Thursday, June 26, 2008

Let's stop the blame game - Palmer-Buckle

Page 25: June 25, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, the Most Rev Charles Palmer-Buckle, has said Ghanaians must stop attributing the country’s developmental challenges to any particular government or individual.
He said every actor in the country’s political history meant well but things might not have gone the way those actors intended.
It was, therefore, important, he said, that Ghanaians looked at the country’s past and discussed it dispassionately, since the blame game would lead the country nowhere.
The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle was speaking at the launch of a book, “Ghana: Governance in the Fourth Republic”, in Accra on Wednesday.
Published by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the 415-page book, written by 12 Ghanaian scholars, covers a broad spectrum of governance issues.
It comprises 14 chapters grouped into five parts, namely, the traditional, cultural and ethnic context; political processes; civic engagement; the State’s capacity to deliver and the State and security.
The writers assess the extent to which Ghana’s Fourth Republic measures up to good governance practices, as well as challenges to consolidate what has been achieved.
The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle said what had happened in the past were important historical building blocks which were difficult to wish away.
He said the conduct of some social commentators, whom he referred to as “radiocrats” trying to justify some regimes and denigrate others, should be a thing of the past.
Touching on the forthcoming elections, he said Ghanaians must also not allow politicians and political parties to make the elections a “do-or-die” affair.
“It is Ghana that must win the elections and not any political party or individual,” he stated.
The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle said the whole world was looking at how Ghana would acquit itself at the elections.
According to him, Ghana acquitted itself very well at the dawn of independence without bloodshed and “it will not happen in December”.
The Archbishop said Ghanaians must prove to the rest of the world that the country, and for that matter Africa, was capable of doing anything without the help or influence of the outside world.
He said Ghana was a blessed country and had what it took to improve upon its present status.
He said the theme for the country’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, “Championing Africa’s Excellence”, must continuously remain in the minds of Ghanaians in their daily activities.
The Chairman of the APRM Governing Council, Rev Prof S. K. Adjepong, who launched the book, noted that since its inception five years ago, the APRM had added value to Ghana’s governance processes.
He said Ghana had reached a point in its political history when it must begin to craft a new history, instead of succumbing to history.
He described the book as a good legacy that had been bequeathed to Ghanaians.
The first copy of the book was auctioned for GH¢2,000.

Murder suspect arrested

Page 3: June 27, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Madina Police have arrested a 34-year-old man, Yussif Abdullarahman, who murdered one of his wives in the night of June 18, 2008.
Two other persons, Adizatu Kubira, the other wife of the suspect, and his sister, Hamza Saada, have also been arrested to assist in investigations.
Yussif, alias Imam Yussif, was alleged to have poured acid on the deceased while she was asleep.
Burns were found all over the deceased’s body, with a bruise at the back of her head where she was suspected to have been hit by an object.
The Public Affairs Officer of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Inspector Joseph Benefo Darkwah, told the Daily Graphic that the deceased had been married to the suspect for 14 months and both of them were residing at House Number M100, Libya Quarters, which belonged to the deceased, Hajia Fati Matam-Mallam, 58.
He said Yussif, a teacher of Arabic, and the deceased were staying in the house with four other tenants, Messrs Kwaku Duah, Mohammed Yussif, both single, Madam Kate Adasi and Madam Jennifer Goka, both married women but whose husbands had travelled outside Accra.
He said about 2.00 a.m. on June 18, 2008, the four tenants were awoken by the screaming of the deceased, who shouted, “You have sprayed tear gas on me while I am sleeping. You want to kill me. What have I done to you? I am in pain, come and rescue me, my husband wants to kill me.”
Inspector Darkwah said based on that, the tenants rushed out of their rooms to find the deceased naked and groaning in pain in the compound of the house.
According to him, the deceased allegedly requested Mr Duah to fetch water and pour it on her to relieve her of the pain but Imam Yussif warned them to stay off because the deceased was a witch.
Inspector Darkwah said the suspect then dragged the deceased back into their room and returned 20 minutes later to inform Mr Duah that the deceased had passed away.
He said Imam Yussif then informed Mr Duah that the deceased had asked him (the suspect) to take charge of her house.
He said the suspect also asked Mr Duah and the other tenants not to divulge any information on the incident to anyone.
Inspector Darkwah said the suspect asked the tenants to inform anyone who sought the cause of death of the deceased that it was due to “high fever”.
According to him, about 11.00 a.m. on the same day, Adizatu, who stayed elsewhere, and the suspect’s sister were arrested by the police.
He said although the suspect admitted killing the deceased, Adizatu and Saada denied any involvement in the crime.
Inspector Darkwah said when the police inspected the couple’s room, it was detected that chemicals had been poured on the student’s mattress on which the deceased slept, with her clothes soaked with the same chemical, suspected to be acid.
He said the suspects were currently on remand pending further investigations.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Kidnapped girl kept in two hotels - Police

Page 55: June 26, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Dansoman police today confirmed the eight year-old pupil of Alpha Beta School, who was kidnapped on June 16, 2008, was kept in two different hotels before she was released on June 19, 2008.
The pupil’s school bag was also found at the residence of the principal suspect of the kidnapping, where it was concealed in another bag.
Two suspects, Philip Asiedu, the principal suspect and another person identified only as Miller, are currently in custody assisting the Dansoman police in investigations.
Three more suspects, including a woman, are being sought after by the police.
The suspects were alleged to have gone to the pupil’s school in a taxi to pick up the girl as if they were her parents and drove off.
Soon after the kidnappers had left the school, the mother of the pupil went to the school to pick her, only to be told that some people had already taken her home.
The Dansoman District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Alex Yartey Tawiah, who confirmed these to newsmen today, said the ransom money paid for the girl’s release was GH¢12,000.
He said the principal suspect was arrested through the hard work of the police and other security agencies backed by intelligence.
He said when the Asiedu was arrested at his house at Mandela, a suburb of Weija, he broke down in tears and confessed to the crime after the pupil’s school bag had been found in his room.
Chief Supt. Yartey-Tawiah said investigations led the team of investigators to the Kinshasha Hotel at Weija where some workers admitted that Asiedu, using pseudoname, Zamba-Lana Birila, checked in the girl as his relative.
He explained that Asiedu’s house was just a distance away from the hotel and visited the hotel frequently while the girl was in there, during which he bought bread and other items for her.
The commander said it was established that two days later, the suspect took the girl to the Riverway Hotel at Hansonic where he dressed her in an Islamic gear with her face virtually covered.
Chief Supt. Yartey-Tawiah said the workers at the hotel also confirmed to the investigative team that Asiedu had brought the girl there on June 18, 2008.
According to him, Asiedu, who the police described as a cyber crime expert, then took the pupil to the gate of her school on June 19, 2008 between 7:30am and 8am in a taxi after it had been communicated to him that the parents had deposited the ransom money at spot around Sakaman in Accra.
He explained that Miller was arrested by the police because he was identified by a witness as the only person who came to the spot where the money was dropped and vanished thereafter.
Chief Supt. Yartey-Tawiah said although the victim denounced seeing Miller as a member of the gang that kidnapped her, the police were able to picked up communication signals between Miller and Asiedu.
“The police reasonably believe that Miller went to pick the money that was dropped. His involvement is circumstential,” he added.
Chief Supt. Yartey-Tawiah said the police have not been able to establish the real motive of the crime but could only describe it as a “case of conspiracy, adoption, kidnapping and extortion” of money.
He said appealed to school authorities to revise their security operations taking cognisance of the sophisticated nature of the crime to avoid a recurrence.
He said both staff and pupils must be sensitised on security matters since all other schools were at risk.
Chief Supt. Yartey-Tawiah described the kidnapping incident as a new hybrid crime committed in hollywood fashion and which could only be attributed to infiltration of uncensored foreign films.
He, therefore, appealed to the Cinematography and Censorship Board to assist fight crime by not allowing such films to come into the country.

Interior Minister meets Police Chiefs

Page 49: June 26, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Interior Minister, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, has charged the police hierarchy to provide answers to police complicity in criminal activities and why the personnel have stopped displaying name tags and service numbers on their uniforms.
Addressing the top hierarchy of the service and regional commanders at a meeting at the Police Headquarters yesterday, Dr Addo-Kufuor said he expected the police to provide him with answers to questions such as whether it was true that some police personnel were directly involved in robbery or provided arms and ammunition to robbers for pecuniary gain, whether police vehicles and personnel were used in support of criminal activities, as well as whether narcotic drugs were carted in police vehicles to avoid detection.
Dr Addo-Kufuor, who was accompanied by his deputy, Mr K. T. Hammond ,and the Minister of State at the ministry, Nana Obiri Boahen, stated that to say the service was currently facing many serious challenges would be a great understatement.
The meeting was to discuss the rampant armed robbery and alleged police involvement, as well as the issue of perceived connivance of the police in the narcotic trade.
Dr Addo-Kufuor said many Ghanaians had lost confidence in the ability of the police to protect the citizenry while there were those who believed that the police were in league with criminals and drug barons.
“Whether these negative perceptions are incorrect or exaggerated, there is no doubt that things are not what they should be in the Ghana Police Service,” he observed.
Dr Addo-Kufuor, however, said there were still many excellent officers in the service who were prepared to lay down their lives in the service of the nation as occurred in Madina on Monday.
The minister said the problems confronting the service were responsible for the low morale in the service leading to ineffective and inefficient service delivery.
Dr Addo-Kufuor said nothing would help the image of the service more than all of them resolving to expose the bad lots in the service and ensuring that they faced the law.
He said the Zwennes Committee report was eagerly being awaited, the recommendations of which would be implemented to ensure the service regained some of its prestige and trust it had lost in recent times.
The Commissioner of Police in charge of Services, Mr Yaw Adu-Gyimah, said the Police Administration had contracted an agency to print the name tags and service numbers of the personnel.
He explained that hitherto the personnel were required to provide the name tags and the numerals themselves.
He said anyone who was found without his or her name tag would be put on service inquiry.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Police offer GH¢8,000 reward

Page 3: June 25, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Police Administration has declared an GH¢8,000 reward for information about the armed robbers who attacked the Madina branch of Ecobank, shot and killed a cop guarding a bullion van and made away with GH¢60,000.
It said anyone who provided information that would lead to the arrest of the suspects would be duly rewarded with that amount.
The Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwesi Ofori, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the police made an initial offer of GH¢3,000 while a philanthropist who wants to remain anonimous offered GH¢5,000.
He said the Inspector General of Police, Mr P. K. Acheampong, had also issued a directive to all regional, divisional and district police commanders to use all their contacts and intelligence to bring the perpetrators to book.
He said the IGP also asked the commanders to step up their operations against the upsurge in robbery in the country.
DSP Ofori appealed to members of the public to assist and co-operate with the police in bringing the perpetrators to book.
According to him, the incident took place in the full glare of the public and that those who were witnesses should be able to pass on some relevant information about the suspects to the police.
He reminded the public that modern policing was a shared responsibility with the public.
He, therefore, appealed to the public to co-operate with the police in fighting crime.
DSP Ofori said any information about questionable characters in their communities and any threats to lives and property should be reported to the police for immediate action.
He said apart from the emergency line 191 for users of cellphones for residents of Accra, the police could also be contacted on 021-775769; 021-773695 and 021-775765.
For those in Kumasi, Tema, Koforidua and Tema, he said, the police could be contacted on 051-22323; 022-202936/7; 081-22569 and 071-22297.
Gunmen on Monday attacked the Madina branch of Ecobank, shot and killed a cop guarding a bullion van and made away with GH¢60,000.
The scary operation brought activities on the busy streets of Madina to a halt for more than three hours, during which eyewitnesses said the robbers, numbering about five and in a blue-black Toyota Corolla saloon car with no registration number, took positions on the premises of the bank to wait for the arrival of the bullion van.

NACOB legal head to study in the US

Page 31: June 24, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Head of the Legal Unit of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Mr Daniel Amankwaah, is to take a leave of absence to enable him to pursue the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship programme in the US.
A letter dated June 19, 2008 and signed by the Director of Finance and Administration, Mr Michael Addo, noted that Mr Amankwaah made the request to be granted 13 months’ leave of absence, with effect from June 30, 2008, to enable him to attend the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship programme.
He has consequently been asked to hand over all NACOB property in his possession by today.
“In view of this, management requests that you prepare and submit a handing-over note and hand over all NACOB property in your possession to the executive secretary by Tuesday, June 24, 2008,” the letter said, adding, “You are also required to sign a bond in this regard.”
Mr Amankwaah explained that the fellowship was on substance abuse and illicit drug trafficking and that it would enable him to study the criminal justice system in relation to drug convictions, confiscation and policy.
“I will also study things about drug education, treatment and rehabilitation,” he added in his reply of June 20, 2008.
On the conditions of service of workers of NACOB, which was the subject of a recent report in the Daily Graphic, Mr Amankwaah said it was he who prevented the workers from embarking on an industrial action, to enable him to discuss their conditions with management.
He recalled that after the board had approved a new service condition for the staff, the executive secretary, in a letter dated August 30, 2007, wrote to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, through the Interior Minister, for the implementation of the new salary scale for the staff.
Mr Amankwaah said the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Dr A. Akoto Osei, in a reply dated November 14, 2007, asked the executive secretary to direct all such matters to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission through the Minister of the Interior.
He noted that the workers were later informed by the executive secretary that Cabinet had approved the document and so the board should expect the implementation of the new salaries soon.
He said the chairman of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission wrote to the board on May 13, 2008 requesting it to submit detailed information on the salary structure and other details of wages, allowances and benefits for its staff.
Mr Amankwaah said the management responded to the letter on May 30, 2008, following hints of worker unrest over the poor conditions of service and the delay by government to act on it.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of NACOB, Mr Francis Opoku Amoah, said Mr Amankwaah had been given a June 24 deadline to hand over to facilitate inventory taking.

Parents pay GH¢25,000 ransom for girl's release

Page 32: June 21, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
AN EIGHT year-old pupil of the Alpha Beta School in Dansoman, who was kidnapped on Monday, has been released after her parents had parted with the ransom of GH¢25,000.
Two suspects, one of whom had been identified as Philip Asiedu and the other only as Miller, are currently assisting the Dansoman police in investigations.
The police are currently looking for three more suspects.
The kidnappers had to back-track on their initial demands for $300,000 and had to settle for the GH¢25,000 because the parents said they could not afford it.
The suspects were alleged to have gone to the pupil’s school in a taxi to pick up the girl as if they were her parents and drove off.
Soon after the kidnappers had left the school, the mother of the pupil went to the school to pick her, only to be told that some people had already taken her home.
Sources close to the school and the family told the Daily Graphic that the kidnappers later called the girl’s mother to go to Papaye Fast Food Restaurant at Osu, where they would discuss with her the terms for the girl’s release.
The sources said the kidnappers also threatened to kill the girl should the mother inform the police about it.
They indicated that the kidnappers had accused one of the girl’s parents of being rude to a foreigner, hence the decision to kidnap the girl.
The first negotiation was on Monday at about 6:30pm, the sources added.
They said after the parents had dropped the ransom money, the venue of which they could not tell the Daily Graphic, the police, with the help of other security agencies, managed to arrest Asiedu and later, Miller.
The Dansoman District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Alex Yartey Tawiah, said he could only confirm that the girl had been released to the parents.
According to him, investigations were just at the preliminary stage and would, therefore, not want to give the details of the operation and the suspects in custody.
Meanwhile, the principal of the school, Mrs Florence H. Adjepong, in a statement, has said what occurred at the school is every school head’s nightmare and a parent’s trauma.
“What happened at Alpha Beta could have happened in any school. It is my social responsibility, therefore, to share this experience and urge school management boards to be diligent in re-evaluating the security measures in place in their respective schools so as to ensure that none of their children and parents are ever subjected to such a traumatic experience,” it said.
According to the statement, if those measures had been taken, the pain and sleepless nights experienced by the parents of the child, the school management and the staff would not have been suffered.
It said since the incident, the school’s security had been dramatically improved.
“A complete overhaul of our security system is being administered under the direction of security experts. A safety awareness programme to sensitise children, staff and parents to the increasing risks of urban living has started,” it said.
It stressed the need for children to be encouraged to be safety-conscious during evenings and at weekends when they might be taking advantage of the freedom of their leisure time.
“There are heinous criminals in our society who have targeted children as their prey. Thanks to the persistence and tireless efforts of our police and the BNI operatives, the perpetrators have been caught,” it stated.

War on drugs * US special unit operational next month

Front Page: June 20, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A special unit to help combat the menace of hard drugs in Ghana will become operational at the US Embassy in Accra next month.
Details of the unit’s operations, as well as levels of its collaboration with other narcotic control agencies in the country, were discussed yesterday at a closed-door meeting in Accra between members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Interior Minister, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor.
Last month, the outgoing US Ambassador in Ghana, Ms Pamela Bridgewater, announced the setting up of the special unit to collaborate with narcotic control agencies in Ghana to help fight drug trafficking in the country and yesterday’s meeting in Accra was part of the programme to make the unit operational.
The drug enforcement officials said the office would be fully equipped and manned by highly trained personnel in narcotics control to work with their Ghanaian counterparts to find a lasting solution to the problem, especially drug barons who used Ghana as one of their key transit points for drug trafficking.
The US delegation was led by the Chief Operations Officer of the DEA in Washington, Mr Michael Braun, and included the DEA’s Director for Africa and Europe, Mr Rusell F. Benson, who told the Daily Graphic that the DEA had, since the 1980s, operated in the sub-region through its office in Lagos, Nigeria.
He, however, said the alarming levels of the narcotic trade required that an additional office be opened in Ghana.
He described the threat posed by the narcotic trade in West Africa as serious, hence the need for the US to increase its presence in the region.
For his part, Mr Braun said maximum impact could only be attained through co-operation in the war on the illicit drug trade.
He said drug trafficking was a global problem, hence the need for countries and agencies to work together.
He said the DEA was one of the largest enforcement agencies in the US and expressed the hope that the opening of the office in Ghana would assist in dealing with the problem.
Dr Addo-Kufuor expressed the government’s appreciation for the support received from the US, which he described as a serious development partner.
He, however, described the US support for Ghana in the fight against drugs as “rather modest”.
The Interior Minister made a further appeal to the US government to help provide an X-ray machine at the Kotoka International Airport to facilitate the detection of internally concealed drugs.
He also called for the provision of speed boats to enable the security agencies to patrol Ghana’s coastline to minimise the smuggling of narcotic drugs by sea.
Dr Addo-Kufuor called on the US government to provide for the intensive and effective training of personnel of the Narcotics Control Board, the Ghana Navy, the Ghana Police Service and other stakeholders involved in the fight against the narcotic trade.
He said with those three initiatives, Ghana would make a positive impact on the fight against the illicit trade.
The US State Department, in its 2008 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) published in the March 27 edition of the Daily Graphic, said corruption and lack of resources were seriously impeding Ghana’s efforts at dealing with the drug menace.
“Ghana made limited progress in 2007 in addressing its legislative and enforcement deficiencies brought into the public eye by the 2006 narcotics scandals and a long road lies ahead,” it stated.
The report said “Ghana made limited efforts to combat the increasing drug flow in 2007, and arrests and seizures were down from 2006, although they were higher than 2005”.
It said Ghana’s interest in attracting investment provided a good cover for foreign drug barons to enter the country under the guise of doing legitimate business.
The report, however, noted that in 2007, South American traffickers reduced their need to visit Ghana in person by increasing reliance on local partners, thus insulating themselves from possible arrest by law enforcement officials.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

NACOB workers threaten strike

Page 55: June 19, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
WORKERS of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) have threatened to go on strike on July 2, this year, over poor working conditions and alleged acts of nepotism by the Executive Secretary, Mr Ben Botwe.
The staff said nothing would stop them from letting the world know their problems unless immediate solutions to their concerns were found.
Tension had been mounting at the NACOB for sometime now and reached its peak last week, resulting in an emergency meeting convened by the management to assure the workers of efforts to deal with their problems.
Mr Botwe was said to have attributed the problem to the reshuffling of the Interior Ministers by the President.
Some of the workers who confirmed the problems at the NACOB to the Daily Graphic said non-graduates were being paid as low as GH¢80 while graduates with more than 12 years experience were receiving about ¢288.
According to the workers, while they were being paid low salaries but doing “all the donkey work”, members of management were enjoying the toil of their labour.
They alleged that the management often held series of meetings paying themselves huge sitting allowances.
They said although the salary of the Executive Secretary was not even up to GH¢400 in the salary books, he ended up taking not less than GH¢1,000 a month.
“We are highly discouraged, demoralised and embittered,” one of the workers stated.
One of them said it was not surprising that suspects were now accusing NACOB staff in open court for collecting bribes from them.
They also accused the Executive Secretary of recruiting his church members and putting them in top positions and called for a probe into recruitment under his administration.
They said some of the graduate staff members who were employed last year had not yet been given appointment letters, saying that even the directors got their appointment letters only last week in the heat of the turbulence.
“There is no transparency in his recruitment policies,” they alleged.
One of the workers told the Daily Graphic that there had not been any arrest within the last three weeks because of the frustration and disillusionment at the NACOB.
The workers said there was also favouritism when it came to who should be sent to the airport for duties.
At the meeting last Thursday, June 12, 2008, Mr Botwe was alleged to have lambasted one of the senior officers for instigating the workers against the management.
Mr Botwe was said to have explained to the workers that when Mr Kwamena Bartels took over from Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, he (Bartels) said he would not work with any document that his predecessor had dealt with.
He is also alleged to have said that just as Mr Bartels was about to finish working on the new conditions of service for the workers, he was replaced, so he urged them to be patient with the management.
Mr Botwe was also alleged to have told the workers that he was brought in from the Food and Drugs Board to restructure NACOB and that if the workers thought he could not do the work, they could ask for a new person to take his place since he was trying his best under the circumstance.
They said newly recruited staff members who wrote to management complaining about their salary were threatened with dismissals since they were still on probation.
They alleged that certain people were appointed to certain positions depending on their relation to management.
They said at the meeting he accused previous managements of incompetence.
"Some of the new staff members at the meeting were surprised by such statements since the newly recruited officers are now occupying residential properties seized from drug dealers by previous managements," one of the staff members said, stressing that "in fact, Mr Botwe and his friend directors are using vehicles confiscated by the same managements he claims to be incompetent".
One of the new staff members said the way in which the management was treating and spreading false allegations about old staff members and management and accusing them at the least opportunity was in bad taste.
“You cannot even get near some old staff members because management has branded them as bad lots. We have worked with them for some time now and realised that these old hands are rather more competent and experienced,” the staff stated.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of NACOB, Mr Francis Opoku Amoah, said the management had decided to notify board of directors on the issues before responding to any media queries.

C'ttee set up to develop migration policy

Page 44: June 19, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
AN Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee was inaugurated yesterday to help fashion out a national migration policy for Ghana to be factored into the national development agenda.
The committee is to identify various options for managing migration for the benefit of socio-economic development and poverty reduction that could be measured in objective, quantifiable manner and for which progress could be monitored.
The inauguration of the committee is in line with the government’s decision in 2006 to set up a Migration Bureau to co-ordinate the activities of various public sector institutions whose activities were affected by migration.
At the inauguration ceremony in Accra during which the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) presented office equipment worth GH¢15,000 to facilitate the setting up of the Bureau, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Interior, Nana Obiri Boahen, conceded that although migration cut across the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), all the institutions operated in isolation with no central co-ordinating body to harness their activities.
He said the setting up of the bureau was to bridge the gap to enable the country to harness the potential of migration for development.
He said the committee was to ensure that migration was mainstreamed into district and sector plans, and the development of a 10-year national management plan.
Nana Boahen said in Africa it was projected that one in 10 Africans would live and work outside their country of origin by 2015 if current trends continued.
He said although Ghana benefited extensively from remittances of Ghanaians in the Diaspora, the mass exodus of her trained professionals took a toll on national development.
He noted the dangerous journeys that the youth of Ghana undertook via the Sahara in search of greener pastures in Europe, something that needed to be checked by society.
Nana Boahen, therefore, charged the 12-member committee to work assiduously to make the vision of the government in mainstreaming migration on the development agenda a reality.
The Chief Director of the ministry, Mrs F. E. N. Ampratwum, urged the committee to put forward strategies and programmes that would enable the country to turn the brain drain to brain gain.
Representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs; Finance and Economic Planning; Health; Justice and Attorney-General; Women and Children’s Affairs; Manpower, Youth and Employment; Tourism and Diasporan Relations; Education, Science and Sports; Trade and Industry, as well as the Centre for Migration Studies of the University of Ghana, Legon, make up the committee, which is to be chaired by the Minister of the Interior with the Executive Secretary of the bureau as another member.
The Head of Mission of the IOM in Ghana, Mr Davide Terzi, commended the government for taking the initiative to inaugurate the committee.
He noted that Ghana was one of the countries with high migration of its nationals to Western Europe.
He said the formulation of a migration policy would, therefore, go a long way to help the government benefit from migration.
Mr Terzi pledged the support of the IOM to the Ghanaian process to ensure its success.

Prof Mills outlines ambitious agricultural plan for Ghana

Page 16: June 19, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor John Evans Atta Mills, yesterday announced an ambitious agricultural policy that would see Ghana doubling its food production to meet local consumption and export.
Under the policy, Prof. Mills said, an NDC government would canalise the Accra Plains, rehabilitate all irrigation dams and build new ones, as well as build a fertiliser factory in the Western Region to support agricultural production.
He expressed regret that Ghanaians were spending more of their incomes and earnings on food.
Prof. Mills was speaking at the Institute of Economic Affairs’ (IEA) programme “An Evening Encounter” in Accra yesterday. The presidential candidate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom has already taken his turn at the forum.
The programme, which is a collaboration between the IEA, Joy FM and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, is to afford presidential candidates of the various presidential candidates an opportunity to present to the electorate their vision and plans and to provide strategies on how they intend to govern the country.
Prof. Mills said his government would also continue with afforestation programme and encourage bamboo cultivation.
He said his administration would institute measures that would resuscitate local poultry industry and protect the country’s fish stocks.
He said the problem with the country had been one of lack of implementation of the nice policies that had been drafted.
Prof. Mills said he would not plunder the state coffers for the benefit of his family, relatives, friends and party members.
He said he was coming into government with the core values of truth, honesty and humility and one of character.
He said as a social democratic party, the NDC believed in caring for the people and not championing the policy of survival of the fittest, stressing that “we should be each other’s keeper and not everyone for himself, God for the selected few”.
Prof. Mills said an NDC government would prove to Ghanaians and the whole world that government should be a tool in the service of the people and not to aid people to loot state resources.
He promised to use the whip to deal with offending officials and gave the assurance that he would adhere to good governance by responding to the concerns of people and solving problems, among others.
Prof. Mills noted that the current global economic and fuel crises had brought additional hardship to Ghanaians coupled with upsurge in crime.
He said contrary to the rising incidents of crime, the police were giving information that crime was on the decline.
That, he said, could be so because people had lost confidence in the police and were, therefore, not reporting criminal offences to them.
He said he would convene a stakeholders meeting in which the expertise of knowledgeable persons, irrespective of their political affiliation, would be tapped to deal with the problem.
Prof. Mills noted that instead of the police being on the forefront of fighting crime, the institution itself was fighting to redeem itself.
He gave the assurance that he would revive and restore public confidence in the police service.
On the issue of drugs, Prof. Mills said Ghana was fast earning the reputation of a drug nation because the perception out there was that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had created the environment for drug trade to thrive, stressing that “no wonder the numerous probes have not yielded any result”.
He said his administration would revive regional intelligence sharing to help deal with cross-border crime.
Prof. Mills said his administration would not allow drug dealers to use Ghana as a base for their trade and gave the assurance that “Ghana will adhere faithfully and diligently to the UN Convention on Drugs”.
On the economic front, he said his administration would encourage increased domestic savings and also cut on government expenditure and encourage the private sector to take the lead.
He said infrastructural development would be the hallmark of his economic development policies, especially industrial development.
On education, he said an NDC government would address the infrastructure shortcomings of basic schools, expand the School Feeding Programme to cover all primary schools, provide uniforms to needy pupils and also ensure the deworming exercise was implemented to the letter.
He said an NDC government would not reverse the educational policies of the NPP administration but would convene stakeholder fora to agree on the way forward.
He said the NDC did not believe in total cost recovery but cost-sharing at the tertiary level and would also provide incentive package for science and mathematics students.
Prof. Mills said the issue of quality education was dear to his heart and would, therefore, ensure that teachers were properly trained and remunerated to provide excellent teaching.
He said he did not have a problem with the law of causing financial loss to the state but the NDC’s concern had been with the interpretation of the law.
He said an NDC government would not repeal the law until a time that the party and Ghanaians would agree that it should be repealed.

Consumers will benefit from price reduction* Finatrade declares

Front Page: June 18, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Finatrade Group of Companies has announced a reduction in the prices of all its rice brands with immediate effect.
It said it started releasing a new consignment of rice to its clients last Friday.
It said all things being equal, consumers should be benefiting from the reduced prices by the close of this week.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Nabil Mourkazel, told the Daily Graphic that it was criminal for the company’s clients to continue to sell at the old prices to consumers, saying, “We expect the change to reflect on the market.”
A 50-kilogramme bag of Vietnamese rice, which was sold at a wholesale price of GH¢53, will now go for GH¢49, while Thai rice of the same weight will now go for GH¢50, instead of the previous price of GH¢55.20.
Texas rice, the highest quality rice, will now sell at GH¢57, instead of GH¢61, per 50-kilogramme bag at the wholesale.
President J. A. Kufuor, on May 23, 2008, announced measures to mitigate the hardships on Ghanaians resulting from the global food and fuel crises.
He asked all Ghanaians, particularly importers, to co-operate, so that the benefits could be felt by all.
Following that, Parliament last week amended the Custom and Excise (Duty and other Taxes) Act 2008 to remove import duties on rice, wheat, yellow maize and crude vegetables for soap and food manufacture to become law and it was assented to by President Kufuor last Friday.
A statement signed by Mr Andrew Awuni, the Press Secretary to the President and Presidential Spokesman, and issued in Accra on Monday said, “With this law now operational, it is expected that importers will benefit from the removal of duties and other taxes and subsequently pass on such benefits to the end consumers.”
“Importers are reminded that it should be criminal for anybody to re-export these duty-free items,” it added.
The statement said the removal of the taxes was aimed at reducing the prices of those commodities on the market for the benefit of consumers, in the face of rising food and fuel prices globally.
Mr Mourkazel said Finatrade expected its clients, who were mainly wholesalers, to deliver the rice to the retailers by the close of the week so that consumers would also begin to benefit from it from next week.
He said the company would put pressure on its clients to make sure that they passed on the benefits to consumers.
“If the savings are not passed on, we will sanction them by blacklisting them. We are keen to ensure that the objective set by the government really works to the benefit of all Ghanaians,” he said.
Mr Mourkazel appealed to Ghanaians, particularly traders, to co-operate to ensure the success of the government’s initiative.
He explained that since the company had reduced the wholesale price to its clients, there should be a reduction in the chain.
He also explained that the company dealt in 12 different brands, all of which had different prices, and, therefore, urged the consuming public to expect similar prices on the market.
The Corporate Affairs Manager of Finatrade, Mr John Awuni, said the company would be running advertisements in both the electronic and print media to inform consumers about the new prices.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Graphic, Times give more coverage to NPP

Page 31: June 17, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Daily Graphic and The Ghanaian Times gave more news coverage and more news space to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) than the opposition political parties.
In a report issued by the Centre for Media Analysis and Research covering a survey it conducted between January 2007 and March 2008, it said the NPP was given the highest news coverage of 48 per cent, followed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) with 25.4 per cent, with the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the Democratic People’s Party (DPP), the United Renaissance Party (URP) and the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD) receiving the least coverage of 1.1; 0.3; 03 and 0.1 per cent, respectively, by the Daily Graphic.
It said The Ghanaian Times also gave the NPP the highest news coverage of 48.6 per cent, followed by the NDC with 26.8 per cent, while the GCPP, DPP, URP, RPD and the United Love Party (ULP) received the least coverage.
In terms of space allotment, the research revealed that the Daily Graphic gave the highest news space coverage of 69 per cent to the NPP, while the NDC and the Convention People’s Party (CPP) got 15 and 10 per cent, respectively.
“Similarly, The Ghanaian Times also gave the highest news space to the NPP with 50 per cent; NDC, 25 per cent, and the CPP, 16 per cent, while the People’s National Convention (PNC) and the GCPP got six and one per cent space allotment, respectively,” it said.
The report said the findings supported the view that the state-owned print media could be giving more coverage to the NPP in terms of news story coverage and space allotment.
In addition, it said the research findings confirmed that the state-owned print media could be “unfair” to opposition political parties in terms of news story distribution and news space allotment.
It said a review of the research results suggested that the constitutional provisions under Article 55 (11 and 12) and Article 163 were not adhered to by the Daily Graphic and The Ghanaian Times in their news coverage and news space distribution to political parties from January 2007 to March 2008.
“To some extent, one is inclined to suggest that the constitutional provision enjoining state-owned media to give equal opportunity and fair access to political parties remains a myth and at the discretion of the state-owned media,” it noted.
It, however, conceded that in spite of the “unfair” coverage of the opposition parties by the state-owned media, the trend of the reportage could be as a result of inactive political parties, ineffective engagement of the state-owned print media by the opposition parties and the lack of effective media strategies by opposition parties’ communication departments.
“The state-owned media cannot be blamed in totality. Rather, political party activities should be critically correlated with state-owned media engagements,” it said.
It reminded political parties that the state-owned media were not supposed to generate political party activity news but to cover political party activities and programmes.
“This research finding should serve as a pointer to all political parties that not until they actively engage the state-owned print media in their party engagements to make the constitutional provisions a reality, it will forever remain a constitutional myth,” it noted.
It advised the state-owned media to offer fair coverage to all the registered political parties and presidential hopefuls, especially in the electioneering year, to avoid political conflicts to ensure successful elections.
The report urged the Daily Graphic and The Ghanaian Times to institute an internal monitoring mechanism to ensure that all political parties were accorded equal and fair coverage.
Reacting to the findings, the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, said he welcomed the study because it provided information regarding how the newspaper was serving its readers.
“As the people making the path, we may not be able to determine whether we are on the right path, particularly with regard to the constitutional charge on us to provide fair coverage for all political parties,” he said.
Mr Tetteh said, however, that he had a problem with the study because it was conducted at a time when about 18 people were seeking the flag bearer slot of the NPP and all of them were traversing the length and breadth of the country. It was imperative, therefore, for the Daily Graphic to cover their activities to give them the opportunity to sell their messages to members of their party.
He said his other problem was with the definition of ‘political season’ in the study and noted that to him the ‘political season’ began when all the political parties had filed the nominations of their candidates with the Electoral Commission.
Mr Tetteh, who is also the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), said the Daily Graphic was mindful of its obligations to the people of Ghana and would not let them down.
He said the Daily Graphic was the only newspaper which assigned a reporter to each of the presidential candidates in 2004 and said management had already made the pledge to do same this year.
“Our doors are open and all political parties should feel free to knock at it and their messages will be carried to the electorate,” he assured the parties.

Management of public purse transparent

Page 24: June 17, 2008.
Story: Albert K . Salia
THE Auditor-General, Mr Edward Dua-Agyeman, says the management of the public purse is now more transparent than ever before.
He cited the public sittings of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament last year and this year and the prompt auditing of all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as a demonstration of a strong commitment towards public accountability.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, Mr Dua-Agyeman said various heads of MDAs had been called to account for their stewardship, under the full glare of television cameras and the press.
He said since 2003, the Audit Service had regularly audited and submitted reports on public accounts to Parliament.
“These reports included the Public Accounts of Ghana (Consolidated Fund) of Ghana for the years 2001 to 2006; the Auditor-General’s Reports on the MDAs from 2001 to 2006 and the Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments by the Bank of Ghana for the same period,” he said.
Mr Dua-Agyeman said the reports of the Auditor-General for 2007 on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Consolidated Fund) and MDAs had been prepared and would be submitted to Parliament before June 30, 2008.
According to him, until the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration assumed office in 2001, the Auditor-General’s reports had been in arrears.
“The Auditor-General’s reports on the Public Accounts and MDAs for 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 were all submitted to Parliament after 2001 when I took office in April 2001,” he said.
Mr Dua-Agyeman recalled a loan of $100 million which the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government contracted in 1993 from Lonrho Plc, pending the sale by the government of part of its shares in Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited.
He said the loan was not approved by Parliament before it was contracted, while the report of the Auditor-General for 1993 failed to mention it, nor did the Public Accounts Committee raise the issue in Parliament.
The Auditor-General said it was not until 2006 that he wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, informing him of the illegality of the loan, since it was not approved by Parliament.
He explained that Section VII of the Loans Act, 1970, provided that the terms and conditions of any loans obtained by the government shall not come into effect unless they had been laid before Parliament and approved by Parliament by resolution.
Mr Dua-Agyeman said he had indicated in his letter to the Speaker that the Loans Act did not make provisions for sanctions to be imposed where a loan had been contracted by the Minister of Finance without the approval of Parliament.
He also recalled that during the administration of the NDC, facilities that were made available to the 31st December Women’s Movement, including the Trade and Investment Programme Fund in 1997 which he said was never repaid, were also not captured in the Auditor-General’s report to Parliament.
“Loans contracted by the 31st December Women’s Movement and guaranteed by the Government of Ghana were never reported on when the movement defaulted and the government had to service the loans and repay the principal amounts,” he alleged.
Mr Dua-Agyeman said during the administration of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), there was no accountability whatsoever in respect of the disbursement of public funds, saying that the Auditor-General’s reports were not submitted regularly to the PNDC.
According to him, “The reports that were submitted were not subjected to any scrutiny by the PNDC and the Secretary of Finance and the Controller and Accountant-General were not called upon to explain any adverse findings in the reports.”
He, however, explained that since there was no Parliament then, he did not expect any Public Accounts Committee to examine the reports of the Auditor-General.
Mr Dua-Agyeman commended the Kufuor administration for assisting to restructure the Audit Service to ensure that it performed effectively and efficiently.
He said the European Union had purchased a number of computers for the service, while the government had provided vehicles and other office equipment to support its operations, with the staff also having an improvement in their conditions of service.
He said a Public Affairs Unit of the service had been created to assist the media and any member of the public to know more about the operations of the Audit Service.

Highlight positive gains of the continent - Graca Machel

Page 5: June 17, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A MEMBER of the Africa Progress Panel, Mrs Graca Machel, has called on the African media to highlight the positive gains the continent had made in recent times.
She said identifying and championing those positive traits would prevent the continent being overwhelmed by too many negative news.
She said in recent times, African countries were showing a reawakening both inwardly and regionally by working together to integrate their economies and help improve the lives of their people.
Mrs Machel was speaking to the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview from her Maputo-base to co-incide with the launch of the panel’s report in London yesterday by its chairperson, Mr Kofi Annan.
The 11-member Panel was launched in 2007 as a unique and independent authority on Africa to focus world leaders’ attention on delivering their commitments to the continent.
Other members of the Panel, which was formed under the auspices of the Commission for Africa Report, include Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, Robert E. Rubin, former Secretary of the US Treasury and Executive Chairman, Citigroup, Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria and Bob Geldof, musician, businessman, founder and chair of Band Aid, Live Aid and a former member of the Commission for Africa.
Mrs Machel explained that the focus of the panel’s report was on the Group of Eight (G8) because it was planned to co-incide with the Group’s upcoming meeting.
She said it was the G8 that made certain promises and commitments at their meeting at Gleneagles hence the focus of the panel to “hold them to their promises”.
According to her, increasing the quantity of food on the world market especially by those stockpiling them for their citizens would help avert the crisis elsewhere.
Mrs Machel said the release of the report would also remind the G8 to revisit and revise their policies on new investments to centre on agricultural productivity to increase the food basket.
She explained that the crisis could be turned into an opportunity to avoid the business as usual attitude.
“No one can be comfortable in his or her comfort zone if others are suffering,” she said.
In the report issued today in London, the panel demanded international action to deal with the urgent threat of world food prices while calling on G8 leaders to take immediate steps to get their commitments to Africa back on target.
The report said the world food crisis “threatens to destroy years, if not decades of economic progress” as “100 million people are being pushed back into absolute poverty.
The report called on countries to immediately review arrangements for stockpiling food, while a comprehensive rethinking of trade policy was needed to boost agricultural production around the world.
It urged the G8 to increase funding for renewable energy and invest in adaptation and the prevention of deforestation.
It noted that while there had been significant success in improving governance, the resolution of the current crises required greater and more consistent efforts by the African Union, individual African governments and the international community as a whole.
The report urged the G8 to develop strategies to connect farmers to markets as well as improve access to water and improve sanitation.

Security agencies urged to retrieve illegal weapons

Page 28: June 26, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Ministry of the Interior has directed the security agencies to take steps to retrieve all weapons in unauthorised hands.
The Minister of State at the Ministry of the Interior, Nana Obiri Boahen, who gave the directive in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the use of weapons, even in minor disputes, was a source of concern to the government, more especially as the elections drew nearer.
He, therefore, called on non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to assist the security agencies to ensure that all illegal arms were retrieved.
He said the need for a conscious effort to retrieve the weapons had become paramount in view of the abuse of weapons by some people, creating panic and confusion in the country.
Nana Boahen stated that the possession of arms without authority was illegal in the country, explaining that there was an erroneous impression in some circles that the ban on the possession of arms was in place only in conflict-prone areas.
He said the law provided that any person who owned, possessed or controlled any arms, including ammunition, was enjoined by law to register and regularise it with the police, saying those who had had their arms registered were enjoined by law to renew their permits annually.
He said the illegal possession and use of arms had become rampant and so every Ghanaian must help the government to deal with the problem.
The minister said the driver or owner of a vehicle was enjoined by law to ask for documents, particularly permits, before allowing anyone to put arms onto the vehicle.
He said the law enforcement agencies must stamp their authority on the growing menace and appealed to the judiciary to assist.
He noted that the law regulating the possession of arms was not limited to only Ghanaians but foreigners as well and indicated that Fulani herdsmen were not permitted to carry arms unless they had been permitted to do so by the police.
Nana Boahen mentioned grenades, rifles, locally manufactured guns and dynamite as some of the arms which could not be used without permission.

I’ll spearhead devt of Cape Coast—Amponsa-Dadzie

Page 14: June 16, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Aspirant for Cape Coast, Mr Kwamina Ollennu Amponsa-Dadzie, says the pace of development in the Cape Coast metropolis needs to be quickened.
“My own desire is for the assembly members in the area to be given a share of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund when it was released to the assembly for them to address the peculiar needs of their electoral areas,” he said.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic after his election to represent the party in the December parliamentary polls, Mr Amponsa-Dadzie said each assembly member would be required to agree with stakeholders in the electoral area about their peculiar needs for which such funds were to be used.
According to him, the assembly had not been effective in its development programmes, and it was only through such measures that development could reach the entire metropolis.
He explained that some electoral areas might need wells, drainage, washroom facilities or electrical poles, and it was only the assembly member, who in consultation with stakeholders in his or her area, would determine what to use such moneys for.
Mr Amponsa-Dadzie said he had also promised to set up a bi-partisan committee within 100 days of his election as Member of Parliament (MP) to nominate persons who had contributed to the development of the area for awards.
He stated that Cape Coast had not lived up to its motto of rewarding hardworking people and it was time to revisit the issue.
Mr Amponsa-Dadzie said streets could be named after such people, irrespective of their political affiliation, because “Cape Coast must quicken its pace of development and it does not matter who is contributing to achieve that purpose”.
The parliamentary aspirant, who polled 69 votes to beat his closest challenger, Mrs Nancy Thompson, who had 53 votes and Dr Philip Bondzi-Simpson, who had two votes, pledged to bring on board all party members to ensure a resounding victory for the party in the December polls.
He said he would also work hard to ensure that the foot soldiers of the party were duly rewarded under the Presidency of Nana Akufo-Addo.
He, therefore, urged all foot soldiers of the party in the region to work hard to ensure 100 per cent win for the NPP in the polls.
Mr Amponsa-Dadzie, whose father, the late Kofi Amponsa-Dadzie, was the first to be elected into the Legislative Assembly in the 1950s, gave the assurance that he would open channels of communication to enable constituents to express their concerns to him.
He pledged to emulate the work of his late father, who he said, enabled him to win the primaries.
“I did not turn out a single poster, flyer or T-shirt and yet I won. I know the work my father did it for me and I will do more for the constituents,” he pledged.
Mr Amponsa-Dadzie called on the losing contestants to join him to work hard to retain the seat and also strengthen the party to facilitate development of the area.

Friday, June 13, 2008

IEA puts forward draft bill for peaceful transition

Page 20: June 12, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has put forward a draft bill to ensure a peaceful and smooth transition from one democratically elected government to another.
If enacted, it will avoid a repetition of the rancorous nature of the handing over process from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2001 which resulted in the development of deep-seated animosity between the two parties that had existed to the present time.
The bill is also expected to induce some measure of accommodation and co-operation, as well as a better and more harmonious transfer of the reins of government from one administration to another in a manner that do not introduce a strain between the winner and the loser and help forge national reconciliation, lower political tension and promote inter-party co-operation.
At a workshop in Accra yesterday to discuss the proposed bill, participants agreed on the need for a set of rules and regulations to guide the transitional process.
They also called for the establishment of a permanent secretariat to handle not only the transition process but also collate, keep and maintain an inventory of all state assets in the hands of public officials.
It came to light that during the 2001 transition process, the issue of who was in possession of what was part of the issues that made the process chaotic because there was no comprehensive asset inventory.
They also suggested that the secretariat should draw its funds from Parliament and not the Presidency.
A former Chief of Staff under the NDC government, Nana Ato Dadzie, said considerations should also be made for what would be given political appointees, as well as the privileges to be granted to former ministers who had served meritoriously.
He explained that not regulating such issues would make their implementation subject to the President’s pleasure, saying that such actions made governance processes fragile.
“They should not be subject to the emotions and moods of an individual,” he said.
He said under the proposed legislation, the President should be enjoined to list the names of special assistants or advisors, not only at the Presidency but also the ministerial level, and that the list should be submitted to Parliament each year.
A former Speaker of Parliament, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, proposed that there should be a constitutional amendment for considerable time to be given for the transition process.
He suggested that to avoid a rush in the swearing in of the President, the first meeting of Parliament should take place in the morning on January 7, while the swearing in of the President took place in the afternoon.
He disagreed with the proposal that the Chief Justice should be made the chairperson of the succession body, explaining that the Chief Justice was not to meddle in political power, hence the position not being assigned any political role in the Constitution.
Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, a former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development in the NDC regime, was of the view that if rules and regulations were outlined, what the country needed was a strong chief executive officer to administer state assets.
He said there should be a constitutional arrangement to guide incoming Presidents on where to stay, what to use, among others, to avoid hawks within parties dictating to the President.
Mr Ahwoi stressed the need for a definition of offices within the government to determine which were political and which were public service to forestall the situation where officials were uncertain of their security of tenure.
A good governance expert, Mrs Leonora Kyeremateng, said there was the need for a gap-analysis study to be conducted to determine which constitutional provisions were not being implemented.
She noted that the issue of transition remained one of the outstanding challenges confronting good governance in the country.

Corruption impedes anti-trafficking measures - Report

Page 31: June 11, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE US government has called on Ghana to improve its efforts to prosecute and convict human traffickers.
It said Ghana should also be bold to suspend government officials accused of complicity from their official duty until they can be prosecuted or cleared of allegations against them.
In its 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report on Ghana, the State Department said corruption among legal officials was an obstacle to the effective anti-trafficking measures in Ghana.
It noted that an official of the Ghana Immigration Service who was videotaped accepting bribes to facilitate the trafficking of Nigerian victims to Europe was only transferred to a post outside Accra.
It said Ghana was a source, transit and destination for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and commercial sexual activities.
“Trafficking within the country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking and the majority of victims are children. Both boys and girls are trafficked within Ghana for forced labour in agriculture and the fishing industry, as porters and for street hawking”, it said.
It said the Government of Ghana does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking though it is making significant efforts to do so.
The report said while Ghana took some law enforcement steps, through police raids last year to address trafficking for sexual purposes, investigations and prosecutions were limited and there were no convictions of the perpetrators of this crime during the reporting year.
It advised Ghana to develop a system of providing secure care for rescued victims of sex trafficking; create increased overall shelter for rescued trafficked victims and train government social workers to identify girls and women who are victims of trafficking for prostitution.
It also suggested increased co-ordination between the police and government social workers in conducting trafficking raids and rescue as well as fulfilling commitments to the international community to work with private cocoa companies to survey 50 per cent of all cocoa producing regions to measure the incidence of worst forms of child labour and forced adult labour by July 2008.
On prosecution, the report said Ghana demonstrated modest efforts to combat trafficking through law enforcement efforts in 2007.
“Ghana prohibits all forms of trafficking through its 2005 Human Trafficking Act, which prescribes a minimum penalty of five years’ imprisonment for all forms of trafficking. This penalty is sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for rape,” it noted.
It said Ghana reported nine trafficking arrests, all of which were at various stages of prosecution but pointed out that there were no reported convictions or punishments of the offenders.
“In November 2007, the CID conducted an operation against a trafficking ring, rescuing 17 female sex trafficking victims, one of whom was a minor. The victims were being trafficked through Ghana from Nigeria en route to Europe. The CID arrested the suspects; they were eventually released on bail. The suspects are awaiting trial,” it added.
The report said in January 2008, the CID conducted a raid on a cluster of brothels that operate with minors as prostitutes, adding that about 78 male clients and three bar employees were detained by the police but those criminal suspects were released after several hours.
It said they were released in part because the CID lacked facilities to accommodate such a large number of people.
Unfortunately, it said, none of the detainees was charged.
The report said the Ghanaian government demonstrated limited efforts to protect these victims.
It said the two homes which the government provided for destitute children in Accra suffered from lack of resources and were stretched beyond capacity, stressing that “Ghana lacks shelters for sex trafficking victims and Ghanaian officials displayed very poor procedures for referring victims.”
It said the Department of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs assumed custody of the 60 minor girls and transported them to a shelter on the night of the raid but due to lack of adequate facilities and security measures to care for or protect the victims, some of the women and minor girls rescued subsequently left the facility.
It said overall victim assistance efforts had declined over the past two years, however, particularly with respect to sex trafficking victims.
It said the police employed no systematic procedures for identifying trafficking victims and referring them to government or NGO care facilities, adding that when border officials found victims, they sometimes tried to locate homes in border villages where the victims could stay until their families were found.
The report said Ghana did not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries where they face hardship or retribution.
It commended Ghana for its continued activities to raise awareness about trafficking during the reporting period.
The government launched several campaigns to educate the public on the 2005 law against trafficking. The Human Trafficking Board and the Human Trafficking Fund mandated by the 2005 law were established in July 2007.
It said the board, which was composed of government agencies, international organisations and NGOs, had begun drafting a national action plan against trafficking.
The statement also said the government did not take measures to ensure that its nationals who are deployed abroad as part of peacekeeping missions did not engage in or facilitate trafficking.

ECG MD wins award

Page 3: June 11, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr Jude Osafo Adu-Amankwah, has won the African Utility Conference (AUC) 2008 Chief Executive of the Year Award.
He was given the award in Cape Town, South Africa at the just-ended AUC, a union of utility agencies providing water, gas and electricity in Africa.
An elated Mr Adu-Amankwah told the Daily Graphic that he was dedicating the award to all the staff of the ECG for their commitment and hard work in the midst of the challenges confronting the company.
He said to have come up tops among other chief executives on the continent was an honour that everyone should be proud of.
He urged the staff to continue to work hard to serve the company’s customers better.
A citation accompanying the award noted in particular the tenacity and courage with which Mr Adu-Amankwah handled the energy shortfall in 2007.
It said from an overly centralised system of material distribution, the current management had created and operated a district level stores system which had facilitated access to key service materials needed for routine activities, including new service connections, installations and urgent repairs.
“This single act has eased the rate of service delivery to customers in all the 77 districts of the company,” it said.
On prepaid metering, the citation said the roll-out of the prepayment of metering system in Ghana after a period of experimentation and setbacks had finally taken off in earnest in Accra and other parts of the country.
It said under a Build, Operate and Transfer agreement, the prepayment technology was replacing the existing credit billing system and its meters.
The citation said Mr Adu-Amankwah had been an ardent supporter of the sub-regional efforts towards the development and integration of the African power systems.
It noted that the ECG had been part of the current completion of works for the start of power from Ghana to Badou in Togo and also from Ghana to Burkina Faso.
It described Mr Adu-Amankwah as a “great leader and a visionary. He is a gentleman who recognises and rewards achievements. He is affable and a listening Chief Executive Officer”.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

CEPS intercepts four vehicles in Tema

Page 3: June 10, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
Four vehicles suspected to have been stolen from Canada have been intercepted by officials of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) at the Golden Jubilee Terminal at the Tema Port.
The trucks are two Toyota FJ Cruisers, a Nissan Murano and the head of an articulated truck.
Wrong vehicle particulars on the bill of lading from Canada were provided but a new one suspected to have been issued by a shipping line in Tema providing the correct vehicle particulars were presented for clearing on arrival.
According to CEPS officials, the fraudulent deal was carried out to facilitate the illegal amendment of the manifest in order to circumvent the eventual seizure of the incorrectly manifested vehicles.
Although they could not provide figures immediately, the CEPS officials said there was an increase in the importation of stolen vehicles into the country.
It was established that car stealing syndicates were now changing the chassis numbers of the vehicles from the point of departure to the proper chassis numbers at the arrival point.
That was a departure from the old trick of not manifesting the stolen vehicles at all, they said.
In another incident, a Bedford truck, with registration number GR 5008 D and loaded with 50 bales of textiles and covered with firewood, has been intercepted.
These came to light when the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, visited the CEPS Headquarters to interact with the officials yesterday.
Senior officials of the CEPS, including Messrs Africanus Owusu-Ansah, P. K. Abebrese and Paul Nkansah, all deputy commissioners, and Ms Annie Anipa, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Public Relations, took turns to brief the minister on what CEPS had been doing to support the government in revenue mobilisation.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said the government was losing revenue from its incentive package to Ghanaians to mitigate the rising cost of living as a result of fuel and food price hikes.
He said it was important that the revenue mobilisation agencies, particularly CEPS, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Value Added Tax Service, endeavoured to be more efficient in their work.
He commended officials of CEPS whose vigilance, professionalism and hard work exposed such dubious deals.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said such commitment to work would send a signal to the international community that Ghana was open for genuine business and would not allow fraudsters to dent its image.
He appealed to CEPS to publish the list of auctioneers in good standing. He also urged the service to submit a list of clearing agents in good standing to the various Ghanaian missions abroad to help those outside the country to deal only with accredited agents.
Mr Baah-Wiredu further advised that the range of duty to be paid on vehicles, depending on type, year of manufacture and capacity, should be published in the newspapers.
That, he explained, would help importers to know what to expect to pay.
Mr Owusu-Ansah said CEPS would investigate the stolen vehicles matter to establish the liability of the clearing agent involved in the importation of the vehicles and deal with the agency, as well as the importer, if it was found to be culpable.
He said in the past, the action taken depended on the outcome of the investigations, including the payment of the exact duty and a penalty, the confiscation of the vehicle to be later auctioned or allocated to an agency. He said oftentimes such vehicles were sent back to the country of origin if it was established that the vehicles were stolen.
Mr Abebrese said CEPS was collaborating with its international counterparts to expose criminals in the system.
Posted by salia at 1:19 AM 0 comments

Suspect attempts to strip naked

Page 34: June 9, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A 37-year-old woman who the police say has been on their wanted list, created a scene at the Police Headquarters yesterday, when she attempted to strip naked.
In the process of interrogation, the suspect, Benedicta Gyamerah, screamed at the top of her voice calling for help claiming she was been manhandled and started undressing.
According to the Nima Divisional Police Command, they have been looking for Benedicta since April, this year, for allegedly defrauding a number of business enterprises.
She was arrested by the Panthers Unit of the Police Headquarters after she had reportedly gone to defraud another person of GH¢30,430.
The Daily Graphic in its April 21, 2008 edition, published a story in which the Nima Divisional Police Command had declared Benedicta wanted and sought public assistance for her arrest.
It came to light during investigations that the Commercial Crime Unit at the CID Headquarters, Accra Region and the Odorkor Police Command were also looking for Benedicta for similar offences.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Public Affairs Officer of the CID, Inspector J. B. Darkwah, said Benedicta had on May 12, 2008, gone to a trader to collect car batteries and acid costing GH¢30,430.
He said after collecting the items, Benedicta asked the trader to follow her for the money.
Inspector Darkwah said on reaching the Lapaz market, the suspect asked the trader, with whom she was travelling in a taxi, to wait for her in the taxi while she (Benedicta) discussed an issue with someone close by.
According to him, the complainant and the taxi driver waited for several hours but Benedicta failed to show up.
He said upon returning to her shop, the driver of the cargo truck whom Benedicta hired to take the goods to Kumasi, surfaced to say that the suspect called to ask him to take the goods to Adenta.
Inspector Darkwah said the suspect returned to the cargo truck driver with two vehicles to offload the goods and asked the truck driver to follow one of the vehicles, in which she sat, to collect his money.
He said on the way, Benedicta called the driver to pick up her handbag at the place where the goods were offloaded.
Inspector Darkwah said the driver went to the place but did not see any handbag and returned only to realise that Benedicta had left with the other vehicles.
He said in some instances, Benedicta would ask her victims to issue her with receipts in advance, but absconded later through similar means.
He said each time she was arrested and confronted, she would produce the receipt issued ealier to prove that she actually paid for the goods and, thus, made the victims lose out.
The modus operandi of the woman is to enter a shop and request to purchase some of the items being sold.
After negotiating the price, she requests that the owner of the shop or the sales person follow her to the bank to enable her to withdraw some money to effect payment.
Before going to the bank with her victim, she arranges for a vehicle to cart the items to a destination.
At the place, Benedicta makes arrangements with a new vehicle to cart the items to another place and thus succeeds in deceiving the first driver of the final destination of the goods he has carted.
On the way, however, she sneaks away, leaving the victim stranded.
Posted by salia at 1:17 AM 0 comments

Police seize 8 bags of "wee"

Page 28: June 9, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have intercepted a Mercedes Benz truck loaded with eight sacks of dried leaves suspected to be Indian hemp.
Three persons, John Larbi, the driver of the truck, Daniel Obiri and Wisdom Adzokpah, were arrested and are assisting the police in investigations.
In an attempt to outwit the police, the culprits sandwiched the stuff between charcoal in the sacks
The Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwasi Ofori, told the Daily Graphic that personnel of the Highway Patrol Team from the Police Headquarters spotted the truck, with registration number GT 4457 U, at about 5:30 a.m. at Maame Water Village on the Akosombo-Ho road.
He said when Larbi was questioned, he said the bags contained charcoal, but upon some checks the police discovered the stuff in the sacks.
DSP Ofori said upon interrogation, Larbi mentioned Obiri and Adzokpah as the suppliers of the stuff and claimed that he (Larbi) was sending it to Ashaiman.
Further investigations led to the arrest of Obiri and Adzokpah.
Posted by salia at 1:15 AM 0 comments

Incident unfortunate, unnecessary - Boahen

Page 3: June 4, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Minister of State at the Ministry of the Interior, Nana Obiri Boahen, has described the Ashaiman incident as unfortunate and unnecessary.
He said there was no justification whatsoever for the action of the mob that attacked the police station and the rented barracks of the police at Zongo Laka, a suburb of Ashaiman, where the wives and children of the police were subjected to severe beatings.
Nana Boahen said this after the Tema Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr John Kudalor, had briefed the minister who visited the Ashaiman municipality to receive information on the incident.
The minister noted that but for the false alarm raised by a section of the media, particularly some radio stations, that a driver had been beaten to death in police cells, the mob would not have reacted so violently.
He said what was even unfortunate was the broadcast of false news that six persons had lost their lives and urged media practitioners to endeavour to cross-check their facts before going public with them.
Nana Boahen said what was also regrettable about the incident was the fact that the deceased might not have been part of the mob that attacked the police station.
He appealed to all Ghanaians not to take the law into their hands and rather allow due process to take its course.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Phase One of Fibre Backbone Project ready

Page 48: June 6, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE first phase of the National Communication Fibre Backbone Project has been completed.
The project, which was funded with a $30 million loan from the Eximbank of China, is expected to enhance rapid communication of data in the country and to other countries.
Currently, the Ministry of Communications is receiving applications from telecom operators, Internet service providers and companies, including banks to purchase the bandwidth capacity to improve their services.
The sector minister, Dr Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that communication service providers that used the facility would be in the position to provide excellent, uninterrupted and enhanced services to their clients.
He said the Fibre Backbone Project had a much bigger capacity to contain large volumes of data and transmit it faster.
He said the project could be likened to a “motorway”, thus enhancing faster and uninterrupted movement from one end to another.
Dr Ntim cited for instance that until the project became a reality, a call to Lome had to be re-routed through France before being connected to Lome.
He explained that with the project in place now, all calls to neighbouring countries and to Europe and the US would go through direct in a much clearer voice and without any voice interruptions or delays.
He said the government was currently seeking funds for the second phase of the project to cover most of the northern sector and connect some towns in the southern sector.
Dr Ntim said the first phase ended at Tamale, while there was also the need to connect Ho to Aflao and Cape Coast to Mankessim in the second phase.
He said the government had committed itself to accelerating the development of the ICT industry because of the potential impact of a well-functioning ICT environment on employment, enhanced government services and growth.

Stolen ATM cards: 4 arrested

Page 3: June 6, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
FOUR men have been arrested by the police for using stolen foreign electronic visa Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards to withdraw money in Ghanaian banks.
At the time of arrest, they had withdrawn GH¢3,200 from the Ecobank cash point at the Labone Shell Filling Station.
The suspects — Sulley Larrin, Mathias Ola, Henry Smith and Dominic Obi — who are all Nigerians, are currently in police custody pending further investigations.
They had in their possession, 90 pieces of electronic visa ATM cards belonging to both local and foreign nationals.
The cards were issued by ECOBANK, Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, UBA, Skybank, World Point, FNB and Virgin Bank, among others.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra on Tuesday, the Director of Police Public Relations, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwasi Ofori, said the police mounted a search for the culprits, following intelligence reports that a gang had been using stolen foreign electronic visa ATM cards in the country.
He said the police later had a tip-off that the group usually operated at night moving from one ATM centre to another using the cards to withdraw the money.
He said it came to light that in a day the suspects could withdraw as much as GH¢20,000 using the different cards.
DSP Ofori said when the police became convinced about the activities of the group, a team of police personnel were detailed to monitor their movements from Monday, June 2, 2008.
According to him, at about 1 a.m. on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, the group were located at the Ecobank cash dispensing centre at the Shell Filling Station at Labone withdrawing money.
He said when the police swooped on them, the suspects had at the time withdrawn GH¢3,200 and had the 90 pieces of ATM cards on them.
DSP Ofori said the suspects allegedly admitted that the cards were sent to them from their counterparts in the United Kingdom.
He said the police suspected that such fraudsters usually slept in hotels and accessed other facilities such as air tickets with such stolen cards.

"Widen discussions on revision of Police Service Regulations

Page 38: June 5, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Head of Conflict Prevention Management and Resolution of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Dr Kwesi Aning, has called for wider stakeholder discussion on the revision of the Service Regulations of the Ghana Police Service before it is laid before Parliament.
He described the initiative of the Police Council to review the existing Service Regulations as good and welcome but said the process and approach that the Council used in reviewing the service regulations defeated the purpose for which it was done.
The Daily Graphic in its June 2, 2008 edition reported that the Police Council had reviewed the existing Police Service Regulation as part of efforts to streamline the operations of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) in line with modern trends.
A copy of the new Police Service Regulation has been forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Department for study and onward transmission to Parliament for consideration.
Dr Aning, however, explained that the designing and undertaking of the review ought to have had a wider stakeholder participation led by the Police Council.
“If one wants a Police Service that is responsive to the expectations of the general public in a transitional democracy, then one would have expected a wider stakeholder involvement.”
Dr Aning said it was a great opportunity for civil society organisations, particularly human rights and good governance institutions, to be involved in the review.
He said the review was useful but “I am uncertain what the recommendations are and where and how it can make a change in the service for several reasons.”
According to him, what Ghanaians were seeing within the Ghana Police Service was a reflection of the oversight that had taken place in terms of two critical reports, the Tibiru Report of 1986 and the Archer report of 1991.
“If the service reviews have not taken these two critical committee reports into consideration then I am afraid that whatever is being suggested may be useful only in the very short term,” he added.
Dr Aning said the Police Service was in such a critical state especially in regaining public confidence but more importantly helping the institution to regain its own self-respect and self-confidence.
“This can only be done by an honest stakeholder discussion,” he stated.
The Chairman of the Police Council, Mr Justice Sam Glenn Baddoo, told the Daily Graphic that when the new Service Regulation was passed into law, “it will enable the personnel of the service to have access to one document containing all the laws and regulations, which have been promulgated since independence but are scattered in different documents”.
According to him, all the existing Legislative, Executive and Administrative Instruments governing the establishment and conduct of the Ghana Police Service have been embodied in the new Service Regulation.
They include the Police Service Act of 1970, Act 350; Police Service Regulation, LI 993; the Police Service Administration Regulation, LI 880; aspects of the 1992 Constitution; the Police Service Instructions; Police Service Conditions of Service and relevant circulars and administrative instructions, which have been released over the years but have not been passed into law.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Property Owners asked to acquire fire extinguishers

Page 38: June 2, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Minister of State at the Interior Ministry, Nana Obiri Boahen, has directed all property owners and management of institutions to take steps to acquire fire extinguishers and other fire precautionary equipment.
He said it was mandatory for all premises to have fire hydrants close to them or fire extinguishers.
Nana Boahen told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the law required that premises, particularly hotels, entertainment joints, work or health institutions, centres for the aged and the disabled, teaching and learning institutions or other service providers to the public as well as residential accommodation must have a hydrant or fire extinguishers.
Some personnel of the Tema Regional office of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) who went on an inspection of some facilities in the Tema metropolis were obstructed by some of the property owners from doing their work.
Nana Boahen said the fire extinguishers were also expected to be serviced every six months under the law to ensure that they were in good condition.
He said all such institutions needed fire certificates issued by the Chief Fire Officer annually to certify their premises as prepared for any fire emergency.
He said the demands of the law on these provisions were in the interest of the owners and users of such facilities.
Nana Boahen said the Fire Precaution Regulation, Legislative Instrument 1724, empowered personnel of the GNFS to enforce the provisions of the law.
He said it was sad that most of these institutions did not have fire detection, warning or fire fighting equipment in place.
Nana Boahen said the rampant fire outbreak in residential accommodation and marketplaces could be minimised, if such places had the requisite equipment in place to sound alarm.
He said there was nothing wrong for personnel of the GNFS to inspect facilities to ensure that the owners complied with the law.
The minister said it was also against the law for anyone to obstruct the officers from doing their work.
Posted by salia at 11:41 PM 0 comments

Nsawam Police seize 399 parcels of cocaine

Page 24: June 2, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia & Nana Konadu Agyemang

THE Nsawan District Police last Friday intercepted a benz truck loaded with 399 parcels of cocaine.
A Ghanaian and two Togolese on board the vehicle were arrested and are currently assisting in investigations.
Kwame Anane, 34, the Ghanaian, Kofi Amewu, 30 and Kofi Deble, 35, both Togolese, were on board the truck with registration number GT 3359 Z, on which they had concealed the drug and covered it with a large quantity of cow-hyde (wele).
They were said to be transporting the drugs from the Republic of Guinea to Accra by road.
Soon after the seizure, a team from the Organised Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, led by its head, Chief Superintendent Vincent Dejoe and officers from the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) went to Nsawam to conduct an initial field test on the drug, which tested positive for cocaine.
The parcels were immediately carted to the CID Headquarters in Accra, where they have been kept under what the police described as “a secured environment”.
The Director of Police Public Affairs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwesi Ofori, told the Daily Graphic that the Ghana Standards Board would be invited to conduct forensic examination on the drug.
He said the seizure was due to a police-public collaboration and appealed for continued public support for the police to fight all manner of crimes, including drug trafficking.
DSP Ofori said the police were determined to be at the forefront in the fight against the drug menace, since it had personnel all over the country for the job.
He also appealed to the media to discontinue what he termed the “attacks on the Police Service” and partner the police in dealing with crime.
DSP Ofori explained that the use of Ghana as a transit point for drugs was not because of the laxity in the country’s security but because Ghana was considered a low risk country.
He said the drug barons all over the world were fleeing the high risk countries to the low risk countries to bolster their trade.
He said the choice of Ghana was also because Ghana had a good international image.
DSP Ofori, therefore, appealed to all Ghanaians to support the security agencies in fighting the menace.

Police Service Regulations reviewed

Page 20: June 2, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Police Council has reviewed the existing Police Service Regulation as part of efforts to streamline the operations of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) in line with modern trends.
A copy of the new Police Service Regulation has been forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Department for study and onward transmission to Parliament for consideration.
All the existing Legislative, Executive and Administrative Instruments governing the establishment and conduct of the Ghana Police Service have been embodied in the new Service Regulation.
They include the Police Service Act of 1970, Act 350; Police Service Regulation, LI 993; the Police Service Administration Regulation, LI 880, aspects of the 1992 Constitution, the Police Service Instructions, Police Service Conditions of Service and relevant circulars and administrative instructions, which have been released over the years but had not been passed into law.
The chairman of the Police Council, Mr Justice Sam Glenn Baddoo, told the Daily Graphic that when the new Service Regulation was passed into law, “it will enable the personnel of the service to have access to one document containing all the laws and regulations, which have been promulgated since independence but are scattered in different documents”.
He said since it was inaugurated two years ago, the Council had done a lot of work on the quiet as part of efforts to restructure the service.
He said the Council had also completed a Strategic Policing Plan, which seeks to transform and modernise the GPS in the medium and long term.
“The strategic plan, which will govern the Police Service for the next decade, is in seven volumes each of which is made up of about 60 pages,” he said.
Mr Justice Baddoo, who is a retired Supreme Court Judge, said the strategic plan covered a five-year national policing plan, human resource development, IT modernisation plan, mission, structure and functions of the service, staffing manning plan, transformation of the service and an outline of findings and Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) needs.
He said the Council had also completed a draft policy on recruitment, training, promotions, transfers and restructuring of command positions within the service, which, when approved by Parliament, will be encapsulated into the existing policy guidelines.
Mr Justice Baddoo said the Council was in touch with the government in seeking innovative ways of improving the equipment and logistics state of the service.
He said the government was in the process of securing a loan to address the poor office and residential accommodation needs of the police.
“The Council tasked the Police Administration to renovate barracks in the country, starting with Accra. As a result, Osu, Tesano, Cantonments, Odorkor and Kaneshie barracks have been renovated,” he added.
Mr Justice Baddoo said upon the recommendation of the Police Council, the Police Administration had created new Divisions, Districts and Stations, pointing out that the problem associated with the new expansion initiative was the absence of office and residential accommodation in the regions.
He, however, commended some district assemblies in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Ashanti, Western and Volta regions for demonstrating their willingness to build stations and barracks for the police.
He said the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, had also offered to organise donors to fund the renovation and construction of police cells in the Ashanti Region.
Mr Justice Baddo said police stations that had land were going to have extensions done to their cells, while new central cells would be constructed for police stations whose cells could not have extensions.
He said under the instrumentality of the Council, new salaries and allowances of medical personnel of the Police Hospital were now at par with those of the staff of the Ministry of Health as part of efforts to reduce the exodus of the personnel at the Police Hospital to the MOH and outside the country.
“I want to assure you that the Police Council has already taken bold and concrete steps to restructure the Service,” he said.
Mr Justice Baddoo appealed to the public to support the police with relevant information and other forms of assistance that would enable the police to achieve its organisational goals.
“The council also acknowledges the fact that the Service is grappling with a lot of challenges in recent times. The council is, however, doing its best in addressing these problems, even in the face of logistical constraints,” he stated.