Ghana-World Bank: Star Pupil Has Second Thoughts on Reforms

News Ghana
-
0
Source: Asare Kofi

By Asare Kofi. InterPress Service. 17 February, 1997
ACCRA, Feb 14 (IPS) – Viewed as one of Africa’s top reformers, Ghana is now coming to grips with the high cost of adjustment on its people 13 years after it launched a structural reform programme at the World Bank’s bidding.

The programme has reaped benefits, but it has also brought severe pains in its wake, and government officials whom World Bank chief James Wolfensohn met here this week told him the time had come for aspects of the programme to be reviewed.
Wolfensohn, accompanied by his wife, Elaine, and four top officials of the bank, visited Ghana from Monday to Wednesday to assess the impact of his institution’s programmes on the West African nation.

Finance Minister Kwame Peprah Peprah said it had been relatively easy to get Ghanaians to support the programme in the initial stages, that has now become more difficult.
Under its structural adjustment programme, begun in 1983 while it was under military rule, Ghana has removed all forms of market control and exchange regulation, sold state enterprises and scrapped subsidies. As a result, the cost of food and services has risen beyond the reach of poorer Ghanaians.

“These adjustments have been difficult, but our ability to absorb the pain has been the reason we have been able to move thus far,” Peprah told Wolfensohn and his team during one of their meetings here.

But, he said, “as we move along, the ability with which we
get people to move along changes … Our present political
system, which is guided by the consitution, is beginning to
influence the country’s ability to carry out the desired
adjustment required by the bank’s programmes.”

In 1995, for example, the government had to withdraw a 17.5- percent Value-Added Tax (VAT), meant to increase state revenue, after violent anti-VAT protests in which five people were killed.
At a meeting Wednesday with Wolfensohn, President Jerry Rawlings said Ghana’s budget had come under severe strain from the rising expectations of the majority of Ghanaians. This, he explained, now made it difficult for the country to generate adequate budget surpluses to service its foreign debt and meet other financial obligations.

The amounts Ghana spent servicing its foreign debt went from 13.2 percent of its exports in 1980 to 24.8 percent in 1994, according to the World Bank’s 1996 World Development Report. In the same period, the debt increased from just under 1.4 billion dollars to close to 5.4 billion dollars, according to the same source.

Rawlings said that Ghana, like some other SAP-applying developing countries, now faced a dilemma: how to meet the rising expectations of its people and, at the same time, the objectives of the adjustment programme.

In a tacit admission of the lack of achievement of some of
the objectives of the programme, Peprah said: “The same
issues are still with us as they were in 1983 when we had to
explain them to the people.”

These problems include high unemployment, which government sources put at about 20 percent of the active population while the opposition claims that it is as high as 35 percent. They also include inflation—reduced from 71 percent in January 1996 to 32 percent by yearend, but still short of the government’s 1996 target of 20-25 percent.

Wolfensohn said the basic solution to Ghana’s problem of macro- economic instability was for the government to rein in inflation. “And the best way to do that is to make sure that you don’t overspend,” he said Wednesday at a pre-departure press briefing.
Ghana’s high inflation rate has largely been blamed on the government’s spending—financed by borrowing from banks here. In addition to raising domestic interest rates (91-day treasury bills attract 47-percent interest), the state’s dominant position in the financial market also crowds out the private sector.

Apart from stalling growth by preventing the inflow of
investments, Wolfensohn said, “it is the large bulk of
people who are struggling to get out of poverty who are
hurt.”

He also stressed the need to weed out corruption in
government. “What everyone now has to be concerned about is
the management of wastage,” he argued. “If people don’t
get rich on corruption, then there is a sense of justice.”
Referring to discussions he had with Rawlings on the issue,
he said: “He’s very passionate about this.”

“I believe that corruption is the single worst factor that affects investment,” Wolfensohn said, adding however that it was not a problem limited to Ghana.
He said some of the discussions he held here with government
officials centred on micro-financing for projects in the
countryside. “Much of poverty is in the rural areas,” he
said, “therefore, you cannot afford not to consider how we
at the bank and the government can have a closer look at the
rural areas.”

The World Bank plans to develop an integrated rural assessment, not just a piece-meal programme, he explained. The integrated programme, he said, would be aimed at helping women grow better crops and get information on what products to produce and how to get them out.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2006 BUDGET STATEMENT

News Ghana
-
0

Theme: Investing in people, investing in jobs Macroeconomic Developments

Focus: Growth and Employment.

Macro Developments of the Economy

HIPC Accounts-Receipt and Approvals for Spending

Sovereign Credit Rating

Multilateral Debt Cancellation Initiative (MDCI)

2006 Macroeconomic Projections

Sectoral Performance

Accelerated private sector-led growth

Human Resource Development

Good Governance

Poverty Reduction Expenditures

Policy Initiatives for 2006

Personal Income Tax Reliefs

Employment Generation

Revenue Enhancement and Rationalisation

Public Sector Pay Reforms

Pensions Reforms

Free Ride on Metro Mass Transit for School Children

Implementation Challenges

Monitoring and Evaluation

Execution of Civil Works Contracts

Results-focused Frameworks

Conclusion

top

Macro Developments of the Economy

• GDP Growth has grown consistently from 3.7% to 6% in 2000 and 2006 respectively.

• Per Capita Growth rate has also increased consistently from 1.1% to 3.2% in 2000 and 2005 to 16.7% in March as a result of the 50% increase in petroleum prices in February.

• Inflation rose from 11.6% in January 2005 to 16.7% in March as a result of the 50% increase in petroleum prices in February.

• Inflation is currently down to 9.9% as at April 2006

• Nominal exchange rate depreciation has been stable in recent years.

• The cedi in 2005 depreciated by 0.4% against the US dollar, appreciated by 8.2% and 11.6% respectively against the pound sterling and euro.

• Domestic revenue is expected to be ¢24,116.2 billion, equivalent to 24.5% of GDP.

• Total tax revenues are projected to exceed the budget projection of ¢24,116.2 billion, equivalent to 24.5% of GDP.

• Total tax revenue is expected to be ¢21,027.8 billion by 2.3 per cent to reach ¢21,517 billion in 2005.

• The secondary reserve requirement was reduced from 35.0 per cent to 15.0 per cent.

• The Bank of Ghana Prime Rate was lowered on two occasions to stand at 155.5 per cent at end of September 2005.

• Two new BoG instruments-the 14-day and 28-day Bank of Ghana bills –were introduced in July 2005.

top

HIPC Accounts-Receipt and Approvals for Spending

• Since the inception of the HIPC debt relief initiative, Government has received a total of ¢4.59 trillion into the HIPC account and approved a total release of ¢4.52 trillion from the account to support poverty-related spending by the MDAs

Sovereign Credit Rating

• Ghana was rated B+ by S&P and B by Fitch in 2003,

• Ghana was upgraded to B+ by Fitch and re-affirmed B+ by S&P in 2004.

• Ghana is currently rated B+ by both Standard & Poors
(“S&P”) and Fitch Ratings.

Multilateral Debt Cancellation Initiative (MDCI)

• The debt cancellation proposed by the G-8 countries is expected to write-off over US$4.1 billion of debt outstanding owed to the World Bank under the International Development Association window, International Monetary Fund and the African Development Fund.

top

2006 Macroeconomic Projections

• Real GDP growth of at least 6 percent;

• A lowering of end of period inflation to single digit of between 7 and 9 per cent by end-year;

• Average inflation rate of 8.8 percent;

• A further accumulation for international reserves to a target of four months of import cover;

• Domestic primary surplus of 2.0 per cent of GDP; and

• An overall budget deficit of 2.1 per cent of GDP.

SECTORAL PERFORMANCE

• For 2006-2008, Government is implementing the GPRS II which aims to achieve the following:

• Continued macroeconomic stability

• Accelerated private sector-led growth

• Vigorous human resource development

• Good governance and civic responsibility

top

Accelerated private sector-led growth

• Government, for the fifth year running, continued the Cocoa Diseases and pests Control Programme

• A total bonus of ¢161.0 billion was paid to cocoa farmers

• Ghana successfully hosted the 68 th Annual General Assembly and Council of Ministers Meetings of COPAL in Accra

Source: GNA – Ghana News Agency

Interview with H.E. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings = [June 31st 1999]

News Ghana
-
0

Source: World INvestment NEws

Over the last three days we have covered quite extensively what the Movement does. Some of the main points are that you want to see to the development of a positive image of the woman and to help them get their lives into their own hands. But could you just go over the exact programs that the 31st December Movement is involved in and could you also tell us what you have accomplished over the last 17 years?

I have to get you a book. Well when we talk about being part of the development program, all we are saying is that we want to see a woman developed from a multi-sectoral approach; an all round development. We are not just talking about economic development, we are also talking about political development. Being sensitized to the issues of State, to the issues of their community, to issues on various topics and then being developed in the cultural and social areas and so on. So what we did was to take these 4 pointers; economic, political, social and cultural, and work in those areas. For example in the economic area we asked ourselves, what is it that the women really want? You can only answer it if you go to them and we asked them, so what do you want? Some will say we want to open up a small agricultural project. We want to make them bigger. Some will say we want to move away from planting to processing so we can cut down on post-harvest losses. Some will say we want to go into basketry. We get them to actually tell us what they want and then we give them that push and we help them to become efficient at what they do. And then in the political aspect we realise that most people felt that politics was for men so we had to break down the issue of politics and demystify it so that this myth surrounding politics is broken down once and for all. And now we have really done it. Women now stand for elections at the lowest level, that is the Unit Level through the District Level to the Parliamentary Level and even when they are having little town committees they stand for the elections because they want to be there. And so we now see that they understand why they should be part of the political framework of the country. Because if you want to care about yourself or your community you must understand the politics of the country or of your community to be a part of the decision taking process that we have been talking about. And of course with the cultural aspects we looked at the areas where we had a lot of attitudes: people just form attitudes about how women should be. We said that it was dangerous to form attitudes and when you have this attitudinal fixation it is very difficult to get rid of it. We have been working at it persistently and consistently for 17 years but we have not been able to erase all attitudes about women. We are still working at it because you need a lot of conscientisation not only on the part of the men and the opinion makers but also on the part of the women. Because some women have been “socialised” into believing and accepting their positions and they think that they should not go beyond that. So we have to work on the women, perhaps even twice as much, into knowing that being socialised and accepting that socialisation goes against their own development. They must clear their minds and see themselves as people who can also develop, improve on their lifestyles, improve on whatever they want to do. That is what we mean by taking their lives into their own hands and working towards the total empowerment of women. What we tried to do was to use a multi-sectoral approach instead of just economic or political ones. We adopt the multi-sectoral approach so that when we talk of the health needs of women we do not just talk about it. We make them use it to benefit themselves and make them see why they should be healthy – to be able to take care of themselves and their families. Why they should be involved in environmental and sanitation programs, why they should plant more trees so that when they need firewood they do not have to trek 6 miles to find it. They should plant it right there, so they have wood lots right outside their houses and they can cut in just a matter of 6 weeks. And re-plant and so on and so forth; reducing the time a woman uses for her household chores. Bring water to the community instead of walking so many miles and back. Bring it closer to you then you have more time for yourself and your children. All these things we have put together so that we use the multisectoral approach to empower women rather than taking it step by step. This is what the Movement is doing that has an advantage over others who take just one aspect of empowerment and just go for it. The women see ours as something that is a totality or an embodiment of what they want to be. I think they come to our Movement more than they go to others, and I think we have a program of work that entices everybody. Everybody has an interest in here. Some want education, some want health, some want credit, some want environment and so on and so forth. So we seem to touch on everybody’s if I may say weak point. They look for strength from the Movement so that is how we are able to get so many people in the Movement and these are the objectives that we are working with.

What we saw during these couple of days was mainly agrarian and the Minister of Employment told me today that he hoped that by 2020 30% of the population would be into agriculture. The country is going through a tremendous transformation, tourism, free trade zones, privatisation of companies. How are you keeping up and informed about what is going on in all these places, and getting that down to the grassroots?

Well, we have also involved ourselves, as we did not stick strictly to the agrarian programs and projects. Apart from the agrarian sector, we have people who are into manufacturing little products or producing cloth or kente and also exporting them. We are teaching them how to export, how to link up with exporters directly and moneys come to them. To I was inspecting a cheque that the Northern Region branch of the Movement had received in respect of a tree planting lot which was part of a World Bank sponsored project. It was a cheque for 67million and I asked them “how much are you going to give us?’ and they said “you take what you want” and I said “no, you look at your needs first and take out what you need”. This is what we are getting them to do, to stand on their own two feet. It was a labour intensive road project. We fed the workers and planted trees and we got paid. And that is how they made the money. Now I do not think this is agrarian at all. They have moved from the agrarian sector and are using a lot of ingenuity to look at how they can make money and make themselves useful as they develop the community.

How do you keep in touch with for example the Export Council or with the Tourist Board, so that you are on top of where they are going?

We organize workshops and we bring in experts to come and brief the women about what is happening in the tourist front. For example, we bring women in to a talk not just on export but say tourism. What do they have in their areas that they can develop towards the tourism sector? A lot of them have come up with programs that if we follow will help the women a lot. However, there are always problems of finance and so on. Some of the areas that we have discovered that are good for tourism are places that women told us about which neither we nor the Ministry of Tourism knew about. They bring information to us and we then hand it over to the sector ministry. So when they want to go and see the place we say ” Go and get in touch with this person in this district or region and they will show you where”. They have been able to compile a very comprehensive program on areas of tourist interest and they have a document for each region. In that respect we also get informed and we know how we can fit into these areas. Some want to go into catering to cater for tourist when they come, so we go to the Ministry of Tourism and find out what it is doing in that district or region to be able to inform the women so that they can take part in what is going on. Now, in the area of free zones, the Movement itself has looked for land there because we want to go into the production, properly bagging the gari that we produce because people come to us to buy the gari and we do not bag it properly. We just put them into sacks and they buy it and go and bag it properly, and label it. And they make the money, not us. So we want to do it properly so we can make some money for the women who make it. Secondly, we are looking at how we can process cocoa at the free zone and we are looking for partners to join up with us. We have already got the land and we have a couple of people who we are negotiating with, because we want to move away from little things so that we can make money and lend in small micro credits to the poorest of the poor. So we are looking at these areas but we do not make a lot of noise about it because it is from the headquarters. In the regions they are smaller, much, much smaller.

Your 2 million members make up just over a fifth of the voting population of Ghana and could therefor be useful politically. Now, there have been calls for you to stop being assessed on political lines and just be considered for your work in securing the welfare of women and children in the Ghanaian society. Which of the two images do you associate yourself with more. The first lady who is a political campaigner or president of the Women’s Movement?

I think the Women’s Movement. But whenever I get the opportunity I will talk for the government. If I really did not believe in the gender sensitivity of the N.D.C. I probably would just keep quiet, but I do and I see the programs that have been put up for women and I see it as enhancing my work, enhancing the women’s position in the country. That is why I just keep going on and on. And I am a member of the party and for example I do not expect Mrs. Clinton to go and stand on a platform and start campaigning for the Republicans. I do not. Whatever she talks about she talks about the policies of the Democratic Party and I do the same. But my emphasis is on what policies are there for us as women to take advantage of? Is there anything else we can get this government to do for us while it is there? This is where my emphasis is directed. But I would prefer to be seen as a woman activist who is very, very political because I am. I think you must be political to want to see a change and an improvement in your country to begin with. Otherwise you might as well be sleeping in your room.

With all these problems facing the country; domestic debt, foreign debt, cocoa and gold price falling, what are your major concerns for the country as we go into the next Millennium? What worries you most? What has to be done?

It is a matter of prioritising because we have a number of issues that need to be addressed very, very seriously. If we look at the economic situation first and try to improve on that area, not only looking at this issue of foreign debt and what have you, but also for the rest of the world to try and see from our point of view, how we are suffering. We continue growing items like cocoa, coffee, tea and bringing out gold that we do not even refine, and somebody says if you do not have a stamp you cannot refine your gold and so on. If people put blockades in our way which mean that we cannot dictate our prices, you will continue having an impoverished third world, if I may put it that way, which in the long run will not be able to satisfy your need for your primary products, anyway. So it is in the interest of developed countries to make sure we also develop. That is the bottom line. So if we are talking about the economics of this country I can only express it deeply by relating it to the prices of our commodities outside the country because we have worked very hard in the last 18years? I do not know. We have really worked hard and have sacrificed a lot. The people of this country have sacrificed a lot. We can see definitely that the country is moving in an upward trend. But the point is that we are not seeing the fruits of our labour as we should. And that is because as we bring out more gold the price of gold is falls even further, as we produce more cocoa and coffee the prices fall even further. And yet we are blocked from bringing finished products into develloped countries. There is a blockade, especially in the United States. You cannot get much in there.

That might change

I hope so. But I do not see it in the very near future because there are all sorts of impediments. I can give you one example: somebody who wanted to export peanuts. So they bought some from Africa, from Central and Southern America and he told me he was not allowed to sell them in the US because they said, “we already grow our peanuts”. We also produce certain things and yet open our doors to you. So if we are opening ours, why are you closing yours? So how did he get the peanuts in? He got the Venezuelans to say, “If you do not let the peanuts in we will stop buying cars from you” and as everything there is from the US the peanuts were allowed in. But they only took 40%, which for the moment they say is okay. So it is like blackmail; a little of this here and a little of that there. If you do not have that leverage it means you are not going to sell anything. So with globalisation, either we are going to be the poorer or I do not know how it is going to work.

Do you not have faith in the African Growth Opportunities Act that is going to be passed in the United States.

I also have hope in that and I am hoping that Congress will pass it because we will have at least our little toes in there. Not the foot, just the little toe. And once you have the little toe in the doorway maybe you can push the door to get your foot in there and maybe you will have a little space in there. We are hoping.

You are good friends with Mrs. Hillary Clinton I believe?

Yes.

Do you have the same political aspirations as she does?

In what way? What does she want to do?

She wants to run for the U.S. Senate.

Really? I did not know that. That is a brilliant idea.

So are you thinking of running and when?

No, I am not thinking of running. If I am going to run at all, IF, it definitely is not going to be now. Because I do not think that is what I want to do. I want to get the women really empowered in a way that nobody can turn the clock back. That is what I want to do.

Can you not do that better if you are in the leadership of the nation?

It is not going to be easy because you are looking at the whole country. Well, it might be easier, I do not know. I have to look at it. I have not weighed it. But I think that it is not what I want to do at the moment. I have not given it much thought either because I always thought of getting on with my work. I haven’t really given it deep thought but I do not think that is what I am going to do, yet.

In the year 2004, maybe?

You know situations can sometimes change your mind about things, because you say 2004 but maybe in 2002 I will find something so exciting that I will not want anything to do with leadership position. I would want to restrict myself to the women and that is what is occupying my mind now. Since I cannot read into the future I do not want to make predictions because it is not something that I am thinking about yet. It is not something I have planned for.

Do you not discuss this with your husband?

Not really. We have sort of discussed what to do after the year 2000. And I have told him I am going to continue with my Movement, I am not going to stop and he said he does not expect me to stop because I have to continue empowering the women. But it is not the kind of discussion like strategising. Just how we can get our lives going and so on.

I really will not take any more of your time, but just conclude this thought, what does he want to do after the year 2000?

Lots of things. He wants to be able to help build his party well. He wants to be able to help bring peace to the sub-region and the continent of Africa. He understands the problems that spark the little conflicts, whether it is ethnicity or in the area of development.

Women of Ghana challenge trend towards modern rice varieties

News Ghana
-
0

Source: G. Kranjac-Berisavljevic

Many communities in northern Ghana are strongly patrilineal by tradition.

Equipment for parboiling oflocal rice in Northern Ghana.

Only men can own land or dictate farming practices for the family. But in certain areas of northern Ghana, it is women who are ensuring the survival of one of the most important crops grown in the country: rice. The women have continued to cultivate traditional varieties of African rice in the face of increased reliance on improved varieties by the men of their communities.

African rice has high gluten content, a nutty taste, and is so filling when cooked that it is often regarded as an important component of meals. Local varieties of African rice are also highly resistant to drought and crop diseases. But in many communities, the men often choose to “modernize” by planting improved strains of Asian rice that, while they might be higher yielding and produce greater economic returns, lack the cultural significance and possibly the nutritional content of traditional varieties. The improved varieties are not parboiled before milling and many researchers believe that parboiled rice retains more protein, vitamins, and minerals and is more nutritious than raw milled rice.

The farmers of Gore, in the Bawku District of the Upper East Region of Ghana, are representative of the trend towards new varieties. In Gore, where land belongs to male farmers, only small plots are given to women; these tend to be water logged or infertile. Nevertheless, more women cultivate rice than men, and their fields tend to be better managed than those of the male farmers. According to surveys conducted by the University for Development Studies, Tamale in Ghana and the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute in 2001-2002, women could also describe the characteristics of many more rice varieties than their male counterparts.

Women farmers consider traditional rice varieties to be superior to modern varieties in several ways. Traditional rice requires only a short cooking time, suitable for the preparation of dishes such as waakye (cooked rice and beans) and rice balls. Traditional varieties perform well without expensive inputs such as the fertilizers and pesticides applied to most of the types introduced in Ghana over the past 30 or more years. They can also be cultivated in the adverse conditions of drought or floods.

Traditional rice varieties are economically important, most noticeably for parboiling. Parboiled rice is cooked briefly in boiling water and then submerged in ice-cold water to stop the cooking. Parboiled rice from the region commands a high price on the market due to its cooking quality. Thousands of women in northern Ghana increase their income by participating in the parboiled rice industry.

The women farmers of Gore name each rice variety they cultivate. Some varieties are named for the farmers who first introduced them to the community: Mariama, Peter and Mr. Moore. Agona is a variety originating from the town with the same name in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Other varieties are named for the size and shape of their grain. For instance, Agongula means “short grain of rice” in the local Kusal language, and Mui-sablic refers to the black colour of the husk. One variety’s name means “help me buy a dress” in the local language.

Each year, farmers plant their fields from seed reserved from the previous harvest. Some buy seed at the market or exchange with other villages from as far away as Burkina Faso and Togo. Others exchange seed locally with relatives, colleagues and friends. Women who mill small quantities of rice at the local mill often exchange seeds to try a new variety. Farmers also keep small quantities of seed in store after planting to avoid total loss of the material.

The women of Gore have made a conscious choice to maintain their traditional agricultural system. To us, their decision is a boon for biodiversity conservation; to them, it is just a logical continuation of a system that has worked for many years.

This story arose from work supported by a UNEP-GEF grant concerned with identifying the traditional practices that support the conservation of landraces in arid and semi-arid ecosystems in Africa. The aim of the project is to determine how national agricultural policies can better support traditional farming systems.

By G. Kranjac-Berisavljevic, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana and P.B. Tanzubil, Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, Bawku, Manga, Ghana

Accountability office says it can bite

News Ghana
-
0

To allay the fear and negative perceptions against the much talked-about Office of Accountability, Professor Kwabena Konadu Oduro, its chairman, has indicated his preparedness to probe into allegations of corruption leveled against every public official, including President Kufuor, provided they are relevant. According to him, he is more than prepared to wade into any such allegations leveled against the president provided there is basis on which the office could rely to institute the investigations, and the one making the allegations also willing to assist in the process with the needed facts.


This, he said, should send a clear signal to each and every Ghanaian that its operations cut across all sectors of the public service with the seat of government not left out.

By this, he noted that every Ghanaian would obviously come to the understanding that even the Chief Executive of this country is not above the provisions of the law, as some sections of the public tend to believe.

He averred that the office would therefore not hesitate to institute investigations into allegations of corruption or its related cases leveled against the president, stressing that the office would not allow itself to be subjected to any manipulation from any quarters.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra, he stressed that his outfit is ready to investigate any such allegations leveled against any other public servant whose actions and inaction is brought to its attention.

To discharge this daunting task, he indicated that the accountability office does not need hard evidence from individuals and corporate bodies that make the allegations, but rather, a credible and reliable lead, which would enable them wade into the investigations.

Prof. Oduro noted that in as much as the president and all other public office holders have vowed to uphold the constitution of the republic, he is rest assured that they are prepared to be submissive to its tenets.

He noted that by submitting themselves to the law, for investigations to be conducted, public servants who corruption allegations are leveled against would have a fair and even opportunity to clear their names and credibility.

According to him, every public servant whose actions and inactions are brought to the notice of his office, would be subjected to a vigorous investigation to unearth the truth or otherwise of it in order not to create a negative impression in the minds of Ghanaians, some of whom have already expressed doubts about its ability to probe into and investigate allegations against public officials, especially those in government.

He said though he appreciates the concerns being raised about the ability of his office to wade into allegations against highly-placed persons in government, there is an urgent need to discard the notions of people habouring such doubts, since the office is not in existence to please any official.

Rather, he noted that it is in existence to ensure that public officials, especially those in government, do not by virtue of their positions, abuse the powers vested in them to indulge in corrupt practices at the expense of the ordinary taxpayer.

Sounding a note of caution to public officials who abuse their positions for personal gains, Prof. Oduro intimated that there is no room to accommodate them under the tenets of the much-talked about zero tolerance for corruption as promised by the president.

That notwithstanding, he indicated that the office would bear all the cost of any enquiry into allegations it is given.

He however noted that such information must be relevant with the individual informant willing to help establish the truth with the needed facts.

He also reiterated that the office does not encourage mischief making or witch-hunting, since it (accountability office) is out to discharge its duties efficiently.

Source:?Chronicle

 

 

Filth Dents Image Of Nation – Kufuor

GNA
-
0

Accra, Dec. 19, GNA – President John Agyekum Kufour on Monday took Metropolitan,?Municipal and District Chief Executives to task on the poor state of sanitation in the cities and municipalities saying the unsanitary conditions in the cities were a health threat, dented the image of the nation and indictment on the District Assemblies.
poor state of sanitation
“Sanitation has become a topical issue that we can hardly ignore. Our cities and municipalities in particular have become engulfed in filth as evidenced by the increasing heaps of rubbish that we encounter by our roads and our residential areas,” he said.

“To say the least, this is an indictment on the Assemblies which you as Chief Executives are managing,” he said in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing at the opening of the 12th Annual Conference of Chief Executives of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies underway at the Institute of Local Government Studies, near Accra.

The two-day conference on the theme: “Responsive Local Government for Poverty Reduction and Wealth Creation – The Way Forward,” is to take stock of the activities of the assemblies during the past year and to chart the path for the New Year.

The Conference is examining issues relating to district revenue mobilisation, alternatives to financing sanitation and waste management, NEPAD, school-feeding?programme, tourism and?modernisation?of the capital city.

Other issue being examined are the District Development Planning Guidelines 2006-2010, enhancing district statistical capacity, the 2006 District Level Elections, and sharing experiences on the implementation of the Procurement Act.

President Kufour said the problem of sanitation should be considered as a dual responsibility of both the local authorities and citizens to behave responsibly in waste disposal and removal, maintenance of efficient sanitation, and also engage in sanitary practices.

President Kufour observed that so far more attention had been placed on the inability of the district assemblies to contain the waste, without not often considering the problems of the enormity of cost and the difficulty of finding appropriate methods and locations for disposal.

The citizens’ contribution to the solution of the problem was also not?emphasised, the President noted.

President Kufuor requested the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to consider upgrading the Environmental Sanitation Unit to the status of Directorate of Environmental Health and Sanitation, to spearhead the review of?Environmental Health?Policy?to articulate more clearly the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II targets of the Millennium Development Goals.

The President said it was imperative for Chief Executives to spend some time to reflect on how to strategically address the weakness in the existing systems of revenue mobilisation, adding that the over-reliance on Central Government sources to finance development was not a healthy sign.

“Indeed, poverty reduction would be greatly accelerated if our District Assemblies could satisfactorily implement the resources provided by HIPC relief and the District Assemblies’ Common Fund.” President Kufuor expressed appreciation to the efforts of the Chief Executives tofamiliarise?themselves with the Medium Term Planning Guidelines in the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II, for the period 2006-2009, which reflected the priorities of private sector competitiveness, human resource development, good governance and social responsibility.

The President said it was imperative for District Assemblies to interpret the guidelines within the context of their local priorities and make them meaningful to their people.

He asked the Chief Executives to give the issue of adequate statistical capacity attention by collaborating with the?Ghana Statistical Service?in its efforts to?decentralise?its activities. President Kufuor noted that Local Government was the bedrock of local democracy, and a training ground for the exercise of civic responsibility.

He asked the Chief Executives to assist in creating an enabling and peaceful environment by assisting the National Electoral Commission and the National Commission on Civic Education in creating awareness for the conduct of next year’s District Level Elections.

The President said the?vote is about electing persons to work with Chief Executives to facilitate development, and people should have an enabling environment to feel encouraged and safe to offer themselves for public service.

Local Government and Rural Development?Minister, Mr. Charles?Bintim, re-echoed the sanitation situation, and asked the Chief Executives to declare the first half of 2006 as filth free.?He said low revenue mobilisation partly accounted for the sanitation problem and asked the Chief Executives?to intensify their efforts to increase revenue mobilisation?from the present 14 per cent to 50 per cent.

Mr?Bintim?said it was a wrong notion that the District Assemblies were corrupt institutions, and asked the Chief Executives to work hard to win the trust of the people and ensure that they had Members of Parliament on their tender board committees.

Nana Boakye Danquah, Chairman of the Local Government Council,?reminded the Chief Executives to be cautious of their activities since the messages they sent were a reflection of government. He said?any development they undertook must be qualitative to satisfy the masses’ demand for value for money. 19 Dec. 05

U.S. Rules Block Katrina Food Aid

News Ghana
-
0
By Ceci Connolly

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005 

In the early days of September, as military helicopters plucked desperate New Orleanians from rooftops and Red Cross shelters swelled with the displaced, nearly 400,000 packaged meals landed on a tarmac at Little Rock Air Force Base and were whisked by tractor-trailer to Louisiana.

But most of the $5.3 million worth of food never reached the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Instead, because of fears about mad cow disease and a long-standing ban on British beef, the rations routinely consumed by British soldiers have sat stacked in a warehouse in Arkansas for more than a month.

Now, with some of the food set to expire in early 2006 and U.S. taxpayers spending $16,000 a month to store the meals, the State Department is quickly and quietly looking for a needy country to take them.

In a disaster recovery effort that has been widely criticized as slow, inefficient and at times wasteful, the long and costly journey of the British rations is a tale of good intentions colliding with a cumbersome bureaucracy.

No fewer than six federal agencies or departments had a role in accepting, distributing and rejecting the food. Even now, there remains a disagreement within the Bush administration over which office shipped the meals to 14 locations in Louisiana and which is responsible for paying the mounting storage fees.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which oversees domestic disasters, “knew from e-mails the stuff was moving out there, but we never had control or said anything about it,” said spokesman Kim Pease. “It was under control of” the U.S. Agency for International Development, he said.

But USAID spokesman Kevin Sheridan said his agency simply provided logistic support, helping deliver to the Gulf Coast region foreign donations that were acquired by the State Department.

A spokesman for the British Embassy, citing diplomatic protocol in requesting anonymity, said he was puzzled by the turn of events.

“There was a specific request for emergency ration packs, and we responded to that,” he said. “We had no reason to believe there would be a problem.”

What is clear is that by late on Sept. 8, inspectors from the Agriculture Department halted the distribution because the packaged meals violated import laws that “no beef or poultry of any kind is accepted from Great Britain,” spokeswoman Terri Teuber said.

Since 1997, the United States has banned beef products from Britain and several other European countries that have been affected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease. A degenerative disease of the central nervous system, BSE is fatal in cattle and can lead to a similar illness in humans called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

“There was a careful review of the law to determine whether there was some flexibility, and at this point that has not been the case,” Teuber said.

At the same time, it appeared the urgent need for food had subsided as evacuees reached shelters and other locations with electricity and supplies, she said. “There is no question that different consideration would have been given to the situation if people were going hungry,” Teuber added.

The journey began early on Sept. 5, as the first packs, stacked six feet high and loaded onto pallets, left Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire, England. Aboard chartered aircraft, they were flown 4,400 miles to Arkansas at a cost of $4.7 million, according to the British Embassy.

A wire service photographer documented the arrival that same day, one week after Katrina blew through the Gulf Coast, said Lt. Jon Quinlan, a base spokesman.

In a conference call Sept. 6, USDA officials learned that “food donations may be coming that needed inspection,” Teuber said. But confirmation didn’t reach them until Sept. 8, three days after the first shipment touched down.

As the rations rode 355 more miles to New Orleans, USDA inspectors hit the road — literally chasing the delivery trucks to shelters, the city’s downtown convention center and other locations where evacuees were found.

Severe flooding prevented inspectors from reaching four sites, and by the time they arrived at the 10 others, about 115,000 meal packs had been distributed. Some were vegetarian, satisfying the Food and Drug Administration, which has jurisdiction over nonmeat imports, spokeswoman Kimberly Rawlings said.

The others, with meat in them, should not have been handed out, Teuber said.

“We didn’t want to distribute food that’s not approved on a daily basis for American consumption to those impacted by the hurricanes,” she said.

The inspectors turned the trucks around for the return trip to Arkansas, where the meals remain.

State Department officials have considered sending the food to Guatemala, which was devastated by mudslides. But the impoverished country does not have vehicles to transport the enormous pallets. For cultural reasons, the meals would be inappropriate for Pakistani earthquake victims.

“Everyone wants a happy ending,” said a senior State Department official who requested anonymity, given the already bruised feelings in Britain. “No one wants them to go to waste. Everyone wants them to be put to good use.”

 

??2005?The Washington Post Company

ExpoGhana Exposure: Revelations Galore

ghanaian-chronicle.com
-
0

.. Owusu Afriyie is president of dodgy Millennium Africa Fund, accused of defaulting Exim Bank with implications for Ghana Accra, Sept. 6 (Chronicle) — WHISTLEBLOWER Mr. Paul Nimako has repeated his charge against Mr. Kwame Owusu Afriyie(pictured) and demanded investigation into his activities and possible prosecution.

Nimako, who used to be the president of a US-based company, Rainbow Foods International Corporation, undaunted by his shocking incarceration, reminiscent of the NDC era’s Republic v Tommy Thompson and 3 others case, insists on his allegations against Owusu Afriyie, who is the chairman of Allied Savings and Loans in Kumasi.

Mr. Owusu Afriyie, who is the Managing Director of Goldlink Travel and Tours also, is at the receiving end of the whistleblower’s spirited charges of using national resources to organize ‘Expos’ in both the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which have not posted any tangible returns to the country. One of these resources is a service passport, which Afriyie admits he has procured.

Incidentally, Mr. Owusu Afriyie is involved in another enterprise, Millennium Africa Fund, which has been scoffed at by Ghanaians in the US as a dodgy enterprise. The Ghana address of the MAF is listed as P.O. Box KNUST 663, Kumasi.

Speaking to this reporter inside the James Fort Prison, Nimako said he would follow the case to its logical conclusion, no matter the cost.

In follow-up telephone cross verifications, siblings of Nimako in US confirmed that they were aware that Owusu Afriyie was indebted to Nimako and wondered what kind of justice was operating in Ghana where a victim of fraud rather ended up in jail while the real offender walked. This, they contended was effectively gagging Nimako.

At the Dansoman police station, policemen who were interviewed by this reporter could not show any evidence of threats, which formed the basis of the prosecution and subsequent confinement by Mrs. Aikins of the Magistrate Court at Mantse Agbonaa.

The police had told this reporter that they were investigating a case of threat against Nimako, made by Owusu Afriyie and that Nimako had duly reported to the police station and leveled accusations against Afriyie.

Mr. Afriyie denied the accusation that his deliberate default in paying the sum of over $1 million facility from Exim Bank, had jeopardized the American credit bank’s relations with Ghana.

?Nimako knows that I have money and so he wants to siphon some money out of me, that is why he is doing all this,? was his reaction to the accusation.

In earlier petitions to the President, Nimako gave a carefully worded chronology of events leading to a long list of debts incurred by Owusu Afriyie and his ‘business cronies’ including sums in excess of $1.5 million to American Insurance giant CAN Insurance Company (USA) and a US credit guarantee bank, Exim-import bank.

Documents made available to The Chronicle show that the Afriyie-owned company, Goldlink Travel and Tours Ltd of Accra, borrowed $1,155,044 from the bank through an application made through All First Banks in Baltimore and guaranteed by the same Kwame Owusu Afriyie of Kumasi, Ghana. The loan was used for the purchase of buses. Exim Bank officials in Washington would not comment on the status of the loan when reached by phone nor confirm whether the loan that was granted some five years ago had been retired or not.

Nimako explained in his deposition that he had an agency agreement with Afriyie in which he brought twenty Ghanaian businesses for trade financing opportunity, using his connection in the US, built over the years.

‘They were also to submit to be qualified for a 100 percent international trade financing and revolving line of credit ranging from $50,000 to $300,000.00 each.’ The qualified exporters would use the facility to import any lawful goods of their choice with all expenses paid by Rainbow Foods (Nimako’s company).

Mr. Nimako claimed that after shipping goods ordered by the agents who were sent to Ghana, he requested shipping documents. ‘On payment due date, Mr. Kwame Owusu Afriyie and Daniel Kofi Duku were contacted. They never sent the payment after several demand notices.’ Mr. Nimako said at the time he came to Ghana, investigations established that the goods were never shipped, hence never in Ghana at any bonded warehouse as was ‘fraudulently represented by my agents, the suppliers and the importers.’

‘They charged my company a fee of $50,000 for agency, with $25,000 up-front (which I paid) and the balance to be paid after full payment had been received from their clients,? Nimako charged.

On his part, Nimako noted that he had triggered a first shipment valued at about $3 million to the various importers, including a shipload of sugar, with all documents routed through his agents, Owusu Afriyie and Duku.

Afriyie, who was initially responding to the allegations, later paused and called for the help of Mr. Paul Adom Otchere, a media practitioner of Citi FM morning show and Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana fame, who admitted that he was the Public Relations officer of Owusu Afriyie.

Mr. Adom-Otchere helped him deny all the allegations, claiming they were being made by a frustrated and destitute person, who had sworn heaven and earth to puncture the credibility of the Expo and Owusu Afriyie.

In the presence of Mr. Otchere, he noted that Nimako was only peeved after several attempts to extort $200,000 from him had backfired.

According to him, he had lodged a formal complaint with the police CID for Nimako’s arrest since he had called and threatened him.

Meanwhile, though Owusu Afriyie has admitted being invited by Dr. Kwame Amoako Tuffuor to the president’s office with regard to the same allegations, following a copy of the petition sent to the Presidents’ office, when reached for confirmation, he did not confirm or deny whether the petition had been received by the president though Nimako insisted that he did send the petition across.

Election Dates And Electoral Reform

News Ghana
-
0

Almost a year ago, Justice Aninakwa, a Tamale high court justice, declared the election of Mr. Samuel Nyimakan, NDC MP for the Wulensi Constituency, null and void. The declaration was in response to a petition, filed by Mr. Fuseini Zakaria, claiming that Nyimakan was not qualified to be elected an MP for Wulensi Constituency, since he was not resident in or hailed from the constituency, nor had he lived there for a total of five years in the 10 years immediately preceding the December 7, 2000 elections. In other words, the petitioner contended and the court agreed that Nimakan had failed to comply with article 94 (1.b) of the constitution.

As expected and immediately following this ruling, Nimakan asked the Court of Appeal for an order to set aside the entire judgement of the High Court and enter judgement in his favour. Mr. Nimakan contended that the High Court ruling was against the weight of evidence adduced, and that the decision by the trial judge that he does not hail from Kumboni in the Wulensi Constituency is not supported by any evidence.

To the best of my knowledge the appeal is still pending. In the mean time, Mr. Nimakan continues to serve as the MP. If the appeal court should uphold the trial court decision, irreparable damage would have been done to the people of Wulensi, our parliament and our whole system of government. Even if the appeal court sets aside the ruling of the high court, the continued uncertainty surrounding the Wulensi seat has done significant damage to all the parties and to our democracy. Why, one must ask, have the courts failed to act in a timely manner in a matter where timing is of the essence? The right to be an MP has a 4-year useful life and the courts have an important duty to ensure that every day of that useful life accrues only to the rightful occupant.

Alas, such an untenable state of affairs, driven by a judiciary system that appears oblivious of the adage “justice delayed is justice denied,” is hardly new. In 1997, George Amoo of the NPP won a court decision that, in essence, declared him the winner of the Ayawaso East parliamentary seat. In spite of the trial court decision, the case got stuck in the appellate process and was never resolved for Amoo to take his rightful place in parliament. The slow, nay impotent, judicial process enabled and ensured that the wrong person served as the MP for Ayawaso East for the full term and thus permanently tainted the second parliament of the fourth republic. At best, this is a stunning indictment of the courts that exist, as an arm of government, to protect the rights and institutions of our democracy!

Of course, it may well be that the courts have a “good” reason for these delays but that still begs the question of why we are yet to have a parliamentary hearing to understand the reasons for these costly delays and how the nation could avoid their recurrence. It is also not clear why the media fails to sustain interest in these matters that are of national importance. In preparing this article, I searched the archives of the leading newspapers on the internet, but was largely unsuccessful in finding any follow-up story on the Nimakan case. This is rather curious.

A few days to the 2000 elections, the electoral commissioner (EC) found himself scrambling to change the dates of the elections apparently because ‘Sheikh JJR’ did not like the idea that the originally scheduled date fell on one of his opponent’s birthday. Considerable debate also ensued on the propriety of holding the elections on a Muslim holiday. Finally, we witnessed the unacceptable and short transitional period between the 2000 presidential runoff and the presidential inauguration. We are yet to fully fathom the consequences of such a short transition.

Rather than wait for 2004 to confront the same issues, I call on the EC and parliament to proactively address these and similar issues in a manner that will allow for better future outcomes. In my opinion, all these problems can be addressed by having a fixed election schedule that delineates the election dates, contest periods, inauguration dates, etc.

I propose the following dates and schedule as a starting point for a national debate:

First Saturday in November: General Elections.

Tuesday 5PM after General Elections: All results and winners are declared.

Next Tuesday 5PM: Deadline for filing all contests (e.g., counting issues).

Second Tuesday in December: Deadline for courts to settle all disputes including appeals.

First Saturday in December: Presidential and other runoffs if needed.

First Saturday in January: Inauguration.

A similar schedule should also be provided by the EC setting forth dates for filing nominations as well as contests of the same. These dates, of course, will precede the general elections but will have a significant window for the electoral commissioner and the courts to resolves any issues bordering on eligibility of candidates.

One can see that if this proposal is adopted only the “Amoo” type cases will arise during the election contest period while the “Nimakan” type cases will be adjudicated before the elections. This will preclude the situation where voters elect a candidate only for their decision to be set aside by the courts on grounds that the elected candidate was not eligible to contest. The wishes of the people, as expressed by their votes, should be respected and set aside rather sparingly. In any event, such a schedule will significantly reduce the probability of the wrong persons serving as our elected representatives with the concomitant cost of tainting our democratic institutions.

Another observation about the schedule is its tightness. The EC is given 3 days to declare all results. This implies that the EC must plan and coordinate his activities with this constraint in mind. Then, prior to the elections, he must present to parliament or other donors a budget that will allow him to organize the elections and declare the results within the statutory defined period. Excuses will not suffice and failure to meet the constraints should come with significant consequences, including replacing him with others who are better able to meet the deadlines. Similarly, under this schedule, the courts are not only empowered to adjudicate electoral disputes but are also asked to do so in a timely manner. The judicial service must plan for and emplace the logistics to meet these deadlines or be held accountable.

The final observation about the schedule is the call for the general elections in the first week in November. The rational for this will be to allow sufficient time to organize any runoffs and still have a decent window for a transition. Our constitution calls for a runoff whenever none of the presidential candidates gets a majority of the votes cast. The likelihood of such an outcome is reasonably possible and we must plan for this contingency in our election schedule. Having presidential elections on 12/28 and an inaugural on the following 1/6 is no way to run a country. In passing, let me note my preference for winning by a plurality as opposed to a majority. But that is a different matter for another day.

We tend to wait for the rains before we eat but we surely do not have to wait for 2004 before we can address these simple issues. Whatever we do or do not do we must never repeat the “Amoo” case, which has now become moot!

Source: ?Asare, Kwaku S.

Laxity, complacency responsible for recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Rwanda – health minister

Xinhua
-
0
Laxity, complacency responsible for recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Rwanda – health minister

Laxity and complacency on observing COVID-19 preventive measures are reasons for the recent spike of infections in the country, Rwandan Minister of Health Daniel Ngamije said on Thursday.

Health directives must be strictly implemented or else more people will be infected, Ngamije warned citizens during a news program on national broadcaster Rwanda Television.

He emphasized that physical social distancing, frequent hands washing with soap or alcohol-based sanitizers, wearing face masks and limited movements are mandatory, adding that there is no compromise of the authorities in this regard.

“Within the next 30 days, if we don’t become strict in implementing these measures, we are at risk of losing about 25 people to COVID-19 in our country,” said Ngamije, adding that presently seven COVID-19 patients are critically ill.

Anastase Shyaka, Minister of Local Government, said in the same news program that strict action will be taken against those who show negligence on the preventive measures, which would lead to severe penalties including the closure of non-compliant businesses.

As of Wednesday, the central African nation reported 3,625 cases in total, with 1,810 recoveries and 15 deaths.

The ministers’ comments came after the Rwandan government tightened preventive measures against the COVID-19 on Wednesday, following an “unprecedented increase” of COVID-19 cases, related deaths and community transmission, particularly in the capital city Kigali.

According to a cabinet communique, the curfew hours is extended from previous 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. to current 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., and public transport between Kigali and the rest of the country is prohibited.

The cabinet also ordered public offices to keep not exceeding 30 percent of staff while private businesses to operate with not exceeding 50 percent of staff.

Malls and markets in Kigali were asked to operate at 50 percent of capacity with vendors working on a rotational basis.

The measures will be reviewed after 15 days upon a health assessment.

1...49,51849,51949,520Page 49,520 of 49,520