Page 31: Daily Graphic, March 25, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A SECURITY analyst, Mr Emmanuel Sowatey, has described the weapons buy-back move by the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) as wrong and out of place.
He said the initiative of the REGSEC, although laudable, should have addressed the causes of the demand-supply chain of the weapons, adding that weapons buy-back scheme had always been part of a major peace process and was never taken in isolation.
Mr Sowatey told the Daily Graphic on Tuesday that without addressing those concerns, the initiative of the REGSEC would only go to increase the stockpile of weapons in the region.
He explained that the REGSEC should have identified and indicated the type of weapons being retrieved because the GH¢300 offer to any resident who will surrender his weapon to the security agencies was ambiguous.
According to him, an AK 47 cost about GH¢1,000 and no one would return that weapon for GH¢300 while a locally manufactured gun cost almost GH¢100.
Mr Sowatey said although those with locally manufactured guns could hand over theirs, they could return to buy two or three more, since the local manufacturing industry was unregulated.
Moreover, he said, the culture of the people in Tamale should have been taken into consideration before any action was taken.
He explained that in a culture where possession of a gun was a sign of manhood, nothing would motivate any individual to hand over his weapon.
Moreover, he said, the passion which the people had for chieftaincy and other cultural practices would also not encourage them to hand over the weapons.
“They would prefer to fight to protect such high-held passions,” he said.
Mr Sowatey said another problem which needed to be addressed to reassure the people was the criminal justice system.
According to him, people resort to acquiring arms to protect themselves when they do not trust or have confidence in the justice system.
He said if the police failed to arrest and the prosecutors failed to prosecute while the courts could not be trusted to deliver justice because of perceived corruption, the people would certainly hold on to their guns.
Mr Sowatey stressed the need for those in possession of legally acquired arms to renew their licences annually while members of the public should support the security agencies against gun-running.
The REGSEC on Monday extended the period given to residents of the Tamale metropolis to surrender illegal arms in their possession to the security agencies by one more month.
It also made an offer of GH¢300 incentive to any resident who would surrender his weapon to the security agencies.
As of last Friday when the deadline ended no weapons had been surrendered as had been directed by the Northern Regional Minister.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Police hunt for MD of 'susu' firm
Page 3: Daily Graphic, March 25, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have mounted a search for Israel Aduah, the Managing Director of Blessed God Financial Services, a ‘susu’ collection firm, for suspected theft.
Israel is alleged to have gone to seven branches of the company to collect the deposits of contributors, worth several millions of Ghana cedis, and bolted.
A source at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service told the Daily Graphic that the incident took place in December 2008.
It said Israel went to Apam and Kasoa, both in the Central Region, Ashalley Botwe, New Fadama, Israel Junction and Tema, all in the Greater Accra Region, and Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region and collected the deposits but had since not been heard of or seen.
It said the agents of Blessed God Financial Services claimed that it was the practice for the suspect to collect the deposits and later bring the amount for pay-back to the contributors.
The source said on that particular occasion, nothing had been heard of the suspect, as his cell phones had been switched off and he had also packed out of his residence in Accra.
It said clients of the company in the affected branches had been demanding their contributions but the agents had not been able to pay them.
The source, therefore, appealed to any member of the public who knew the whereabouts of Aduah, who is five feet two inches tall and native of Navrongo, to contact the Commercial Crime Unit of the CID or the nearest police station.
The source said the suspect was believed to be hiding in Aflao, Nkawkaw, Navrongo, the Brong Ahafo or Central regions.
It said the police suspected that Israel might be using another name and, therefore, appealed to the public to help in arresting him for him to face the consequences of his actions.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have mounted a search for Israel Aduah, the Managing Director of Blessed God Financial Services, a ‘susu’ collection firm, for suspected theft.
Israel is alleged to have gone to seven branches of the company to collect the deposits of contributors, worth several millions of Ghana cedis, and bolted.
A source at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service told the Daily Graphic that the incident took place in December 2008.
It said Israel went to Apam and Kasoa, both in the Central Region, Ashalley Botwe, New Fadama, Israel Junction and Tema, all in the Greater Accra Region, and Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region and collected the deposits but had since not been heard of or seen.
It said the agents of Blessed God Financial Services claimed that it was the practice for the suspect to collect the deposits and later bring the amount for pay-back to the contributors.
The source said on that particular occasion, nothing had been heard of the suspect, as his cell phones had been switched off and he had also packed out of his residence in Accra.
It said clients of the company in the affected branches had been demanding their contributions but the agents had not been able to pay them.
The source, therefore, appealed to any member of the public who knew the whereabouts of Aduah, who is five feet two inches tall and native of Navrongo, to contact the Commercial Crime Unit of the CID or the nearest police station.
The source said the suspect was believed to be hiding in Aflao, Nkawkaw, Navrongo, the Brong Ahafo or Central regions.
It said the police suspected that Israel might be using another name and, therefore, appealed to the public to help in arresting him for him to face the consequences of his actions.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Ghanaians and danger of drug menace
Pages 23 & 30: Daily Graphic, March 23, 2009.
Article: Albert K. Salia
"Concern about a potential failed state - not Pakistan, not Somalia, but California's neighbor Mexico - is mounting in Washington as an all-out war involving 45,000 Mexican military personnel fails to quell rising drug violence that is spilling from such Mexican cities as Tijuana into the United States. An estimated 6,290 drug-related murders occurred in Mexico last year, six times the standard definition of a civil war, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a leading scholar on the issue at the Brookings Institution " - San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, March 12, 2009.
The impact of drugs on our society are numerous and one can hardly find anybody who is a drug-addict and is loved by society. Drug dealing has become a multi-billion dollar business world-wide, permeating and affecting our lives in covert and overt ways. Drug dealing is no longer a violation of the law neither is it just a social problem. It has manifested in increased organised and syndicated criminality, political and economic subversion that threatens vital democratic institutions and in fact, the nation’s security.
The negative consequences of drug abuse affect not only individuals who abuse drugs but also their families and friends, various businesses, and government resources.
Social consequences
The most obvious effects of drug abuse — which are manifested in the individuals who abuse drugs — include illhealth, sickness and ultimately, death.
Children of individuals who abuse drugs often are abused or neglected as a result of the individuals' preoccupation with drugs. Children whose parents and other family members abuse drugs often are physically or emotionally abused and often lack proper immunisations, medical care, dental care, and necessities such as food, water, and shelter.
The fragmentation of many families for example, is due to the wedge represented by substance abuse; many studies have found that family disintegration correlates more strongly with drug abuse than with poverty. Of course, the relationship is two-way; a study on Thailand, for example, has found that increasing use of heroin and psychotropic substances is due in part to the breakdown of traditional family structures and values. In any case, there is a negative link between drugs and the family.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, notes that, "drugs are also poisoning the region’s (West Africa) youth since the foot soldiers in this growing trade are paid for their services with cocaine. As a result, the vulnerability of West Africa to drugs and crime is deepening even further".
A consultant psychiatrist and a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Dr J. B. Asare, also notes that, “the use of drugs in Ghana is mainly an activity of the youth. About 80 per cent of drug related admissions to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital are between the ages of 16 and 29 years. As more youth become addicted, our investment in our children and the human resource base of our country is being threatened”.
The correlation between drug use and prostitution, while too often portrayed as due to an underlying moral deficiency, is more likely due to a decision to finance the former activity by way of the latter. Indeed, at the heart of the matter is not some inherent criminal deviance which brings together the realms of drugs and crime, but the ability of drugs to act as a lucrative wholesale and retail commodity for which legitimate entrepreneurs will not complete.
The negative impact of drug abuse on health is scientifically well-established and documented. The health costs of a drug addict appear to be some 80 percent higher than those of an average citizen in the same age group. Substances commonly associated with drug-related deaths are cocaine, heroin and other opiates, barbiturates and amphetamines. Substances such as benzodiazepines, hallucinogens and cannabis can have a negative impact on health but are not usually associated with death. The link between injecting drug use (IDU) and the spread of HIV/AIDS is also well recognised; today, at the global level, some 22 per cent of the world's HIV/AIDS population injects drugs. The worldwide HIV-prevalence rate for injecting drug users is between 40-50 per cent.
Crime and criminality
Drug-related crime occurs primarily in the form of trafficking-related criminal activity, including violence between groups in competition for increased market share at the wholesale and retail levels. The current unrest in Mexico, which has claimed millions of lives is a test case.
In his piece; "Drugs, Violence and Economics", David Friedman contends that the link between drugs and violent crime could occur in three ways: violent crime by consumers of drugs, violent crime associated with the production and distribution of drugs, or violent crime directly associated with the attempt to enforce drug prohibition.
For the case of crime by drug consumers, two mechanisms are commonly asserted, with opposite implications. One is drugs as an input to violent crime–people committing crimes under the influence of drugs that they otherwise would not commit.
Violent crime by people involved in the distribution network for drugs might also come about by a variety of mechanisms. One possibility, is that violence occurs because people in that industry have wealth in highly portable forms — drugs and cash — which make them obvious targets for theft or robbery, and since calling the police is not a practical option they must use private violence instead to protect themselves.
A second, suggested by Jeffrey Miron, is that violence occurs as a form of dispute resolution among people who cannot use legal channels because their disputes are occurring in an illegal industry
A third, and rather different possibility is that violent crime represents rent seeking in the competition among suppliers. Suppose, as much anecdotal evidence suggests, that drug distribution often occurs through local monopoly providers. Their profits depend in part on the area they control. So we would expect competition between adjacent firms for territory. One form such competition might take would be violence by agents of one firm against agents, or possibly customers, of another.
Besides, there are crimes such as armed robberies, rape and other violent ones that leave in their wake not only the physical damage inflicted but traumatic scars that haunt the victims for a long time.
The Executive Director of the UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, warns that the drug problem in West Africa, "is growing exponentially and threatening to turn the region into an epicentre of lawlessness and instability. This is the last thing West Africa needs".
If any decent minded person would want to discount Mr Costa’s warning, then the recent execution of Guinea Bissau’s Army Chief, General Batista Tagme na Waie, should send a signal that the country better sits up or face the consequences. That is because it had been proven that the execution of Gen Waie pointed to outside influences, "specifically the Latin American drug cartels who are using Guinea Bissau as a transit point to ship cocaine to Europe".
According to Dr David Zounmenou, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane, South Africa, "This recent set of killings can be explained [as] the action of the drug traffickers, who would not allow anything to get in the way or to obstruct their links with Europe,"
Economic Consequences
The economic impact of drug abuse on businesses whose employees abuse drugs can be significant. While many drug abusers are unable to attain or hold full-time employment, those who do work put others at risk, particularly when employed in positions where even a minor degree of impairment could be catastrophic; airline pilots, air traffic controllers, train operators, and bus drivers are just a few examples. Economically, businesses often are affected because employees who abuse drugs sometimes steal cash or supplies, equipment, and products that can be sold to get money to buy drugs. Moreover, absenteeism, lost productivity and increased use of medical and insurance benefits by employees who abuse drugs affect a business financially.
It is important to appreciate that other crimes whose effect might not be physical but subtle are the economic and commercial crimes associated with drugs. Counterfeiting, currency trafficking, smuggling, tax evasion, bribery, corruption, money laundering are examples of such drug-related crimes which hit weak national economies of states where drug trafficking thrives. It must be understood that these are corrosive crimes since they undermine the nation, thereby, directly or indirectly generating negative forces that can create political, economic and social tensions. They are crimes that kill slowly but surely.
As K. B. Quantson puts it, "weak economies, with weak weightless currencies, over-liberalised economic policies, in an environment of inordinate, even irrational dependence on foreign consumer items, some of them more exotic than our circumstances dictate, are particularly attractive to drug-dealing because of the ready foreign exchange that they provide".
Certainly, we need not forget the impact on our criminal justice system and the various state institutions that no more function as required because the drug cartels have taken hold of them.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), many assume that the illicit drug trade is a source of employment without any costs for those unable to find productive work in other sectors. This assumption is not entirely accurate. It may be the case that in Bolivia, a 10 per cent increase in coca and cocaine production raises GNP by two per cent and reduces unemployment by six per cent. But inevitably the employment gains generated by the drug trade are more than offset by various side effects.
Two such effects include the inevitable spillover from drug production into consumption, which impacts negatively on productivity, and the sacrifice of resources diverted from legitimate and more sustainable investments. Identifiable costs of drug abuse in consumer countries range from 0.5 to 1.3 per cent of GDP, the largest part of which is used for drug-related crime and law enforcement costs. Taking those costs into account, the argument that the illicit drug industry can act as an engine of growth becomes rather difficult to defend.
According to a report by the UNODC, "drug money is perverting the weak economies in the region. In some cases, the value of the drugs being trafficked is greater than the country’s national income. … These states are not collapsing. They risk becoming shell-states: sovereign in name, but hollowed out from inside by criminals in collusion with corrupt officials in the government and the security services. This not only jeopardises their survival, it poses a serious threat to regional security because of the transnational nature of the crimes.
The increasingly-felt presence of crime syndicates throughout the world is but one reflection of a trend in which criminals are using their earnings to invest in real assets. Criminal entrepreneurship in any economy introduces a parasitic, anti-competitive approach to doing business, as intimidation, violence and extortion rather than free-market competition serve as the primary determinants of resource allocation.
While knowledge of these consequences is still relatively rudimentary, the illicit drug problem has begun to ascend the world's social and economic agenda, thereby considerably raising the prospects that the obstacles which have, until today limited a more detailed understanding, will be overcome.
Article: Albert K. Salia
"Concern about a potential failed state - not Pakistan, not Somalia, but California's neighbor Mexico - is mounting in Washington as an all-out war involving 45,000 Mexican military personnel fails to quell rising drug violence that is spilling from such Mexican cities as Tijuana into the United States. An estimated 6,290 drug-related murders occurred in Mexico last year, six times the standard definition of a civil war, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a leading scholar on the issue at the Brookings Institution " - San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, March 12, 2009.
The impact of drugs on our society are numerous and one can hardly find anybody who is a drug-addict and is loved by society. Drug dealing has become a multi-billion dollar business world-wide, permeating and affecting our lives in covert and overt ways. Drug dealing is no longer a violation of the law neither is it just a social problem. It has manifested in increased organised and syndicated criminality, political and economic subversion that threatens vital democratic institutions and in fact, the nation’s security.
The negative consequences of drug abuse affect not only individuals who abuse drugs but also their families and friends, various businesses, and government resources.
Social consequences
The most obvious effects of drug abuse — which are manifested in the individuals who abuse drugs — include illhealth, sickness and ultimately, death.
Children of individuals who abuse drugs often are abused or neglected as a result of the individuals' preoccupation with drugs. Children whose parents and other family members abuse drugs often are physically or emotionally abused and often lack proper immunisations, medical care, dental care, and necessities such as food, water, and shelter.
The fragmentation of many families for example, is due to the wedge represented by substance abuse; many studies have found that family disintegration correlates more strongly with drug abuse than with poverty. Of course, the relationship is two-way; a study on Thailand, for example, has found that increasing use of heroin and psychotropic substances is due in part to the breakdown of traditional family structures and values. In any case, there is a negative link between drugs and the family.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, notes that, "drugs are also poisoning the region’s (West Africa) youth since the foot soldiers in this growing trade are paid for their services with cocaine. As a result, the vulnerability of West Africa to drugs and crime is deepening even further".
A consultant psychiatrist and a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Dr J. B. Asare, also notes that, “the use of drugs in Ghana is mainly an activity of the youth. About 80 per cent of drug related admissions to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital are between the ages of 16 and 29 years. As more youth become addicted, our investment in our children and the human resource base of our country is being threatened”.
The correlation between drug use and prostitution, while too often portrayed as due to an underlying moral deficiency, is more likely due to a decision to finance the former activity by way of the latter. Indeed, at the heart of the matter is not some inherent criminal deviance which brings together the realms of drugs and crime, but the ability of drugs to act as a lucrative wholesale and retail commodity for which legitimate entrepreneurs will not complete.
The negative impact of drug abuse on health is scientifically well-established and documented. The health costs of a drug addict appear to be some 80 percent higher than those of an average citizen in the same age group. Substances commonly associated with drug-related deaths are cocaine, heroin and other opiates, barbiturates and amphetamines. Substances such as benzodiazepines, hallucinogens and cannabis can have a negative impact on health but are not usually associated with death. The link between injecting drug use (IDU) and the spread of HIV/AIDS is also well recognised; today, at the global level, some 22 per cent of the world's HIV/AIDS population injects drugs. The worldwide HIV-prevalence rate for injecting drug users is between 40-50 per cent.
Crime and criminality
Drug-related crime occurs primarily in the form of trafficking-related criminal activity, including violence between groups in competition for increased market share at the wholesale and retail levels. The current unrest in Mexico, which has claimed millions of lives is a test case.
In his piece; "Drugs, Violence and Economics", David Friedman contends that the link between drugs and violent crime could occur in three ways: violent crime by consumers of drugs, violent crime associated with the production and distribution of drugs, or violent crime directly associated with the attempt to enforce drug prohibition.
For the case of crime by drug consumers, two mechanisms are commonly asserted, with opposite implications. One is drugs as an input to violent crime–people committing crimes under the influence of drugs that they otherwise would not commit.
Violent crime by people involved in the distribution network for drugs might also come about by a variety of mechanisms. One possibility, is that violence occurs because people in that industry have wealth in highly portable forms — drugs and cash — which make them obvious targets for theft or robbery, and since calling the police is not a practical option they must use private violence instead to protect themselves.
A second, suggested by Jeffrey Miron, is that violence occurs as a form of dispute resolution among people who cannot use legal channels because their disputes are occurring in an illegal industry
A third, and rather different possibility is that violent crime represents rent seeking in the competition among suppliers. Suppose, as much anecdotal evidence suggests, that drug distribution often occurs through local monopoly providers. Their profits depend in part on the area they control. So we would expect competition between adjacent firms for territory. One form such competition might take would be violence by agents of one firm against agents, or possibly customers, of another.
Besides, there are crimes such as armed robberies, rape and other violent ones that leave in their wake not only the physical damage inflicted but traumatic scars that haunt the victims for a long time.
The Executive Director of the UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, warns that the drug problem in West Africa, "is growing exponentially and threatening to turn the region into an epicentre of lawlessness and instability. This is the last thing West Africa needs".
If any decent minded person would want to discount Mr Costa’s warning, then the recent execution of Guinea Bissau’s Army Chief, General Batista Tagme na Waie, should send a signal that the country better sits up or face the consequences. That is because it had been proven that the execution of Gen Waie pointed to outside influences, "specifically the Latin American drug cartels who are using Guinea Bissau as a transit point to ship cocaine to Europe".
According to Dr David Zounmenou, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane, South Africa, "This recent set of killings can be explained [as] the action of the drug traffickers, who would not allow anything to get in the way or to obstruct their links with Europe,"
Economic Consequences
The economic impact of drug abuse on businesses whose employees abuse drugs can be significant. While many drug abusers are unable to attain or hold full-time employment, those who do work put others at risk, particularly when employed in positions where even a minor degree of impairment could be catastrophic; airline pilots, air traffic controllers, train operators, and bus drivers are just a few examples. Economically, businesses often are affected because employees who abuse drugs sometimes steal cash or supplies, equipment, and products that can be sold to get money to buy drugs. Moreover, absenteeism, lost productivity and increased use of medical and insurance benefits by employees who abuse drugs affect a business financially.
It is important to appreciate that other crimes whose effect might not be physical but subtle are the economic and commercial crimes associated with drugs. Counterfeiting, currency trafficking, smuggling, tax evasion, bribery, corruption, money laundering are examples of such drug-related crimes which hit weak national economies of states where drug trafficking thrives. It must be understood that these are corrosive crimes since they undermine the nation, thereby, directly or indirectly generating negative forces that can create political, economic and social tensions. They are crimes that kill slowly but surely.
As K. B. Quantson puts it, "weak economies, with weak weightless currencies, over-liberalised economic policies, in an environment of inordinate, even irrational dependence on foreign consumer items, some of them more exotic than our circumstances dictate, are particularly attractive to drug-dealing because of the ready foreign exchange that they provide".
Certainly, we need not forget the impact on our criminal justice system and the various state institutions that no more function as required because the drug cartels have taken hold of them.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), many assume that the illicit drug trade is a source of employment without any costs for those unable to find productive work in other sectors. This assumption is not entirely accurate. It may be the case that in Bolivia, a 10 per cent increase in coca and cocaine production raises GNP by two per cent and reduces unemployment by six per cent. But inevitably the employment gains generated by the drug trade are more than offset by various side effects.
Two such effects include the inevitable spillover from drug production into consumption, which impacts negatively on productivity, and the sacrifice of resources diverted from legitimate and more sustainable investments. Identifiable costs of drug abuse in consumer countries range from 0.5 to 1.3 per cent of GDP, the largest part of which is used for drug-related crime and law enforcement costs. Taking those costs into account, the argument that the illicit drug industry can act as an engine of growth becomes rather difficult to defend.
According to a report by the UNODC, "drug money is perverting the weak economies in the region. In some cases, the value of the drugs being trafficked is greater than the country’s national income. … These states are not collapsing. They risk becoming shell-states: sovereign in name, but hollowed out from inside by criminals in collusion with corrupt officials in the government and the security services. This not only jeopardises their survival, it poses a serious threat to regional security because of the transnational nature of the crimes.
The increasingly-felt presence of crime syndicates throughout the world is but one reflection of a trend in which criminals are using their earnings to invest in real assets. Criminal entrepreneurship in any economy introduces a parasitic, anti-competitive approach to doing business, as intimidation, violence and extortion rather than free-market competition serve as the primary determinants of resource allocation.
While knowledge of these consequences is still relatively rudimentary, the illicit drug problem has begun to ascend the world's social and economic agenda, thereby considerably raising the prospects that the obstacles which have, until today limited a more detailed understanding, will be overcome.
Surgical theatre for Children’s Hospital
Page 31: Daily Graphic, March 24, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
ALL is set for the construction of a GH¢350,000 three-storey surgical theatre and intensive care unit for the Princess Louis Marie Childrens’ Hospital in Accra.
When completed, the hospital will be a one-stop hospital for children’s medical needs. Currently such surgical needs are handled by the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Designs of the building are currently awaiting approval from the City Engineers and the Town & Country Planning Department for the work to commence on the project.
The Chairman of the hospital’s board, Rev Fr Andrew Campbell, announced this when Council 71 and Court 63 of the Knights and Ladies of Marshall, Dansoman, presented various items worth GH¢2,500 and a cheque for GH¢200 to the hospital.
Rev Fr Campbell said although the hospital was set up to take care of malnourished children, it had grown to provide medical services such as Ear Nose and Throat (ENT), and dental care.
He, therefore, appealed to institutions and philanthropists for financial support to enable the hospital to provide excellent services to its clients.
He said the hospital was adjudged the best in the Greater Accra Region last year, and indicated that its objective was to be the best in the country.
The Grand Knight of Council 71, Mr Mark Anthony Taylor, said the Marshallan fraternity, a friendly Catholic society, sought to uplift and ameliorate the living conditions of the needy in society.
“We are faithful friends of the poor, distressed and the needy in society. For us, the essence of charity is love and the practical application of love is charity,” he said.
Mr Taylor said it was in that spirit that the Dansoman branch of the Marshallan fraternity decided to use the Lenten period prior to Easter to make a difference in the lives of sick children, and recalled that the society in February this year presented various items to the maternity ward of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Story: Albert K. Salia
ALL is set for the construction of a GH¢350,000 three-storey surgical theatre and intensive care unit for the Princess Louis Marie Childrens’ Hospital in Accra.
When completed, the hospital will be a one-stop hospital for children’s medical needs. Currently such surgical needs are handled by the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Designs of the building are currently awaiting approval from the City Engineers and the Town & Country Planning Department for the work to commence on the project.
The Chairman of the hospital’s board, Rev Fr Andrew Campbell, announced this when Council 71 and Court 63 of the Knights and Ladies of Marshall, Dansoman, presented various items worth GH¢2,500 and a cheque for GH¢200 to the hospital.
Rev Fr Campbell said although the hospital was set up to take care of malnourished children, it had grown to provide medical services such as Ear Nose and Throat (ENT), and dental care.
He, therefore, appealed to institutions and philanthropists for financial support to enable the hospital to provide excellent services to its clients.
He said the hospital was adjudged the best in the Greater Accra Region last year, and indicated that its objective was to be the best in the country.
The Grand Knight of Council 71, Mr Mark Anthony Taylor, said the Marshallan fraternity, a friendly Catholic society, sought to uplift and ameliorate the living conditions of the needy in society.
“We are faithful friends of the poor, distressed and the needy in society. For us, the essence of charity is love and the practical application of love is charity,” he said.
Mr Taylor said it was in that spirit that the Dansoman branch of the Marshallan fraternity decided to use the Lenten period prior to Easter to make a difference in the lives of sick children, and recalled that the society in February this year presented various items to the maternity ward of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
'3 Children died of suffocation'
Front Page: Daily Graphic, March 23, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
POST-Mortem results on the three children who were found dead in a KIA Sportage vehicle, with registration number GR 7755 R, at Anyaa, a suburb of Accra, on February 4, 2009 indicate that the kids died from asphyxia (suffocation).
Richard Bonna, Jackson Nti and Kwaw Frimpong were found dead in the vehicle, which was parked at an abandoned fitting workshop.
The post-mortem was conducted by Dr Marcia Maria Cruz of the Police Hospital on February 9, 2009.
The verbal result of the post-mortem on the three kids who also died under similar circumstances at Alogboshie, near Achimota, on February 22, 2009 also showed that they died from causes consistent with heat stroke.
The pathologist, Dr L. Adusei of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is, however, awaiting toxicology examination results from the Ghana Standards Board before writing a full report on the cause of the death of Gabriel Kwofie, his cousin, Edem Asimenu, and their friend, Isaac Annoh, who were found dead in an abandoned car, with registration number GR 3656 R, parked in the house of one of their neighbours.
The Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Kwesi Ofori, told the Daily Graphic that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) was doing everything possible to conclude its investigations.
He discounted rumours that the death of children started this year.
According to him, a similar incident happened in Kumasi on March 5, 2008 in which two kids, Fatao Issaka and Kausa Alhassan, died in a taxi, with registration number GT 5488 S.
He said although the bodies of those two children were removed from the taxi and dumped 20 metres away from the taxi, investigations later revealed that the children had died in the car, as finger impressions of the children matched what were in the car.
“A careful examination of the cab revealed some fresh finger impressions on the driver’s door and on both sides of the front glasses. A further careful examination of the impressions indicated to us (police) that they were those of children and, probably, of the two kids,” he said.
DSP Ofori said investigations into such matters took time and, therefore, appealed for public co-operation and support.
Story: Albert K. Salia
POST-Mortem results on the three children who were found dead in a KIA Sportage vehicle, with registration number GR 7755 R, at Anyaa, a suburb of Accra, on February 4, 2009 indicate that the kids died from asphyxia (suffocation).
Richard Bonna, Jackson Nti and Kwaw Frimpong were found dead in the vehicle, which was parked at an abandoned fitting workshop.
The post-mortem was conducted by Dr Marcia Maria Cruz of the Police Hospital on February 9, 2009.
The verbal result of the post-mortem on the three kids who also died under similar circumstances at Alogboshie, near Achimota, on February 22, 2009 also showed that they died from causes consistent with heat stroke.
The pathologist, Dr L. Adusei of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is, however, awaiting toxicology examination results from the Ghana Standards Board before writing a full report on the cause of the death of Gabriel Kwofie, his cousin, Edem Asimenu, and their friend, Isaac Annoh, who were found dead in an abandoned car, with registration number GR 3656 R, parked in the house of one of their neighbours.
The Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Kwesi Ofori, told the Daily Graphic that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) was doing everything possible to conclude its investigations.
He discounted rumours that the death of children started this year.
According to him, a similar incident happened in Kumasi on March 5, 2008 in which two kids, Fatao Issaka and Kausa Alhassan, died in a taxi, with registration number GT 5488 S.
He said although the bodies of those two children were removed from the taxi and dumped 20 metres away from the taxi, investigations later revealed that the children had died in the car, as finger impressions of the children matched what were in the car.
“A careful examination of the cab revealed some fresh finger impressions on the driver’s door and on both sides of the front glasses. A further careful examination of the impressions indicated to us (police) that they were those of children and, probably, of the two kids,” he said.
DSP Ofori said investigations into such matters took time and, therefore, appealed for public co-operation and support.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Drug trafficking, threat to Ghana’s stability
Page 14: Daily Graphic, March 20, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A MEMBER of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Dr J. B. Asare, says drug trafficking poses a serious threat to Ghana’s stability, warning of contract killings should the country not take drug control seriously.
“Bribery and corruption of law enforcement agencies, extending to the judiciary, will undermine the rule of law and make the country ungovernable, leading to political instability,” he said.
Dr Asare, who is also a consultant psychiatrist, was speaking on the topic, “Ghana: From trafficking to consumption”, at the Government of Ghana–United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC)-organised conference on “Ghana against drugs and crimes” in Accra.
The conference was to discuss and raise awareness of illicit drug trafficking as a threat to Ghana’s national security.
Dr Asare further warned that gang warfare and other conflicts, money laundering, increase in organised crimes and terrorism were expected to escalate “if we do not put our heads together to stop or reduce this menace”.
He expressed regret that the political will for drug control activities in the country had not manifested itself in the provision of adequate financial investment for drug control activities, while human resource development for demand reduction activities had received minimal attention.
He added his voice to calls for the Narcotics Control Board to be made autonomous, while the law establishing it was revised to take account of the various UN conventions.
“The board should be backed by law to be able to generate money from fines and proceeds from confiscated assets,” he said.
Dr Asare also called on the government not to compromise the character of the board, which should be composed based on institutional representation, while all workers in the drug control field were screened to attract and retain honest, disciplined and dedicated people who should be adequately rewarded.
He said although the extent of drug abuse in the country was not known, the use of drugs in Ghana was mainly associated with the youth.
For his part, the Head of the Conflict Prevention, Management & Resolution Department of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Dr Kwesi Aning, said the activities of drug dealers were eroding the reputation of Ghana as a functional state.
“Perceived to have been extensively penetrated by drug money, law enforcement officers perceive many Ghanaian politicians as being interested in the drug trade, while the booming real estate business is allegedly financed by some of these proceeds. Drug refining and re-sale is also taking place in Ghana with the importation of precursor chemicals from South Africa,” he said.
He noted that efforts to fight the drug menace were being impeded because the security agencies did not have the skill and resources to investigate those behind the importation and re-export of the drugs and their level of influence on the consuming market.
According to him, the judiciary had also in no small way thwarted the zeal and ability of the security agencies to combat drug trafficking.
“It is increasingly becoming clear that particular judges give particular judgements in drug cases that are beginning to show a pattern. While previously this was explained as due to the technicalities of the law, it is now clear that judgements by some members of the judiciary are more than suspicious…,” he said.
Dr Aning stressed the need for the government to address the problem of youth unemployment, saying that because of the “massive youth unemployment rate, a vast reserve of potentially recruitable youth is readily available”.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A MEMBER of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Dr J. B. Asare, says drug trafficking poses a serious threat to Ghana’s stability, warning of contract killings should the country not take drug control seriously.
“Bribery and corruption of law enforcement agencies, extending to the judiciary, will undermine the rule of law and make the country ungovernable, leading to political instability,” he said.
Dr Asare, who is also a consultant psychiatrist, was speaking on the topic, “Ghana: From trafficking to consumption”, at the Government of Ghana–United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC)-organised conference on “Ghana against drugs and crimes” in Accra.
The conference was to discuss and raise awareness of illicit drug trafficking as a threat to Ghana’s national security.
Dr Asare further warned that gang warfare and other conflicts, money laundering, increase in organised crimes and terrorism were expected to escalate “if we do not put our heads together to stop or reduce this menace”.
He expressed regret that the political will for drug control activities in the country had not manifested itself in the provision of adequate financial investment for drug control activities, while human resource development for demand reduction activities had received minimal attention.
He added his voice to calls for the Narcotics Control Board to be made autonomous, while the law establishing it was revised to take account of the various UN conventions.
“The board should be backed by law to be able to generate money from fines and proceeds from confiscated assets,” he said.
Dr Asare also called on the government not to compromise the character of the board, which should be composed based on institutional representation, while all workers in the drug control field were screened to attract and retain honest, disciplined and dedicated people who should be adequately rewarded.
He said although the extent of drug abuse in the country was not known, the use of drugs in Ghana was mainly associated with the youth.
For his part, the Head of the Conflict Prevention, Management & Resolution Department of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Dr Kwesi Aning, said the activities of drug dealers were eroding the reputation of Ghana as a functional state.
“Perceived to have been extensively penetrated by drug money, law enforcement officers perceive many Ghanaian politicians as being interested in the drug trade, while the booming real estate business is allegedly financed by some of these proceeds. Drug refining and re-sale is also taking place in Ghana with the importation of precursor chemicals from South Africa,” he said.
He noted that efforts to fight the drug menace were being impeded because the security agencies did not have the skill and resources to investigate those behind the importation and re-export of the drugs and their level of influence on the consuming market.
According to him, the judiciary had also in no small way thwarted the zeal and ability of the security agencies to combat drug trafficking.
“It is increasingly becoming clear that particular judges give particular judgements in drug cases that are beginning to show a pattern. While previously this was explained as due to the technicalities of the law, it is now clear that judgements by some members of the judiciary are more than suspicious…,” he said.
Dr Aning stressed the need for the government to address the problem of youth unemployment, saying that because of the “massive youth unemployment rate, a vast reserve of potentially recruitable youth is readily available”.
'Let's fight drug menace'
Page 45: Daily Graphic, March 19, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has called on Ghanaians to rally behind the government to fight the drug menace in the country.
He said Ghanaians must not allow local drug barons and their international collaborators to reduce the country to a state of lawlessness and insecurity.
The Vice-President, who was addressing a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Government of Ghana-organised conference on drugs, said the government had directed all the security agencies to go all out to arrest, prosecute and confiscate the properties of drug traffickers to serve as a disincentive for people contemplating entering the trade.
At the conference, which was on the theme, “Ghana against drug and crime”, the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mrs Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, unveiled a confidential crime fighters hotline number, 021-773695, which would be manned 24 hours a week for the public to call and provide information on drug dealers, armed robbers, car thieves and wanted persons.
Mr Mahama said the drug menace had not only eaten deep into the moral fibre of the society but also triggered off organised crime as an occupational profession for some youth.
He urged Ghanaians to rekindle national ethical values of morality, honesty and hard work and question the source of wealth of persons who became rich overnight.
He said the drug menace had lowered the esteem of Ghana in the international community and continued to paint an ugly picture of the country in the eyes of the comity of nations.
He, therefore, saw the conference as a follow-up to President Mills’s pledge to deal with the menace and ensure a drug- free society.
The Vice-President said although Ghana was a signatory to many UN conventions and protocols on drugs, combating the menace had become a jig-saw puzzle which seemed to defy conventional approaches to law enforcement.
He said the government had recognised the inadequacy of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) Law, PNDC Law 236 of 1990, and would amend it and strengthen NACOB to serve as a lead agency to co-ordinate drug law enforcement and prevention activities of all state security agencies.
Mr Mahama said the government would also source funding for the procurement of appropriate equipment and gadgets to facilitate the detection of concealed narcotic drugs at the entry and exit points.
He said the government had also decided to descend heavily on all security personnel who compromise their positions in the fight against drugs.
The Interior Minister, Mr Cletus Avoka, said Ghana had become a preferred drug destination because of its stability, poor coastline security, direct flights from the Kotoka International Airport, as well as bribery and corruption among law enforcement officers.
He expressed the hope that the conference would result in finding an integrated and pragmatic solution to the multi-faceted drug problem.
Speaking on the “Mexican Experience”, a researcher at the Centre for Research and Anthropology in Mexico City, Mr Carlos Antonio Perez, said Mexico was not a coca producing country but had reached the present state of chaos because officialdom and Mexicans ignored the problem.
He said both Mexicans and officialdom described Mexico only as a transit country. He showed videos of clashes among different cartels and attacks on police stations to free captured drug dealers.
The Executive Director of NACOB, ACP Robert Ayalingo, said deconfiscation of the properties of convicted drug dealers and the failure of the Attorney-General’s Department to appeal against certain judgements lowered the morale of personnel of the board.
He called for the establishment of a National Rehabilitation and Addiction Monitoring Centre, away from the psychiatric hospitals, to enable the fight against the drug menace to be appropriately measured.
The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr Nick Westcott, pledged the support of the international community to assist Ghana to deal with the menace.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has called on Ghanaians to rally behind the government to fight the drug menace in the country.
He said Ghanaians must not allow local drug barons and their international collaborators to reduce the country to a state of lawlessness and insecurity.
The Vice-President, who was addressing a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Government of Ghana-organised conference on drugs, said the government had directed all the security agencies to go all out to arrest, prosecute and confiscate the properties of drug traffickers to serve as a disincentive for people contemplating entering the trade.
At the conference, which was on the theme, “Ghana against drug and crime”, the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mrs Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, unveiled a confidential crime fighters hotline number, 021-773695, which would be manned 24 hours a week for the public to call and provide information on drug dealers, armed robbers, car thieves and wanted persons.
Mr Mahama said the drug menace had not only eaten deep into the moral fibre of the society but also triggered off organised crime as an occupational profession for some youth.
He urged Ghanaians to rekindle national ethical values of morality, honesty and hard work and question the source of wealth of persons who became rich overnight.
He said the drug menace had lowered the esteem of Ghana in the international community and continued to paint an ugly picture of the country in the eyes of the comity of nations.
He, therefore, saw the conference as a follow-up to President Mills’s pledge to deal with the menace and ensure a drug- free society.
The Vice-President said although Ghana was a signatory to many UN conventions and protocols on drugs, combating the menace had become a jig-saw puzzle which seemed to defy conventional approaches to law enforcement.
He said the government had recognised the inadequacy of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) Law, PNDC Law 236 of 1990, and would amend it and strengthen NACOB to serve as a lead agency to co-ordinate drug law enforcement and prevention activities of all state security agencies.
Mr Mahama said the government would also source funding for the procurement of appropriate equipment and gadgets to facilitate the detection of concealed narcotic drugs at the entry and exit points.
He said the government had also decided to descend heavily on all security personnel who compromise their positions in the fight against drugs.
The Interior Minister, Mr Cletus Avoka, said Ghana had become a preferred drug destination because of its stability, poor coastline security, direct flights from the Kotoka International Airport, as well as bribery and corruption among law enforcement officers.
He expressed the hope that the conference would result in finding an integrated and pragmatic solution to the multi-faceted drug problem.
Speaking on the “Mexican Experience”, a researcher at the Centre for Research and Anthropology in Mexico City, Mr Carlos Antonio Perez, said Mexico was not a coca producing country but had reached the present state of chaos because officialdom and Mexicans ignored the problem.
He said both Mexicans and officialdom described Mexico only as a transit country. He showed videos of clashes among different cartels and attacks on police stations to free captured drug dealers.
The Executive Director of NACOB, ACP Robert Ayalingo, said deconfiscation of the properties of convicted drug dealers and the failure of the Attorney-General’s Department to appeal against certain judgements lowered the morale of personnel of the board.
He called for the establishment of a National Rehabilitation and Addiction Monitoring Centre, away from the psychiatric hospitals, to enable the fight against the drug menace to be appropriately measured.
The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr Nick Westcott, pledged the support of the international community to assist Ghana to deal with the menace.
Stop fanning division within NPP - Patriotic League
Page 14: Daily Graphic, March 19, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Patriotic League, a group sympathetic to the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has called on supporters of the party to stop the formation of groups championing the course of leading members of the party.
It said what the NPP needed right now was a united front to recapture power in the 2012 elections.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the spokesperson of the group, Mr Evans Nimako, said the PL would not sit for self-seeking individuals or groups to hijack and toy with the overall interest of the party membership across the length and breadth of the country.
“The zeal and compassion of the party membership as well as trust and confidence that the general public had in the NPP that catapulted us into power in 2001 is what we should work towards to make capturing 2012 political power a reality,” he said.
Mr Nimako cautioned all party members to uphold and defend the constitution of the NPP and not act in ways to derail the course of the party.
He said the PL was yearning for a critical internal audit to be conducted to enable the party identify where it went wrong and how to overcome them in future elections.
Mr Nimako said the PL, therefore, welcomes the Dr Heyman’s Committee set up by the National Chairman of the NPP to review the party’s performance in the 2008 elections.
“We implore the committee members to be impartial, fair and firm in handling the enormous tasks assigned them. Posterity will either praise or disparage their work,” he said.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Patriotic League, a group sympathetic to the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has called on supporters of the party to stop the formation of groups championing the course of leading members of the party.
It said what the NPP needed right now was a united front to recapture power in the 2012 elections.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the spokesperson of the group, Mr Evans Nimako, said the PL would not sit for self-seeking individuals or groups to hijack and toy with the overall interest of the party membership across the length and breadth of the country.
“The zeal and compassion of the party membership as well as trust and confidence that the general public had in the NPP that catapulted us into power in 2001 is what we should work towards to make capturing 2012 political power a reality,” he said.
Mr Nimako cautioned all party members to uphold and defend the constitution of the NPP and not act in ways to derail the course of the party.
He said the PL was yearning for a critical internal audit to be conducted to enable the party identify where it went wrong and how to overcome them in future elections.
Mr Nimako said the PL, therefore, welcomes the Dr Heyman’s Committee set up by the National Chairman of the NPP to review the party’s performance in the 2008 elections.
“We implore the committee members to be impartial, fair and firm in handling the enormous tasks assigned them. Posterity will either praise or disparage their work,” he said.
Mumuni: A man of many parts
Page 16: Daily Graphic, March 18, 2009.
Article: Albert K. Salia
Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni is undoubtedly one of the finest legal brains in the country who has devoted his entire life to serving humankind.
He began his service to humanity with a teaching assistant job at the University of Ghana, Legon, relocated to the north to be the National Service Coordinator and was the main fulcrum to the founding of a number of self-help community-based organisations among others.
Alhaji Mumuni’s passion to serve community and nation seem to have been motivated by the fact that he began life from a humble background and owe his present political clout much to the society who nurtured him to become who he is today.
He has been out there with the desire to help the disadvantaged, the disabled, the poor and the vulnerable. These are people who live in the periphery of society and are in constant danger of being marginalised, by-passed and excluded and need to be included in society.
Alhaji Mumuni sees his appointment as Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister as an opportunity to actualise the vision of the government for a better Ghana in a better world. This is something he believes he will underpin his foreign relations agenda, to be centred on bringing tangible benefits to the ordinary Ghanaian.
Pursuing an aggressive economic diplomacy through attracting investment, building strategic partnerships between local and foreign enterprises, extending the frontiers of trade, finding new markets and sharing the tourist potentials with the outside world, would be his focus.
Alhaji Mumuni is determined to supervise the prosecution of policies that would create a more equitable and fairer economic and social order so that there would be justice and equity.
He told the Daily Graphic that he would vigorously pursue an integration agenda that should make it possible to raise the competitiveness of the national economy.
"We would integrate the national economy into the fast globalising system and ensure the survival and vibrancy of our local enterprises," he said.
Alhaji Mumuni, whose hobbies include tennis, soccer and nature study, believes that foreign policy must give jobs to the people through a robust economy.
Prior to his appointment as President J. E. A. Mills’ representative at the ministry of the Interior and currently minister of foreign affairs and regional Integration, Alhaji Mumuni had been in the thick of affairs of the electioneering campaign of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2008 general elections.
In 2004, Alhaji Mumuni was the running mate to then candidate Mills on the ticket of the NDC. But before then, he was representing constituents of the Kumbungu constituency in parliament, whom he served for two terms between 1996 and 2004.
While in Parliament, Alhaji Mumuni was a member of the standing committee of parliament, ranking member, committee on legal, constitutional and parliamentary affairs and also the ranking member, judiciary committee.
He was also a member of the appointments committee between 2001 and 2004.
Besides the various roles that he played in parliament and also serving his constituents of Kumbungu, Alhaji Mumuni was also the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare under the Presidency of Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings. Within that period, Alhaji Mumuni’s intelligence and crave for the best, earned him membership of the governing body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) between 1999 and 2001 and also president of the 87th session of the ILO in Geneva in 1999. He used his period seeking to empower the underprivileged, building safety nets and providing equalising opportunities for them.
His national political career started in 1980 when he was chairman of the western Dagomba district council up to 1982. Between 1992 and 1996, when he entered parliament, Alhaji Mumuni was a member of the Northern regional consultative assembly, a deliberative and consultative body established by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), to advise the regional administration, elected assembly member for the Yagrafong electoral area in the Tolon-Kumbungu district assembly and voted presiding member of the district assembly for two terms.
He was also a member of the national consultative assembly, the body that charged with the function of producing the 1992 Constitution of the fourth republic.
Alhaji Mumuni’s service to community and country did not start with his political career. He had since 1995, being a member of the board of directors of the centre for conflict resolution, a peace resource organisation devoted to studies, research and action in conflict prevention, management and resolution.
He was also the national president of the Dagbon Youth Association from 1996 to 1997 and between 1985 to 1997, he was the national president of the Old Tamascans Association, an association of past students of Tamale Secondary School, the premier secondary school of the north.
Between 1993 and 1997, Alhaji Mumuni was also the Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Ghanaian-Danish Communities Association (GDCA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which initiated and was overseeing the implementation of the Ghanaian-Danish Community Project, a DANIDA-funded project working in the Tolon-Kumbungu district in the area of poverty alleviation and development intervention. He was also vice-chairman of the board of directors of the school for life project, also funded by DANIDA in operating functional literacy for children in educationally depressed areas in the Northern region between 1995 and 1997.
Alhaji Mumuni was, between 1994 and 1997, also the chairman of the Amasachina self-help association, an indigenous NGO devoted to mobilising local resources at the grassroots level for development projects in the communities using voluntary and communal labour and contributions. He was also the founding chairman of the Bonzali rural bank limited, a community initiated and managed bank devoted to savings mobilisation and financial intermediation in rural-based and cottage industries between 1990 and 1995. These positions confirm the man’s passion for gender equity. Alhaji Mumuni believes that neglecting women who are more than half the population, will amount to committing economic suicide.
He was also president of the Northern regional branch of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) member of the National Bar Council of the GBA between 1992 and 1996. He was the founder and senior partner of Yelinzo law chambers in Tamale, where he practised as a private legal practitioner between 1980 and 1997. He was also a district magistrate (Grade 1) between 1977 and 1980 and legal officer, for the bank for housing and construction between 1976 and 1977.
He also served as a member of the committee of Inquiry into the Structure and Operations of the Upper Regional Development Programme (URADEP) and also a member of the Northern region’s lands commission in 1995 and also appointed to represent the region in the national lands commission.
???Alhaji Mumuni’s working career started as a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon between 1972 and 1974 and National Service Coordinator for the north from 1975 to 1976.???
All his academic qualifications ranging from G.C.E "O"Levels to LLM (Hons) were attained in Ghana. The man, whose hobbies include tennis, soccer and nature study, started his educational life at the Kumbungu L/A Primary School, Savelugu L/A Middle School through the Tamale Secondary School to the University of Ghana, Legon and the Ghana School of Law. He is married with children.
Article: Albert K. Salia
Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni is undoubtedly one of the finest legal brains in the country who has devoted his entire life to serving humankind.
He began his service to humanity with a teaching assistant job at the University of Ghana, Legon, relocated to the north to be the National Service Coordinator and was the main fulcrum to the founding of a number of self-help community-based organisations among others.
Alhaji Mumuni’s passion to serve community and nation seem to have been motivated by the fact that he began life from a humble background and owe his present political clout much to the society who nurtured him to become who he is today.
He has been out there with the desire to help the disadvantaged, the disabled, the poor and the vulnerable. These are people who live in the periphery of society and are in constant danger of being marginalised, by-passed and excluded and need to be included in society.
Alhaji Mumuni sees his appointment as Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister as an opportunity to actualise the vision of the government for a better Ghana in a better world. This is something he believes he will underpin his foreign relations agenda, to be centred on bringing tangible benefits to the ordinary Ghanaian.
Pursuing an aggressive economic diplomacy through attracting investment, building strategic partnerships between local and foreign enterprises, extending the frontiers of trade, finding new markets and sharing the tourist potentials with the outside world, would be his focus.
Alhaji Mumuni is determined to supervise the prosecution of policies that would create a more equitable and fairer economic and social order so that there would be justice and equity.
He told the Daily Graphic that he would vigorously pursue an integration agenda that should make it possible to raise the competitiveness of the national economy.
"We would integrate the national economy into the fast globalising system and ensure the survival and vibrancy of our local enterprises," he said.
Alhaji Mumuni, whose hobbies include tennis, soccer and nature study, believes that foreign policy must give jobs to the people through a robust economy.
Prior to his appointment as President J. E. A. Mills’ representative at the ministry of the Interior and currently minister of foreign affairs and regional Integration, Alhaji Mumuni had been in the thick of affairs of the electioneering campaign of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2008 general elections.
In 2004, Alhaji Mumuni was the running mate to then candidate Mills on the ticket of the NDC. But before then, he was representing constituents of the Kumbungu constituency in parliament, whom he served for two terms between 1996 and 2004.
While in Parliament, Alhaji Mumuni was a member of the standing committee of parliament, ranking member, committee on legal, constitutional and parliamentary affairs and also the ranking member, judiciary committee.
He was also a member of the appointments committee between 2001 and 2004.
Besides the various roles that he played in parliament and also serving his constituents of Kumbungu, Alhaji Mumuni was also the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare under the Presidency of Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings. Within that period, Alhaji Mumuni’s intelligence and crave for the best, earned him membership of the governing body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) between 1999 and 2001 and also president of the 87th session of the ILO in Geneva in 1999. He used his period seeking to empower the underprivileged, building safety nets and providing equalising opportunities for them.
His national political career started in 1980 when he was chairman of the western Dagomba district council up to 1982. Between 1992 and 1996, when he entered parliament, Alhaji Mumuni was a member of the Northern regional consultative assembly, a deliberative and consultative body established by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), to advise the regional administration, elected assembly member for the Yagrafong electoral area in the Tolon-Kumbungu district assembly and voted presiding member of the district assembly for two terms.
He was also a member of the national consultative assembly, the body that charged with the function of producing the 1992 Constitution of the fourth republic.
Alhaji Mumuni’s service to community and country did not start with his political career. He had since 1995, being a member of the board of directors of the centre for conflict resolution, a peace resource organisation devoted to studies, research and action in conflict prevention, management and resolution.
He was also the national president of the Dagbon Youth Association from 1996 to 1997 and between 1985 to 1997, he was the national president of the Old Tamascans Association, an association of past students of Tamale Secondary School, the premier secondary school of the north.
Between 1993 and 1997, Alhaji Mumuni was also the Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Ghanaian-Danish Communities Association (GDCA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which initiated and was overseeing the implementation of the Ghanaian-Danish Community Project, a DANIDA-funded project working in the Tolon-Kumbungu district in the area of poverty alleviation and development intervention. He was also vice-chairman of the board of directors of the school for life project, also funded by DANIDA in operating functional literacy for children in educationally depressed areas in the Northern region between 1995 and 1997.
Alhaji Mumuni was, between 1994 and 1997, also the chairman of the Amasachina self-help association, an indigenous NGO devoted to mobilising local resources at the grassroots level for development projects in the communities using voluntary and communal labour and contributions. He was also the founding chairman of the Bonzali rural bank limited, a community initiated and managed bank devoted to savings mobilisation and financial intermediation in rural-based and cottage industries between 1990 and 1995. These positions confirm the man’s passion for gender equity. Alhaji Mumuni believes that neglecting women who are more than half the population, will amount to committing economic suicide.
He was also president of the Northern regional branch of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) member of the National Bar Council of the GBA between 1992 and 1996. He was the founder and senior partner of Yelinzo law chambers in Tamale, where he practised as a private legal practitioner between 1980 and 1997. He was also a district magistrate (Grade 1) between 1977 and 1980 and legal officer, for the bank for housing and construction between 1976 and 1977.
He also served as a member of the committee of Inquiry into the Structure and Operations of the Upper Regional Development Programme (URADEP) and also a member of the Northern region’s lands commission in 1995 and also appointed to represent the region in the national lands commission.
???Alhaji Mumuni’s working career started as a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon between 1972 and 1974 and National Service Coordinator for the north from 1975 to 1976.???
All his academic qualifications ranging from G.C.E "O"Levels to LLM (Hons) were attained in Ghana. The man, whose hobbies include tennis, soccer and nature study, started his educational life at the Kumbungu L/A Primary School, Savelugu L/A Middle School through the Tamale Secondary School to the University of Ghana, Legon and the Ghana School of Law. He is married with children.
CID probes cop's death
Page 3: Daily Graphic, March 17, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A DRIVER of the Pwalugu Regional Police Training School died under uncertain circumstances at the Armoured Squadron Unit Barracks at Tesano in Accra last Friday.
The deceased, Lance Corporal Hope Kofi Ofori, was alleged to have shot himself in the police vehicle, with registration number GP 2135, which was parked at the barracks about 9 p.m. last Friday.
Two empty shells from the AK47 assault rifle he allegedly used to shoot himself were retrieved by the police.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Police Hospital, after some personnel who had rushed to the vehicle upon hearing the gunshots found him in a pool of blood.
The acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mrs Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, has consequently directed the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to take over investigations into the death.
The deceased was said to be in Accra on official duties and he decided to pass the night at the barracks.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that prior to the incident, the deceased was alleged to have been screaming that he was being haunted by some gods.
Police sources, however, said the death could have been accidental, especially if the policeman was not properly trained in the handling of weapons.
The Director of Police Public Affairs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwesi Ofori, said the police could not be categorical about the circumstances leading to Lane Corporal Ofori’s death.
He said it was on that basis that the IGP had directed the CID to take over the investigations from the Tesano Police.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A DRIVER of the Pwalugu Regional Police Training School died under uncertain circumstances at the Armoured Squadron Unit Barracks at Tesano in Accra last Friday.
The deceased, Lance Corporal Hope Kofi Ofori, was alleged to have shot himself in the police vehicle, with registration number GP 2135, which was parked at the barracks about 9 p.m. last Friday.
Two empty shells from the AK47 assault rifle he allegedly used to shoot himself were retrieved by the police.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Police Hospital, after some personnel who had rushed to the vehicle upon hearing the gunshots found him in a pool of blood.
The acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mrs Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, has consequently directed the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to take over investigations into the death.
The deceased was said to be in Accra on official duties and he decided to pass the night at the barracks.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that prior to the incident, the deceased was alleged to have been screaming that he was being haunted by some gods.
Police sources, however, said the death could have been accidental, especially if the policeman was not properly trained in the handling of weapons.
The Director of Police Public Affairs, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kwesi Ofori, said the police could not be categorical about the circumstances leading to Lane Corporal Ofori’s death.
He said it was on that basis that the IGP had directed the CID to take over the investigations from the Tesano Police.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Police caution public on car snatching gangs
Page 31: Daily Graphic, March 11, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Ghana Police Service has warned of an upsurge in the activities of car-snatching gangs in four regions in the country.
It mentioned the Ashanti, Greater Accra, Western and Volta regions as where the activities are on the increase.
It has, accordingly asked drivers, both commercial and private, to be conscious of the latest crime tactics and take precautionary measures to avoid falling victim.
Explaining the latest method adopted by the car-snatching gangs, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Samuel Kwesi Ofori, told the Daily Graphic that the criminals usually agreed to whatever amount charged by taxi drivers to their purported destinations and end up robbing the drivers of the vehicles.
He explained that after agreeing to a fare, the suspect or suspects proceeded to ask their victim drivers to take them to other places to enable them (suspects) to attend to something crucial before heading for their original destinations.
DSP Ofori said the criminals used other gang members to trail the unsuspecting driver or wait for them at desolate places where they attacked the driver.
“Some suspects also ask their victims to stop at odd places to enable them to pick either their luggage or a friend and end up attacking them,” he said.
He said on the motorway, for instance, some car-snatching gangs deliberately hit the rear of their victims and get them to park.
Upon stopping, he said, the suspects rob the victim of his or her car and sped off.
With regard to private or non-commercial vehicles, DSP Ofori said, the suspects often used women to solicit “lift” at isolated areas such as beaches, outskirts of towns and places not well lit at night.
According to him, upon stopping to offer the lady a “lift”, the accomplices emerge from dark places to snatch the vehicles away.
DSP Ofori said some motorists also failed to remove their ignition keys and left the parked cars unattended to.
He explained that such acts on the part of drivers also made the work of car snatchers easier.
He said the police patrol teams had intensified their patrols, both day and night, to help combat the car-snatching menace.
DSP Ofori, however, said drivers needed to be vigilant and monitor the persons who boarded their vehicles.
In that way, he said, they would be able to alert the police before they were taken out of their usual routes or avoid those routes altogether.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Ghana Police Service has warned of an upsurge in the activities of car-snatching gangs in four regions in the country.
It mentioned the Ashanti, Greater Accra, Western and Volta regions as where the activities are on the increase.
It has, accordingly asked drivers, both commercial and private, to be conscious of the latest crime tactics and take precautionary measures to avoid falling victim.
Explaining the latest method adopted by the car-snatching gangs, the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Samuel Kwesi Ofori, told the Daily Graphic that the criminals usually agreed to whatever amount charged by taxi drivers to their purported destinations and end up robbing the drivers of the vehicles.
He explained that after agreeing to a fare, the suspect or suspects proceeded to ask their victim drivers to take them to other places to enable them (suspects) to attend to something crucial before heading for their original destinations.
DSP Ofori said the criminals used other gang members to trail the unsuspecting driver or wait for them at desolate places where they attacked the driver.
“Some suspects also ask their victims to stop at odd places to enable them to pick either their luggage or a friend and end up attacking them,” he said.
He said on the motorway, for instance, some car-snatching gangs deliberately hit the rear of their victims and get them to park.
Upon stopping, he said, the suspects rob the victim of his or her car and sped off.
With regard to private or non-commercial vehicles, DSP Ofori said, the suspects often used women to solicit “lift” at isolated areas such as beaches, outskirts of towns and places not well lit at night.
According to him, upon stopping to offer the lady a “lift”, the accomplices emerge from dark places to snatch the vehicles away.
DSP Ofori said some motorists also failed to remove their ignition keys and left the parked cars unattended to.
He explained that such acts on the part of drivers also made the work of car snatchers easier.
He said the police patrol teams had intensified their patrols, both day and night, to help combat the car-snatching menace.
DSP Ofori, however, said drivers needed to be vigilant and monitor the persons who boarded their vehicles.
In that way, he said, they would be able to alert the police before they were taken out of their usual routes or avoid those routes altogether.
Northerners should unite ... To deal with challenges
Page 31: Daily Graphic, March 11, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Interior Minister, Mr Cletus Avoka, has asked northerners to unite to deal with the challenges of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and lack of basic facilities confronting the three northern regions.
He told the Daily Graphic that overcoming those challenges required unity, peace and dialogue and not conflicts or differences in political affiliation, chieftaincy or religion.
Mr Avoka expressed regret that those who were fighting because of political, chieftaincy or religious differences were not in any way direct beneficiaries of the causes they were fighting for.
He said the government was committed to developing the three northern regions but “it cannot do so in the midst of insecurity”.
He explained, for instance, that with the increase in Capitation Grant to facilitate high school enrolment to reduce the illiteracy rate, conflicts were bound to cause schools in those areas to be closed down.
Mr Avoka said in such an instance, the conflict areas would not benefit from the Capitation Grant but would tend to worsen their already deplorable situation.
The Interior Minister, therefore, urged northerners to learn to be tolerant of opposing views and resort to dialogue to settle differences instead of using arms to kill and maim themselves.
He called on all northerners to be commit themselves to peace and development so as to benefit from the policies of the government.
He reminded them that the government had four years to deliver on its manifesto promises but if the people resorted to conflicts and violence, the government would spend the four years finding solutions to the conflicts and not deliver on its promises.
“The government needs peace to transform its manifesto into reality. We must, therefore, give peace a chance,” he exhorted the northerners.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Interior Minister, Mr Cletus Avoka, has asked northerners to unite to deal with the challenges of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and lack of basic facilities confronting the three northern regions.
He told the Daily Graphic that overcoming those challenges required unity, peace and dialogue and not conflicts or differences in political affiliation, chieftaincy or religion.
Mr Avoka expressed regret that those who were fighting because of political, chieftaincy or religious differences were not in any way direct beneficiaries of the causes they were fighting for.
He said the government was committed to developing the three northern regions but “it cannot do so in the midst of insecurity”.
He explained, for instance, that with the increase in Capitation Grant to facilitate high school enrolment to reduce the illiteracy rate, conflicts were bound to cause schools in those areas to be closed down.
Mr Avoka said in such an instance, the conflict areas would not benefit from the Capitation Grant but would tend to worsen their already deplorable situation.
The Interior Minister, therefore, urged northerners to learn to be tolerant of opposing views and resort to dialogue to settle differences instead of using arms to kill and maim themselves.
He called on all northerners to be commit themselves to peace and development so as to benefit from the policies of the government.
He reminded them that the government had four years to deliver on its manifesto promises but if the people resorted to conflicts and violence, the government would spend the four years finding solutions to the conflicts and not deliver on its promises.
“The government needs peace to transform its manifesto into reality. We must, therefore, give peace a chance,” he exhorted the northerners.
Security on high alert in Yendi
Page 3: Daily Graphic, March 10, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
ADEQUATE military and civil measures are in place in Yendi to forestall any disturbances during the celebration of this year’s Damba Festival by the chiefs and people of Dagbon, the Ministry of the Interior has assured the public.
Explaining the measures, the Interior Minister, Mr Cletus Avoka, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the ministry had taken the preventive stance following threats to peace in Yendi during preparations which began last Sunday ahead of the festival.
He confirmed that while security personnel in the area had been put on high alert to avert any clashes, the Ministry of the Interior and the Northern Regional Security Council were using dialogue and mediation to prevail on the leaders of one of the factions which had declared its intention to defy a court order and engage in illegality.
Earlier, a circuit court had restrained the Abudus from taking part in the 2009 celebration of the Damba Festival, the major traditional festival of the people of the Northern Region.
However, the youth of the Abudu Gate said they would not accept the decision of the court unless the rival Andanis were also served with the order not to celebrate the festival.
The minister said any such act by the Abudus would amount to contempt of court, adding that the government had already made it clear that the law would take its course should anyone breach it.
He said there was a process for setting aside a court order and so any person who felt aggrieved must go through the process to set it aside.
Mr Avoka said the Northern Regional Security Council was in firm control of the situation in Yendi and appealed to the Abudus to co-operate with the council.
Throwing more light on the court order, he said the Yendi District Security Council observed that the Abudus, led by their Regent, the Bolin Lana, were rehearsing for the Damba Festival.
He said the Regent and his followers were advised to stop, since it could create problems.
According to him, when the Regent and his followers refused to adhere to the advice, the DISEC went to court to restrain them from celebrating the festival.
The Abudus and Andanis have been embroiled in chieftaincy disputes since the 1960s.
In March 2002, in a situation similar to the current security situation in Dagbon, the Overlord of the state, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani, was murdered, along with 40 of his elders. Attempts to find a lasting solution to the problem have since not yielded much.
Story: Albert K. Salia
ADEQUATE military and civil measures are in place in Yendi to forestall any disturbances during the celebration of this year’s Damba Festival by the chiefs and people of Dagbon, the Ministry of the Interior has assured the public.
Explaining the measures, the Interior Minister, Mr Cletus Avoka, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the ministry had taken the preventive stance following threats to peace in Yendi during preparations which began last Sunday ahead of the festival.
He confirmed that while security personnel in the area had been put on high alert to avert any clashes, the Ministry of the Interior and the Northern Regional Security Council were using dialogue and mediation to prevail on the leaders of one of the factions which had declared its intention to defy a court order and engage in illegality.
Earlier, a circuit court had restrained the Abudus from taking part in the 2009 celebration of the Damba Festival, the major traditional festival of the people of the Northern Region.
However, the youth of the Abudu Gate said they would not accept the decision of the court unless the rival Andanis were also served with the order not to celebrate the festival.
The minister said any such act by the Abudus would amount to contempt of court, adding that the government had already made it clear that the law would take its course should anyone breach it.
He said there was a process for setting aside a court order and so any person who felt aggrieved must go through the process to set it aside.
Mr Avoka said the Northern Regional Security Council was in firm control of the situation in Yendi and appealed to the Abudus to co-operate with the council.
Throwing more light on the court order, he said the Yendi District Security Council observed that the Abudus, led by their Regent, the Bolin Lana, were rehearsing for the Damba Festival.
He said the Regent and his followers were advised to stop, since it could create problems.
According to him, when the Regent and his followers refused to adhere to the advice, the DISEC went to court to restrain them from celebrating the festival.
The Abudus and Andanis have been embroiled in chieftaincy disputes since the 1960s.
In March 2002, in a situation similar to the current security situation in Dagbon, the Overlord of the state, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani, was murdered, along with 40 of his elders. Attempts to find a lasting solution to the problem have since not yielded much.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Evangelist defrauds 75 year-old man
Page 20: Daily Graphic, March 6, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have mounted search for an evangelist, Grunt Man Darko, for allegedly defrauding a company of $52,000 and £4,000.
The Kumasi-based evangelist, who is alleged to be operating a non-governmental organisation, Grace Aid Foundation, allegedly collected the money to facilitate the construction of 125 boreholes by Sadduck Drainage Water Company at East Legon on behalf of the European Commission (EC).
Police sources said after collecting the money sometime in April last year, Evangelist Darko went into hiding.
A source close to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service told the Daily Graphic last Wednesday that Evangelist Darko was introduced to the Chief Executive of the company about six years ago.
During the period, it said, Evangelist Darko used to visit the family during which visits they held prayer sessions.
According to the source, the evangelist, who is believed to be hiding in Kumasi or Koforidua and their environs, later informed his unsuspecting victim about the award of contract by the EC to the Grace Aid Foundation for the construction and provision of boreholes for a number of communities in Ghana.
The source said Darko then informed his victim that he (Darko) wanted him to undertake the project on his (suspect’s) behalf and requested for the said amount.
It said because of the relationship that existed between the victim and Darko, the victim, who is 75 years old, decided to mobilise resources, including the sale of parcels of land at East Legon belonging to his son, to raise the amount to pay Darko.
It said the victim became convinced when Darko produced a letter dated March 27, 2008, purported to be emanating from the EC’s headquarters in Belgium announcing the award of the contract to Sadduck Drainage Water Company.
The purported letter stated (unedited) “This is to certify that after going through all the investigations and the places that your work with before, we now awarded 125 water boreholes to you. Please, we would like to have your company’s registration documents, bank account number as well as your estimate proposal. These are needed before the end of May 5, 2008”.
The source said the victim then gave out the money to Darko, who later presented a purported contract document for signing at a later date but had since not been located.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have mounted search for an evangelist, Grunt Man Darko, for allegedly defrauding a company of $52,000 and £4,000.
The Kumasi-based evangelist, who is alleged to be operating a non-governmental organisation, Grace Aid Foundation, allegedly collected the money to facilitate the construction of 125 boreholes by Sadduck Drainage Water Company at East Legon on behalf of the European Commission (EC).
Police sources said after collecting the money sometime in April last year, Evangelist Darko went into hiding.
A source close to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service told the Daily Graphic last Wednesday that Evangelist Darko was introduced to the Chief Executive of the company about six years ago.
During the period, it said, Evangelist Darko used to visit the family during which visits they held prayer sessions.
According to the source, the evangelist, who is believed to be hiding in Kumasi or Koforidua and their environs, later informed his unsuspecting victim about the award of contract by the EC to the Grace Aid Foundation for the construction and provision of boreholes for a number of communities in Ghana.
The source said Darko then informed his victim that he (Darko) wanted him to undertake the project on his (suspect’s) behalf and requested for the said amount.
It said because of the relationship that existed between the victim and Darko, the victim, who is 75 years old, decided to mobilise resources, including the sale of parcels of land at East Legon belonging to his son, to raise the amount to pay Darko.
It said the victim became convinced when Darko produced a letter dated March 27, 2008, purported to be emanating from the EC’s headquarters in Belgium announcing the award of the contract to Sadduck Drainage Water Company.
The purported letter stated (unedited) “This is to certify that after going through all the investigations and the places that your work with before, we now awarded 125 water boreholes to you. Please, we would like to have your company’s registration documents, bank account number as well as your estimate proposal. These are needed before the end of May 5, 2008”.
The source said the victim then gave out the money to Darko, who later presented a purported contract document for signing at a later date but had since not been located.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
'Arrest local drug barons'
Page 14: Daily Graphic, March 4, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE US State Department says although Ghana’s law enforcement authorities continue to arrest low level traffickers of narcotics, they have not put in the same effort in the pursuit of big-time barons.
“Interdiction remains a focus of law enforcement efforts, with less attention going towards arresting senior members of the narcotics rings or to building of cases against local drug barons,” it said in its 2009 Report issued by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the State Department last Friday.
The report is the State Department’s annual review of foreign governments’ efforts at implementing their international obligations under the United Nations drug control conventions and captured Ghana’s efforts at combating drug trafficking in 2008.
It cited the failure of the police to identify the brain behind the 399 kilogrammes of cocaine seized at Nsawam which resulted in the arrest of two drivers and noted that “the lack of apparent success in targeting drug barons or even middle-level traffickers may result from a combination of a lack of political will, resources and competency”.
“Journalists and members of civil society speculate about connections between narcotics trafficking and politicians. A Ghanaian MP, ....., is currently serving time in the US following a 2005 arrest for heroin smuggling,” it noted.
It said corruption was pervasive in Ghana’s law enforcement community, including sections of the police and the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), adding that law enforcement officials also attributed the low level of convictions to corruption within the judicial system.
It quoted a study by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative which found that corruption in the Ghana Police Service was widespread, with more than 90 per cent of Ghanaians reporting that they had been asked to pay a bribe to a police officer, sometimes before receiving police services, such as submission of an accident report.
The report, which was released by the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Ambassador David T. Johnson, said a presidential committee set up by former President J. A. Kufuor to review the Kojo Armah Committee report “has yet to make its report”.
It again expressed regret that since 1999 NACOB had proposed amending PNDCL 236, 1990 but the Attorney-General’s Department had not acted on the proposal, except to amend the law to allow stricter application bail bond system.
“The NACOB also called for amendment, without success, of PNDC Law 236, 1990, to enable it to confiscate property and assets purchased by identified drug dealers using illegal proceeds of crime,” it said.
According to the report, although the government began drafting a Proceeds of Crime Bill, it was yet to send it to Parliament, while a new Money Laundering Act was enacted by Parliament in 2007 but was also yet to be fully implemented, adding that “a Financial Crimes Intelligence Centre, authorised in the act, has yet to be formed, for example”.
It noted the limited co-ordination and intelligence sharing among Ghana’s law enforcement agencies and cited cocaine and heroin as the main drugs that transited Ghana.
It said large shipments were often broken up into small amounts to be hidden on individuals travelling by passenger aircraft.
The report said the arrests made in 2008 revealed a variety of creative concealment methods, including cocaine hidden inside specially designed women’s underwear, cans of palm oil and containers of yoghurt and in wheelchairs and bricks of marijuana hidden in false-bottom crates which contained handicrafts bound for Europe.
Last year, the State Department said corruption and lack of resources seriously impeded Ghana’s efforts to deal with the drug menace.
It observed that “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.
Reacting to the 2009 report, a former Executive Secretary of NACOB, Mr K. B. Quantson, said the report, although evidently scathing, was not unexpected.
Mr Quantson said the way forward to arrest that humiliating situation was a demonstrable political will to marshall the resources and expertise to redeem our national image.
“This should be the challenge for President John Evans Atta Mills and his government to redeem the country’s dented image by narcotics. This is the time for him to implement what he outlined in his manifesto to deal with the drug menace,” he added.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE US State Department says although Ghana’s law enforcement authorities continue to arrest low level traffickers of narcotics, they have not put in the same effort in the pursuit of big-time barons.
“Interdiction remains a focus of law enforcement efforts, with less attention going towards arresting senior members of the narcotics rings or to building of cases against local drug barons,” it said in its 2009 Report issued by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the State Department last Friday.
The report is the State Department’s annual review of foreign governments’ efforts at implementing their international obligations under the United Nations drug control conventions and captured Ghana’s efforts at combating drug trafficking in 2008.
It cited the failure of the police to identify the brain behind the 399 kilogrammes of cocaine seized at Nsawam which resulted in the arrest of two drivers and noted that “the lack of apparent success in targeting drug barons or even middle-level traffickers may result from a combination of a lack of political will, resources and competency”.
“Journalists and members of civil society speculate about connections between narcotics trafficking and politicians. A Ghanaian MP, ....., is currently serving time in the US following a 2005 arrest for heroin smuggling,” it noted.
It said corruption was pervasive in Ghana’s law enforcement community, including sections of the police and the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), adding that law enforcement officials also attributed the low level of convictions to corruption within the judicial system.
It quoted a study by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative which found that corruption in the Ghana Police Service was widespread, with more than 90 per cent of Ghanaians reporting that they had been asked to pay a bribe to a police officer, sometimes before receiving police services, such as submission of an accident report.
The report, which was released by the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Ambassador David T. Johnson, said a presidential committee set up by former President J. A. Kufuor to review the Kojo Armah Committee report “has yet to make its report”.
It again expressed regret that since 1999 NACOB had proposed amending PNDCL 236, 1990 but the Attorney-General’s Department had not acted on the proposal, except to amend the law to allow stricter application bail bond system.
“The NACOB also called for amendment, without success, of PNDC Law 236, 1990, to enable it to confiscate property and assets purchased by identified drug dealers using illegal proceeds of crime,” it said.
According to the report, although the government began drafting a Proceeds of Crime Bill, it was yet to send it to Parliament, while a new Money Laundering Act was enacted by Parliament in 2007 but was also yet to be fully implemented, adding that “a Financial Crimes Intelligence Centre, authorised in the act, has yet to be formed, for example”.
It noted the limited co-ordination and intelligence sharing among Ghana’s law enforcement agencies and cited cocaine and heroin as the main drugs that transited Ghana.
It said large shipments were often broken up into small amounts to be hidden on individuals travelling by passenger aircraft.
The report said the arrests made in 2008 revealed a variety of creative concealment methods, including cocaine hidden inside specially designed women’s underwear, cans of palm oil and containers of yoghurt and in wheelchairs and bricks of marijuana hidden in false-bottom crates which contained handicrafts bound for Europe.
Last year, the State Department said corruption and lack of resources seriously impeded Ghana’s efforts to deal with the drug menace.
It observed that “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.
Reacting to the 2009 report, a former Executive Secretary of NACOB, Mr K. B. Quantson, said the report, although evidently scathing, was not unexpected.
Mr Quantson said the way forward to arrest that humiliating situation was a demonstrable political will to marshall the resources and expertise to redeem our national image.
“This should be the challenge for President John Evans Atta Mills and his government to redeem the country’s dented image by narcotics. This is the time for him to implement what he outlined in his manifesto to deal with the drug menace,” he added.
'I'll only resign if ...'
Page 3: Daily Graphic, March 4, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, has pledged to resign his position should it be proven that he has stolen “a single pesewa of the taxpayer’s money”.
He said he was not only prepared to resign from his present position but that he would also offer himself for prosecution and suffer any penalties prescribed by law.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Alhaji Mumuni declared, “Should it be shown or proven that I, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, have stolen a single pesewa of the taxpayer’s money or taken a personal benefit, whether directly or indirectly, or been corrupt or abused my office or been guilty of wrongdoing, I am prepared not only to resign from my present appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration but I will also offer myself for prosecution and suffer any penalties prescribed by law.”
He was responding to calls by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and a pressure group, the Alliance for Accountable Government (AFAG), for him to resign his position following the dismissal of his defamation suit against the Daily Guide newspaper and three others by an Accra High Court.
Alhaji Mumuni reiterated the fact that he had never sighted any Auditor-General’s report signed or authenticated by the Auditor-General or on his behalf, neither could the Appointments Committee of Parliament show him a copy or even vouch for the existence of any such report.
He said by the requirements of Article 187, Section 23 (1) of the Audit Service Act, Act 584, the Auditor-General’s report was published only when it had been presented to the Speaker of Parliament and laid before Parliament, saying that no such report had been so laid in Parliament up to date.
He noted that by customs, practices and usage of auditors, persons who were subjects of audit inspections were informed of the fact and allowed to participate in same.
According to him, until the Daily Guide started serialising a purported audit report on him, “I never had the slightest hint that I was the subject of an audit inspection”.
Alhaji Mumuni explained that he was also never given the opportunity to contradict or explain anything alleged against him by the so-called auditors, stressing that “this is obviously contrary to the elementary rules of natural justice”.
The minister stated that the first time he became aware of a forensic audit report on him by Messrs Baffour Awuah & Associates was on May 4, 2004 when the Daily Guide started serialising the draft, which continued on May 6, 18 and 21, 2004.
He said he wrote to the then Minister of Manpower Development, Mr Yaw Barimah, for copies of specified documents and correspondence, which the minister provided under the cover of his letter.
“Armed with these documents which, in the report, the auditors said were not available or never even existed, I called a press conference here in this very hall on May 19, 2004. I addressed the media and in the process debunked the allegations against me and demonstrated that in so far as it related to me, the so-called audit report was a complete fabrication,” he added.
Surprisingly, he said, the very night of the press conference, Mr Barimah’s office was burgled and the CPU to his computer and back-ups were stolen.
Alhaji Mumuni said the case was still being investigated by the Ministries Police.
He said he filed a civil suit at the High Court, claiming damages for defamation of character arising from the libellous words contained in the Daily Guide publications and also obtained an interim injunction against the defendants, restraining them from re-publishing, repeating or publishing similar words against him.
He said in spite of the subsistence of the injunction, the auditors purported to finalise the audit report in September 2004, a conduct which he said was clearly in contempt of the court.
Alhaji Mumuni said the dismissal of his claim for damages against the defendants did not mean that he had been found guilty of any criminal charge.
“I have never been charged with any criminal conduct before a court of law, nor has any charge been brought against me before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ),” he said.
The minister drew the attention of the media to the fact that it was the same auditors, Baffour Awuah & Associates, who conducted forensic audits involving other NDC officials such as Messrs Dan Abodakpi, Kwame Peprah, Ibrahim Adam and Dr Ato Quarshie.
“During Mr Abodakpi’s trial, it emerged that it was the then National Security Co-ordinator who had appointed Baffour Awuah & Associates to conduct the so-called audit. This firm was handpicked to do political hatchet jobs,” he alleged.
Alhaji Mumuni said during Mr Abodakpi’s trial, “the Auditor-General claimed that the audit had been authorised by him to give the cover of his office to what had clearly been initiated by the National Security Co-ordinator’s office”.
He said the misuse of the audit function of the Auditor-General for purely political purposes over the past eight years had been remarkable and cited the cases against the Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata and Mr Kwesi Pratt, the publisher of a privately owned newspaper, although its accounts were outside the purview of the Auditor-General, as well as queries against the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, when he raised issue with the NPP government regarding its attempt to control the procurement processes of the EC.
The minister said an audit report on the 31st December Women’s Movement was also conducted by the Auditor-General which was used in criminal proceedings which were subsequently discontinued.
He said the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, instituted an action against the Daily Guide for publishing those allegations, saying the matter was currently at the Court of Appeal, after an unsuccessful attempt at the High Court.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, has pledged to resign his position should it be proven that he has stolen “a single pesewa of the taxpayer’s money”.
He said he was not only prepared to resign from his present position but that he would also offer himself for prosecution and suffer any penalties prescribed by law.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, Alhaji Mumuni declared, “Should it be shown or proven that I, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, have stolen a single pesewa of the taxpayer’s money or taken a personal benefit, whether directly or indirectly, or been corrupt or abused my office or been guilty of wrongdoing, I am prepared not only to resign from my present appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration but I will also offer myself for prosecution and suffer any penalties prescribed by law.”
He was responding to calls by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and a pressure group, the Alliance for Accountable Government (AFAG), for him to resign his position following the dismissal of his defamation suit against the Daily Guide newspaper and three others by an Accra High Court.
Alhaji Mumuni reiterated the fact that he had never sighted any Auditor-General’s report signed or authenticated by the Auditor-General or on his behalf, neither could the Appointments Committee of Parliament show him a copy or even vouch for the existence of any such report.
He said by the requirements of Article 187, Section 23 (1) of the Audit Service Act, Act 584, the Auditor-General’s report was published only when it had been presented to the Speaker of Parliament and laid before Parliament, saying that no such report had been so laid in Parliament up to date.
He noted that by customs, practices and usage of auditors, persons who were subjects of audit inspections were informed of the fact and allowed to participate in same.
According to him, until the Daily Guide started serialising a purported audit report on him, “I never had the slightest hint that I was the subject of an audit inspection”.
Alhaji Mumuni explained that he was also never given the opportunity to contradict or explain anything alleged against him by the so-called auditors, stressing that “this is obviously contrary to the elementary rules of natural justice”.
The minister stated that the first time he became aware of a forensic audit report on him by Messrs Baffour Awuah & Associates was on May 4, 2004 when the Daily Guide started serialising the draft, which continued on May 6, 18 and 21, 2004.
He said he wrote to the then Minister of Manpower Development, Mr Yaw Barimah, for copies of specified documents and correspondence, which the minister provided under the cover of his letter.
“Armed with these documents which, in the report, the auditors said were not available or never even existed, I called a press conference here in this very hall on May 19, 2004. I addressed the media and in the process debunked the allegations against me and demonstrated that in so far as it related to me, the so-called audit report was a complete fabrication,” he added.
Surprisingly, he said, the very night of the press conference, Mr Barimah’s office was burgled and the CPU to his computer and back-ups were stolen.
Alhaji Mumuni said the case was still being investigated by the Ministries Police.
He said he filed a civil suit at the High Court, claiming damages for defamation of character arising from the libellous words contained in the Daily Guide publications and also obtained an interim injunction against the defendants, restraining them from re-publishing, repeating or publishing similar words against him.
He said in spite of the subsistence of the injunction, the auditors purported to finalise the audit report in September 2004, a conduct which he said was clearly in contempt of the court.
Alhaji Mumuni said the dismissal of his claim for damages against the defendants did not mean that he had been found guilty of any criminal charge.
“I have never been charged with any criminal conduct before a court of law, nor has any charge been brought against me before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ),” he said.
The minister drew the attention of the media to the fact that it was the same auditors, Baffour Awuah & Associates, who conducted forensic audits involving other NDC officials such as Messrs Dan Abodakpi, Kwame Peprah, Ibrahim Adam and Dr Ato Quarshie.
“During Mr Abodakpi’s trial, it emerged that it was the then National Security Co-ordinator who had appointed Baffour Awuah & Associates to conduct the so-called audit. This firm was handpicked to do political hatchet jobs,” he alleged.
Alhaji Mumuni said during Mr Abodakpi’s trial, “the Auditor-General claimed that the audit had been authorised by him to give the cover of his office to what had clearly been initiated by the National Security Co-ordinator’s office”.
He said the misuse of the audit function of the Auditor-General for purely political purposes over the past eight years had been remarkable and cited the cases against the Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata and Mr Kwesi Pratt, the publisher of a privately owned newspaper, although its accounts were outside the purview of the Auditor-General, as well as queries against the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, when he raised issue with the NPP government regarding its attempt to control the procurement processes of the EC.
The minister said an audit report on the 31st December Women’s Movement was also conducted by the Auditor-General which was used in criminal proceedings which were subsequently discontinued.
He said the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, instituted an action against the Daily Guide for publishing those allegations, saying the matter was currently at the Court of Appeal, after an unsuccessful attempt at the High Court.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Police retrieve 30 pellets of cocaine from suspects
Page 31: Daily Graphic, March 3, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THIRTY pellets of cocaine and a quantity of heroine yet to be weighed were retrieved from two suspected drug couriers who have been arrested by operatives of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB).
Four other suspected accomplices are assisting in investigations, while a fifth person is on the run.
The two currently being held are Sunday Omowe, 30, and Abraham Yaw Nutsugah, 35. They were arrested on February 19, 2009 and February 27, 2009 while going through departure formalities to board flights for Germany and the USA, respectively.
The owner of Merciful Hotel at Alajo, Nana Ampomah Gyebi, and the hotel’s manager, Yaw Annoh, are being questioned in respect of Omowe’s arrest, while Mark Owusu and Diana Anane, a former employee of the Netherlands Embassy and girlfriend of Kobina Boakye, alias Nsowah, the fifth person being sought, are helping investigators in connection with Nutsugah’s arrest.
The Executive Secretary of NACOB, ACP Robert Ayalingo, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that preliminary urinary test on Omowe, who was returning to Germany after a month’s stay in Ghana, at the airport proved positive for narcotics, which was later confirmed at the 37 Military Hospital after an X-ray examination.
He said within 24 hours of detention, the suspect expelled 30 pellets of suspected cocaine and allegedly confessed to buying the drugs for $3,000.
He said a follow up at the Merciful Hotel, where the suspect said he had been lodging since his arrival on January 20, 2009, showed no records of his stay there.
ACP Ayalingo said the hotel manager, however, told operatives that the suspect had checked in at the hotel on February 6, 2009 but when receipts of payment for lodging were demanded, Annoh claimed someone would come and pay on the suspect’s behalf.
The executive secretary said NACOB had decided to invite the Ghana Tourist Board, the Internal Revenue Service and the Value Added Tax Service to take part in the investigations and help determine the complicity of the hotel management in the crime.
According to him, although the suspect was bound for Germany, the final destination of the drugs was the United Kingdom.
With regard to Nutsugah, ACP Ayalingo said operatives of NACOB and ‘Operation Westbridge’ intercepted the suspect for questioning and that upon a thorough check of his passport it was detected that his previous travel itinerary showed that he could be a drug courier.
He said the operatives recalled the suspect’s suitcase, which had already being checked in, for further scrutiny, adding
that it was during the scrutiny that it was detected that a false bottom compartment had been made under the suitcase, which had been lined with suspected heroin.
ACP Ayalingo said Nutsugah then mentioned Kobina Boakye as the person who had given him the suitcase to deliver to an unknown person in New York.
Surprisingly, he said, that was the only bag that the suspect was travelling with.
The NACOB boss said Nutsugah led operatives to a house on the Spintex Road which the suspect claimed was Boakye’s residence.
He said Mark Owusu was found asleep in the house and denied knowledge of any drug dealings but allegedly admitted accommodating Boakye for some time in the house.
ACP Ayalingo said Owusu then led the operatives to Boakye’s residence, not too far from Owusu’s, where Diana Anane was also arrested.
He said an electronic weighing scale, two Ghanaian passports bearing the names Samuel Owusu Mensah and Francis Forkuo, and other assorted items were retrieved from Boakye’s residence.
He said Mensah’s passport showed that he had travelled to South Africa, India, the UK and the USA before, while Francis was yet to travel.
ACP Ayalingo used the opportunity to warn drug traffickers and couriers that despite the breakdown of the itemisers at the airport, stakeholders in the fight against drug trafficking, including the international community, were on the alert.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THIRTY pellets of cocaine and a quantity of heroine yet to be weighed were retrieved from two suspected drug couriers who have been arrested by operatives of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB).
Four other suspected accomplices are assisting in investigations, while a fifth person is on the run.
The two currently being held are Sunday Omowe, 30, and Abraham Yaw Nutsugah, 35. They were arrested on February 19, 2009 and February 27, 2009 while going through departure formalities to board flights for Germany and the USA, respectively.
The owner of Merciful Hotel at Alajo, Nana Ampomah Gyebi, and the hotel’s manager, Yaw Annoh, are being questioned in respect of Omowe’s arrest, while Mark Owusu and Diana Anane, a former employee of the Netherlands Embassy and girlfriend of Kobina Boakye, alias Nsowah, the fifth person being sought, are helping investigators in connection with Nutsugah’s arrest.
The Executive Secretary of NACOB, ACP Robert Ayalingo, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that preliminary urinary test on Omowe, who was returning to Germany after a month’s stay in Ghana, at the airport proved positive for narcotics, which was later confirmed at the 37 Military Hospital after an X-ray examination.
He said within 24 hours of detention, the suspect expelled 30 pellets of suspected cocaine and allegedly confessed to buying the drugs for $3,000.
He said a follow up at the Merciful Hotel, where the suspect said he had been lodging since his arrival on January 20, 2009, showed no records of his stay there.
ACP Ayalingo said the hotel manager, however, told operatives that the suspect had checked in at the hotel on February 6, 2009 but when receipts of payment for lodging were demanded, Annoh claimed someone would come and pay on the suspect’s behalf.
The executive secretary said NACOB had decided to invite the Ghana Tourist Board, the Internal Revenue Service and the Value Added Tax Service to take part in the investigations and help determine the complicity of the hotel management in the crime.
According to him, although the suspect was bound for Germany, the final destination of the drugs was the United Kingdom.
With regard to Nutsugah, ACP Ayalingo said operatives of NACOB and ‘Operation Westbridge’ intercepted the suspect for questioning and that upon a thorough check of his passport it was detected that his previous travel itinerary showed that he could be a drug courier.
He said the operatives recalled the suspect’s suitcase, which had already being checked in, for further scrutiny, adding
that it was during the scrutiny that it was detected that a false bottom compartment had been made under the suitcase, which had been lined with suspected heroin.
ACP Ayalingo said Nutsugah then mentioned Kobina Boakye as the person who had given him the suitcase to deliver to an unknown person in New York.
Surprisingly, he said, that was the only bag that the suspect was travelling with.
The NACOB boss said Nutsugah led operatives to a house on the Spintex Road which the suspect claimed was Boakye’s residence.
He said Mark Owusu was found asleep in the house and denied knowledge of any drug dealings but allegedly admitted accommodating Boakye for some time in the house.
ACP Ayalingo said Owusu then led the operatives to Boakye’s residence, not too far from Owusu’s, where Diana Anane was also arrested.
He said an electronic weighing scale, two Ghanaian passports bearing the names Samuel Owusu Mensah and Francis Forkuo, and other assorted items were retrieved from Boakye’s residence.
He said Mensah’s passport showed that he had travelled to South Africa, India, the UK and the USA before, while Francis was yet to travel.
ACP Ayalingo used the opportunity to warn drug traffickers and couriers that despite the breakdown of the itemisers at the airport, stakeholders in the fight against drug trafficking, including the international community, were on the alert.
I WON'T RESIGN * I'll remain in office & fight this case, Mumuni declares
Front Page: Daily Graphic, March 3, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
FOREIGN Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, has rejected calls for his resignation and made it clear that he will remain in office and fight his case in court.
He told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the judgement of the High Court, which dismissed his writ for libel against the Daily Guide newspaper, was premature.
He said the court erred because at the time it pronounced judgement there was an application pending in the court for a rectification of the record of proceedings which was found to be fundamentally flawed.
“In any case, the judgement does not hold that the so-called adverse findings in the purported audit report against me are true. The import of the judgement is to say that the newspaper did not manufacture the story complained of but that it was lifted from the audit report,” he said.
Responding to calls for him to resign following last Friday’s court ruling against his defamation suit, Alhaji Mumuni said he had instructed his lawyers to appeal against the judgement and also take steps to set aside the judgement.
He recalled that although Messrs Baffour Awuah & Associates, a private firm of chartered accountants, purportedly published a report titled: ‘Final Report - Forensic Audit of National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI)’, in September 2004, at no point was he made aware that he was the subject matter of that audit inspection.
He denied the claim by the auditors that he had been written to and invited to attend an audit inspection, explaining that that claim had been investigated in Parliament by a former Speaker of Parliament, the late Peter Ala Adjetey, who had declared that no letter had been received by or in the Office of the Speaker.
A copy of Mr Ala Adjetey’s memorandum to Alhaji Mumuni, dated July 14, 2004 and which was made available to the Daily Graphic, stated, inter alia, that “investigations conducted so far have failed to disclose that Messrs Baffour Awuah & Associates either dispatched a letter to you, dated December 19, 2003 through the Rt Hon Speaker, or that such a letter was received by or in the Office of the Rt Hon Speaker. That is all that I can say in response to your request”.
Alhaji Mumuni said Mr Ala Adjetey’s memo was in response to his memo dated May 21, 2004 to find out whether the auditors had sent a letter through the Speaker inviting him (Alhaji Mumuni) for the audit.
The minister said he had never sighted any Auditor-General’s Report signed or authenticated by him or on his behalf that had purportedly made adverse findings against him, adding, “And, indeed, to the best of my knowledge and belief, no such Auditor-General’s report exists in fact.”
He referred to the Sixth Report of the Appointments Committee which was laid before Parliament on February 20, 2009 which was debated and adopted.
Alhaji Mumuni said the Appointments Committee noted in paragraph two of page four of its report that “the said audit report has not been laid before Parliament, as required by law, and, therefore, its authenticity cannot be verified”.
The committee, he said, quoted Section 23 (1) of the Audit Service Act, 2000, Act 584, which states, “The Auditor-General shall publish the report on the public accounts and the statement of foreign exchange receipts and payments by the Bank of Ghana as soon as the reports have been presented to the Speaker to be laid before Parliament.”
The committee, in its observations on Alhaji Mumuni, noted that it “observed that from the background checks on the nominee, the nominee has not been served with any audit query by the auditors, contrary to standard audit practice”.
The committee further observed that “the said Auditor-General’s report, even though allegedly presented to the Auditor-General, is not yet in the name of the Auditor-General”.
According to Alhaji Mumuni, “the Baffour-Awuah & Associates’ so-called audit report is a dodgy and spurious document with dubious legal validity which was viciously contrived and used unsuccessfully in 2004 as a vendetta tool aimed at disparaging me in my political aspirations at a time it was highly speculated that I was about to be named the presidential running mate to the NDC presidential candidate in the 2004 presidential elections”.
He said the same document was being deployed in a vain attempt to scuttle his chances of being the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
Story: Albert K. Salia
FOREIGN Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, has rejected calls for his resignation and made it clear that he will remain in office and fight his case in court.
He told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the judgement of the High Court, which dismissed his writ for libel against the Daily Guide newspaper, was premature.
He said the court erred because at the time it pronounced judgement there was an application pending in the court for a rectification of the record of proceedings which was found to be fundamentally flawed.
“In any case, the judgement does not hold that the so-called adverse findings in the purported audit report against me are true. The import of the judgement is to say that the newspaper did not manufacture the story complained of but that it was lifted from the audit report,” he said.
Responding to calls for him to resign following last Friday’s court ruling against his defamation suit, Alhaji Mumuni said he had instructed his lawyers to appeal against the judgement and also take steps to set aside the judgement.
He recalled that although Messrs Baffour Awuah & Associates, a private firm of chartered accountants, purportedly published a report titled: ‘Final Report - Forensic Audit of National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI)’, in September 2004, at no point was he made aware that he was the subject matter of that audit inspection.
He denied the claim by the auditors that he had been written to and invited to attend an audit inspection, explaining that that claim had been investigated in Parliament by a former Speaker of Parliament, the late Peter Ala Adjetey, who had declared that no letter had been received by or in the Office of the Speaker.
A copy of Mr Ala Adjetey’s memorandum to Alhaji Mumuni, dated July 14, 2004 and which was made available to the Daily Graphic, stated, inter alia, that “investigations conducted so far have failed to disclose that Messrs Baffour Awuah & Associates either dispatched a letter to you, dated December 19, 2003 through the Rt Hon Speaker, or that such a letter was received by or in the Office of the Rt Hon Speaker. That is all that I can say in response to your request”.
Alhaji Mumuni said Mr Ala Adjetey’s memo was in response to his memo dated May 21, 2004 to find out whether the auditors had sent a letter through the Speaker inviting him (Alhaji Mumuni) for the audit.
The minister said he had never sighted any Auditor-General’s Report signed or authenticated by him or on his behalf that had purportedly made adverse findings against him, adding, “And, indeed, to the best of my knowledge and belief, no such Auditor-General’s report exists in fact.”
He referred to the Sixth Report of the Appointments Committee which was laid before Parliament on February 20, 2009 which was debated and adopted.
Alhaji Mumuni said the Appointments Committee noted in paragraph two of page four of its report that “the said audit report has not been laid before Parliament, as required by law, and, therefore, its authenticity cannot be verified”.
The committee, he said, quoted Section 23 (1) of the Audit Service Act, 2000, Act 584, which states, “The Auditor-General shall publish the report on the public accounts and the statement of foreign exchange receipts and payments by the Bank of Ghana as soon as the reports have been presented to the Speaker to be laid before Parliament.”
The committee, in its observations on Alhaji Mumuni, noted that it “observed that from the background checks on the nominee, the nominee has not been served with any audit query by the auditors, contrary to standard audit practice”.
The committee further observed that “the said Auditor-General’s report, even though allegedly presented to the Auditor-General, is not yet in the name of the Auditor-General”.
According to Alhaji Mumuni, “the Baffour-Awuah & Associates’ so-called audit report is a dodgy and spurious document with dubious legal validity which was viciously contrived and used unsuccessfully in 2004 as a vendetta tool aimed at disparaging me in my political aspirations at a time it was highly speculated that I was about to be named the presidential running mate to the NDC presidential candidate in the 2004 presidential elections”.
He said the same document was being deployed in a vain attempt to scuttle his chances of being the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
Patriotic League condemns culture of violence
Page 14: Daily Graphic, February 28, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
MEMBERS of the Patriotic League, have condemned what they call the return of the culture of violence and intimidation into national politics.
The Spokesperson of the group, Mr Evans Nimako at a press conference in Accra said post 2008 elections had been characterised by incessant attacks, harassment and intimidation of NPP supporters and persons perceived to be opposed to the ruling NDC government.
“Our democratic culture has come too far to be destroyed so blatantly by some NDC faithful who have unduly taken the law into their own hands,” he said.
Mr Nimako said if those acts were not checked, those who felt threatened by the posture of sections of the NDC would be compelled to find ways of defending themselves.
He also called on the Mills’ government not to hive-off the cocoa sub-sector from the supervision of the ministry of finance and economic planning.
It said the cocoa sub-sector was placed under the strict supervision of the ministry of finance by the Kufuor Administration because of its strategic nature of the cocoa industry to the growth of Ghana’s economy.
He said that putting the cocoa sub-sector under the ministry of food and agriculture would hurt the industry and the Ghanaian economy.
“Over the years, especially between 2001 and 2008, the cocoa sub-sector has performed very well under the supervision of the ministry of finance and economic planning owing to the appropriate interventions put in place by the NPP Kufuor-led government,” he said.
Mr Nimako noted that cocoa production improved from 389,772 metric tonnes in 2000/2001 season to 677,414 metric tonnes in 2007/2008 cocoa season, saying that “in the 2005/2006 cocoa season, Ghana achieved a record production of 741,000 metric tonnes, an increment of 47.4 per cent”.
He said there was, therefore, no justifiable reason for the intended change unless it was motivated by selfish interest.
The group, which was made up of mostly NPP sympathisers, recalled the problems and irregularities that the country suffered through the activities of CashPro, a cocoa buying company.
Mr Nimako alleged that CashPro owed COCOBOD hugh sums of monies and called on President Mills to stop the hiving-off of the cocoa sub-sector from the finance ministry by “few individuals who are thinking about themselves and not the country”.
Story: Albert K. Salia
MEMBERS of the Patriotic League, have condemned what they call the return of the culture of violence and intimidation into national politics.
The Spokesperson of the group, Mr Evans Nimako at a press conference in Accra said post 2008 elections had been characterised by incessant attacks, harassment and intimidation of NPP supporters and persons perceived to be opposed to the ruling NDC government.
“Our democratic culture has come too far to be destroyed so blatantly by some NDC faithful who have unduly taken the law into their own hands,” he said.
Mr Nimako said if those acts were not checked, those who felt threatened by the posture of sections of the NDC would be compelled to find ways of defending themselves.
He also called on the Mills’ government not to hive-off the cocoa sub-sector from the supervision of the ministry of finance and economic planning.
It said the cocoa sub-sector was placed under the strict supervision of the ministry of finance by the Kufuor Administration because of its strategic nature of the cocoa industry to the growth of Ghana’s economy.
He said that putting the cocoa sub-sector under the ministry of food and agriculture would hurt the industry and the Ghanaian economy.
“Over the years, especially between 2001 and 2008, the cocoa sub-sector has performed very well under the supervision of the ministry of finance and economic planning owing to the appropriate interventions put in place by the NPP Kufuor-led government,” he said.
Mr Nimako noted that cocoa production improved from 389,772 metric tonnes in 2000/2001 season to 677,414 metric tonnes in 2007/2008 cocoa season, saying that “in the 2005/2006 cocoa season, Ghana achieved a record production of 741,000 metric tonnes, an increment of 47.4 per cent”.
He said there was, therefore, no justifiable reason for the intended change unless it was motivated by selfish interest.
The group, which was made up of mostly NPP sympathisers, recalled the problems and irregularities that the country suffered through the activities of CashPro, a cocoa buying company.
Mr Nimako alleged that CashPro owed COCOBOD hugh sums of monies and called on President Mills to stop the hiving-off of the cocoa sub-sector from the finance ministry by “few individuals who are thinking about themselves and not the country”.
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