Page 16, May 21, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
PARLIAMENT will reconvene for the second meeting of the first session of the fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic on Tuesday, May 26.
The meeting, which is expected to last for 10 weeks, would end on Friday, July 31.
The Majority Leader and leader of the House, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic on Tuesday said that a number of bills and papers were expected to be laid before the House for consideration during the meeting.
In addition, a number of questions had been filed by some Members of Parliament (MPs) for almost all the sector ministers to appear before the House.
Sector ministers who would feature prominently during question time are, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Minister of Water Resources, Work and Housing and the Minister for the Interior.
Bills expected to be put before the House include the Customs, Excise (Duties and Others) (Amendment) Bill, 2009, the Debt Recovery (Tema Oil Refinery Fund) (Amendment) Bill,2009 and the Right to Information Bill.
Papers to be laid before the House during the meeting include; Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Trade and Development Cooperation with the European Union, and Petroleum Agreement among the Republic of Ghana, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Vanco Ghana Limited and Lukoil Overseas Ghana Limited for the commencement of exploration and production in the offshore Cape Three Points Deep Water Block.
The House would also consider for approval the Formula for the Distribution of the National Health Insurance (NHIS) fund during the meeting.
Mr Bagbin added that the Piublic Accounts Committee would also be busy during the meeting to consider 12 pending reports of the auditor general. While some of the reports had already been laid, others would be laid when the House reconvenes.
Another issue which would engage the attention of the MPs during the meeting would be their means of transport.
The Majority Leader had already hinted that the MPs would insist the government provide them with means of transport unlike the usual practice whereby loans were offered the MPs to purchase vehicles of their choice.
Some of the MPs, particularly the new ones still do not have their own means of transport to convey them to and fro the House and constituencies to Parliament.
Friday, May 22, 2009
C'tee to look into Vodafone sale inaugurated
Frontpage; May 19, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, yesterday inaugurated a five-member inter-ministerial review committee to look into the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) between the government and Vodafone International Holdings BV.
The transaction, which was entered into by the previous administration, enabled Vodafone to purchase 70 per cent shares of Ghana Telecom, with the remaining 30 per cent being retained by the government.
The setting up of the administrative review committee is in fulfilment of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto pledge to review the agreement and take a decision that will be in the strategic interest of the country.
The five-member committee is under the chairmanship of Mr Justice Emmanuel Addo, a retired international Appeal Court judge.
Other members of the committee are Mrs Ama Banful, a Chief State Attorney, representing the Attorney-General’s Department; Mr Benjamin Cudjoe, an Assistant Auditor-General, representing the Auditor-General; Mr Opoku Gyamfi Boateng, a financial consultant and representative of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and Mr Issah Yahaya, a representative of the Ministry of Communications, who is a member/secretary.
There are also four persons to provide technical support for the committee.
They are Dr Ben Adu, a communications consultant; Dr Raymond Atuguba, a legal practitioner; Mr Michel Bow-Amuah, a network consultant, and Ms Rita Sraha, a financial expert.
In his remarks, Mr Iddrisu stressed that the committee had no mandate to review the decision of Parliament but it would peruse the contents of the transaction for recommendations to be made to the House.
He recalled that the Ghanaian public and political parties in the opposition at the time of the agreement raised critical questions on the transaction.
“We need to find answers to these questions,” he said, and gave the assurance that the review was “being done in good faith and to assuage the concerns of the Ghanaian public”.
The committee, which has three months to present its report, will work under a 15-point term of reference.
It is to look into the justification and rationale of the indemnity clause in the agreement, its possible removal, as well as the value for money and financial implications for the government of the cash-free, debt-free basis of the transaction.
In addition, the committee will also seek answers for the huge liabilities of Ghana Telecom prior to the sale and why some of the liabilities were not declared at the close of the deal.
It will also examine the tenure of Telenor/Telecom Management Partnership (TMP) and also the three-member Interim Management Team of GT with the GT contract with Alcatel and how the $228 million loan and the $63 million escrow account was managed and disbursed.
The review will also examine the possibility of de-coupling the Ghana Telecom University College from the transaction to be spun off into a fully fledged ICT institute of excellence and the justification for the inclusion of the national fibre-optic backbone infrastructure in the GT transaction when it was conceived as a stand-alone, open-access, non-discriminatory project to support the development of ICT in the country.
Again, the composition and registration details of the 70 per cent shares and whether or not the government was dealing with Vodafone UK P/c or Vodafone International BV will also be examined, in addition to the status of and the repayment of the $30 million loan from China Eximbank for the implementation of the first phase of the national fibre optic backbone and its implications on future financing of ICT projects.
Other terms of reference for the committee include the examination of issues relating to the suspension/termination of contract with the transaction advisor and determining whether there were better offers from potential bidders that were received and ignored.
It will also examine the exemptions regime under the SPA in relation to offers of 3G licences, determine the extent to which Vodafone had injected working capital into GT, which was the basis for the sale, the implementation of employee restructuring and labour rationalisation and the absence of safeguards for the minority shareholder in the SPA, especially requiring agreement on issues such as the change of name and headquarters of GT.
In his remarks, Mr Justice Addo thanked the government for the confidence reposed in them and gave the assurance that the committee would discharge its duties to the best of the abilities of its members.
“We will say it as it is to enable the government to take its own decision,” he said.
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, yesterday inaugurated a five-member inter-ministerial review committee to look into the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) between the government and Vodafone International Holdings BV.
The transaction, which was entered into by the previous administration, enabled Vodafone to purchase 70 per cent shares of Ghana Telecom, with the remaining 30 per cent being retained by the government.
The setting up of the administrative review committee is in fulfilment of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto pledge to review the agreement and take a decision that will be in the strategic interest of the country.
The five-member committee is under the chairmanship of Mr Justice Emmanuel Addo, a retired international Appeal Court judge.
Other members of the committee are Mrs Ama Banful, a Chief State Attorney, representing the Attorney-General’s Department; Mr Benjamin Cudjoe, an Assistant Auditor-General, representing the Auditor-General; Mr Opoku Gyamfi Boateng, a financial consultant and representative of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and Mr Issah Yahaya, a representative of the Ministry of Communications, who is a member/secretary.
There are also four persons to provide technical support for the committee.
They are Dr Ben Adu, a communications consultant; Dr Raymond Atuguba, a legal practitioner; Mr Michel Bow-Amuah, a network consultant, and Ms Rita Sraha, a financial expert.
In his remarks, Mr Iddrisu stressed that the committee had no mandate to review the decision of Parliament but it would peruse the contents of the transaction for recommendations to be made to the House.
He recalled that the Ghanaian public and political parties in the opposition at the time of the agreement raised critical questions on the transaction.
“We need to find answers to these questions,” he said, and gave the assurance that the review was “being done in good faith and to assuage the concerns of the Ghanaian public”.
The committee, which has three months to present its report, will work under a 15-point term of reference.
It is to look into the justification and rationale of the indemnity clause in the agreement, its possible removal, as well as the value for money and financial implications for the government of the cash-free, debt-free basis of the transaction.
In addition, the committee will also seek answers for the huge liabilities of Ghana Telecom prior to the sale and why some of the liabilities were not declared at the close of the deal.
It will also examine the tenure of Telenor/Telecom Management Partnership (TMP) and also the three-member Interim Management Team of GT with the GT contract with Alcatel and how the $228 million loan and the $63 million escrow account was managed and disbursed.
The review will also examine the possibility of de-coupling the Ghana Telecom University College from the transaction to be spun off into a fully fledged ICT institute of excellence and the justification for the inclusion of the national fibre-optic backbone infrastructure in the GT transaction when it was conceived as a stand-alone, open-access, non-discriminatory project to support the development of ICT in the country.
Again, the composition and registration details of the 70 per cent shares and whether or not the government was dealing with Vodafone UK P/c or Vodafone International BV will also be examined, in addition to the status of and the repayment of the $30 million loan from China Eximbank for the implementation of the first phase of the national fibre optic backbone and its implications on future financing of ICT projects.
Other terms of reference for the committee include the examination of issues relating to the suspension/termination of contract with the transaction advisor and determining whether there were better offers from potential bidders that were received and ignored.
It will also examine the exemptions regime under the SPA in relation to offers of 3G licences, determine the extent to which Vodafone had injected working capital into GT, which was the basis for the sale, the implementation of employee restructuring and labour rationalisation and the absence of safeguards for the minority shareholder in the SPA, especially requiring agreement on issues such as the change of name and headquarters of GT.
In his remarks, Mr Justice Addo thanked the government for the confidence reposed in them and gave the assurance that the committee would discharge its duties to the best of the abilities of its members.
“We will say it as it is to enable the government to take its own decision,” he said.
Monday, May 18, 2009
MPs will demand official vehicles, says Bagbin
Frontpage, May 18, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Members of Parliament (MPs) will insist that the government provides them with official vehicles, according to the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.
He stated that although the new government had not come up with any clear policy on the issue, “we will this time round insist that MPs are provided with vehicles that will assist them to discharge their duties, instead of going in for loans to purchase such vehicles to generate furore from the general public”.
Mr Bagbin, who is also the MP for Nadowli West, was addressing a press conference at the weekend to refute statements attributed to him in a story published by an Accra daily newspaper.
The comments attributed to him related to the Chinery-Hesse Committee Report on gratuity for MPs of the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
The Majority Leader traced the history of the provision of vehicles for MPs right from the First Parliament of the Fourth Republic and wondered why there should be public outcry over vehicles purchased by MPs through loans which were eventually paid back.
He said during the First Parliament of the Fourth Republic, MPs were assisted to purchase second-hand vehicles which did not last, while, during the Second Parliament, the new vehicles which they purchased were not strong enough.
Mr Bagbin explained that it was only during the Third and Fourth Parliaments that they were offered loans to purchase 4x4 vehicles, during which the MPs received public bashing.
He stated that since MPs had to travel to their constituencies almost every week and tour remote areas to interact with their constituents, there was the need for them to get vehicles that would take them through such weekly trips.
He also touched on accommodation for MPs and stated that the government had provided GH¢30,000 for each MP to rent accommodation for two years and some months and that had enabled the government to make huge savings, since, during the last Parliament, the government had to spend GH¢2.5 million on MPs’ hotel bills.
Mr Bagbin stated that through the current arrangements, only GH¢600,000 had been spent.
Touching on the gratuity given the MPs of the last Parliament, the Majority Leader explained that GH¢82,000 was paid to each of the beneficiaries but that a sizeable chunk of that was used to repay the loans contracted to purchase vehicles for their official work.
He added that what each MP would get at the end of the day would be about GH¢20,000.
He advised former MPs against using stickers meant for MPs on their vehicles, since that would amount to impersonation.
On the earlier report attributed to him, Mr Bagbin said in presenting a “bizarre” report of the event in Kumasi, the newspaper pencilled down quotations which “it claimed came from my lips”.
He stated that he would always want to see a cordial and harmonious relationship between the media and Parliament to promote a just and free society and cautioned that “misrepresentations will never do anybody any good. Giving a dog a bad name and hanging it will not help us”.
He explained that in his presentation in Kumasi, he had stated a number of apologies Parliament had rendered for its inability to scrutinise the voluminous Chinery-Hesse Report before it was passed.
“We cannot run away from that fact. What else is expected of us to warrant this sordid twist of facts?” he asked, and reminded the media that the ability of the electorate to make informed decisions would depend on them.
“It, therefore, behoves all of us to be as objective as possible in our quest to ensure the flow of information from the government to the people and vice versa,” he added.
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Members of Parliament (MPs) will insist that the government provides them with official vehicles, according to the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.
He stated that although the new government had not come up with any clear policy on the issue, “we will this time round insist that MPs are provided with vehicles that will assist them to discharge their duties, instead of going in for loans to purchase such vehicles to generate furore from the general public”.
Mr Bagbin, who is also the MP for Nadowli West, was addressing a press conference at the weekend to refute statements attributed to him in a story published by an Accra daily newspaper.
The comments attributed to him related to the Chinery-Hesse Committee Report on gratuity for MPs of the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
The Majority Leader traced the history of the provision of vehicles for MPs right from the First Parliament of the Fourth Republic and wondered why there should be public outcry over vehicles purchased by MPs through loans which were eventually paid back.
He said during the First Parliament of the Fourth Republic, MPs were assisted to purchase second-hand vehicles which did not last, while, during the Second Parliament, the new vehicles which they purchased were not strong enough.
Mr Bagbin explained that it was only during the Third and Fourth Parliaments that they were offered loans to purchase 4x4 vehicles, during which the MPs received public bashing.
He stated that since MPs had to travel to their constituencies almost every week and tour remote areas to interact with their constituents, there was the need for them to get vehicles that would take them through such weekly trips.
He also touched on accommodation for MPs and stated that the government had provided GH¢30,000 for each MP to rent accommodation for two years and some months and that had enabled the government to make huge savings, since, during the last Parliament, the government had to spend GH¢2.5 million on MPs’ hotel bills.
Mr Bagbin stated that through the current arrangements, only GH¢600,000 had been spent.
Touching on the gratuity given the MPs of the last Parliament, the Majority Leader explained that GH¢82,000 was paid to each of the beneficiaries but that a sizeable chunk of that was used to repay the loans contracted to purchase vehicles for their official work.
He added that what each MP would get at the end of the day would be about GH¢20,000.
He advised former MPs against using stickers meant for MPs on their vehicles, since that would amount to impersonation.
On the earlier report attributed to him, Mr Bagbin said in presenting a “bizarre” report of the event in Kumasi, the newspaper pencilled down quotations which “it claimed came from my lips”.
He stated that he would always want to see a cordial and harmonious relationship between the media and Parliament to promote a just and free society and cautioned that “misrepresentations will never do anybody any good. Giving a dog a bad name and hanging it will not help us”.
He explained that in his presentation in Kumasi, he had stated a number of apologies Parliament had rendered for its inability to scrutinise the voluminous Chinery-Hesse Report before it was passed.
“We cannot run away from that fact. What else is expected of us to warrant this sordid twist of facts?” he asked, and reminded the media that the ability of the electorate to make informed decisions would depend on them.
“It, therefore, behoves all of us to be as objective as possible in our quest to ensure the flow of information from the government to the people and vice versa,” he added.
House yet to act on report on ex-Speaker. Says Chairman
FRontpage, May 15, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the Parliamentary Service Board (PSB) which constituted the ad hoc committee to look into the items allegedly taken away from the official residence of the former Speaker is yet to take a decision on the findings of the committee.
He said it was, accordingly, unfair for anybody to rush to the press to crucify the former Speaker over the recommendations of the committee.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who was the Chairman of the ad hoc committee, expressed these sentiments in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
Reacting to a front-page story of the Thursday, May 14, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic, the Minority Leader said the leaking of information from the ad hoc committee which investigated the truth or otherwise of the allegation was, therefore, unfortunate and a disservice to Parliament as an institution.
He also described the GH¢4.5 million quoted in the story as the value of the items allegedly taken away by Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes from his official residence after his retirement as “outrageous and a palpable falsehood”.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu quoted the correct value of the items to be about GH¢430,000 (¢4.3 billion) and not the GH¢4.5 million (¢45 billion) quoted by the paper and regretted that “because those who leaked the information to the Daily Graphic were in a hurry to cause mischief, they quoted such an outrageous amount”.
The Minority Leader explained that there seemed to be a policy in place from which some senior officers who retired from the Parliamentary Service had enjoyed by taking away some items in their residence and wondered why the former Speaker had to be singled out for mention to disgrace him.
He, therefore, called on the media, the public and those behind the leaking of information from Parliament to exercise restraint and allow the PSB to come up with a definite decision on the matter.
“Until that is done, it will be improper for us to condemn the former Speaker,” he said.
He said the sanctity of Parliament as an arm of government should always be upheld and that if anything untoward happened in the House, the matter should be dealt with within, instead of some people always hurrying to the press with issues which were before the PSB.
“What is happening is most unfair. Before the PSB meets, the items on the table are already in the media,” he said, and questioned whether such an attitude was being displayed within the Executive and the Judiciary.
“Whoever is behind such leaks is not helping the cause of parliamentary democracy,” he said.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also described what he termed as occasional resort to statements to embarrass the former Speaker as “diversionary tactics by the government”.
He explained that after each of the three occasions when the Minority had held press conferences to respond to some actions by the government, they had been followed by publications on the former Speaker to divert the attention of the public from the issues that the Minority had raised.
He stated that while not condoning any misdeed, any such diversionary tactics would not help the country’s democratic dispensation.
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the Parliamentary Service Board (PSB) which constituted the ad hoc committee to look into the items allegedly taken away from the official residence of the former Speaker is yet to take a decision on the findings of the committee.
He said it was, accordingly, unfair for anybody to rush to the press to crucify the former Speaker over the recommendations of the committee.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who was the Chairman of the ad hoc committee, expressed these sentiments in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
Reacting to a front-page story of the Thursday, May 14, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic, the Minority Leader said the leaking of information from the ad hoc committee which investigated the truth or otherwise of the allegation was, therefore, unfortunate and a disservice to Parliament as an institution.
He also described the GH¢4.5 million quoted in the story as the value of the items allegedly taken away by Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes from his official residence after his retirement as “outrageous and a palpable falsehood”.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu quoted the correct value of the items to be about GH¢430,000 (¢4.3 billion) and not the GH¢4.5 million (¢45 billion) quoted by the paper and regretted that “because those who leaked the information to the Daily Graphic were in a hurry to cause mischief, they quoted such an outrageous amount”.
The Minority Leader explained that there seemed to be a policy in place from which some senior officers who retired from the Parliamentary Service had enjoyed by taking away some items in their residence and wondered why the former Speaker had to be singled out for mention to disgrace him.
He, therefore, called on the media, the public and those behind the leaking of information from Parliament to exercise restraint and allow the PSB to come up with a definite decision on the matter.
“Until that is done, it will be improper for us to condemn the former Speaker,” he said.
He said the sanctity of Parliament as an arm of government should always be upheld and that if anything untoward happened in the House, the matter should be dealt with within, instead of some people always hurrying to the press with issues which were before the PSB.
“What is happening is most unfair. Before the PSB meets, the items on the table are already in the media,” he said, and questioned whether such an attitude was being displayed within the Executive and the Judiciary.
“Whoever is behind such leaks is not helping the cause of parliamentary democracy,” he said.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also described what he termed as occasional resort to statements to embarrass the former Speaker as “diversionary tactics by the government”.
He explained that after each of the three occasions when the Minority had held press conferences to respond to some actions by the government, they had been followed by publications on the former Speaker to divert the attention of the public from the issues that the Minority had raised.
He stated that while not condoning any misdeed, any such diversionary tactics would not help the country’s democratic dispensation.
Continue NPP’s sound economic legacy--Minority
Page 16, May 13, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Minority in Parliament says that Ghanaians expect the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to continue the sound economic legacy left by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in order to move the economy forward.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, noted that the new growth rate of 7.3 per cent achieved last year was reported to be one of the highest in 30 years.
“It is important to stress that that was achieved in the face of record high oil prices, high food prices and a meltdown in the world financial markets as well as the global recession in 2008,” he said.
He recalled that in 1999/2000 when oil prices rose to $36 per barrel, the GDP growth rate, under the NDC, was 3.7 per cent, and explained that with oil prices rising to $147 per barrel in 2008, the NPP was able to achieve a growth of 7.3 per cent.
“Against this background, how come that the NDC government and President Mills are talking about economic mismanagement, ” he questioned.
He said if by that the NDC meant that the per capita income (that is putting money in the pockets of Ghanaians) had risen from $300 in 2000 to $712 in 2008, “then we would gladly with pizzazz??? and romantic glee plead guilty as charged”.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said it was unfortunate that some activists of the ruling NDC had made various statements to the effect that the NPP government’s mismanagement of the economy “caused the disappearance of gold reserves”.
He said when some of those who made those statements had turned round to apologise, the NPP thought that such uninformed statements should be put behind them to enable them to partner the government to find solutions to the problems of fiscal management of the economy.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said it was unfortunate that the President himself descended “into the arena of conflict” in London that the NPP had “mismanaged the economy” and “looted the economy”.
“Let Professor Mills be informed that it is not true that in 2009 the budget deficit was 15 per cent of the GDP. The real deficit was 11.5 per cent of the GDP”, he said, explaining that the difference was financed by revenue and not through borrowing.
He added that what occasioned the 11.5 per cent GDP deficit included the purchase of generators, fuel to power the generators, crude oil for the Aboadze Thermal Plant, the world food crisis and world oil price hikes as well as the massive infrastructure projects.
The minority leader said that it was the expectation of Ghanaians that the Economic Advisory Council, together with the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana, would sit up and show them that they would be able to sustain the economic growth at 7.3 per cent.
He described the current target of 5.9 per cent for 2009 as an attempt by the government to lower expectation so that the government could come back next year to say that it had met its target.
“For the sake of Mother Ghana, we wish Professor Mills and the NDC well and we are all watching. We only advise them that they should seek the truth,for it is the truth which will set them free, ” he stated.
A former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Professor George Yaw Gyan-Baffour, called for a bi-partisan discussion on when the country was expected to reach a middle-income level.
He argued that for postponing the NPP targeted year for the country to reach a middle-income level from 2015 to 2020, the NDC had reversed the country’s current economic growth to that of 2005.
Prof Gyan-Baffour said perhaps it was because of that that the NDC had targeted 5.9 per cent growth for 2009 when the Finance Minister was aware that the NPP achieved 7.3 per cent growth in 2008 in the face of the world economic recession.
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Minority in Parliament says that Ghanaians expect the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to continue the sound economic legacy left by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in order to move the economy forward.
Addressing a press conference in Accra yesterday, the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, noted that the new growth rate of 7.3 per cent achieved last year was reported to be one of the highest in 30 years.
“It is important to stress that that was achieved in the face of record high oil prices, high food prices and a meltdown in the world financial markets as well as the global recession in 2008,” he said.
He recalled that in 1999/2000 when oil prices rose to $36 per barrel, the GDP growth rate, under the NDC, was 3.7 per cent, and explained that with oil prices rising to $147 per barrel in 2008, the NPP was able to achieve a growth of 7.3 per cent.
“Against this background, how come that the NDC government and President Mills are talking about economic mismanagement, ” he questioned.
He said if by that the NDC meant that the per capita income (that is putting money in the pockets of Ghanaians) had risen from $300 in 2000 to $712 in 2008, “then we would gladly with pizzazz??? and romantic glee plead guilty as charged”.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said it was unfortunate that some activists of the ruling NDC had made various statements to the effect that the NPP government’s mismanagement of the economy “caused the disappearance of gold reserves”.
He said when some of those who made those statements had turned round to apologise, the NPP thought that such uninformed statements should be put behind them to enable them to partner the government to find solutions to the problems of fiscal management of the economy.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said it was unfortunate that the President himself descended “into the arena of conflict” in London that the NPP had “mismanaged the economy” and “looted the economy”.
“Let Professor Mills be informed that it is not true that in 2009 the budget deficit was 15 per cent of the GDP. The real deficit was 11.5 per cent of the GDP”, he said, explaining that the difference was financed by revenue and not through borrowing.
He added that what occasioned the 11.5 per cent GDP deficit included the purchase of generators, fuel to power the generators, crude oil for the Aboadze Thermal Plant, the world food crisis and world oil price hikes as well as the massive infrastructure projects.
The minority leader said that it was the expectation of Ghanaians that the Economic Advisory Council, together with the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana, would sit up and show them that they would be able to sustain the economic growth at 7.3 per cent.
He described the current target of 5.9 per cent for 2009 as an attempt by the government to lower expectation so that the government could come back next year to say that it had met its target.
“For the sake of Mother Ghana, we wish Professor Mills and the NDC well and we are all watching. We only advise them that they should seek the truth,for it is the truth which will set them free, ” he stated.
A former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Professor George Yaw Gyan-Baffour, called for a bi-partisan discussion on when the country was expected to reach a middle-income level.
He argued that for postponing the NPP targeted year for the country to reach a middle-income level from 2015 to 2020, the NDC had reversed the country’s current economic growth to that of 2005.
Prof Gyan-Baffour said perhaps it was because of that that the NDC had targeted 5.9 per cent growth for 2009 when the Finance Minister was aware that the NPP achieved 7.3 per cent growth in 2008 in the face of the world economic recession.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
MoH negotiates with doctors
Centre Spread, May 7, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Ministry of Health has begun negotiations with the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) over unpaid allowances and stalled salary talks for doctors working in the country’s public health institutions.
The negotiations have become necessary because of the decision by junior doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi to embark on a strike.
The junior doctors claim that their fuel allowances have not been paid for the past 18 months. They also claim that since 2006 salary negotiations had been stalled.
Also involved in the negotiations are the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), among other stakeholders.
Leading the GMA team is the President of the association, Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful.
In his brief remarks before the commencement of the negotiations behind closed doors, the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adja Yankey, said the government was committed to solving the problems associated with the payment of doctors’ unpaid allowances and stalled salary negotiations.
“It is not fair for the country’s doctors to be treated this way,” he said, explaining that officials of both KATH and the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital had started the payment of allowances due the medical doctors.
Dr Yankey, however appealed to the GMA to be reasonable in its demands and expectations, bearing in mind the country’s economy.
He said he expected the negotiations to last for about two days.
He said efforts were also being made by the government to implement the single spine salary structure (SSSS) to ensure equal pay for equal work.
Speaking to newsmen later, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Antwi Boasiako Sekyere, said the issue of salary negotiations with the GMA had to be tackled carefully so that the results would not have a negative effect on other groups in the health sector and other sectors of the economy.
He said it was for that reason that the government was committed to using the SSSS as a holistic approach for the solution of salary problems in the country.
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Ministry of Health has begun negotiations with the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) over unpaid allowances and stalled salary talks for doctors working in the country’s public health institutions.
The negotiations have become necessary because of the decision by junior doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi to embark on a strike.
The junior doctors claim that their fuel allowances have not been paid for the past 18 months. They also claim that since 2006 salary negotiations had been stalled.
Also involved in the negotiations are the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), among other stakeholders.
Leading the GMA team is the President of the association, Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful.
In his brief remarks before the commencement of the negotiations behind closed doors, the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adja Yankey, said the government was committed to solving the problems associated with the payment of doctors’ unpaid allowances and stalled salary negotiations.
“It is not fair for the country’s doctors to be treated this way,” he said, explaining that officials of both KATH and the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital had started the payment of allowances due the medical doctors.
Dr Yankey, however appealed to the GMA to be reasonable in its demands and expectations, bearing in mind the country’s economy.
He said he expected the negotiations to last for about two days.
He said efforts were also being made by the government to implement the single spine salary structure (SSSS) to ensure equal pay for equal work.
Speaking to newsmen later, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Antwi Boasiako Sekyere, said the issue of salary negotiations with the GMA had to be tackled carefully so that the results would not have a negative effect on other groups in the health sector and other sectors of the economy.
He said it was for that reason that the government was committed to using the SSSS as a holistic approach for the solution of salary problems in the country.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Ministry to implement regulation on axle load
Centre spread, May 6, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Ministry of Roads and Highways will begin the implementation of the regulation on common standards and procedures for West African countries on the control of the gauge, weight and axle load of all vehicles from June 1, 2009.
The sector Minister, Mr Joe Gidisu, who announced this yesterday, stated that the ministry would hold a stakeholders’ forum to educate key players in the road transport industry on the enforcement of the regulation before the end of this month.
He was briefing the media on the outcome of the trip of a government delegation to Niger to intervene in the case involving some stranded Ghanaian truck drivers at the Burkina Faso-Niger border.
The trip was in response to an SOS message received from the Ghana Embassy in Burkina Faso on the plight of some Ghanaian drivers who were stranded due to overloading and other offences.
The Union Economique Monitaire L’Ouest African (UEMOA) Regulation 2005, which was adopted by ECOWAS, has set May 31, 2009 as the deadline for measures to be adopted by member states for the control of gauge, weight and axle load of all vehicles.
Mr Gidisu said the government would ensure that the UEMOA regulation was strictly enforced right from the country’s ports of entry to prevent roads from premature deterioration.
The specified standards, as stipulated by the regulation, are a maximum height of four metres above the road surface, 11.5 tonnes per single axle and 51 tonnes maximum for six-axle trucks.
He said the government would marshal all the necessary infrastructure and logistics required to achieve the objectives as contained in the UEMOA regulation.
He said in line with that, steps were being taken to restore the weighing scales installed in Tema and Takoradi to full operation as soon as practicable, explaining that in the interim the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) would make available portable weigh bridges at the ports to regulate loading.
He said with the completion of the weigh bridge station at Offinso, checks could be made on trucks plying the Acca-Paga corridor.
Mr Gidisu added that height gauges would also be made available at all checkpoints along the corridor.
“While the government is determined to make all necessary logistical support available to enable the axle load staff and the police to perform, acts of malfeasance will never be countenanced under any circumstance,” he said.
On the plight of the stranded Ghanaian truck drivers, he said at the time of the visit of the delegation, 73 out of the original 300 vehicles detained since January this year were left to be processed.
He said at a meeting with government officials in Niamey, it was made clear that a huge investment had been made in the road infrastructure and that the government was determined to prevent their premature deterioration due to overloading.
Mr Gidisu said after deliberations, the Ghanaian delegation and the Nigerien government officials came to an agreement that trucks found to be overloaded must settle their commensurate overloading fees.
In addition, it agreed that action would be expedited on trucks going through custom and administrative formalities to avoid undue delay.
The minister said considering the difficulty in arranging for trucks to transport the excess cargo from the weigh bridge stations, which had no storage facilities, it was agreed that overloaded trucks which had settled the overloading fees and gone through custom and administrative formalities be allowed to go to Niamey, where they would have access to storage facilities and easily arrange for the transport of the excess cargo.
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Ministry of Roads and Highways will begin the implementation of the regulation on common standards and procedures for West African countries on the control of the gauge, weight and axle load of all vehicles from June 1, 2009.
The sector Minister, Mr Joe Gidisu, who announced this yesterday, stated that the ministry would hold a stakeholders’ forum to educate key players in the road transport industry on the enforcement of the regulation before the end of this month.
He was briefing the media on the outcome of the trip of a government delegation to Niger to intervene in the case involving some stranded Ghanaian truck drivers at the Burkina Faso-Niger border.
The trip was in response to an SOS message received from the Ghana Embassy in Burkina Faso on the plight of some Ghanaian drivers who were stranded due to overloading and other offences.
The Union Economique Monitaire L’Ouest African (UEMOA) Regulation 2005, which was adopted by ECOWAS, has set May 31, 2009 as the deadline for measures to be adopted by member states for the control of gauge, weight and axle load of all vehicles.
Mr Gidisu said the government would ensure that the UEMOA regulation was strictly enforced right from the country’s ports of entry to prevent roads from premature deterioration.
The specified standards, as stipulated by the regulation, are a maximum height of four metres above the road surface, 11.5 tonnes per single axle and 51 tonnes maximum for six-axle trucks.
He said the government would marshal all the necessary infrastructure and logistics required to achieve the objectives as contained in the UEMOA regulation.
He said in line with that, steps were being taken to restore the weighing scales installed in Tema and Takoradi to full operation as soon as practicable, explaining that in the interim the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) would make available portable weigh bridges at the ports to regulate loading.
He said with the completion of the weigh bridge station at Offinso, checks could be made on trucks plying the Acca-Paga corridor.
Mr Gidisu added that height gauges would also be made available at all checkpoints along the corridor.
“While the government is determined to make all necessary logistical support available to enable the axle load staff and the police to perform, acts of malfeasance will never be countenanced under any circumstance,” he said.
On the plight of the stranded Ghanaian truck drivers, he said at the time of the visit of the delegation, 73 out of the original 300 vehicles detained since January this year were left to be processed.
He said at a meeting with government officials in Niamey, it was made clear that a huge investment had been made in the road infrastructure and that the government was determined to prevent their premature deterioration due to overloading.
Mr Gidisu said after deliberations, the Ghanaian delegation and the Nigerien government officials came to an agreement that trucks found to be overloaded must settle their commensurate overloading fees.
In addition, it agreed that action would be expedited on trucks going through custom and administrative formalities to avoid undue delay.
The minister said considering the difficulty in arranging for trucks to transport the excess cargo from the weigh bridge stations, which had no storage facilities, it was agreed that overloaded trucks which had settled the overloading fees and gone through custom and administrative formalities be allowed to go to Niamey, where they would have access to storage facilities and easily arrange for the transport of the excess cargo.
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