BISSAU, Guinea Bissau, January 26, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Paulo Drummond visited Guinea-Bissau during January 18-24, 2012. The mission met with Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, Minister of Finance José Mario Vaz, Minister of Economy Helena Embaló, as well as development partners. At the conclusion of the visit, the mission issued the following statement.
“The mission welcomes the authorities’ renewed commitment to the economic program supported by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement. The mission is also encouraged by the prospects of r support to the government by the international community. The country is now preparing for presidential and legislative elections this year. Economic stability and development will hinge on a peaceful transition in the period ahead.
“Economic performance has been satisfactory. Preliminary data through December 2011 suggests the government’s economic program is on track. Economic reforms have continued to advance in the areas of public financial management, tax administration, and debt management. The full unification of the government payroll system is now expected to be completed in the coming months, rounding up a long process of reform that should serve the country well.
“The IMF will continue to play its role as a partner of Guinea-Bissau. Decisive implementation of the ECF-supported program will put public finances on a stronger footing, can help catalyze much-needed budget support, and should pave the way for sustainable growth. A mission will return to Bissau in the Spring to assess the economic situation and conduct the fourth review under the ECF.”
Leaders: Some don’t have ‘em By Uche Atuma Thursday, January 26, 2012
It is a well-known fact that government, and indeed governance exists to serve the general mass of those associated under it – at least that is the picture in most sane societies. Little wonder why Thomas Jefferson asserted that “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Succint, but quite instructive. Government come in different forms.
But, it has been proven the world over that the best means of governing a people is by creating a pedestal which anchors the institution and tenets of governance on the sacrosanctity of the will of the governed. This is democracy! And it is the practice in most civilised nations. Fortunately for us as a people, this is what we have also elected to adopt as a style of governance.
Albeit, ours has been anything but rosy. And we have been sailing in this rickety ship in our turbulent waters – somewhat – since our democratic adventure commenced some twelve years ago. Unfortunately, however, what we have here, willy-nilly – with the benefit hindsight – has fallen short of what obtains in organised societies. Peradventure, ours is far from ‘participatory democracy’ The tenets of participatory democracy presupposes that governance is balanced on a scale of leadership and, by implication, followership.
Even a cursory analysis of the term leadership purveys an apparently resplendent revelation of the fact that it is neither dictatorial nor hegemonic. Infact, its outpouring should elicit humility, with an appreciable measure of docility to its followership. With every sense of responsibility, it is pertinent to postulate that this has been alien to us here. Prior to this time – the last couple of days that is – the country had been grappling with myriads of socio-economic, nay political maladies, chief of which has been the security threats posed by a diminutive group of ‘faceless’ religious sect – Boko Haram.
Alas! Then came the ‘killer-punch’ to send an already staggering populace to the canvas; the subsidy on premium motor spirit (pms) or fuel was removed on the first day of the new year. With the announcement and immediate implementation of this quasi insidious policy came its attendant outcry, which, consequently heralded all manner of debates, postulations, calculations and what have you. The resultant upheavals and protests were somewhat tumultuous, thus over-heating an already tensed polity.
Expectedly, quite a handful of government officials came out strongly in defence of this policy and to advocate its perceived merits and advantages. All sorts of figures and statistics were bandied around by these exponents to wheedle and whip Nigerians into line. Now, having listened and digested most of the debates and sweet speeches for and against the removal of the subsidy on fuel, some deductions easily spring up, chief of which is that a large percentage of Nigerians are not really aversed to the new policy. However, the crux of the matter was the seemingly insensitivity of their ‘leaders’ to their pains hitherto the new arrangement; and government’s inability to carry them along. Rightly so!
The events of the last few days should act as a pointer to those in various positions of authority that Nigerians have woken up to their responsibilities. They no longer wish to be mere docile followers. They now realise that they are stakeholders in this project called Nigeria. They have chosen to be on the qui vive!
OTTAWA, Canada, January 26, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement on recent developments in Egypt:
“Canada welcomes the long-awaited announcement of the release of Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil.
“Statements such as the ones he posted online last year are part of everyday discourse in functioning democracies.
“Social media users like Mr. Nabil played an important role—at great personal risk—in Egypt’s revolution of last year. His release is an encouraging sign as Egypt continues on its path toward democracy.
“Canada continues to support the ongoing democratic transition in Egypt, and urges those writing the country’s new constitution to safeguard the principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law for all Egyptians.”
Widow bemoans husband’s gruesome murder by land speculators …A day after son dreamt about his death By CHIOMA IGBOKWE Thursday, January 26, 2012
The year, 2011, meant different things to different people and families. For Mrs. Martins, it was a year she would not forget in a hurry. It marked the beginning of psychological torture, arising from the gruesome murder of her husband. The mother of six had bidden her husband, Dele Martins, goodbye on June 14, 2011, as he left for the site in Ogijo, Ogun State, where he worked as a bricklayer, unknown to her that she was bidding him a final farewell.
Immediately after Dele and his colleagues started work, some hoodlums invaded the area, wielding dangerous weapons such as cutlasses, broken bottles and guns, shooting sporadically as they ordered all the workers to lie faced down. Not done with the harassment, it was gathered that the hoodlums shot some of the workers at close range. Unfortunately, Dele was one of them. He was shot in the chest. The victim could not make it, as he died before reaching the hospital. Another colleague of his, Oluwa Abbey, who was also shot in the chest, died later.
Meanwhile, back home, Mrs. Martins had prepared meal for her husband, awaiting his arrival only to be informed of his tragic death. The widow, who spoke to Crimewatch lamented: “His death has left me shattered. I have been battling with how to cope with raising our six children alone. Though we were not rich, at least, he was able to put food on our table and paid the children’s school fees. He was a faithful husband and loving father.” “If I had listened to one of our children, perhaps, this would not have befallen us. Our son told me he had a dream, a day before the incident, where some people invaded the site where his father was working. I just prayed, believing it would not happen.”
Cuddling her one-year old son, who was just three months when his father died, the woman moaned: “At least, I would have persuaded him to stay at home that day. Rather, what I got later was the news of his death. But for the assistance from the owner of the site, my children would have died of hunger. My last child was barely three months old when the incident happened. The most annoying part of it is the failure of the authorities concerned to bring my husband’s killers to book. His assailants are walking freely. I am, therefore, calling on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, to use his good offices to bring the killers to book, even though it would not bring back the dead.”
Mrs. Martins is not alone in her grief. At least, the aged mother of the second victim, Abbey, a security man attached to the site, has also cried her heart out, demanding that justice be done. The woman wondered why none of the suspects had been arrested and brought to justice six months after the dastardly act. Crimewatch gathered that the former Ogun State Police Commissioner, Mr. Musa Daura, was petitioned by the Kew Metal Works, which hired the services of the deceased, mentioning some names as alleged perpetrators of the dastardly act. Not satisfied with the outcome of the investigation, the company again petitioned the Inspector General of Police, and alleged that there were attempts by policemen from Zone-2 to compromise the investigation.
Narrating the root cause of what led to the death of the men, the Managing Director of Kew Metal Works, Mr. Gbenga Erogbogbo, recalled how his father bought over one hundred acres of land, part of which was used to site his factory. He disclosed that in 2004, some people started encroaching on the land, as the factory was temporarily closed down. “My father approached the elders, who are referred to as Omonile to stop the encroachment. There was no move to stop the encroachment and we headed for the court, where we got an injunction, restraining anybody from working or building on the land. Unfortunately, in 2008, my father died and the encroachment resumed, with the hope that there was no one to continue the fight.
After our father’s death, the family decided to fence the land but there was resistance, as trespassers and the Omonile came to stop us from carrying on with the fencing,” he disclosed. Not wanting to take laws into his hands, Gbenga said he reported the matter at the Ogun State Criminal Investigation Department, Elewe Eran. It was the Command that advised them to take the matter to court. The court, he further stated, gave them a go-ahead to fence the land, pending when they would be ready to start building on it. However, the matter turned bloody when on June 14, 2011, some hoodlums on motorcycles stormed the site while workers were still reporting for duty.
They forced them to lie down and shot them on the chest at close range. The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) personally rushed the injured persons to the hospital. “One of them (Dele Martins) died before reaching the hospital while the second one, Oluwa Shina Abbey, died minutes after reaching Real Hope Hospital, Ita-oluwo. We identified the principal suspects and the police refused to arrest them. Instead, they have been using policemen from Zone-2 to harass us. One of them even boasted that he had IGP’s support since they were friends.”
When it looked like the IGP’s office was the last resort, Gbenga said they took the matter to Force Headquarters, Abuja, where the IGP’s monitoring unit, investigated and found out that murder was actually committed. It was also discovered that there were plots to cover up the crime.
Arrests were made and the suspects detained till December 22, 2011, when an order came that they be released. This confirmed their initial boast that they can easily have their way. To further confirm our suspicion, one of the suspects called on phone, threatening to deal with us. We do not want the murder to be swept under the carpet or for them to come and continue to intimidate us,” Gbenga said.
Many analysts and critiques in Ghana have questioned the possible criteria and standard used by His Excellency the President of Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills in choosing his gov’t ministers, DCEs and board of directors, resulting to this embarrassing gov’t performance and high turnover of gov’t appointees.
So far, as it can be recalled, 19 Ministers of state including their deputies have been dismissed, and more than 35 High Ranking Appointees including DCEs, MCEs and Directors have also been sacked, with many of them accused of corruption and other serious crimes committed against the people of Ghana which are incompatible with acceptable standards expected of Ministers of state and Gov’t Appointees, but none of these officials has been apprehended, prosecuted or asked to face the law.
Some Senior Analysts have said “It is not enough for the President to only relieve people from their post, especially when they’re fired because of fraudulent acts, corruption allegations or causing a willful lost to the nation”. Others have also questioned the competency and proficiency of the President who made the selections for all these people listed below, just for them to be sacked within this short period (3-yrs). “Have they been fired recklessly or due diligence have been followed, although, the Ghana constitution gives the President ultimate right to hire and fire as he wishes, but at least, common sense should always be the watch word when selecting and firing people.
1. Alhaji Mubarak Muntaka, the Indiscretion Minister for Youth and sport was sacked due to misappropriation of tax payer’s money with his girl friend, chopping chinchinkah and buying Pampas (diapers).
2. Mr. Stephen S. Nanyina, Northern Regional Minister was sack as a result of financial misappropriation.
3. ALBERT ABONGO, Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing was sacked when it was alleged that the 12-member government delegation that signed the STX housing deal on behalf of the country in 2009 were bribed with US$2,600 by the STX Korean company.
4. Dr. George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, Minister of Health was sacked for their alleged involvement in the Mabey and Johnson scandal.
5. Mr. Mahmood Khalid – Upper West Regional Minister was sacked as a result of corruption allegations and some protracted disagreements with the Upper West Regional Executives of the NDC.
6. Mr. Seidu Amadu, Minister of State at the Presidency was sacked for their alleged involvement in the Mabey and Johnson scandal.
7. Mr. Moses Asaga, The Minister-designated for Water Resources, Works and Housing, had his nomination withdrawn even before appearing for vetting following his involvement in the ex-gratia controversy without the consent of the presidency when he was asked to take temporary responsibility of the Ministry of Finance.
8. Kofi Opoku Manu, Ashanti Regional Minister was dismissed as a result of his irresponsible remarks against the NPP, urging the supporters of the ruling party NDC not to hesitate to deliver resounding slaps to their political opponents who taunt them.
9. Cletus Apul Avoka, Minister for Interior and MP for Zebilla was removed after The New Patriotic Party (NPP) called on President J.E.A. Mills to re-assign Mr. Avoka from the Ministry of the Interior and National Security, in the interest of the nation as far Bawku crises was concerned.
10. Abdul Rashid Pelpuo, Minister for Youth and Sports, was unjustifiably fired and was replaced by Akua Sena Dansua.
11. Dr. Kwabena Donkor, former Deputy Energy Minister was sacked due to serious corruption allegation at TOR and the high level incompetency displayed.
12. The Bonking ambassador, Mr. Samuel Kofi Dadey, the Ghana’s Ambassador to Brazil was sacked for bonking his Nigerian secretary, a married woman four-rounds-four-times, according to the lady.
13. Abdul Rashid Pelpuo, former Minister for Youth and Sports, was unjustifiably sacked and replaced by Akua Sena Dansua.
14. Mrs. Zita Okai Quaye – Minister for Information and the Tourism minister was sacked as a result of incompetency, inexperience and chosen to give birth in USA.
15. Mr. Tetteh Enyoh, Minister for Education, was sacked out of incompetency and inability to resolve the strike embarked on by the university lecturers.
16. Gideon Quarcoo, Deputy Minister for Communication, a victim of foot-soldiers’ agitation.
17. Betty Bosomtwe-Sam, Deputy Minister for Western Region, another victim of foot-soldiers’ agitation
18. Mr. Martin Amidu was relieved from his post as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice by Prez JEA Mills due to his behaviour described as incompatible with acceptable standards expected of Ministers and Appointees of President Mills whilst fighting to recover fraudulent money paid to Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
19. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, The former Attorney-General and Minister for Education, sacked from government over her handling of the payment of over GH¢58 million to the businessman and financier of the ruling party, Alfred Woyome, whilst she was the Attorney General.
Other High Ranking Appointees Sacked within three years.
1. The almighty Carl-Wilson, former chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles and Assets Committee (CVAC), was sacked for corruption, impunity and stealing cars at Tema Port / Harbour, cars belonging to innocent Ghanaian.
2. Dr. Ampofo, Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) boss was sacked for incompetency and corruption.
3. In Dec 2011, Anthony Gyampo, Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) fired. Reason unknown till date.
4. Dr sekou Nkrumah – National Youth coordinator was sacked as a result of his level of incompetence and non-performance found to be serious, and moreover, as he was quoted in Africawatch Magazine to have said that “President Mills lacks Vision, charisma, dynamism, strong-mind and clear direction for the country.
5. In December 2011, Prez Mills Dissolved Electricity Company Ghana (ECG) Board, appointed new board. Reason unknown till date.
6. Nee Agiri Barnor, Acting Director of the Information Services Department (ISD), was sacked following (¢1.69billion) GH¢169,000.00 hampers’ scandal involving Presidential Aide Stanlislav Xoese Dogbe.
7. Ms. Elizabeth Adjei – Director of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the first woman to head the Internal Security Organisation was mysteriously sacked, reason unknown till now.
8. Afrifa Yamoah Ponko, Ashanti Regional Manager of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was asked to “proceed on a very long leave” for allegedly involved in an office sex (bonking office girls) scandal.
9. In January 2011, President John Mills dismissed 13 – DCE/MCEs in a day across the country. The M/DCEs were in the Ashanti, Central, Eastern and Brong Ahafo regions. Eastern Region tops the list with five dismissals. The Reasons for the dismissal still unknown.
10. In March 2011, Prez John Atta Mills dismissed five Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs). The casualties included the MCE of the Secondi/Takoradi, Mr. Kobina Pra Annan and the MCE of the Hohoe Municipal Assembly, Mr. Victor Herman Condobrey. The others were Mr. Joseph Jone Amoah – Ahanta West District Assembly, Mr. Moses Kofi Armah – Bibiani/Anhwiaso/Bekwai District Assembly and Mr. Victor Nyianyi Kablan of the Jomoro District Assembly.
Fellow Ghanaians; it is evidently clear that Prez Mills has not been fit for any purpose to be given a second chance as a president of Ghana. The NDC gov’t has really disappointed the people of Ghana and we all need to continue scrutinizing and interrogate penetratingly, every single promise by Prez Mills, before and now, and his recent utterances on Woyomegate saga, his lack of alacrity to fight corruption and the huge loans contracted with no national interventional program introduced, just to help you make the right choice on December 7th general elections.
Corporate governance involves established internal control systems for identifying, managing and monitoring risk. Corporate governance is a system by which companies are directed and controlled. Corporate governance can also mean a set of arrangements in place to make a company accountable to its stakeholders. In the current dispensation, good corporate governance is not only a statutory requirement but a necessity to attract investors. It needs to be in place to assure investors that potential risks facing the company are under control. Departments like internal audit control are located in the company to check compliance with internal standards and standards set by regulatory bodies. I believe most listed companies have these units but how autonomous is that function? Who do they report to? What happens to their findings? Are there personnel in this function with the requisite skills to detect such fraudulent activities? This article seeks to discuss the history and the need for corporate governance and its contribution to a sound financial performance. This article would make reference to certain listed companies on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
Corporate governance cannot be talked of without mentioning the relationship between Directors, Management, Company Secretary, Auditors, Shareholders and other stakeholders. The Enron scandal in the late 2000s is a clear example of how financial irregularities perpetrated by key management personnel have brought the issue of corporate governance into the global business frontier. Fraud by the directors of many UK companies in the early 1980s as well as the late 2000s in the US caused many companies to collapse and rendered many people unemployed. Fraud of this technical nature by directors causes people to lose confidence in financial reporting and auditing. This subsequently has an adverse effect on investment. The popular credit crunch was caused by some of these fraudulent activities that are difficult to detect by even the regulatory bodies of these advanced markets.
The issue of corporate governance has received serious attention because of the big corporate scandals involving the abuse of power by directors or even criminal allegations by corporate officers. The need to strengthen corporate governance has now become a fundamental requirement for growth if foreign or local investment needs to go up. This is because, research has proved that sound corporate governance promotes economic development. The UK government as well as the US government has come up with the Combine Code and the Sarbanes-Oxley Acts of 2002 that apply to companies that list on their respective stock exchanges. These governance codes did not just come in a vacuum -it came as a result of combined efforts of both the market regulators and the professional accounting bodies. In the case of the UK, the Financial Reporting Council, the London Stock Exchange and the accountancy profession set up a committee known as the Cadbury Committee whose main aim was to raise the standard of corporate governance and the level of confidence in reporting and auditing. So much emphasis is placed on financial reporting because most of the corporate scandals are financial in nature and auditors who have the capacity to detect them also get corrupted by the perpetrators of such crimes.
Auditors have the responsibility of ensuring that account prepared by a company gives a true and fair view of the company’s financial position. Shareholders do not have access to the books of accounts as auditors do. The onus now lies on them to ensure that they act in the best interest of the shareholders that appoint them by continuously holding integrity in high esteem. Investor considers what a company’s books reflect before making informed decisions. If company auditors are negligent make reckless remarks when it is actually not the case that could cause financial losses to individual investors as well as established funds that invest in shares of such company.
Almost all the companies on any stock exchange were once private before going public. Mostly, private companies do not have the system in place for good corporate governance because they regulate themselves and have fewer stakeholders that they are accountable to. In the recent dawn of the Ghana Stock Exchange requesting for blue chip SME’s to apply and get on the second list, the earlier these SME’s get acquainted with corporate governance issues the better for them. This is because there are enormous benefits accruing to companies that list on the stock market. They have access to capital for expansion, get noticed by both local and foreign investors and receive a much better credibility that can enable them win contracts which they will otherwise not win given their prior status.
How Private Companies are before going public?
No stringent disclosure of financials- Private companies is not required to publish account by any regulatory body.
Management style of private companies would definitely be different even as they are likely to go for can long term goals once the few stakeholders involved are comfortable. Most often, private companies are managed by their owners/ founders or people they have employed to manage the business for them. It so happens that these employees turn to rely mostly on their employer for instructions as to what to do next. This can stifle initiative creation and promote unnecessary reliance on employer for approval for things that can easily be done without bureaucracies.
Management preparing towards listing
For a company that is preparing itself to list on the exchange, its paramount responsibility would be to consider itself as a listed company and try to meet the entire membership requirement set by the exchange. They can do this by setting up an internal control department that would help them in the transition period to meet compliance standards that would in turn qualify them later.
Listing requirements: To meet the listing requirements, the company must ensure it meets the capital and financial requirement, technology and expertise required. These include audited financial statements for three years and the need for a company secretary that would file returns, take minutes at board meetings and countersign documents with the company’s seal. New listings on stock exchanges imply that the services of lawyers, underwriters or lead brokers, auditors, registrar and services of financial valuers be sought. The cost of printing prospectuses and other PR and marketing costs are also something to scare the company concerned. It also implies that the company in question is ready to pay all the listing fees and comply with the entire listing requirement spelt out by Securities and Exchange Commission, the Ghana Stock Exchange, the Registrar of Companies and even Bank of Ghana (where applicable).
Staying listed: It is not enough for a company to work hard and get listed on the stock exchange. It requires responsibility on the part of its directors and management to ensure that it continually trades as a listed company. Company secretaries are crucial to good company governance hence the need for a company secretary.
When a company finally gets listed it must comply with all the membership requirements in the Ghana Stock Exchange rule book. The rules set by the GSE and SEC is to protect the interest of both the investing public and the listed companies. It requires that the company must publish its account periodically (mostly quarterly).
When a company gets listed it has a wider scope of shareholders to manage and hence the need for statutory publication. Listed companies must publish account in a well circulated news paper; this is aimed at informing the investing public of the company’s financial performance. It is also required to print and circulate annual reports to all shareholders. I must also organize Annual General Meeting and Extraordinary General Meeting when there is a pressing issue to address. The cost involved in staying listed is enormous as it entails statutory fees, stationery cost, printing, postage, transport and press releases, among others.
Role of management and / Board of Directors
Board of directors are appointed to act on behalf of the shareholders to run the day to day affairs of the business. The board also appoints management to run the company.
A board’s main purpose is to ensure the company’s continuous prosperity by directing the company’s affairs, whilst meeting the appropriate interests of its shareholders and relevant stakeholders.
? The board must simultaneously be entrepreneurial and drive the business forward but devoid of negligence and excessive risk taking.
? The board should be adequately knowledgeable about the core business of the company and to be answerable for its actions. This does not mean that they should over influence management of the company.
? The board must be sensitive to the pressures of short-term issues and yet be informed about broader, long-term trends.
? The board must be knowledgeable about local issues and the competitive landscape they are operating.
? The board is expected to be focused upon the commercial needs of its business while acting responsibly towards its employees, business partners and society as a whole.
Relationship between share price and corporate governance
Stock prices reflect the value of a stock at a given point in time. Investor perception about a company can adversely or favorably affect stock price. If stock prices are high, it gives investors value. Management would equally benefit if they have incentives or bonuses tied to the performance of the company’s share price. The company would as well benefits if they are seeking extra funding through right issue for example. If companies do not manage their relationship with investors, they have to do damage control after that has affected their stock price adversely on the stock market.
Cost management determines profit and dividend- if the company is able to manage its cost effectively and make informed investments, at the end of the financial year, its profits would increase, some portion ploughed back into the business and the rest paid out as dividend to shareholders. Cost can be effectively managed if the right corporate governance is in place to reduce fraud and wastage through negligence.
Corporate governance issues on the GSE.
GCB and SCB saga: Both Ghana Commercial Bank and the Standard Chartered Bank are stocks listed on the GSE. Over the past few months, these two companies have lost so much value of the market as a result of the issues relating to how their staffs concerns were not satisfactorily addressed. One of the duties of the board of directors is to meet the appropriate interests of its shareholders and relevant stakeholders. Staffs are also stakeholders whose concerns must be adequately addressed. If these people are not satisfied, it can adversely affect output and hence profit or fallen share prices. A similar case happened when some minority shareholder of CAL Bank felt the board members were not working in the best interest of the shareholders. During that period, the stock price was fluctuating.
Surprisingly most of the listed stocks on the GSE are government divestitures. They are GCB, PBC, SIC, CPC and others. Most of these companies are characterized by government interference which may have some adverse implication of good corporate governance. However, government divestitures that fall within the category of financial institutions are quite autonomous when it comes to certain decisions. Even though government interference is minimal, once the government appoints the board of directors for these companies, they still have some influence on the governance of these companies.
It is therefore fair to say that good corporate governance is key to attraction of local and foreign investors, as well as increasing profits and its positive effects on stock price. The issue of corporate governance should be taken seriously by private companies who are planning to go public as well are companies that are already public. It should also be the joint efforts of all industries stakeholders as well as the regulators. The UK came up with the Combine Code as a result of combined efforts of both the market regulators and the professional accounting bodies. Ghana can do likewise by coming up with a corporate governance code that will apply to all listed companies. This is important because one big corporate scandal can cause high levels of unemployment and even reduce GDP to a larger extent. Hope you remember the Enron scandal and its effect on the whole world. Where ever you work, do not wait to witness any bigger corporate scandal, may be this time round it may be your job or that remittance you are expecting from abroad that will suffer as a result.
The Woyome crisis has taught us two lessons: (1) high level corruption is alive and well at the highest level of the Government; (2) We do not have the capacity to investigate and prosecute high level government officials who engage in brazen, blatant and gargantuan crimes against the Republic.
Without solving the second problem, the first problem will compound. Thus, it is the second problem that should be the focus of governance students as we move forward.
On paper, we have many state funded investigative bodies: BNI, EOCO, CID, CHRAJ. The law gives these bodies unfettered powers to investigate crimes against the Republic. In reality, these bodies are essentially toothless when it comes to investigating members of the executive.
With the exception of CHRAJ, the other three are led by political appointees. Indeed, the BNI, EOCO and CID have always acted as if they were an appendage of the executive and a tool for the President, rather than a well-functioning, independent investigative body. How else can one explain why Amina and Dakwa become issues for the BNI while Woyome, Mould, Oduro, Agya Atta and Duffuor are not on BNI’s radar screen?
CHRAJ’s commissioners are beyond the reach of the Presidential manipulations, at least in the short term. However, CHRAJ has been essentially declawed by the Supreme Court because of a curious ruling that it cannot sua sponte investigate allegations of corruption.
But even if all these investigative bodies were functional, a far cry from reality, their work product means very little unless the product can be acted upon by a cadre of independent and sharp prosecutors.
Alas, no prosecutions of gargantuan crimes can proceed without the approval of the Attorney General, who serves at the pleasure of the President. As Amidu teaches us, any Attorney General who dares raise questions about the President’s complicity in a gargantuan crime is not likely to survive.
Clearly, politics in Ghana is now a for-profit industry and the most lucrative, do-nothing enterprise. This is a far cry from what public service should be ? the sacrifice of the opportunity for private wealth to provide service to the Republic!
Where do we go from here:
1. We need to create an office of a Special Prosecutor. These prosecutors will be appointed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to prosecute any matters relating to top level officials. These prosecutors could be current prosecutors or other lawyers from private practice, hired for the special and limited purpose of prosecuting charges laid out by a grand jury (see below). In the discharge of these duties, the Special Prosecutor shall not be answerable to the Attorney General (AG) and it will be an offense for the AG to interfere, impede, disturb or otherwise affect or attempt to affect the work of the Special Prosecutor.
2. The DPP should have the power to convene a grand jury to investigate any allegations of crimes committed by top level officials. The grand jury findings should be made public. Where the grand jury recommends prosecution, a Special Prosecutor must be named by the DPP in no more than 2 weeks from when the grand jury report is out.
3. Special Fast track Corruption Courts should be established for the prosecution of public officials, who must be required to serve the maximum sentence, if found guilty, without any possibility of a pardon.
4. We must get serious about Asset Declaration. All public officials must not only declare their assets within the statutory period but the declaration should be available on the internet and accessible by the citizenry to allow the citizens to perform their accountability functions.
5. The Freedom of Information Act must be passed immediately. Corruption thrives in darkness, as we have learnt from Woyome.
6. The compensation package (salaries, allowances, ex gratia, etc) must be made public and accessible.
7. The compensation package of elected officials must be set by statute. For instance, a law could be passed which says all MPs will be paid X cedis. Then this salary should be allowed to grow (or shrink) by indexing it to inflation, cost of living, or even changes in the packages of others.
8. Strict campaign finance laws must be passed and enforced. Among others, there must be a ceiling on how much candidates can spend on campaigns.
9. It should be an offense to bribe voters or seek to influence the vote of citizens, during a primary or general election, through monetary or other inducements.
10. The Attorney General must be quarantined in any and all causes involving members of her political party. That is, if X, a political aficionado of PPP sues the Republic, the Republic must be represented by career lawyers in the AG’s office and the AG and her deputies must not have any involvement in the cause.
Democracy is meaningful when citizens have confidence in the organs of the Republic and believe that all persons are equal before the law. Nobody in Ghana believes that politicians are accountable. We put the Republic at great peril if we do not redress this glaring and gargantuan anomaly!
Alfred Agbsi Woyome has become a well-known name on the lips of many people across the streets and in many households in Ghana over the last two months. My grand mother asked me rhetorically if Mr. Woyome was able to have a sound sleep. I told her he brought this to himself. He bit off more than he can chew. Let us not forget last year, on Citi FM he attacked the integrity of Hon. Kennedy Agyapong and he admonished the security apparatus to arrest Mr. Agyapong. Subsequently, Mr. Agyapong on Adom FM also attacked the integrity of him and quoted portions of the Auditor General’s report to substantiate his points.
This 580 billion old Ghana cedis doled out to Mr. Woyome per the 2010 Auditor General’s report would not have gained the same magnitude in the media if it went through the normal rituals on the Public Account Committee (PAC) in parliament. All other judgment debts should also be scrutinized thoroughly and those found culpable should be made to refund our moneys and if possible appropriate criminal charges should also be preferred against the culprits. A lot have been said on this Woyome saga and I would not want to bore my readers. I will look at the Atta Wayo saga on three cardinal points; Corruption, Governance and Integrity.
Corruption: Woyome, which many people mistakenly pronounce as “Wayome” and its saga thereof has become a cancerous cell in the flesh of the ruling NDC. The colossal amount of moneys doled out to Mr. Woyome, Water Ville Company and other judgment debts captured in the Auditor General’s report and the complexities involved smells of conspiracy and gross corruption.
Last year, December 22, I heard David Annan, a solicitor for Mr. Woyome say on Radio Ghana that the NPP is a looting brigade. And that President Kufuor and his cohorts abrogated Woyome’s contract because it was getting to election 2008. They (NPP) thought Mr. Woyome would use the money in financing the NDC campaign. When asked about the contract Mr. Woyome had with President Kufuor’s administration he resorted to the agreement between the erstwhile government and Water Ville Company. His client, Mr. Woyome on Peace FM’s morning show said categorically he had no contract with President Kufuor’s government. I still cannot understand the negligence and irresponsible manner the government has handed this matter. For the Auditor General he should bow down his head in shame for his unnecessary “busy-body U-turn” press statement.
Governance: The Woyome saga has exposed the bad governance in this current administration. Whilst President Mills requested for a report during his vacation in New York, the deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia was defending Mr. Woyome on a national radio. Benjamin Akyena Brentuo, a special assistant to the deputy Chief of Staff was also acting as a media liaison officer to Mr. Woyome. Now, President Mills comes back to Ghana from his long trip and has asked the Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO) to institute a fact finding into the Woyome saga. EOCO has also said they are interested in crimes and are not a fact finding body. The deputy Attorney-General, Ebo Barton Oduro also said on Joy FM the state has a bad case hence, they did not enter defense in court to challenge Mr. Woyome. I have catalogued these few events to show how insensitive the government has been with respect to this saga. Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu’s resignation has even been long overdue and many appointees connected to these losses of moneys should be fired.
It was pathetic when I heard a group called “Concern Members of the NDC” on various radio stations spew out ignorance. They are either misinformed or/and they deliberately want to be mischievous. They claim President Kufuor, Mr. Yaw Osafo Marfo, Hon. O.B. Amoah and others should be arrested and dragged before EOCO. Are they not aware Mr. Osafo Marfo and the others have gone to court to challenge the jurisdiction of EOCO to interrogate them? Until the court gives it verdict nobody can arrest them. They have also argued the 25 member committee (13 MPs from the majority and 12 MPs from the minority) of the PAC have the exclusive right to interrogate them in connection with the findings of the Auditor General’s report. And the sittings of the PAC would be broadcast on television and radio for the ordinary Ghanaian to know what actually happened.
I think Mr. Martin Amidu has done well by amending the earlier writ. But he should have resigned after releasing his explosive statement on Thursday, January 12 before his sack. As usual because of the incompetence and unnecessary faux-pas by this government, they have given an ambiguous reason in relieving Mr. Amidu of his post. Was it necessary at all? Because of insincerity and dishonesty on the path of government in this Woyome saga, we are told Mr. Amidu was fired because of misconduct in a meeting presided by President Mills. The said meeting was held on Friday, 13 January and later Daily Graphic reported that its sources at the castle told the paper Mr. Amidu pleaded for lenience. This has not been challenged by the presidency so far. On Thursday, 19 January, a statement was released and signed by the Chief of Staff, Mr. Martey Newman that’s says Mr. Amidu has been fired because of misconduct. What confusion!
Indiscipline which the NDC want Ghanaians to see as democracy, lack of coherence and hands off leadership in government is shameful to say the least. An independent investigation should be constituted to bring to light the allegations made by Mr. Amidu. If the former Attorney-General and former running mate to then candidate Mills, Mr. Amidu alleges his life is in danger under the Presidency of Prof. Mills, are the rest of us safe? He should also come out with the name of his former colleague minister who wanted to conceal a gargantuan crime against the state.
Integrity: President Mills’ intergrity has been fractured by this Woyome saga. I am yet to come to terms with what President Mills meant by, he was unaware of the money given to Mr. Woyome. Interestingly, our President says his target is not Mr. Woyome and that he is not about to embarrass the recipients of judgment debts. He is interested in how the liabilities came about. Is it that President Mills is not in charge or/and he is condoning broad daylight corruption? Both sides of the coin are not in the interest of Ghana. Sincerely, I see no reason why Mr. Woyome and Water Ville Company should not be target for a criminal investigation aside the civil matter in court. Mr. President, you have the opportunity to redeem yourself and the government from this Woyome scandal. Ghanaians and the international communities are watching keenly to unfolding events.
And to those defending the indefensible, there is a saying that “If a hooligan isn’t repulsive to you, it’s easy to tell that you are one yourself; admire a robber, and then you may be a crook”
The future of this country belongs to we the youth and if we are endearing this high economic hardship meted to us, why should the tax payers money be given to some few individuals for no work done? The dishonesty that shrouds these colossal amounts of moneys given to selected individuals is heart breaking. And, we the youth especially have the power to send this government to opposition for a more responsible government to reclaim what belongs to us and also to put this country on the right pedestal.
Ghanaians are well-noted for our fanatic religiosity which makes it easy for us to adopt this ‘fama nyame’ attitude even in the face of clear bullying by plain-faced cowards and fictitious pious people. With this typical Ghanaian religiousity, we have often been hoodwinked by extremely hungry hyenas that come to us in sheep-clothes. These people present themselves as true embodiment of character of the almighty God only to lead us astray and into the abyss. In recent times, there have been numerous cases of ‘men of God’ going on rampage and sexually abusing married women, young girls, and in some cases, complete infants who have absolutely nothing sexually attractive about them. These despicable cases of sexual abuse by these pastoral charlatans have been possible, largely on the account that, the average Ghanaian married woman will be prepared to forego the needs of her husband under the instruction of her so-called pastor.
A married woman who probably has not undertaken her domestic assignment required of her as a wife, will hurriedly rush to deliverance service by a new ‘prophet’ in town. Some of them get so engrossed in such practices to the extent where the survivals of their very marriage lives begin to suffer. And when this happens, the old lady sitting her somewhere and minding her own business then becomes the obvious target of senseless witchcraft accusations. Such accusations have also resulted in completely innocent aged people being tortured, with some of them, often murdered.
Abusing God’s name
These unfortunate incidents are taking place in our nation just because some extremely wicked people who know absolutely nothing about the gospel of Christ, have realized that the average Ghanaian will quickly swallow, hook-line-and-sinker, even cow-dung only if it is presented in the form of the gospel. As a result, these ‘men of God’ invest heavy resources in securing airtime on Radio/TV and only thing they do with these airtimes is to simply invite people into their churches by announcing their phone numbers on air and giving directions to their locations.
On air, these so-called men of God will extol their personal healing prowess and how they can bring instant relief to every troubled soul. Some of them will claim they have been to Israel and are back with special anointing oil mixed with special herbs plugged from trees planted on the grave of Jesus Christ!!Some of them even go to the extent of claiming that their special healing anointing-oil was squeezed out of olive trees planted on the exact location where Joseph(the father of Jesus Christ) met and proposed marriage to the virgin Mary(the mother of Christ).
Such embellished lies, in the final analysis, do have some effect on some gullible individuals in our society who then end up falling pray to these wolfs!!As a matter of fact, some men too, in their attempt to travel abroad in order to change their economic circumstances, have fallen prey to these charlatans when they are duped of hard-earned resources that could have rather been put into a useful venture here at home.
In the end, these evil men of Satan masquerading as pious men of God, end up destroying once peaceful homes, turn bosom friends into bitter foes, thriving entrepreneurs into abject paupers, stable minds into sad illusions, perfect dreams/visions into mirage and self-confidence into self-pity. Unfortunatlety,evil practices of these ‘men of God’ are being replicated, on a rather massive scale, by some individuals within our political class who go about shouting on roof-tops, their self-acclaimed piety, ‘asomdweeheneship’ and Christian divinity.
The people of this nation went to the polls in 2008 to elect a president to lead us. A little over 50% of the voting population voted for Atta-Mills, based on what he and members of his party told the people of this nation. Ghanaians were made to accept the argument that the NPP administration had come to worsen their economic woes and for their human dignity to be restored, it was incumbent on the citizenry to massively vote against the NPP.
The people of this nation were told that they were being governed by evil people who had no sympathy for the down-trodden and also had no fear of God in them. As a result, a man born of a woman and is therefore susceptible to every fallibility under the sun, was consciously packaged and presented to the people of this nation, as someone who had just descended from heaven with no blemish. The great deception of 2008 And just like how these fake pastors ply their trade, the people of Ghana were deceived into believing that someone with the qualities akin to that of apostle Paul, had been discovered after painstaking search in the holy land of Christ’s ancesstory and carefully transplanted here in our land.
They said this super-pious being was going to deliver us from all our socio-economic woes. We were also promised of a paradise-like Ghana where corruption, immorality, hunger, homelessness, sickness and ‘pocketisis’ (empty pockets) shall be a thing of the past. We were also to have government officials who hate 4-WD vehicles, multi-billion dollar mansions, juiciest contracts et all. Bachelors and spinsters who were finding it almost impossible to secure marriage partners due to lack of resources, brought about by joblessness, were promised of a ‘better Ghana’ where every indi vidual was guaranteed a beautiful/handsome bride/bride-groom respectively.
And with such juicy promise of a land where there is plenty of milk and honey, and that poverty and squalor were going to be a thing of the past for every Ghanaian so we could simply lie in bed for honey to be dripping, constantly, into our mouths, you can certainly bank your hopes on being swarmed by eagerly expectant legion. The NDC, in addition to this wicked deception, employed other ‘bugabuga’ tactics as banishing NPP polling agents from their Volta Region stronghold and invasion of EC with murder weapons. In the end, the results went in their favour.But just like these fake pastors, the NDC, after deceiving the people with sweet promises to vote for them, have ended up duping them of the little resources they had, by way of imposition of wicked taxes, high fuel prices, astronomic road tolls, exorbitant food prices and so on. Novelties vrs empty promises The little line of social nets as NHIS,MMT,LEAP,school feeding programme, antenatal care and so on, have all been allowed to collapse by people who presented themselves as saviours but have turned out to be just like these ‘men of God’ who go about defrauding people. As a result of current joblessness, inspite of ‘creation’ of multi-billion job placements as announced by ‘pikin na boloo’ Ablakwah, existing marriages are collapsing like packs of cards. Unmarried young-women promised of blissful matrimonies, by the NDC, are fast going down the menopausal hill while the young-men are fast losing their testicular-virility with its resultant fading libido.
The streets of our nation’s major cities and towns that were to be transformed into the likes of Paris and Geneva, within a period of one-hundred days, are now sanctuaries of decaying mountainous filth. Fatalistic cholera disease has now become the lot of the already suffering Ghanaian.
The gold-paved roads of a promised paradise where we were all to be walking hand-in-hand in perfect love and happiness have now been turned into grounds of mass murder through horrific road accidents. Our modest places of work and humble abodes have come under mysterious hellish infernos. Poverty-induced Suicides and stress related spousal butchering have become the order of the day. Lately, the greatest of all abomination in the sight of God, which is homosexualism, as our Asante folks will fittingly put it; ‘ate atesei wo Ghana’. Appointees of the current administration are going on rampage with guns at the heads of young-women and subjecting them to ferocious bouts of sexual abuse.HIV-carrying managers of state institutions are demanding sex from job-seeking young female graduates and infecting some of them in the process.
What the current Mills-Mahama administration has done, and continues to do to the people of this nation, is flawlessly akin to activities of these fake pastors who are wreaking havoc in homes, inflicting pain on people and shattering hopes of already hopeless citizenry.
And inspite of all these, the president still goes about proclaiming that God is the president of this grand deception that has landed us in the current mess we find ourselves in as a people. The question then is: will God, in His infinite wisdom, preside over such downright chaos and grand deception? Oh, what a sacrilegious hypocrisy!!!
Generational Thinkers, is a group made up of ambitious and inspirational young men and women. The group which has a prime objective of ensuring an egalitarian method of compensation, where there will be equity, peace, tranquility, justice and fairness in all spheres of the governing dispensation of this nation.
It is very unfortunate that from the beginning of the fourth republic, we have never been enthused about the way and manner in which our dear country has been run by our politicians.
We have monitored and delved into the historical development of our dear country and if something drastic is not done to rescue the country from our greedy politicians from further deepening the woes of the country by their corrupt act of governance, this country will soon find itself in a shamble beyond repairs as we indicated in our previous press release.
We made it clear in our previous release that, we were going to embark on a ‘SPIRITUAL NATIONWIDE MARCH’ to express our displeasure with our current order, but after a series of consultation with our forefathers, we have been alerted that they are livid at the way the resources and the taxes are been used. They have stated that we should stop paying taxes in this country until the authorities in charge stop using the monies paid as tax to pay their political party financiers, buying medals to award themselves, channeling those resources in an unproductive venture and a lot more.
Our call to Ghanaians not to pay tax is simply due to lack of trust in the authorities of this country for consistently misusing public funds. We have realized that both the NPP and NDC who have been in charge of Ghana since 1992 are likeminded. When it is time for them to take decisions that will benefit members of their party, they hasten; just take a look at the WOYOME SAGA. On the contrary, when it comes to developmental issues, they take piecemeal approach and adopt tactics that has lead to the current kwashiorkor nature of Ghana. They have no love, vision or plan for the development of Ghana. The earlier we all stopped their source of income the best.
We are therefore calling on all Ghanaians irrespective of where they are, what they do and where they work to stop paying tax in order to bring the authorities to order. We wish to invite all well-meaning Ghanaians who have the interest of the country at heart to join in this positive defiance.
