Page 10: Daily Graphic, April 11, 2012.
tory: Albert K. Salia
“WHAT do you gain writing on the activities of drug dealers? That is a business they have chosen to do to make money and I don’t see why you or any other person should be worried and disturbed by their activities”, an educated professional asked me.
“You and I, our children and children’s children and in fact, the whole society gains from reading some of the activities or any literature on drugs. If for nothing at all, what is happening in Mexico should serve as a warning to all of us that we need to join forces so that we do not get to that stage”, I responded.
In an article published in the January 29, 2012 edition of the London-based The Observer, former UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, raised the alarm bells of the activities of drug barons in West Africa and called for “urgent action now before the grip of the criminal networks linked to trafficking of illicit drugs tightens into a stranglehold on West African political and economic development”.
To Busumuru Annan, if urgent action is not taken immediately, the progress made in democratic practice, health, development and education among others stood the risk of being plunged into the dark.
“It would be a tragedy if drugs were again to plunge West Africa into conflict and destroy the progress and hard-won democratic gains of recent years. We must all come together to prevent such a disaster”, he implored.
In its 2011 Report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) noted that although the role of West Africa in cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe might have decreased if judged from seizures only,“but there are other indications that traffickers may have changed their tactics, and the area remains vulnerable to a resurgence in trafficking of cocaine”.
Although there was no report on seizures from a number of countries including Ghana since 2009 to the UNODC, it said “ cocaine trafficking in West Africa persisted, and Africa, especially West Africa, remained vulnerable to a resurgence. In 2008, the largest annual seizures of cocaine in Africa were registered by Ghana, 841 kilogrammes, Sierra Leone, 703 kg, Togo, 393 kg, falling to 34 kg in 2009, Nigeria, 365 kg, rising to 392 kg in 2009 and South Africa, 156 kg, rising to 234 kg in 2009.
Change in Tactics?
The UNODC concedes that it is possible that the drug dealers have changed their tactics or diversified their routes to outwit law enforcement agencies. It is also a fact that some of the international partners for lack of confidence in the security agencies of some countries, often overlook the cases in those countries points of entry and exit and arrest the culprits in their own home countries. For someone to assume therefore, that drug traffickers were avoiding his/her country because of low level of arrests is wrong.
Over the years, drug dealers have always found ways and means to also outwit law enforcement agents. Apart from the early practice where drug couriers boldly carried drugs in their hand-bags or suitcases, we have witnessed other tactics including hiding them in foodstuffs and the common practice of swallowing the drugs.
In the case of women, some insert the drugs in their private parts, braid it as part of their hairdo, put it in sanitary pads as if they were menstruating or put them in the pampers of their children, wheel-chairs among others.
The men have often resorted to the more known tricks of swallowing, inserting it in their anus, putting the drugs in their bags among others.
Corruption:
According to the 2011 State Department Report on Ghana, criminals in Ghana launder illicit proceeds through investment in banking, insurance, real estate, automotive import, and general import businesses, and reportedly, donations to religious institutions.
It recorded 50 Suspicious Transactions Reports (STRs) between January 2010 and November 2010.
STRs are transactions which give rise to reasonable ground of suspicion that the transactions may involve proceeds of an offence or may involve financing of the activities relating to terrorism.
Broad categories of reason for suspicion and examples of suspicious transactions are false identity of client, suspicious background of client, multiple accounts, activity in accounts, nature of transactions and value of transactions.
In view of this, the US urged the government of Ghana to fully implement its customer due diligence and reporting requirements across all covered sectors and institute a beneficial ownership identification requirement, requiring the true names of all onshore and offshore entities and their beneficial owners to be held in a registry accessible to law enforcement.
It also challenged the government of Ghana to make every effort to pass asset seizure and forfeiture legislation that comports with international standards as soon as possible
The former UN chief said West Africa and other regions in Africa faced three inter-related dangers from illegal drug trafficking, namely, the threat from drug-funded corruption, which could corrode fledging state institutions and undermine good governance and the rule of law; the risk that drug traffickers linked up with other criminal elements or, worse, terrorist groups that may be trying to infiltrate and destabilise the region.
“Finally, there is the harmful impact on the health and social cohesion of local communities caused by growing drug consumption by people within the region. Evidence of this disturbing trend is already apparent”, he said and pointed to a 2009 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Report that a “third of the South American cocaine destined for Europe and shipped via West Africa was consumed locally”.
Agreeing to what the former UN Secretary-General has stated, a former National Security Co-ordinator, Mr Kofi Bentum Quantson, observed that there seemed to be a slackening pace in fighting the drug menace in the sub-region.
He said the government’s initial momentum of fighting the drug menace had not been systematically sustained because of three possible reasons.
First, it was possible that the appreciation of the drug problem as a national security issue has waned. Secondly, a certain degree of complacency appears to have developed and third, other competing national security imperatives had overshadowed the menace.
Mr Quantson said that over the last two decades or so, the country had not made any serious effort to address the drug problem holistically and that explained why people enthusiastically welcomed President J. E. A. Mills’ decision to re-open investigations into all the high-profile cases.
It was expected that that would have been the best opportunity to publicly revisit all the various aspects of the problem from arrests through to the judiciary.
He said the challenges that would have been exposed could form an informed basis to formulate more effective policies and strategies, stressing that “the failure to involve the public in identifying the chain in drug dealing is a major obstacle”.
“Unless we know what went wrong, has gone wrong and is going wrong, we will not able to deal with the problem effective”, he stated.
He advocated for an efficient enforcement regime on a sustained base.
He explained that enforcement should not be seen only in the area of arrests, successful prosecution and convictions.
The crowning point, he noted, should be the swift confiscation of the assets of drug dealers, stressing that “confiscation is key to the success in fighting the drug war”.
Discussing the confiscation of drug-related assets, he observed that, “We have not seen much of this action in the last couple of years. It is a huge deficit in the fight against the drug menace. Drug barons are encouraged to bribe their way if their ill-gotten wealth is not confiscated”, he said.
On prevention and education, he lamented that that aspect of the fight against illicit drug dealing appeared to be dying because it is not in active evidence speculating that probably the HIV/AIDS menace and other pressures seemed to have taken the steam out of the war on drugs.
“The strategy to prevent people from going into drugs should not be undermined”, he stated.
Mr Quantson noted that if that aspect was taken seriously, there were two major benefits to be realised.
First, was the fact that when people are sensitised they would refrain from drugs and secondly, and even more importantly, once sensitised, persons become part of the intelligence collection effort of the enforcement system generally.
He bemoaned the slow pace of trial of drug cases and the lack of urgency in the prosecution of drug cases.
These, he observed, created room for manoeuvring and corruption.
“Don’t forget corruption is the oxygen of the drug business. In fact, the drug industry thrives on corruption”, he said, adding that “corruption is what keeps the drug industry alive and its insurance for the future. That is a serious threat to the future of democracy”.
He maintained that Ghana’s democracy could be really at risk because of the subversive activities of drug dealers, who through bribery and corruption, could influence and destroy good governance and compromise the outcome of court cases.
He quoted Reisslaer Lee III, an authority on the drug industry in South America that “… when a criminal organisation as large as the cocaine industry searches for protection, corruption is spawned on a massive and unprecedented scale. Cocaine traffickers have bought into the political system and can successfully manipulate the institutions, the press, police, military and judiciary”.
Mr Quantson emphasised that corruption, disturbingly pervasive in the sub-region, “is the most brutal enemy of democracy. Corruption in this context should be extended to the more subtle and dangerous destabilising aspect of destroying decency, ethics, morality and the fear of God”.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Thursday, December 1, 2011
3 Drug suspects granted bail
Page 3: Daily Graphic, December 1, 2011.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Accra Fast Track High Court has granted bail to three persons, including two journalists, for illegal possession of substances suspected to be narcotics.
Patrick Osei Agyemang, alias Countryman Songo, host of ‘Fire for Fire’, a popular sports programme on Asempa Radio; Bismark Selorm of Happy FM and host of the morning show on eTV, and Franklin Ayensu were granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 with one surety each by Justice A. Ofori-Atta.
Their pleas were not taken.
They are to reappear on December 9, 2011.
The Nima District Police Commander, DSP Justice Aduhene-Benieh, told the Daily Graphic after proceedings in court yesterday that the accused were making efforts to fulfil the conditions of the bail.
He said a State Attorney would assume full prosecution of the case at the next adjourned date.
The two journalists, in the company of five others, were arrested by a police patrol team in Accra during the early hours of Monday for allegedly possessing substances suspected to be narcotic drugs.
The three were charged for the offence after a screening exercise by the police.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Accra Fast Track High Court has granted bail to three persons, including two journalists, for illegal possession of substances suspected to be narcotics.
Patrick Osei Agyemang, alias Countryman Songo, host of ‘Fire for Fire’, a popular sports programme on Asempa Radio; Bismark Selorm of Happy FM and host of the morning show on eTV, and Franklin Ayensu were granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 with one surety each by Justice A. Ofori-Atta.
Their pleas were not taken.
They are to reappear on December 9, 2011.
The Nima District Police Commander, DSP Justice Aduhene-Benieh, told the Daily Graphic after proceedings in court yesterday that the accused were making efforts to fulfil the conditions of the bail.
He said a State Attorney would assume full prosecution of the case at the next adjourned date.
The two journalists, in the company of five others, were arrested by a police patrol team in Accra during the early hours of Monday for allegedly possessing substances suspected to be narcotic drugs.
The three were charged for the offence after a screening exercise by the police.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Mobilla's trial adjourned to Dec 6
Page 3: Daily Graphic, November 30, 2011.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE case in which three soldiers are being tried for the murder of Alhaji Issa Mobilla, a former Northern Regional Chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), was yesterday adjourned to December 6, 2011 to enable the prosecution to file a supplementary affidavit in support of an application for the court to grant it (prosecution) leave to file additional evidence in the case.
When the case was called for the prosecution to move its application, a Chief State Attorney, Ms Penelope Mamattah, prayed the Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Mustapha Logoh, to grant her a short adjournment to enable her to file a supplementary affidavit.
She said the state wanted justice and the truth to come out, hence the need for all the requisite information and evidence required to be allowed to be filed.
However, counsel for the accused persons, Mr Thaddeus Sory, opposed the adjournment on the grounds that the case had unnecessarily been delayed due to frequent adjournments at the request of the prosecution.
He noted that two of the accused persons had been in custody for more than six years without pay.
Two of the soldiers, Corporal Yaw Appiah and Private Eric Modzaka, are standing trial for allegedly murdering Alhaji Mobilla. A third soldier, Private Seth Goka, is, however, being tried in absentia.
Mr Sory, therefore, asked the court not to grant the request for adjournment or it be granted alongside bail for the accused persons, since their fundamental human rights had been greatly affected.
He said the Attorney-General’s Office had been given too much laxity in the case and saw the frequent application for adjournment as a ploy to delay the trial.
“My Lord, the accused persons have not been treated fairly in this matter at all,” he added.
Mr Justice Logoh, in adjourning the case to December 6, 2011, conceded that justice delayed was justice denied, while justice hurried was also justice buried.
He said he would not accept any excuses or failures on the next adjourned date.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE case in which three soldiers are being tried for the murder of Alhaji Issa Mobilla, a former Northern Regional Chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), was yesterday adjourned to December 6, 2011 to enable the prosecution to file a supplementary affidavit in support of an application for the court to grant it (prosecution) leave to file additional evidence in the case.
When the case was called for the prosecution to move its application, a Chief State Attorney, Ms Penelope Mamattah, prayed the Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Mustapha Logoh, to grant her a short adjournment to enable her to file a supplementary affidavit.
She said the state wanted justice and the truth to come out, hence the need for all the requisite information and evidence required to be allowed to be filed.
However, counsel for the accused persons, Mr Thaddeus Sory, opposed the adjournment on the grounds that the case had unnecessarily been delayed due to frequent adjournments at the request of the prosecution.
He noted that two of the accused persons had been in custody for more than six years without pay.
Two of the soldiers, Corporal Yaw Appiah and Private Eric Modzaka, are standing trial for allegedly murdering Alhaji Mobilla. A third soldier, Private Seth Goka, is, however, being tried in absentia.
Mr Sory, therefore, asked the court not to grant the request for adjournment or it be granted alongside bail for the accused persons, since their fundamental human rights had been greatly affected.
He said the Attorney-General’s Office had been given too much laxity in the case and saw the frequent application for adjournment as a ploy to delay the trial.
“My Lord, the accused persons have not been treated fairly in this matter at all,” he added.
Mr Justice Logoh, in adjourning the case to December 6, 2011, conceded that justice delayed was justice denied, while justice hurried was also justice buried.
He said he would not accept any excuses or failures on the next adjourned date.
Court threatens to strike out Obinim's case
Page 3: Daily Graphic, November 29, 2011.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Accra Circuit Court has threatened to strike out the case in which the founder of God’s Way International Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim, and two of his junior pastors are being prosecuted for allegedly vandalising and attacking the host and panel members of Hot FM, a private radio station in Accra.
When the case was called yesterday, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Reindorf Agyemang, told the court that there was no representation from the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Office although a State Attorney, Ms Cynthia Lamptey, had been assigned as the substantive prosecutor after the A-G took over the prosecution.
The judge, Mr Eric Kyei-Baffour, said he was very disappointed in the A-G and that it seemed the A-G was not interested in the case.
“I do not accept delays in my court. If the state prosecutor fails to appear to prosecute the case at the next adjourned date, I will strike it out for want of prosecution,” he said.
He subsequently adjourned the case to December 19, 2011.
The other accused persons are Kofi Akwetteh, 35, and Kingsley Baah, 27.
Bishop Obinim, Pastor Kingsley Baah and Pastor Kofi Akwetteh are jointly facing charges of conspiracy to commit crime, unlawful entry, causing damage to private property and assault.
Bishop Obinim, however, is charged with two additional counts of using an offensive weapon and causing unlawful harm.
They have, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢50,000 with two sureties each.
The facts of the case are that about 9:40 p.m. on August 8, 2011, there was a programme on Hot Fm, ‘Nya Asem Hwe’, was being hosted by Kwame Ntim Katakyie.
One of the topics being discussed was an alleged sex scandal involving Bishop Obinim, whose name was mentioned in the course of the programme and his alleged tape-recording of the issue played on air.
According to the prosecution, the programme highlighted issues concerning Bishop Obinim’s wife and an associate pastor.
The accused persons, on hearing the issue being discussed, stormed the FM station with a pinch bar and started vandalising the sliding doors and studio equipment, the prosecutor told the court.
Studio equipment destroyed by the accused persons included a voice processor valued at GH¢7,500; telos hybria, GH¢18,000; head phone distributor, GH¢6,000; two CD players, GH¢4,500; three telephone sets, GH¢2,250; one Dell desktop personal computer, GH¢450; one Toshiba laptop, GH¢750, and one Samsung laptop, GH¢1,600.
The rest of the items were one phone, valued at GH¢800; one console, GH¢18,000; one electro voice microphone, GH¢3,750; one microphone stand, GH¢2,250; glass doors, GH¢20,000, and a KFM transmitter, GH¢45,000.
The total cost of all the items was put at GH¢130,850.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Accra Circuit Court has threatened to strike out the case in which the founder of God’s Way International Church, Bishop Daniel Obinim, and two of his junior pastors are being prosecuted for allegedly vandalising and attacking the host and panel members of Hot FM, a private radio station in Accra.
When the case was called yesterday, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr Reindorf Agyemang, told the court that there was no representation from the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Office although a State Attorney, Ms Cynthia Lamptey, had been assigned as the substantive prosecutor after the A-G took over the prosecution.
The judge, Mr Eric Kyei-Baffour, said he was very disappointed in the A-G and that it seemed the A-G was not interested in the case.
“I do not accept delays in my court. If the state prosecutor fails to appear to prosecute the case at the next adjourned date, I will strike it out for want of prosecution,” he said.
He subsequently adjourned the case to December 19, 2011.
The other accused persons are Kofi Akwetteh, 35, and Kingsley Baah, 27.
Bishop Obinim, Pastor Kingsley Baah and Pastor Kofi Akwetteh are jointly facing charges of conspiracy to commit crime, unlawful entry, causing damage to private property and assault.
Bishop Obinim, however, is charged with two additional counts of using an offensive weapon and causing unlawful harm.
They have, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢50,000 with two sureties each.
The facts of the case are that about 9:40 p.m. on August 8, 2011, there was a programme on Hot Fm, ‘Nya Asem Hwe’, was being hosted by Kwame Ntim Katakyie.
One of the topics being discussed was an alleged sex scandal involving Bishop Obinim, whose name was mentioned in the course of the programme and his alleged tape-recording of the issue played on air.
According to the prosecution, the programme highlighted issues concerning Bishop Obinim’s wife and an associate pastor.
The accused persons, on hearing the issue being discussed, stormed the FM station with a pinch bar and started vandalising the sliding doors and studio equipment, the prosecutor told the court.
Studio equipment destroyed by the accused persons included a voice processor valued at GH¢7,500; telos hybria, GH¢18,000; head phone distributor, GH¢6,000; two CD players, GH¢4,500; three telephone sets, GH¢2,250; one Dell desktop personal computer, GH¢450; one Toshiba laptop, GH¢750, and one Samsung laptop, GH¢1,600.
The rest of the items were one phone, valued at GH¢800; one console, GH¢18,000; one electro voice microphone, GH¢3,750; one microphone stand, GH¢2,250; glass doors, GH¢20,000, and a KFM transmitter, GH¢45,000.
The total cost of all the items was put at GH¢130,850.
Gambila granted bail
Page 3: Daily Graphic, November 26, 2011.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A FORMER Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Mr Boniface Gambila, was yesterday granted bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 with two sureties by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
Mr Gambila, who was detained overnight after reporting to the BNI on Thursday, is being investigated for some procurement transactions during his tenure as Director of the NSS between 2002 and 2004.
Sources close to the BNI told the Daily Graphic that the Auditor-General referred the matter to the BNI after an audit of the NSS accounts established that more than GH¢400,000 was not accounted for during Mr Gambila's tenure.
The sources said the deficit was in relation to the procurement of cooking utensils, bicycles and mattresses, among other items, purportedly procured for supply to personnel posted on national service.
According to the sources, although the items were paid for, there was neither evidence of the release of the items to the NSS nor delivery to the beneficiaries.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A FORMER Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Mr Boniface Gambila, was yesterday granted bail in the sum of GH¢500,000 with two sureties by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
Mr Gambila, who was detained overnight after reporting to the BNI on Thursday, is being investigated for some procurement transactions during his tenure as Director of the NSS between 2002 and 2004.
Sources close to the BNI told the Daily Graphic that the Auditor-General referred the matter to the BNI after an audit of the NSS accounts established that more than GH¢400,000 was not accounted for during Mr Gambila's tenure.
The sources said the deficit was in relation to the procurement of cooking utensils, bicycles and mattresses, among other items, purportedly procured for supply to personnel posted on national service.
According to the sources, although the items were paid for, there was neither evidence of the release of the items to the NSS nor delivery to the beneficiaries.
STX settlement in limbo
Front Page: Daily Graphic, November 25, 2011.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE terms of settlement for the amicable resolution of the impasse which continues to stall the government’s STX Housing Project could not be laid before the Accra Commercial Court yesterday.
When the case was called, counsel for STX Korea, Mr Sarfo Buabeng, informed the court that he had forwarded the terms of settlement to Seoul, South Korea, for signatures and he was yet to receive the signed document.
He said although Mr Daniel Juang, a representative of the Korean partners, was in Ghana, he did not have the mandate to sign the document.
“My Lord, it is such an important issue that is beyond the mandate of the representative in Ghana, neither do I have the mandate. I only act on the instructions of my client,” he said.
The latest development compelled the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, to give the parties up to December 14, 2011 to file the terms of settlement.
According to the court, failure of the parties to agree and file the terms of settlement would compel the court to either ask that the motion pending before it be moved, withdrawn or be struck out.
At its last sitting on November 15, 2011, the parties informed the court that terms of settlement for an amicable resolution of the impasse had been drawn up for signing and filing at the court.
The terms of settlement are expected to form the basis of the judgement of the court which is hearing the case.
It, therefore, adjourned the case to yesterday for the necessary signing of the document and subsequent filing.
Counsel for the plaintiff, Mr Carl Adongo, expressed the hope that the terms of settlement would have been signed and filed by the next adjourned date.
Although the details of the terms of settlement were not made known, it was gathered that the plaintiff had agreed to pay off all expenses incurred by the Korean partners in the STX deal.
GKA Airports, it was learnt, would also pay off any equity held by the Korean partners, and thereby disengage them from the project.
The suit, filed by GKA Airports Company Limited through its CEO, Mr Bernard Kwabena Asamoah, the man credited with introducing the STX housing project to the government, wanted the court to determine the rightful partner to execute the project.
The plaintiff also sought to sack the Korean partners from the entire project, but the Koreans vowed to resist any attempt to forcibly remove them.
The Koreans were the first to go to court over who owned the company when they sued Mr Asamoah, the Registrar-General and others for allegedly diluting the company’s shares to GKA Airport’s advantage, but the Fast Track High Court, presided over by Justice N.M.C. Abodakpi, adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.
Although the President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, cut the sod in January, 2011 for the commencement of the project, boardroom wrangling between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners have stalled the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country at a cost of $10 billion, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE terms of settlement for the amicable resolution of the impasse which continues to stall the government’s STX Housing Project could not be laid before the Accra Commercial Court yesterday.
When the case was called, counsel for STX Korea, Mr Sarfo Buabeng, informed the court that he had forwarded the terms of settlement to Seoul, South Korea, for signatures and he was yet to receive the signed document.
He said although Mr Daniel Juang, a representative of the Korean partners, was in Ghana, he did not have the mandate to sign the document.
“My Lord, it is such an important issue that is beyond the mandate of the representative in Ghana, neither do I have the mandate. I only act on the instructions of my client,” he said.
The latest development compelled the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, to give the parties up to December 14, 2011 to file the terms of settlement.
According to the court, failure of the parties to agree and file the terms of settlement would compel the court to either ask that the motion pending before it be moved, withdrawn or be struck out.
At its last sitting on November 15, 2011, the parties informed the court that terms of settlement for an amicable resolution of the impasse had been drawn up for signing and filing at the court.
The terms of settlement are expected to form the basis of the judgement of the court which is hearing the case.
It, therefore, adjourned the case to yesterday for the necessary signing of the document and subsequent filing.
Counsel for the plaintiff, Mr Carl Adongo, expressed the hope that the terms of settlement would have been signed and filed by the next adjourned date.
Although the details of the terms of settlement were not made known, it was gathered that the plaintiff had agreed to pay off all expenses incurred by the Korean partners in the STX deal.
GKA Airports, it was learnt, would also pay off any equity held by the Korean partners, and thereby disengage them from the project.
The suit, filed by GKA Airports Company Limited through its CEO, Mr Bernard Kwabena Asamoah, the man credited with introducing the STX housing project to the government, wanted the court to determine the rightful partner to execute the project.
The plaintiff also sought to sack the Korean partners from the entire project, but the Koreans vowed to resist any attempt to forcibly remove them.
The Koreans were the first to go to court over who owned the company when they sued Mr Asamoah, the Registrar-General and others for allegedly diluting the company’s shares to GKA Airport’s advantage, but the Fast Track High Court, presided over by Justice N.M.C. Abodakpi, adjourned proceedings sine die because the processes to get the case heard were not completed.
Although the President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, cut the sod in January, 2011 for the commencement of the project, boardroom wrangling between the Koreans and their Ghanaian partners have stalled the construction of 200,000 housing units in the country at a cost of $10 billion, starting with 30,000 houses for the security services.
Court adjourns appeal of Ya-Na's case
Front Page: Daily Graphic, November 24, 2011
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Court of Appeal yesterday adjourned indefinitely the case in which the Attorney-General has appealed against the acquittal and discharge of 15 persons accused of killing the Ya-Na and others in March, 2002.
Adjourning the case, the court, presided over by Mr Justice G. M. Owusu with Mr Isaac Duose and Mr Senyo Dzamefe as panel members, said it had been informed by the Registrar that it (registrar) had received a letter from the respondents indicating that they were unaware of the appeal and had also not been served with the process.
A Principal State Attorney, Mrs Evelyn Keelson, who represented the Attorney-General’s Department, confirmed to the court that the respondents had not been served.
The court, therefore, adjourned the case sine die for the respondents to be served with a copy of the appeal notices.
On March 29, 2011, the Accra Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr Justice E. K. Ayebi, an Appeal Court Judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, acquitted and discharged the 15 accused persons on the grounds that state prosecutors failed to prove a prima facie case against them to warrant them to open their defence on the allegations levelled against them.
The accused persons were charged with conspiracy in the killing of the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II.
They are Iddrisu Iddi, Alhaji Baba Iddrisu Abdulai, Kwame Alhassan, Mohammed Abdulai, Sayibu Mohammed, Alhassan Braimah and the former District Chief Executive (DCE) of Yendi, Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani.
The rest are Alhassan Mohammed Braimah, Abukari Nabeli, Mohammed Mustapha, Yakubu Yusif, Abdul Razak Yussif, Shani Imoro, Baba Ibrahim and Ahmed Abukari.
They pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Additionally, the court further discharged one other suspect, Zakaria Yakubu, who was said to be at large and who was facing an additional charge of murdering the Ya-N, for not being part of the trial process.
The decision followed a verdict of not guilty entered by a seven-member jury for all the 15 accused persons.ourt adjourns appeal of Ya-Na’s case
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Court of Appeal yesterday adjourned indefinitely the case in which the Attorney-General has appealed against the acquittal and discharge of 15 persons accused of killing the Ya-Na and others in March, 2002.
Adjourning the case, the court, presided over by Mr Justice G. M. Owusu with Mr Isaac Duose and Mr Senyo Dzamefe as panel members, said it had been informed by the Registrar that it (registrar) had received a letter from the respondents indicating that they were unaware of the appeal and had also not been served with the process.
A Principal State Attorney, Mrs Evelyn Keelson, who represented the Attorney-General’s Department, confirmed to the court that the respondents had not been served.
The court, therefore, adjourned the case sine die for the respondents to be served with a copy of the appeal notices.
On March 29, 2011, the Accra Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr Justice E. K. Ayebi, an Appeal Court Judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, acquitted and discharged the 15 accused persons on the grounds that state prosecutors failed to prove a prima facie case against them to warrant them to open their defence on the allegations levelled against them.
The accused persons were charged with conspiracy in the killing of the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II.
They are Iddrisu Iddi, Alhaji Baba Iddrisu Abdulai, Kwame Alhassan, Mohammed Abdulai, Sayibu Mohammed, Alhassan Braimah and the former District Chief Executive (DCE) of Yendi, Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani.
The rest are Alhassan Mohammed Braimah, Abukari Nabeli, Mohammed Mustapha, Yakubu Yusif, Abdul Razak Yussif, Shani Imoro, Baba Ibrahim and Ahmed Abukari.
They pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Additionally, the court further discharged one other suspect, Zakaria Yakubu, who was said to be at large and who was facing an additional charge of murdering the Ya-N, for not being part of the trial process.
The decision followed a verdict of not guilty entered by a seven-member jury for all the 15 accused persons.ourt adjourns appeal of Ya-Na’s case
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