrying levels of incompetence as the state’s chief legal advisor at the time.

The Mills administration has had to cough out €94 million and $12 million to pay CP and (CCWL) respectively, and is also locked up in an out of court settlement with AAL over the company’s $1.5 billion claim on the state in judgement debts, as a result of wrongful political and legal decisions made by the Kufuor-led NPP government on the express advice of Mr Akufo-Addo.
This was before he embarrassed the government by losing the Fast Track High Court case against Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, which verdict was overturned through what, people say, was executive manipulation of the judiciary, and President Kufuor later reshuffled him to the Foreign Ministry to cover up his incompetence as A-G.
Ironically, the NPP has been trying hard to escape responsibility by blaming the President Mills government for the huge financial losses incurred by the state through these judgement debts.

Construction Pioneers (CP) - €94 million
The NDC government has had to painfully pay the whooping sum to CP as a result of the refusal of the NPP government, after coming to power in 2001, to pay CP for roads it had constructed based on the advice of Mr Akufo-Addo.
Hon Joe Ghartey, a successor to Mr Akufo-Addo as A-G, who is his junior at the Bar, later tried to salvage the situation but the then government stack to the former’s advice.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) later ordered Ghana to pay €153 million to CP, after the country lost through an arbitration process. NPP government stubbornly refused to pay, creating a situation where interest of €8,000 ($12,700) a day accumulated on the principal.
By the time the NDC came to office in 2009, the debt had reached €653 million. CP secured another order from the ICC to attach the properties of the Government of Ghana, (GOG), which meant CP could sell Ghana’s properties anywhere in the world to defray the debt.
The construction company immediately moved to attach Ghana’s UN Accounts and properties belonging to the Ghana Cocoa Processing in London but Attorney General, Betty Mould Iddrisu moved in to prevent Ghana’s properties from being sold.
In a settlement with CP, she managed to reduce the debt to €94 million which the state immediately began to defray. But in a funny twist, the NPP, which caused the debt and allowed it to sky-rocket to €653 million, has been questioning why the government is paying off the debt.
As usual, the NPP managed to hoodwink their supporters to start attacking Betty, instead of congratulating her for being able to negotiate Ghana’s indebtedness to CP downwards.

City & Country Waste Limited (CCWL) - $12 million
On assumption of office by the NPP in 2001, CCWL was targeted for collapse purely for political reasons, simply because it belonged to Mr Eddie Annan, an NDC member. Its lawful, waste management contract with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) was speedily abrogated and some of its equipments seized by the government.
NPP argued that the company had no contract with the government of Ghana. it went to court and won a $12million dollar judgement debt against the state, which the Mills government has paid obligatorily in order to avoid accumulation of interest on it to worsen the situation. It is emerging that the company is in the process of taking over some assets of AMA in relation to the case upon a court order.

African Automobile Limited (AAL) – Demanding a gargantuan $1.5 billion
The vehicle dealer, African Automobile Limited, sued the state in 2005 seeking damages for abrogation of contract, breach of repayment of a Barclays Bank loan and an order to compel government to take delivery of some 87 galloper vehicles said to be growing rusty from non-use.
This was because the NPP government on the ill advice of Attorney General Akufo-Addo refused to pay for the gallopers.
Even though the NPP tried to dodge the issue by lying that AAL had no contract with government, hardcore evidence exposes the fact that the NPP government through then A-G filed a defence rejecting the claims and also making a counterclaim against AAL.
NPP now expects the NDC which entered into the lawful contract with AAL to cover-up their unlawful action that has brought the state into this mess.


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Gallopers: Hard Core Evidence Exposes NPP Lies
* Source: The Catalyst

• They say there was no AAL Gallopers contract, but used the same contract for their defence when sued by AAL

Story : Papa Kwami Nininku

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) wobbles as it tries to defend its reckless action, whilst in government, against African Automobile Limited (AAL) regarding the supply of some 87 Hyundai Gallopers. The opposition party is trying hard to fag the issue as usual and confuse the public in another cover-up bid but to no avail, since the evidence available is overwhelming and exposes how they have all along been lying to the people of Ghana.
Not only has the contract document been produced (see scanned copy below) but the NPP’s statement of defence which they filed in 2006 when AAL took the then government to court in October 2005 is available (see canned document below).
It is instructive to note that the NPP government relied on the same contract they are seeking to discredit today to file a counterclaim against AAL, insisting that AAL had breached the contract by not delivering the vehicles on time. This has effectively crushed NPP’s propaganda on take-off, since it is bizarre that they tried in the beginning to deny the existence of a contract, yet relied on the same ‘nonexistent’ contract to file a counter claim against AAL way back in 2006.
The Catalyst wants to remind the public that this latest effort to discredit the valid January 2000 contract is a new shameful goalpost-shifting escapade, after they had claimed that there was no contract, that AAL never went to court under their tenure, that AAL never served them with any Court proposes, that AAL didn't meet specifications, that AAL Managing Director (MD) thought he was untouchable before the NPP came to power among other spurious claims.
As if to say a waste of even a pesewa of the taxpayers’ money is acceptable, the NPP now are shifting the posts in seeking to argue against the AAL’s demand.
What remains clear despite the NPP comedy of lies is that the NPP was reckless and caused financial loss to Ghana. With AAL having received 8 billion old cedis from the previous NDC government as part payment in a 17 billion old Ghana cedis contract, any serious government who had Ghana at heart would have at least secured half of the Gallopers since only 23 had been delivered out of the 110 contracted.
Definitely, Mr Akufo-Addo who was Attorney General (A-G) at the time and his colleagues must be held responsible for the mess, as we look at those rotten Gallopers which could have been put to good use by our security agencies or teachers.


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Urusla Admits Being Scared Of Fritz
* Source: The Informer


Ursula Owusu, the extremely bitchy and ill-bred paramour of NPP Flagbearer Akufo-Addo, has admitted that she is damn scared of Hon Fritz Baffour, NDC MP for Ablekuma South.
Ursula, who is the NPP Candidate for the same constituency, has confided in some close confidants that she knows that her chances of winning the seat are very slim.
Solid information picked up from the B. Opoku suburb of Dansoman, where Ursula’s mother lives, has it that some family members of Ursula’s are not hiding the fact that Ursula knows that Fritz is a formidable opponent who is very solid on the ground.
According to information picked up, Ursula has gone into hibernation as a way of attempting to repair her extremely damaged public image.
Having spent over three years destroying her image via her, bitchy, uncouth, vulgar, insulting, and witchy ways, Ursula has chosen to go off the airwaves for a while; hoping that will help her irreparable damage she has done to herself and her party.
Apparently, Ursula has come to the realisation that Fritz has a strong public image hence the decision to go off the airwaves for a while hoping that will make the public forget all the vulgar things she said and did on the airwaves.
Most certainly, people are not about to forget Ursula insulting His Excellency President Atta Mills on Peace FM, as well as Ursula appearing on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme wearing an “all die be die” T-shirt.
Indeed, Ursula is not liked even within her NPP party.
Because of her sexual relationship with Akufo-Addo, and virtually thinking that she will become the de facto First Lady in the unlikely event that Akufo-Addo becomes President, Ursula has unwisely stepped on so many NPP toes.
Thinking that she is the all-in-all, Ursula expended her energies making lots of internal and external enemies and is only realising too late that her public image is not one that befits Parliament.
Some of the women in the NPP who cannot stand Ursula include, Irene Naa Toshie Addo, MP for Tema West, and Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, MP for Weija.
Another thing that is working against Ursula, is her attack on Gas during the biometric Registration Exercise.
The Ablekuma South constituency is made of mostly Ga enclaves and Ursula has a mountain to climb by way of convincing Gas to vote for her after heaping insults on Gas at Okaishie.
It would be recalled that Ursula Owusu thoughtlessly went to the heart of Okaishie to tell her Akan speaking people to ignore Ga people who have become tenants on their own land.
According to Ursula, the Gas have “foolishly” sold their lands to Akans and so if Akans now own almost all the shops in Accra, how dare the Gas tell non-residents not to register and vote in the Odododiodoo constituency.
Obviously, at the time Ursula was insulting Gas in Odododidoo, she forgot that Ablekuma South also had a solid Ga base; and she is now waking up to the realisation that he opened her mouth too wide.
Indeed, the fact that Fritz is a Ga by maternal consanguinity, is a strong factor that is weighing heavily against bitchy Ursula Owusu who is a 100% Akan.
As a matter of fact, the late Theresa Tagoe, was able to win in that constituency because she had Ga blood in her.
Ursula Owusu does not have any Ga blood in her; she also had the effrontery to insult Gas; and she is going to certainly pay for it.


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Mpiani Causes $1.3 Million Financial Loss To Ghana
* Source: Daily Post

From the huge amount of money he splashed in putting
up the so-called Golden Jubilee House to the state’s monies he, together with
Wereko Brobbey shared like confetti to party cronies in the name of the
Ghana@50 celebrations, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, Former Chief of Staff has become
synonymous with the causation of financial loss to the state.
As if the financial mess he has plunged Ghana into
is not enough, yet another financial scandal leading to a huge financial loss
to the state has been uncovered again. And once more, Kwadwo Mpaini is the man
behind it!
The latest financial mess makes it mandatory for
Ghana to pay a Spanish company, Isofoton SA, the sum of $1.3million after the
company was awarded the said amount by a court because Kwadwo Mpaini got the
NPP government to abrogate a contract between the company and the Government of
Ghana (GOG).
Already, government has paid $400,000 to Isofoton SA
but this has not stopped the company from going to court to obtain a garnishee
order against the Ministry of Agriculture’s account in order to retrieve the
remaining $850,000.
The garnishee order means therefore that the Ministry
for Agriculture (MFA) has been frozen until it completes defraying the debt.
According to the facts of the matter, in 2005, the MFA
entered into an agreement with Isofoton SA for the company to provide a solar
PV powered water pumping and irrigation system in remote rural areas of Ghana
under the Second Ghana-Spanish Financial Protocol.
However, for reasons known to himself only, Kwadwo
Mpiani wrote to both the Ministers of Agriculture and Energy ordering them to
give the project to Elecnor, another Spanish company to execute .
In a reply to Mr. Mpaini, the MFA said it has never
dealt with Elecnor and thus the company is not known to it. It therefore could
not guarantee that the company can execute the project satisfactorily.
“Throughout
the discussion at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Hon. Ministers
were made to understand that, for an effective and speedy execution of the
projects under the protocol, Ministers were to identity suitable Spanish
companies with the requisite technical knowledge to execute the projects.

“The MFA after a diligent search, settled on two companies to execute the
projects in the Ministry. The two companies were ISOTOFON SA MADRID” the letter
to Kwadwo Mpian signed by Mr. Clement Eledi the then Deputy Minister for
Agriculture in charge of Crops stated.
The letter
went on to warn that “The Hon. Minister for Food and Agriculture would want to
draw your attention to the fact that, a change of company at this stage could
open up the Ministry and indeed the government to legal actions, especially by
ISOTOFON.” (See
Page 6 of this paper).

The
Spanish government in a letter to the Minister For Finance dated April 21, 2006
protested the illegal abrogation of the contract between the MFA and Isofoton
SA and warned of the legal implications.
In another letter to the Minister for Finance dated
4th June, 2008, the then Attorney-General & Minister for Justice, Joe
Ghartey also warned of the legal implication for taking the project away from
Isofoton SA. He warned that the orders of Mpiani,
if carried out, will lead to “Special Damages, General Damages and interest at
the prevailing bank rate from the time of breach till the day of payment” against
the GOG.
He continues” We advise that any law suit arising
out of this matter would be detrimental to the government. In the consequence,
substantial financial burden could be imposed on the government through this
breach”.
Despite all these warnings, Kwadwo Mpiani insisted
that the project be executed by Elecnor and not Isotofon. This compelled
Isofoton SA to go to court to secure a judgement debt of GH¢1.3million against
the GOG in 2008 when the NPP was still in power. Much needed funds by the government
is therefore going to be paid to the Spanish company thanks to Mpiani’s
foolhardiness.


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Ghanaian Illegal Immigrant Beaten To Death
* Source: Ben Ofosu-Appiah


...Japanese Police Has Decided Not To File Criminal Charges Against 10 Immigration Officials Who Beat A Ghanaian Illegal Immigrant To Death.



Someone aptly said, imagine waking up in the morning to read in your newspapers the following:

"Prosecutors in GHANA will not press charges over the case of a JAPANESE man who died as he was being restrained by up to 10 immigration officials as they tried to deport him,

I Wonder what the reaction in Japan would be.

I am reproducing here the news report as reported in Japan Today news site.

No charges over Ghana deportee's death in Japan

Crime Jul. 06, 2012 - 06:37AM JST ( 134 )

TOKYO —

Prosecutors in Japan will not press charges over the case of a Ghanaian man who died as he was being restrained by up to 10 immigration officials as they tried to deport him, media have reported.

Abubakar Awudu Suraj, 45, died at Tokyo’s Narita airport in March 2010 as he was being bundled aboard a plane bound for Cairo.

Suraj’s Japanese widow filed a complaint with police, challenging authorities to explain exactly how her husband died as he was being deported for illegally staying in Japan.

Police said earlier that “the immigration officials restrained the man who had wildly resisted”.

Rights activists have claimed he was gagged with a towel, recalling a similar but non-fatal case in 2004 when a female Vietnamese deportee was handcuffed, had her mouth sealed with tape and was rolled up in blankets. His widow told reporters Wednesday that prosecutors ordered the man’s heart be retained for forensic analysis, but had not initially informed her of the decision, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.

They had also said her late husband may have died as a result of a heart condition, the paper said.

Japan keeps a tight control on immigration and in 2011, despite its generous overseas aid for refugees, granted political asylum to only 21 people.

Human rights activists, lawyers and migrant communities have complained for years about the harsh treatment meted out by immigration officials and about conditions at detention centers.

(End of News report)

The following are just a few comments posted by readers. The new article above attracted over 200 comments most condemning the brutal manner in which a so called civilized country like Japan treated murdered this guy and lack of justice for him. Anywhere else, this is big news killing someone in state custody, but the press in Japan did not pay much attention to it. A lot of condemnation is reserved for the Ghana government, Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ghana Embassy in Tokyo for their seemingly lack of action in protecting the human rights of its citizens.

* No charges is yet another crime, the first being the killing of Suraj!

* Absolutely not a surprise in a country where the majority of people believe "human rights" only apply to Japanese. The murder of a foreigner is probably looked on as not involving a human being's life, just a foreigner!

* AND WHAT IS THE GHANAIAN EMBASSY DOING TO SEEK JUSTICE FOR THIS POOR SOUL?

* It does not take 10 men to subdue one person? Who had the handcuffs and shackles?With his hands in handcuffs and his legs shackled, they gagged him and repeatedly kicked and hit him. That's barbaric in the 21st century !

* Why do they have to kill this man? They had a duty to send him back home alive not dead.

* I hope the Foreign Ministry summons the Japanese Ambassador and tells him to make sure his country serves justice in this case and be a responsible member of the international community.

* An autopsy report seen in a court document notes abrasions to his face, internal bleeding of muscles on the neck, back, abdomen and upper arm, along with leakage of blood around the eyes, blood congestion in some organs, and dark red blood in the heart. Yet the report bizarrely concluded that the cause of death is "unknown.

* They killed him through over exuberance restraining him, he was treated in an abhorrent manner, there is no justifying killing him. Remember he was alone. Confined and threatened mentally, no legal council no chance to state his case. This would be a huge story in a civilized country where accountability is paramount, killing anyone under state care is disgusting. He had not killed anyone, just a visa problem.

* Will Suraj ever get justice?

I hope the government of Ghana will make sure Suraj gets justice.

Ben Ofosu-Appiah, Tokyo - JAPAN.

The writer is a senior political and social analyst and a policy strategist based in Tokyo. He welcomes your views and comments; do4luv27@yahoo.com


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