The vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has lauded the enormous, cooperative advancements made under the umbrella of the UK-Ghana Business Council (UKGBC) since its founding in 2018.
Speaking at the 7th session of the Council at the Jubilee House, Accra, Dr Bawumia expressed delight that six years down the line, his vision for the Council – to reduce trade barriers and enhance cooperation between the Governments of Ghana and the United Kingdom – had led to the funding of major infrastructure projects across the country through UK Export Financing.
“I have been so impressed with the accomplishments that have been made over the last six years under the UKGBC. If you look at the projects, in the area of infrastructure for instance, they have been quite significant. The Kumasi International Airport easily comes to mind; the Tamale Airport as well.
“You have the Eastern Regional Hospital which is ongoing, [reconstruction and modernization of the 44-Year old] Maternity and Children’s Block at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi. You have Aqua Africa Limited which is supplying critical water to 16 towns across the country; Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange Phase II, Kejetia Market Phase II, equipping of the Bekwai Hospital, and the Tema-Aflao highway, which is really key and many more.
“I think there has been significant progress made under the UK-Ghana Business Council, its setting up makes a lot of sense, and I’m glad that we are continuing in the same spirit of cooperation and partnership between the UK and Ghana. There is a solid record of accomplishment thus far,” he stated.
“I would like to thank the UK Government for the support it continues to offer Ghana and the cooperation that we are seeing from the private sector, the investments that are taking place here, and look forward to working together especially as we chart new ground in the area of climate change,” he added.
Accompanied by Baroness Kate Hoey, UK Trade Envoy to Ghana, and Ms Harriet Thompson, UK High Commissioner to Ghana, Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell, UK Minister of State for Development and Africa acknowledged the important role the UKGBC has played in deepening relations between the two countries, and pledged his country’s commitment to even deeper cooperation.
“I know from my Ministerial colleagues including Penny Mordaunt and Vickie Ford who chaired the last session in London in May, just what a central role the UK Ghana Business Council has played in deepening our bilateral relationship, increasing trade and investment, building partnerships, creating jobs, supporting sustainable growth and building mutual, shared prosperity.
“By focusing on a set of priority sectors, UKGBC has helped us target the areas that we can collectively make the biggest difference. I am delighted that today we will be able to hear about progress across those sectors, in particular in the auto and energy sectors; I had a chance this morning to visit the auto sector to see for myself what is going on,” he emphasized.
Africa’s billionaires saw their wealth increase significantly in 2021, similar to the previous year, despite the long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on business activities and the operations of companies and financial assets controlled by these ultra-wealthy individuals during the year.
According to Forbes, 18 of these individuals had a net worth of $84.9 billion at the end of 2021, which is 15-percent or $4.7 billion more than their combined net worth of $73.8 billion at the end of 2020.
Billionaires such as Aliko Dangote and Abdul Samad Rabiu have seen their wealth increase by more than $1 billion since the beginning of the year, while Natie Kirsh, Johann Rupert, and Mohammed Al Amoudi have seen their wealth decrease by more than $200 million.
This is how they stand as at January 25, 2022.
#1 Aliko Dangote
Net worth: $20.4 billion
Nationality: Nigerian
For the eleventh year in a row, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote remains the continent’s richest man, with a net worth of $20.4 billion derived from his stake in Dangote Cement Plc, Africa’s largest cement manufacturer.
So far in 2021, the billionaire’s net worth has increased by more than $1.3 billion due to an increase in the share price of his flagship company, Dangote Cement Plc, as investors react to news of the leading cement maker’s planned share buy back program.
#2 Johann Rupert
Net worth: $11.4 billion
Nationality: South African
Johann Rupert, South Africa’s richest man, ranks as the continent’s second-richest man with a net worth of $11.4 billion. The billionaire saw his wealth rise by $3.88 billion in 2021 as shares in his Luxury goods holding company, Richemont, increased by more than 60-percent during the year.
His net worth has dropped by $565 million since the beginning of the year as investors profit from Richemont shares.
#3 Nicky Oppenheimer
Net worth: $8.18 billion
Nationality: South African
Nicky Oppenheimer, who formerly ran diamond mining firm DeBeers before selling it to mining firm Anglo-American a decade ago, has a net worth of $8.18 billion, making him the third-richest man in Africa and the second-richest man in South Africa.
The majority of his fortune is held in private equity investments in Africa, Asia, the United States, and Europe through London-based Stockdale Street and Johannesburg-based Tana Africa Capital.
His net worth has increased by $225 million since the beginning of the year, owing to the revaluation of his private equity investments.
#4 Natie Kirsh
Net worth: $7.68 billion
Nationality: Emaswati
Nathan “Natie” Kirsh of Swaziland is the fourth-richest man in Africa, with a fortune of $7.68 billion at the time of writing. Kirsh made his fortune through his ownership of Kirsh Group, a closely held conglomerate that owns a majority stake in the food supply company Jetro Holdings.
So far in 2021, Kirsh’s net worth has dropped by more than $595 million, or 7.2 percent, as a result of a drop in the valuation of his private equity investments.
#5 Abdul Samad Rabiu
Net worth: $7.5 billion
Nationality: Nigerian
With a net worth of $7.5 billion, Abdul Samad Rabiu, the founder of one of Africa’s fastest growing manufacturing conglomerates, BUA Group, ranks as the fifth-richest man in Africa and the second-richest man in Nigeria.
The majority of the billionaire’s wealth comes from his 97 percent stake in his cement company, BUA Cement Plc, while the recent increase in his net worth to $7.5 billion was driven by the recent listing of his consolidated food business, BUA Foods.
#6 Mike Adenuga
Net worth: $6.7 billion
Nationality: Nigerian
Mike Adenuga, the founder of Nigerian telecom company Globacom Limited and majority owner of Nigeria’s pioneer petroleum marketer, Conoil Plc ranks as the third-richest man in Nigeria and the sixth richest on the continent of Africa.
As of press time, January 25, his wealth is valued at $6.7 billion thanks to the valuation of his interest in Globacom Limited, Nigeria’s third-largest telecom service provider.
#7 Mohammed Al Amoudi
Net worth: $6.45 billion
Nationality: Ethiopian
Mohammed Al Amoudi is the richest man in Ethiopia and the seventh-richest man in Africa, with a net worth of $6.45 billion.
The majority of the Ethiopian billionaire’s wealth is derived from his industrial assets in Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Morocco, as well as his stake in Svenska Petroleum Exploration, Preem, Sweden’s largest oil refiner, and a 67 percent stake in Samir, Morocco’s sole oil refiner.
#8 Nassef Sawiris
Net worth: $6.29 billion
Nationality: Egyptian
Egypt’s richest man and a scion of Egypt’s richest family Nassef Sawiris ranks as the eighth-richest man in Africa with a wealth of $6.29 billion at the time of drafting this report.
The majority of the Sawiris’ $6.29 billion fortune stems from his stake in Dutch fertilizer producer OCI N.V. and his 3.72 percent stake in German sportswear manufacturer Adidas.
#9 Issad Rebrab
Net worth: $5.1 billion
Nationality: Algerian
Issad Rebrab, the founder and CEO of Cevital and Algeria’s richest man, is the ninth-richest man in Africa, with a fortune of $5.1 billion derived from his business interest in Cevital Group.
Cevital Group is Algeria’s largest privately held company, and it owns one of the world’s largest sugar refineries, capable of producing 2 million tonnes of refined sugar per year.
#10 Naguib Sawiris
Net worth: $3.4 billion
Nationality: Egyptian
With a fortune of $3.4 billion, Naguib Sawiris, the elder brother of Egypt’s richest man, Nassef Sawiris, is the second-richest man in Egypt and the tenth-richest man in Africa.
The billionaire amassed his fortune after selling Orascom Telecom to Russian telecom firm VimpelCom (now Veon) in a multibillion-dollar transaction in 2011. He is currently a shareholder in Orascom TMT Investments and Ora Developers, a real estate developer.
The Officers and men dressed in anti-riot security gear were heavily equipped with modern riot control gadgets including batons, shields, riot vehicles, ambulances and other intelligence equipment.
They are to provide security for the congress at the Accra Sports Stadium as the party elects its national executives for the next four years.
Over 9,000 delegates take turns to cast their votes for the preferred candidates for the various positions.
With the National Women and Youth Organizers elections out of the way and Sammy Gyamfi’s National Communications Officer as the only contender, there are still nine positions up for grabs with over 62 candidates vying for those slots.
As with elections of this nature, some positions have been earmarked as the most keenly contested owing to the persons involved; this includes the national chairmanship race, General Secretary, National Organiser among others.
Even before the ballot has been cast at the 10th Delegates of the National Democratic Congress(NDC), there already seems to be some signs of intimidation as is evident in most elections of the nature.
The opposition party will on Saturday December 17, 2022 hold its conference at the Accra Sports Stadium and will have over 9000 delegates take turns to cast their votes for the preferred candidates for the various positions.
Ahead of the event, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah who is aspiring to contest the General Secretary position of the party has shared an image of the what seems to be a dead pigeon which he says was thrown into his compound on Saturday morning.
In a post shared via his WhatsApp status, he alleged that persons seeking to contest him were responsible for throwing the dead pigeons into the compound of his home.
“The stupid idiots who think they have lost think they can shake us. Woke up and felt like going outside immediately before the children woke up and saw 2 pigeons tied and what the necks cut and thrown into the compound,” he wrote.
In another separate message on the development, the NDC Director of Elections wrote; “This is what the stupid idiots who’ve lost threw into the compound o, can you imagine? Into God’s house, hahaha their defeat is sure in Jesus name and they shall receive death by the wrath of God.
Suspected armed robbers have shot and killed a 40-year-old physically challenged farmer at Branam, a farming community in the Wenchi Municipality of the Bono Region.
The body of the deceased, Yaw Takwa, has been deposited at the Wenchi Methodist Hospital for preservation and autopsy.
During a visit to the area on Friday, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) learned the sad incident happened on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, around 1100 hours.
The shooting and subsequent death have created fear and panic among residents, mostly farmers.
The incident happened between the Branam and Subinso stretch of the Wenchi-Bamboi highway when the robbers stormed and robbed market women on their way to the Subinso market.
Speaking in an interview with the GNA, Mr. Benjamin Ander, the Unit Committee Chairman of the Branam Electoral Area said a police patrol team had information about the robbery, rushed to the scene, and exchanged bullets with the robbers.
At the time, the deceased and his wife were working on their farm when they heard gunshots, so he left the farm to ascertain the cause of the gunshot.
“His wife waited for him at the farm and when she realized the deceased had kept long, she followed up and discovered him lying in a pool of blood, a few meters away,” Mr. Ander stated.
He expressed worry that armed robberies were common on that particular stretch, especially on Wednesdays, being market days at Subinso, and appealed to the Police to beef up and intensify security patrols on the highway.
The Finance Ministry is planning to resolve a 16-Month unpaid wage for the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, according to Kwame Anyimadu Antwi, chairman of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs.
“But Mr. Speaker, all our reports et al are physically ready for laying. What the minority leader says is good that he has his ears on the ground, because at the committee level, we invited the minister for finance and he was represented by no mean person, by the chief Director and we have resolved the issue. Mr. Speaker, Hon Haruna will agree with me, that once the issue he is talking about is already cooperating in the report, he must not be in a rush to actually talk about it when we have not made the report,” he said.
The Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu revealed that the Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng had not been paid for 16 months.
He said he is baffled by this development and demanded answers from the government. This followed concerns over the allocation for the Office of the Special Prosecutor in the 2023 Budget which had been deemed as woefully inadequate.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu raised the concern ahead of the presentation of the Annual Budget estimates report of the Office of Special Prosecutor for the year 2023 by the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament.
“Office of Special Prosecutor, you put that man there you haven’t determined his condition of service. He hasn’t been paid. Some appointments have been done which raise questions as to whether the board was aware or not. We have to probe further the happenings at the Special Prosecutor. He hasn’t been paid for 16 months, and you are coming to me for a report. Meanwhile, no report has been laid here,” Mr. Iddrisu said.
Aspiring National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Organizer Mahdi Jibril argues that the best person for the job is someone who is well versed in the scientific approach to work and the data of electoral processes.
He believes there is no link between being the national organiser of the party and being physically fit.
“Being a national organizer has nothing to do with physique. People are of the notion that if you want to be a national organiser, you need to be well-built but they forget the position of the organizer is not about carrying timber and logs at the office. It is about the scientific approach to the work and the data. You are working with the voter register and the party register, and if you don’t understand the dynamics of this, then you will lose the election,” Mahdi Jibril exclusively told Boama Darko Isaac on Accra-based Original TV.
“You must be a credible organizer who can be trusted by all and is knowledgeable about electoral issues.”
Being the current deputy organizer of the party, he asserts that an organizer must be able to protect the ballot after voting and not only focus on getting people to turn up to vote. “The organizer must have electoral and research understanding, being abreast of electoral dynamics as well.”
Having shown direction and dedication in his capacity as a deputy national Organiser, Mahdi Jibril believes the party is deficient in organization and pledges to resolve that, leading the NDC to achieve victory in election 2024.
The Government of Burkina Faso has reportedly recalled its ambassador to Ghana over President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s accusations that the country is hiring Russian mercenaries.
According to security analyst Adib Saani, who disclosed this to GhanaWeb, the Burkinabe government has also summoned Ghana’s ambassador to Burkina Faso to answer questions about President Akufo Addo‘s comments.
BBC Journalist Lalla Sy, who confirmed the move by the Burkinabe government, said that Burkina’s ambassador to Ghana was recalled for consultation over President Akufo-Addo’s accusations.
Lalla Sy, in a report on the BBC website, on December 16, 2022, said that Ghana’s ambassador to Burkina Faso was summoned for a meeting on Friday morning over the allegations Akufo-Addo made.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on the US government to help deal with the threat of Russian mercenaries on Ghana’s border with Burkina Faso.
According to the president, Ghana’s security apparatus has noticed the activities of these Russian mercenaries along its borders in the north who have been contracted by the Burkinabe government.
Addressing officials of the US government, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, at a meeting in Washington, Akufo-Addo said that the Burkinabe government had contracted these mercenaries to help them fight Islamic militants in their country and is paying them by giving them a mining concession.
“I think that beyond everything, there is a matter that I want to urge upon you. Today, Russian mercenaries are on our northern border. Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in employing the Wagner forces there.
“I believe a mine in southern Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services. Prime minister of Burkina Faso in the last 10 days has been in Moscow. And to have them operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana,” he said.
The sixteen months’ salary owing to Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng, according to anti-corruption activist Vitus Azeem, poses a significant corruption risk.
The Minority in Parliament alleged that per documents available to them, the Special Prosecutor has not drawn a salary since he was sworn into office on August 5, 2021.
Speaking to Starr News, Vitus Azeem said this is a corruption risk that has to be addressed with the utmost urgency.
“I’m not surprised but it’s very unfortunate, what will be the reason? You appoint somebody and give the person an appointment letter and fix the person’s salary and for sixteen months you are not paying the person and you expect the person to be going to work. Is it that the salary has not been determined or there’s no money to pay? It is unfortunate but I’m not surprised because this is not the first time it is happening. We even have ministers coming out and saying we have not been paid, why it is so, I don’t understand. How do you expect the person to survive?
He added: “It is a corruption risk because if I don’t have money to spend and I have to pay my child’s school fees and then somebody comes to offer me money in the morning, I would be tempted to take it. So if the government is serious about the fight against corruption then it needs to do something about that practice.”
The Transport Ministry has asked commuters to anticipate lower transportation costs on Monday.
The announcement comes after a significant reduction in fuel prices.
Diesel is likely to be sold at GH¢15 per litre in the next pricing window on Friday, December 16, 2022, while the price of petrol is expected to drop further.
Deputy Transport Minister, Hassan Tampuli, in an interview with Citi News, said his outfit is negotiating for a margin that will be fair to both passengers and transport operators.
“We understand that the fares will definitely come down. It is the margin of reduction that we are still negotiating. We are waiting for the next pricing window on Friday [December 16, 2022].
“So when the new prices are announced, we will see the clearest picture and we will see the percentage margin for the reduction of fares. We do not have the full picture until the window opens on Friday. Hopefully, by Monday, the general public should see a reduction in transport fares”.
On his part, the General Secretary of the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU), Godfred Abulbire, assured the citizenry that some downward adjustments to transport fares will be announced soon.
“Once the fuel prices have come down, the fares will be reduced. The reduction is obvious. Fare increment is not in the interest of anybody.
“Today, what we have discussed is to arrive at the margin for reduction that the general public and operators will equally be satisfied with. So on, Monday, we will conclude on the actual margin,” Mr Abulbire assured.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called on the US government to help deal with the threat of Russian mercenaries on Ghana’s border with Burkina Faso.
According to the president, Ghana’s security apparatus has noticed the activities of these Russian mercenaries along its borders in the north who have been contracted by the Burkinabe government.
Addressing officials of the US government, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, at a meeting in Washington, Akufo-Addo said that the Burkinabe government had contracted these mercenaries to help them fight Islamic militants in their country and is paying them by giving them a mining concession.
“I think that beyond everything, there is a matter that I want to urge upon you. Today, Russian mercenaries are on our northern border. Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in employing the Wagner forces there.
“I believe a mine in southern Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services. Prime minister of Burkina Faso in the last 10 days has been in Moscow. And to have them operating on our northern border is particularly distressing for us in Ghana,” he said.
Akufo-Addo also stated that Ghana was against Russia’s occupation of Ukraine and the use of African countries as training grounds for foreign powers, particularly Russia.
“Apart from not accepting the idea of great powers once again making Africa their theater of operation, we have a particular position that you know about over the Ukraine war, where we have been very, very vocal and up front about condemning the invasion of Ukraine by Russia,” he said.
The National Communications Director for the opposition National Democratic Congress, Sammy Gyamfi, has denied being the owner of a multi-million dollar property in East Legon Hills.
Sammy Gyamfi was recently in the news for reportedly acquiring a fleet of cars and building the said mansion in the plush East Legon Hills area.
Some of his critics have questioned his source of income following the report.
But speaking in an interview on Onua TV, Sammy Gyamfi denied the reports.
“I am not the owner of any of those houses…” Mr Gyamfi said in an interview on Accra-based Onua TV on Wednesday morning (Dec. 14, 2022).
On the issue of him owning a fleet of cars, Sammy Gyamfi said he only owns a single Toyota Land Cruiser V8, which was gifted to him by an admirer of former President John Dramani Mahama.
The national communications officer said whiles has been a benefactor of many benevolent persons, he has never been a thief.
George Opare Addo, the NDC’s re-elected National Youth Organiser, has been quoted as criticizing Sammy Gyamfi over the alleged mansion.
Opare Addo, who was calling out Sammy Gyamfi for openly campaigning for his competitor in the party’s recently held youth elections, questioned his revenue source.
Meanwhile, former President John Dramani Mahama has called for a truce between the two party officials, who have been engaged in a series of media spats.
The Deputy National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Edem Agbana, has stated that there is no way the General Secretary of the party, Asiedu Nketiah, will apologise for speaking the truth.
Reacting to the recently leaked audio of the General Secretary, the young NDC executive member said that there is nothing new in what was said there.
He insisted that everything General Mosquito said in that audio is public knowledge and that even ahead of the 2020 election petition at the Supreme Court, it was made clear that the NDC did not have collated results to present in the court.
“What exactly was in the audio that was a top secret? When he was going to court, he was asked where his results were and he said he did not them available and that he was there to contest the results as declared by the Electoral Commission, and so if he comes to say we did not have collated results, what is so secretive about it?
“Everybody knows that we were not carrying our collated results and so he (Asiedu Nketiah) is working with the truth, and we know that our party members are seeing the things that are going on and they know that General loves to speak the truth and it can never affect our chances,” he said.
Speaking to the morning show host on Kumasi-based Oyerepa TV, Kwesi Parker-Wilson, ahead of the NDC’s national delegates congress, scheduled for Saturday, December 17, 2022, Edem Agbana said that being the typical truthful person he is, Asiedu Nketiah will never apologise.
He added that it is for this reason that he believes the delegates of the party will give their vote to him at the congress.
“In fact, if that audio has done anything, it has rather come to boost the morale of the NDC people to believe that General is someone who, even when things were so terrible, he sacrificed himself, went forward to go and testify; because of the NDC.
“Apologise for what? For speaking the truth? What should General apologise for; for speaking the truth? It is public knowledge and General will not apologise for speaking the truth,” he stated.
Asiedu Nketiah has indicated his intention to challenge the incumbent National Chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, for his position, after declaring that he will no longer contest for the General Secretary slot.
General Mosquito has been the NDC’s General Secretary for the last 17 years.
The Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons says government should be worried about the wild swings in the Exchange Rate.
“Volatility of this type is a sign of fever not recovery,” Simons tweeted on Thursday.
There is some jubilation on the streets as the Ghana Cedi surges against the dollar.
Bright Simons maintained “The people deserve this happiness after the stress of recent months.”
He also observed that the most intriguing thing about this trend, if it continues, is that “speculation becomes super-risky (if you sell, you will struggle to buy). This reduces turnover & suppress liquidity further reinforcing the trend.”
Interbank exchange rates announced by the central bank on Friday, October 16, 2022 saw the Ghana cedi continuing its steady appreciation on the forex market, selling at less than GH¢10 to the dollar.
The Central Bank is making earnest efforts to stem the local currency’s year-long spiral, with a range of measures including a crackdown on unlicensed black market sellers on the streets of Accra among others.
There were reports in the media space that the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is purported to have indicated that Pension Funds that are invested in Government Bonds may be affected by Ghana’s Debt Restructuring Programme.
The Ministry in its response earlier refuted the possible use of pension funds in the debt restructuring process.
However, on December 6, 2022, the Minister for Finance launched what it called ‘Ghana’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DEP)’. The Ministry admitted that Ghana’s Domestic Debt is unsustainable and the government may not be able to fully service its debt based on the existing agreement with bondholders. Hence the Debt Exchange Program (DEP) aimed to renegotiate the bond coupon rates and maturity periods.
Due to the possible negative impact the DEP would have on the adequacy of workers’ retirement income security (benefits levels), over 24 Worker Unions and Associations have opposed the inclusion of Pension Funds in the Debt Restructuring Program.
It would also seem the government and the MoF have not conducted any stress testing (as best practices require) to fully evaluate and appreciate the depth of injury the involvement of pension funds would inflict on the pension system and ultimately the socio-economic wellbeing of Ghanaian workers and retirees.
What is Debt Restructuring and Haircut?
A significant portion of Pension Fund Assets (workers’ contributions) is invested in government bonds under fairly agreed terms regarding coupon rates and maturity periods. The government is now in a financial crisis and seeks help from the IMF. The IMF says, as a precondition for a loan, go and restructure your debt profile (bring down your debt level). The government (not usually though) then tells Pension Fund Managers that she is in financial trouble and would not be able to pay the full value of their investments on the due dates and the interest rates, as was earlier agreed. She, therefore, intends to renegotiate new terms with existing bondholders essentially to reduce the debt (coupon rates) and extend maturity periods (haircut).
Policymakers sometimes need to be guided (using science and proper review of the literature) to improve the quality of public policies and their implications. The Team at the Africa Centre for Retirement Research (ACRR), therefore, finds it prudent and timely to contribute to the debate on the proposed involvement of social security assets (pension fund managers holding government bonds) in Ghana’s Domestic Debt Restructuring strategy as follows;
Firstly, workers under the current 3-Tier pension system are already facing significant investment risk. The required action is for the government to put in measures to control the investment risk borne by workers. One of the key findings of ACRR’s recent impact evaluation of the 3-Tier pension system revealed that about 81% of workers who retired in 2020 under the new pension system recorded Lump Sum shortfalls. Similarly, 61% of retirees in 2021 recorded shortfalls.
The shortfalls are attributed to low investment income and are rated to be persistent, widespread, and significant, and the social and economic impact on the retiring population is dire.
Secondly, the potential inclusion of pension funds in the debt exchange programme would reduce workers’ retirement benefits significantly. Under the 3-Tier pension system, the private Corporate Trustees and Fund Managers are responsible for paying Lump Sum benefits to workers upon retirement or invalidity or death. The value of the benefits at the point of retirement is the accumulated balance which comprises workers’ contributions and the investment interest. The quantum of the benefits is therefore directly linked with the investment performance of the scheme. If the Fund Manager records poor investment outcomes or losses, the same will reflect in the workers’ Tier2 and Tier3 statements and ultimately will result in low retirement income for workers, and vice versa. Workers’ retirement benefits under the SSNIT Scheme may not be affected as a result of the DEP (because benefits are determined by a formula) but it would affect SSNIT’s ability to pay benefits in the near future (which is a major concern). According to the DEP, as proposed by the MoF, there will be no interest payments in 2023, a 5% coupon payment in 2024 and, a10% coupon payment in 2025 and after. Fund Managers (provided this proposal is accepted and implemented) will simply transfer the new terms to the contributor – low-interest income and possibly could introduce inefficient benefit administration practices.
Thirdly, any form of involvement of pension assets in the DEP would certainly impose significant economic and financial disruptions to the pension system and ultimately, the socioeconomic wellbeing of the retiring population. Considering the quantum of pension funds invested in government bonds and other securities, nearly 80% of pension assets, estimated at 26 billion may be affected by the proposed haircut policy, and this could have serious implications for the overall Social Security Policy agenda.
Fourthly, the IMF Policy Paper ‘Issues in Restructuring of Sovereign Domestic Debt’, published in November 2021, have cautioned nations on the possible spillover effects of involving pension funds in the debt restructuring process. The IMF Debt Restructuring Framework indicates that spillover effects potentially could persist for many years and have dire economic implications on the social security policy targets and ultimately the wellbeing of citizens.
The IMF framework encourages clean, transparent, and thorough engagement with debtors and all stakeholders in the process.
Conclusion
It is important to note that Ghana is far from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals target in social protection. It is therefore critical that the government in its attempt to navigate out of the current economically challenging times will recognize the fragile nature of the 3-Tier pension system. The Ministry of Finance, as best practices require, in collaboration with all stakeholders and debtors needs to consider conducting a stress test to reveal the possible implications of including pension funds in the program.
In the meantime, we project that the adverse impact of including pension funds in the DEP will be immediate, Social Security might not be able to serve its purpose of alleviating old-age poverty because the spillover effect will be massive and the healing process will take longer. The level of impact on the retirement income security of citizens and the damage to the pension system may require a possible pension reform along the way to fix the disruption. To forestall undesirable early post-retirement mortality among the pensioner population, Worker Unions, Civil Society Organizations, etc. are encouraged to dialogue with the government with the main goal of excluding pension funds from the perimeter.
Chartered Economist Emmanuel Amoah Darkwa says it is too early for Ghanaians to be jubilating, over the recent appreciation of the Ghana cedi against the dollar and other major currencies.
The local currency is currently selling for just under 12 to one US dollar and the rate may even improve before the end of the day.
The cedi gained ground against the pound and the euro. It is currently trading at 15.10 and 12.50 to the other two major foreign currencies.
Several individuals, including appointees of government, are jubilating over the trend.
But Mr. Amoah Darkwa says we need not rush in jubilating since the trend could soon change.
The Chartered Economist explained on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm that the cedi would only be stable if the government implemented measures such as reducing the excessive importation of basic commodities.
”It is too early to jubilate. We have to wait and monitor. These are factors that are sometimes external.”
He said “the demand for the dollar has reduced whereas crude oil has is reducing and these are some the external factors but domestically, the Bank of Ghana introduced a policy that it would not support the importation of rice and other commodities we can produce in Ghana. In addition, the demand for the dollar to import has decreased. The regulatory side against the black market is on track.”
Mr. Enoch Okomfo Okonah, an economic analyst, has stated that securing a deal with the International Monetary Fund might not be the best solution to tackle the structural challenges confronting the nation.
Instead, he underlined the need for government to prioritise import substitution, saying that remained the surest and realistic intervention to address the country’s fiscal challenges to stabilise the economy.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mr Okonah, the Chief Executive Officer of DUMAT Africa, a policy think-tank said, “that notwithstanding our deal with the IMF may be protracted due to initial resistance from the labour unions”.
This could delay the final approval by the Executive Board of the IMF, a situation which could have dire consequences on the nation, and subsequently dwindle investor confidence too.
DUMAT Africa focuses on economic policy, governance, labour, and related issues.
Mr. Okonah indicated the nation’s economic challenges required a collective and concerted approach to tackle and called for divergent views from the business community, academia, and government critics.
Victor Smith, a former aide to late president Jerry John Rawlings has disclosed his willingness to repair the broken relationship between himself, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and the late president’s children.
Victor Smith laments that despite being close to them at the early stages of their lives, he is not on talking terms with any of Rawlings’ children including Dr Zanetor Agyemang Rawlings, the Member of Parliament for Korle Klottey.
He disclosed to Captain Smart on Onua TV that whiles he made up with JJ Rawlings before his demise, he still has a broken relationship with Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.
The former diplomat detailed what led to a complete breakdown in his relationship with the Rawlings family.
According to him, it was due to a lie someone told the family about him and he reckons Nana Konadu passed on the information to her children who also grew up with such a mindset of him.
He recounted how an investor, who later turned out to be a fraud, reached out to him about supporting the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
In the course of his interaction with the person, a request was made from the person that he (Victor Smith) make some payment to him (the alleged investor) to facilitate the process of getting the money but he (Victor Smith) realized it was a fraudulent scheme and said no.
Victor Smith claims the alleged fraudster travelled to Ghana and made some allegations against him to the Rawlings family and that led to the collapse in his relationship with the family.
“I still will like to be her friend. We still don’t talk at all. Even the children none of them wants to know me including Zanetor. Maybe an allegation was made against me on an issue. President Rawlings himself commented on it in Wa.
“Someone wanted to bring some money to him and the party but I told the person to give the money to Atta Mills. The whole story was not true. I wanted help for the party and I was talking to the person but that person turned out to be con person and he tried to extort money from me.
“I told him I don’t do that and he went behind me to tell Mrs Rawlings that I’m hinting that Rawlings will misuse the money and he got angry with it. That is when they planned to get rid of me. We meet at gatherings and exchange pleasantries, that’s all,” he said.
Victor Smith, however, disclosed that he made up with JJ Rawlings and said his side of the story before he died. He is looking for the same opportunity to speak to Nana Konadu and the children to bury the hatchet once and for all.
Victor Smith also opined he is not sure Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings would like to return to the National Democratic Congress.
Illegal mining, known commonly as ‘Galamsey‘ has been a major challenge facing Ghana with its dire effects on the country’s environment.
The serious threat posed by this phenomenon to Ghana’s environment including water bodies has compelled the government of Ghana to initiate a fight against it.
While a section of the population are blatantly against galamsey and have vehemently expressed their dissent to the development, quite a few individuals seem to be on the fence with respect to the menace.
A young man by name Kobby has narrated how his life ‘got better’ through galamsey as well as losing his best friend in the process.
According to him, he was working as a vulcaniser but the money he was earning from it was inadequate to cater for his basic needs. He then decided to venture into the galamsey business.
On his first day at the mining site, he realised the work was not easy but he had no option than to persevere through it.
He learnt on the job, the various types of galamsey including ‘bowhewe’ which literally means ‘dig and search’ in the Akan language, which is the one that involved excavators degrading the land.
“I did a couple of it but I mostly do the ‘bowhehwe’, the excavator one. I followed a friend but it didn’t work because it was dangerous for me and it was mostly owned by wicked Chinese with less money”, he said.
He revealed that on his first day, he earned only GH¢30 but was assured by some of his colleagues that his remuneration would increase with time and that encouraged him to put much effort into his work.
The highest amount of money he has earned from the business was GH¢1000 a day, which he said he saved it to further his education.
He also added that the galamsey business was a “dangerous” one that comes with a lot of problems including drowning and loss of lives especially those who engaged in underground mining as on some occasions, the top of the soil can break and cover your back.
Explaining how risky the underground mining was, Kobby recounted how he lost his best friend through it.
“He was my best friend. used to go underground with him. A very hardworking guy. We went underground for gold. I took the lead. When I got back, I was waiting for him at the entrance of the pit not knowing the soil collapsed n covered the middle way of the pit. I couldn’t find him afterwards. That was when I realized that my friend had lost his life” Kobby painfully recounted.
Kobby said that was when he advised himself to stay away from such a job and went into different ventures.
He pleaded with people having the intention of engaging in galamsey to stay away because it destroys the nature of the land and the loss of lives is terrible.
Parliament has approved GH₵618.2 million for the Ministry of Railways Development to run its programmes and activities for the year 2023.
The Ministry’s budgetary allocation for the financial year has seen a significant increase over the 2022 figure of GHS530.6 million, showing a 16.5 per cent increase.
Within the year under review, a total amount of GHS475.3 million was released with GHS419.96 million expended by the Ministry as at September 2022.
As regards the programmes and outlook for 2023, the Ministry in 2023 would continue to develop local human resources and technical capacity for the maintenance of the railway system.
This would be done by organising workshops and equipping the youth through practical hands-on training to create jobs and wealth to support the growth of the economy.
In 2023, the construction of the 22km Kojokrom-Manso section of the Western Railway Line and the 97.97km of the Tema-Mpakadan Line are expected to be completed and operationalised, being the first standard gauge railway line in Ghana.
Mr John-Peter Amewu, the Minister of Railways Development in moving the Motion on Wednesday, said the Ministry was working very hard to stop the encroachment on railway lands.
He noted that in the short to medium term, there was the possibility of linking the Western Railway Line, which was 35 to 40 per cent complete, to the Boankra Inland Port.
The Eastern Line, had, however, seen no improvement.
“On the completion of the Western Line, there is the possibility that we may move on through the Port of Takoradi to the Boankra Inland Port,” Mr Amewu said.
“So, that is what we are doing while looking to the long term of completing the Eastern Railway Line.”
Mr Kennedy Nyarko Osei, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport, who seconded the Motion, said the Committee noted the challenges of the Ministry with encroachment on lands earmarked for railway projects.
He said those challenges had financial implications since the Government had to compensate those encroachers when projects were being undertaken to get the right of way on its own land, which delayed the work.
Mr Osei, who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Akyem Swedru, said the Committee was concerned about the Ministry’s ability to take the necessary steps to protect all earmarked lands and properties from encroachment.
The Committee was informed about illegal mining (galamsey) activities, which were causing damage to railway infrastructure resulting in huge financial losses.
Mr Osei said the Ministry would require an estimated two million dollars to reclaim lands destroyed as a result of illegal mining activities.
He urged the Ministry to collaborate with the National Security and Lands and Natural Resources ministries, through Operation Halt, to curb the activities of galamsey operators.
Touching on the Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal, the Chairman said there was the need for a railway line from Boankra to be extended to the Tema Port to facilitate the transportation of heavy goods to the inland Port.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority Leader in Parliament, said Ghana must prioritise its railway development and ensure that adequate resources were allocated towards achieving that to improve the general transportation of persons and goods.
He suggested that with the annual amount that Parliament approves every year, the House should take a position and allocate $200 million for the next five years for anyone who would want to come and build the railway system.
Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the NPP Majority Chief Whip and MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, said it was time for massive investment in the railway sector to make it more vibrant.
Mr Governs Kwame Agbodza, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Roads and Transport Committee, and MP for Adaklu, urged the ruling NPP Government to give credit to the opposition NDC for initiating some development projects while it was in office, such as the Tema-Npakanda Railway Line.
The Africa Education Watch has petitioned Parliament to reject the allocation of GH¢1.8 billion made to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), a major education infrastructure financing facility in Ghana.
A petition to the leadership of Parliament stated that the group is guided by the GETFund Law, 2020 (Act 581) and the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Law, 2017 (Act 947).
According to Africa Education Watch, the sharp decline in the 2023 allocation raises serious concerns about the formula used in capping the GETFund in the 2023 budget, and whether it is in accordance with the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Law.
“Going by the 25% capping under the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act, 2017 (Act 947) and the history of allocations in line with same, we estimate that, at least GH¢2.7 billion, representing 60% of the total 2022 GETFund Levy accruals of GH¢4.6 billion should be allocated to the GETFund for 2023.
“The continuous decline in the allocation to the GETFund, amidst consistent increment in the GETFund Levy, remains a serious worry for stakeholders concerned about the widening infrastructure gap in the education sector, especially at the basic education level.
“As you may be aware, there are over 5,000 schools existing under trees, sheds and dilapidated structures, while 1.2 million children are not in basic school, among others due to the lack of public basic schools in underserved communities. The widening infrastructure gap constricts the realization of the objectives of the government’s free Compulsory Universal Basic Education under section 38(2) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
“It is therefore unfortunate to learn that, not only did the Finance Minister fail to uncap the GETFund, but this year’s allocation is the lowest percentage of accruals in the history of the Fund, raising questions about the legal basis for allocating only 39% of GETFund Levy accruals to the GETFund.
“As Parliament prepares to consider the appropriation estimates for the education sector, we are drawing the attention of the House to the requirements of 25% capping of GETFund viz the 61% of GETFund Levy accruals being reallocated to other sectors, leaving only 39% for allocation to the GETFund.
“Eduwatch calls on Parliament to reject the allocation and cause the Minister of Finance to review the weights applied in allocating the GETFund, in line with the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act, 2017 (Act 947), and the increasing infrastructure gap in the education sector, especially basic education.”
The Executive Director of the Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has described the payment of allowances to trainees at the Colleges of Education as a wasteful expenditure that must be scrapped with immediate effect.
Mr Asare said if the government intends to deliver on its 2023 budget policy then some wasteful expenditures must be cut.
According to him, the government is spending far more on Senior High Education to the detriment of basic education, a situation that creates a lacuna in basic school development.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion organized by the Citizen’s Coalition in Accra, Mr Asare noted that, much of the expenses done in the Education sector must be reconsidered taking into account the poor implementation and deficiencies that are impacting negatively the quality of education in Ghana.
“I think the budget failed to appreciate that there is a certain wasteful expenditure that should leave the education space, especially teacher trainee allowance. The government has repeated that it intends to spend 241 in 2023 to feed adult trainees who are in tertiary education and have the right to access student loans just like other tertiary students.
“In austerity, the government must be cutting down on wasteful expenditure and spending more on the vulnerable, we also don’t see more enhanced spending on Free compulsory basic education,” Mr Asare said.
Meanwhile, the Africa Education Watch has petitioned Parliament to reject the allocation of GH¢1.8 billion made to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), a major education infrastructure financing facility in Ghana.
“The sharp decline in the 2023 allocation raises serious concern about the formula used in capping the GETFund in the 2023 budget, and whether it is in accordance with the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Law.
“Going by the 25% capping under the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act, 2017 (Act 947) and the history of allocations in line with the same, we estimate that, at least GHC 2.7 billion, representing 60% of the total 2022 GETFund Levy accruals of GHC 4.6 billion should be allocated to the GETFund for 2023.”
Former President John Dramani Mahama has urged the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, and the newly-re-elected National Youth Organiser, George Opare Addo, to ceasefire on their public banters at each other.
According to him, the exchanges bring no benefit to the party but only serve as a distraction.
He therefore urged them to rather keep their eyes on the prize for the ‘Ghana we want’.
In a Facebook post, the former president shared two separate pictures that showed his engagements with Sammy Gyamfi and George Opare Addo.
“I’ve had meetings with our Youth Organizer and Communications Officer and agreed with them that the current exchanges must stop. It brings our great party no benefit and only serves as a distraction from the hardship caused by the reckless management of our economy.
Let’s keep our eyes on the prize for the ‘Ghana we want’,” he wrote as caption.
The two started their public exchanges just after the National Women and Youth conference that was held at the Cape Coast Stadium on Saturday, December 10, 2022.
Prior to the elections, Sammy Gyamfi openly campaigned for Yaw Brogya Genfi, one of the candidates in the race for the National Youth Organizer position.
However, the candidate, Bronya Genfi, lost by 25 votes to George Opare Addo.
Speaking in an interview after the elections, George Opare Addo expressed disappointment over Sammy Gyamfi’s position against him, adding that all efforts to reconcile with Sammy Gyamfi proved futile.
He also accused Sammy Gyamfi of being an influence peddler and questioned the source of his wealth.
Students of Mando Senior High Technical School in the Ajumako Enyan Essiam District of the Central Region, have bemoaned the poor quality of meals served to them during dining sessions.
According to the students, they used to be served quality meals in the past, however, things have changed now as they sometimes do not get served any meals during the weekends.
Speaking in an interview with Class FM’s Central regional correspondent, Nana Tawiah, some of the students explained: “Our dining situation is bad. In the mornings, we are served tea, for lunch ‘Egbeme’ and for supper, rice water. You can see the rice under the water, no sugar, so you have to take your own sugar.
“The tea is so light, if it pours in your uniform, you can use it to wash the uniform. The dining situation is very poor, so, we’re appealing to the government to come to our aid,” a female student explained.
Another female student said: “We haven’t been served any good food since last month”.
“The day we’ll get some solid food will be days they serve Kenkey, no fish; even if they add fish, the stew is more than water, one mackerel for two tables or 20 people. Even with that, it’s once in a while. The food is bad, and it’s insufficient.”
“We’re served only liquid food thrice a day, they must at least serve solids.”
Another female student indicated that due to the poor quality of meals served, the students fall sick frequently and have to go home.
“Sometimes, they give us tea in the morning, in the afternoon, too, when you’re expecting solid food, you get there and they ask you to go for your cups, they serve you tea again. In the evening, too, you get there and they serve you Oblayo or rice water, the rice water too, you can pour the water away and add pepper to it to eat. The situation is bad”.
“Mando Senior High Technical, we’re pleading with the government and the authorities, in the name of God to help our school. We’re suffering. There are some among us who do not have money, since morning they have been sitting around starving. The tea is so light, lots of people are falling sick and have to go home. We plead with the government to help us otherwise when school vacates and we go back home, we’ll not return to school again.”
The students also bemoaned the inability of some of their parents to understand their plights, as it is believed that the government is catering for them under the current free Senior High School (SHS) programme.
“Our mothers, too, think when you come to school, you eat well, so, when you call to ask them for money or bring you food, they’ll be saying, aren’t you the ones who are being catered for by the government, why again are you calling for food or money. They really do not understand our situation,” one of the students stated.
Another student added: “When we came previously, they used to serve us Jollof and sausage”.
“There’s no money; when you ask your mum for money, it takes about a week to arrive, when it comes too, you have a lot of bills to pay because you’re owing people and have to pay for the extra classes or that.”
The Sunyani High Court has issued a restraining order against the Constituency Executive Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Dormaa Central Constituency of the Bono Region.
Per the order of the High Court, all the twenty-four Constituency Executive Members in the Dormal Central Constituency have been barred and cannot participate in the National Delegates Congress which is scheduled for Saturday, December 17, 2022.
The restraining order comes after six aggrieved card-bearing members of the party in the Dormaa Central Constituency petitioned the court to seek two reliefs; “An order to declare the election of the defendants (Constituency Executives) as null and void and a perpetual injunction against the defendants from taking part in the National Delegates Congress.”
A portion of the statement of claim as granted by the court and sighted by this reporter reads:
“An order of a perpetual injunction restraining the 3rd-26th defendants from acting as the Dormaa Central Constituency Executive Members of the National Democratic Congress and also restraining the 3rd – 26th defendants from participating in the National Executive Congress taking part in the National Delegates Congress which would be held on the 10th and 17th December 2022 at Accra.”
According to Peter Mensah, one of the petitioners, they decided to seek redress in court after all attempts for the party to declare the fraudulent constituency election as null and void proved futile.
Citing the absence of the Electoral Commission to supervise and conduct the election, Peter Mensah maintained that, that proves that the purported constituency election contravened the party’s own stipulated guidelines.
“We have always maintained that the purported constituency election was fraudulently organized because the party’s guidelines mandate that the Electoral Commission should supervise the election but that was not the case. Sadly, all efforts for the right thing to be done proved futile so we went to court and we are glad that the court has spoken restraining them from carrying themselves as Executive Members of the National Democratic Congress in the Dormaa Central Constituency and by extension they cannot take part in the National Delegates Congress.”
Meanwhile, all efforts to speak to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the time of filing this report were unsuccessful but independent checks indicate that the restraining order has officially been on the National Democratic Congress (NDC), all Constituency Executive Members and Electoral Commission.
Bishop Matthew Gyamfi, president of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, has criticized CNN for a report that claims that it and other churches in Ghana received funding and foreign aid from organizations in the US, UK, and Europe that support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) activities.
In the report, CNN said the churches received not less than $5.1 million in monies from donors for development projects by or for the church but continued to promote no support for same-sex rights.
But speaking to GhanaWeb in a phone interview, the Catholic bishop wondered which aspects of human rights the church had trampled on and for what reason the CNN report would seek to impugn it for receiving donor funds from countries that support LGBTQ rights.
He also explained how it is that churches in Ghana receive such donations from foreign countries.
“We are not taking any money to promote LGBTQ but remember that the churches here- many of the churches, also have branches in the United States, in Europe, and elsewhere; and the church does charity work. Now, some of these branches take money from the government to add to what the church also has, and these governments help the church execute development projects and other issues in the country.
“So, it’s not a new thing for anybody to say… So, which human right did the church destroy; human rights approved by the United Nations… has the church frowned upon?” he quizzed.
Background
Find below the breakdown of the donations to the various churches cited by the report:
Import of the report?
The report, through its findings, sought to suggest that these churches in Ghana still benefitted from millions in Western aid despite having campaigned and strictly stated their stance against LGBTQ+ activities in Ghana.
CNN spoke to some foreign organisations who clearly stated their displeasure about the fact that donor countries who have widely indicated their support for human rights, gender diversity and sexual rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community are still making room to donate to churches and organisations in countries like Ghana who are against the same course.
Some leaders of these organisations who spoke to CNN said these as captured below:
“It’s like stating you’re going to go green and then funding the petrol industry,” said Neil Datta, executive director of the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights. Donor agencies need to be “more aware that sexual and reproductive rights are contested issues”, and make sure that “they are not inadvertently funding the organizations who are working against some of their other objectives,” he said, calling for stricter “background checks” on potential grantees.
“This reveals inconsistencies in the funding practices of major donors and implicates them as complicit in fostering homophobia and transphobia in Ghana,” said Caroline Koussaiman, executive director of the Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de l’Ouest (ISDAO), an activist-led fund supporting gender diversity and sexual rights in West Africa. “This is the antithesis of “do no harm” principles.”
“We need donors to support our struggles for liberation, and not directly or indirectly fund anti-gender movements which we know are extremely well resourced,” she added.
Foreign donations suggest fostering homophobia or transphobia?
CNN in its report also spoke to some of these foreign donors to enquire how that monies were still being sent to churches in countries that were homophobic.
This was despite its indication that these foreign donations cannot be said to be used for funding anti-LGBTQ activities but generally for developmental purposes.
“There is no indication the funding identified went to any explicitly anti-LGBTQI+ activities,” the CNN report said.
While some of these donors indicated that support had been stopped in that regard, some others said the funding was done under now-outdated guidelines.
Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for instance, told CNN it “is not responsible for the use of these [identified] funds,” saying they go directly from people’s taxes to different religious organizations that distribute the money for development work.
Below are some of the donations as listed by CNN’s report:
1. Citing the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) for instance, the CNN report said that more than $140,000 of taxpayers’ monies from the UK [which is a co-chair of the international Equal Rights Coalition, an intergovernmental organization that protects LGBTQI+ community members worldwide] was donated to the council between the period of 2018-2020.
2. CNN’s analysis also found that some other members of the Equal Rights Coalition — the US, Germany, and Italy — funded projects by or for some of these churches in Ghana that have opposed LGBTQI+ rights “before, during, and after they benefited from aid money”.
3. In 2018 also, £100,000 (about $130,000) of the UK taxpayers’ money went to the Christian Council with a stated goal of fighting corruption in schools, the report further stated.
4. The report also noted that the US federal government sent more than $13,000 to the Christian Council in January 2020, for a project to provide shelters to refugees at Krisan Camp in southwestern Ghana.
5. 208,000 euros (about $245,000) of German aid money went to the Christian Council between 2014 and 2018, via an intermediary called Brot für die Welt.
6. German as well as Italian aid also went to development projects run by or benefiting some individual Christian Council Ghana member churches including projects of Ghana’s Methodist, Evangelical Presbyterian, and Presbyterian churches who received at least $670,000 from these countries via intermediary religious NGOs between 2016 and 2020.
7. Germany, Italy, and the US have also funded projects by or benefiting the Ghanaian Catholic Church. German Catholic intermediary NGO, Misereor, disclosed spending 2.8 million euros ($3.1 million) of German taxpayers’ money on projects by the Catholic Church’s partner organizations in Ghana between 2016 and 2020. This included $127,000 that was spent on a project with a broad goal of strengthening strategy and management standards for the churches’ development work.
8. Despite pledges to protect the rights of sexual and gender minorities, US and European donors spent at least $5.1 million of taxpayers’ money on projects run by or benefiting Ghanaian religious organizations whose leaders have campaigned against LGBTQI+ rights.
9. Aid benefiting Ghana’s Catholic Church also included $850,000 from the US. Between 2019 and 2020 this money went to Ghanaian and US contractors for a project whose goal was to transition several dioceses of the Church to solar power.
Ghana and the LGBTQ+ Bill:
Ghana is currently working on a proposed bill – Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill proposed to introduce restrictions on LGBT+ activities in the country.
The Bill was proposed by some 8 Members of Parliament – Sam Nartey George, Della Sowah, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, Alhassan Suhuyini, Rita Naa Odoley Sowah, Helen Ntoso, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, John Ntim Fordjour in June 2021.
On 2 August 2021, the bill passed its first reading in the Ghanaian Parliament, being referred to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for assessment.
According to reports, after taking office 16 months ago, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng has not received compensation.
According to a report by myjoyonline.com, all the staff at the Office of the Special Prosecutor except for the Deputy Special Prosecutor have also not been paid all their salaries.
The report also indicated that documents available to JoyNews show that the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, is also owed arrears.
It added that the lack of payment has left the affected staff becoming agitated.
The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, according to a JOY FM document said that the situation is very worrying since the lack of payment leaves the affected staff in a vulnerable state, which might derail the fight against corruption.
Kissi Agyebeng, therefore, called on the government to put the necessary measures in place to ensure that his staff are given their compensation.
Kissi Agyebeng officially assumed office on Thursday, August 5, 2021, as the country’s second Special Prosecutor after being sworn into office by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor was established in 2018 by President Akufo-Addo as the gold standard and flagship specialized independent anti-corruption institution in the country.
Its main objective is to prevent, investigate, and prosecute corruption and corruption-related offenses, as well as recover assets that have been stolen from the state.
The definitions of “man” and “woman” in the Cambridge Dictionary have been updated to incorporate a new definition for those who do not identify with the sex they were given at birth.
Along with the definition, the dictionary also gave two examples to explain the meanings. For ‘man’, the examples read: “Mark is a trans man (= a man who was said to be female when they were born)” and “Their doctor encouraged them to live as a man for a while before undergoing surgical transition” or ‘woman’, the examples are: “She was the first trans woman elected to a national office” and “Mary is a woman who was assigned male at birth”.
Meanwhile, the first definition at the entry for woman remains unchanged and continues to be “an adult female human being” and man “an adult male human being.”
The previous definitions assumed that sex and gender identity always adhered to one another. The new definitions, however, are inclusive of trans people.
Speaking about these updates, a Cambridge Dictionary spokesperson told international media outlet; The Telegraph, that editors of the dictionary made the addition to the entry for woman in October 2022.
On the other hand, social media users have conflicting opinions about the most recent definitional adjustments.
Read some of the post below;
The Cambridge Dictionary just changed the definition of “woman.” Remember, if you can control the language, you can control the population.
Imagine inverting **the dictionary definition** of a term that defines half of the world’s population while simultaneously claiming cultural handicap. https://t.co/BJ45E0PsgM
I refuse to play along with this delusion. Airbrushed makeup, heels, fake breasts and an exaggerated valley girl voice impersonation does not make you a woman. The fact some people think it does is insulting. Stop erasing women. https://t.co/z1uSsoXtfT
Changing the meaning of words create a different kind of language. If a cat is now a dog, you just create a different reality where words stopped describing reality the way it is in order for you to control the narrative.
Changing the meaning of words create a different kind of language. If a cat is now a dog, you just create a different reality where words stopped describing reality the way it is in order for you to control the narrative.
I just read 1984 by George Orwell, the idea of controlling a population by limiting language is one of the big lessons in it. Scary to see it happening in real life. “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”1984
In retaliation over the confiscation of their cell phones, some second-year students at Sandema Senior High School in the Upper East Region set fire to some of the dormitories at their school.
According to Class 91.3 FM’s regional correspondent, Moses Appiah, the students were protesting against the head of the school’s cadet corps for seizing their mobile phones on campus.
In the process of the violent protest, the students went ahead to burn a building that houses the cadet accoutrements of the school.
The fire then escalated to other rooms including the school’s dormitory where the District Fire Service team came to the rescue.
The Upper East Regional chapter of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary School (CHASS), Richard Akumbasi, speaking after the incident noted that students’ indiscipline was becoming too much in the region.
According to him, just a few days ago, students of Kusanaba Senior High School and management were at loggerheads over where to hold an examination.
“It’s sad that each day we have to be talking about students and violence at the various schools.”
“Indiscipline is a matter of concern, and I think parents and stakeholders involved ought to find a solution to this.”
“What was it about with these students in Sandema Senior High School, just a seizure of a mobile phone?
And the students think that burning school property was the way to go.
Then, we are really in trouble as a society,” he noted.
Touching on the action taken by the school management against the students, the chairman indicated that the caretaker of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the region will soon set up a committee to investigate the matter.
“Currently, the caretaker director of GES will hold a committee meeting whether today or tomorrow Friday, December 16, 2022, to see the way forward.
“But for me, these students should be tasked to pay damage fees,” he suggested.
The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has given an explanation of his decision to resign from his position and run for the party’s national chairmanship.
Speaking in an XYZ TV interview monitored by GhanaWeb, Asiedu Nketiah said that he had served in the General Secretary position for too long and had to leave to give the youth of the party the opportunity to also serve.
He added that he took the decision to leave the general secretary position eight years ago but was persuaded to stay for the sake of the party.
“I have never believed that the chief executive of an organisation should be at post for too long. I consider 17 years (as General Secretary of the NDC) to be too long. I have demonstrated this all my life. I decided not to be a Member of Parliament again after three terms, not because somebody could have removed me but because I want to give the youth who had served me the chance to lead,” he said in Twi.
He added that many people in the NDC had previously told him that they have the dream of becoming general secretary, but they are not contesting because they do not want to challenge him.
Asiedu Nketiah also explained that people staying in political party positions for too long makes the party less attractive to the youth.
He added that, comparing the NDC to the NPP (New Patriotic Party), the youth in the NPP transition faster to top positions than their NDC counterparts, which makes them more attractive.
“Look at this young man who became the General Secretary of the NPP (Justin Kodua Frimpong). He started in the NPP just 10 years ago. So, if he started in the same university as NDC members and he, a TESCON member, has risen from president (of TESCON) to youth organiser and now to the national organiser of the NPP, the youth will be more attracted to the NPP because they will feel they progress faster there,” he said.
Some leading members of the NDC, including Ambassador Victor Smith and Kojo Adu-Asare, have suggested that Asiedu Ntetiah’s decision to challenge the current chairman of the party, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, is because he is bitter for not being chosen as the running mate of John Dramani Mahama for the 2020 presidential elections.
The party’s national elections are slated for Saturday, December 17, 2022.
Candidates will be contesting for various positions, including the National Chairman, National Vice-Chairmen, General Secretary, Deputy General Secretary, National Organiser, Deputy National Organiser, and the National Treasurer and Deputy National Treasurer.
Others are the National Communications Officer and Deputy, as well as the National Zongo Caucus Coordinator.
The current National Chairman of the party, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, is expected to face stiff competition from the outgoing General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, for the chairmanship position.
Former Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, has accused former President John Mahama and General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia of destroying the party, per the latter’s latest revelation.
According to Koku, the duo have abused the NDC constitution in their bid to control the party.
Mr. Asiedu Nketiah, who is challenging incumbent National Chairman Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo for the position, has revealed that there was some misunderstanding after former President Mahama through the former Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, proposed that the Director of Elections and Director of IT should be appointed after the presidential primaries.
He explained that the proposal was purposely made because the flagbearer should be able to have a say in who he would like to work with in that regard.
In the audio believed to have been leaked, Asiedu Nketiah said that the proposal did not go well with the National Chairman, Ofosu-Ampofo, who at the time expressed his displeasure.
Asiedu Nketiah also alleged that the chairman had also said that he could do as he pleased in his capacity as chair until the flagbearer election is held and John Mahama cannot stop him.
“Former President Mahama sent Julius Debrah (the former chief of staff during Mahama’s administration) to plead with the party leadership not to appoint a director of elections and a director of IT until the party completes its presidential primaries because the flagbearer of the party must have a say on who becomes the director of elections and the director of IT. As soon as Julius finished speaking, Ampofo said he considers the submission offensive to him and his authority as the leader of the NDC party,” Asiedu Nketiah alleged.
“Ampofo said that Mahama can only become the leader of the party after the flagbearer election has been held. Until then, he [Ofosu-Ampofo] remains the only leader of the party, and so he can do as he pleases as he [Mahama] cannot stop him because he [Mahama] is an ordinary party member of the NDC,” Asiedu Nketiah added.
Asiedu Nketiah explained that this comment caused some misunderstanding between the Mahama and Ofosu camps.
“The position of Ofosu-Ampofo brought about a serious misunderstanding at the meeting. The meeting thus became a fight between the Mahama faction and the Ofosu Ampofo faction. I [Asiedu Nketiah] sat down quietly and listened to all that was going on,” Asiedu Nketiah added.
But commenting on the matter on Kasapa 102.5FM/Agoo TV on Thursday, Koku Anyidoho stated that it’s important that Mr. Mahama and Asiedu Nketiah are stopped in their tracks now from further destroying the great NDC party.
“Look at what Asiedu Nketiah is telling us—that John Mahama sent Julius Debrah to the National Executive Committee (NEC) that they should reserve some positions and when he becomes flagbearer he will appoint those people. Since when? Which article in the NDC constitution gives that power to Mahama, who at the time was yet to be elected a flagbearer? I say confidently that John Mahama and Asiedu Nketia have destroyed the NDC. When I say this, I’m tagged as “anti-John Mahama. I’m not anti-Mahama; I’m pro-NDC and will always seek the interest of the party.”
“I didn’t see Rawlings abuse the NDC, I didn’t see John Evans Attah Mills abuse the NDC constitution. So why should I allow John Mahama to abuse the NDC constitution? Asiedu Nketiah in the tape was telling us that the 2020 election was for Mahama and so he had a right to make appointments in the party. Since when did an election belong to an individual and not rather for the party? Since when did the NDC election become John Mahama’s election? Mahama and Asiedu Nketiah have acted in ways that have destroyed the party, today, Asiedu Nketiah has exposed John Mahama and himself.”
Ghana’s first and current Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has expressed displeasure with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for escalating the party’s chairmanship election into an interethnic struggle.
The NDC is going to congress on Saturday, 17 December 2022, to elect national officers ahead of the 2024 elections. The chairmanship position is being keenly contested between the incumbent Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo and the current General Secretary Johnson Aseidu Nketia.
Their campaigns, Mr Amidu believes, are turning tribal and, thus, feels disappointed with the turn of events.
In an article, the former Attorney General said the founder of the NDC, the late President Jerry John Rawlings, and the late Justice D. F. Annan who co-chaired the meeting at the Bluegate to agree to form the NDC, were not ethnocentric or tribalistic.
He noted that the introduction of the ethnic and tribal element in the Chairmanship election of the NDC is a dangerous development that does great damage to the image of the late President Jerry John Rawlings and the late Justice D. F. Annan a few days before the celebration of the ideals of the 31st December Revolution.
He said such actions by the NDC can only aid President Nana Akufo-Addo’s long game for the 2024 election to install his preferred candidate as President of Ghana on 7 January 2025.
“We founded the NDC in 1992 for the grassroots citizen. Do not betray the people and the 31st December Revolutionary cause,” he urged the leadership of the party.
Below are details of the article:
NDC CHAIRMANSHIP ELECTION – MERIT OR TRIBALISM: BY MARTIN A. B. K. AMIDU
The resemblance between the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) appears to have become indistinguishable to the extent that the leading members of the NDC appear to have turned the contest for the Chairmanship of the NDC into an ethnic conflict for supremacy. As a foundation member of the NDC who was in the room when Mr Justice D. F. Annan advocated for an umbrella party to bring together all those diverse group of people from other political traditions and the revolutionary ranks who could not join an Nkrumaist formation political party which was in the works by another member of the PNDC, I was shocked to hear the incumbent Chairman of the NDC pleading his ethnicity as a qualification to be maintained as the Chairman of the NDC.
It is a shame that the National Democratic Congress which we founded and nursed to represent the 31st December Revolutionary tradition has now been reduced to the politics of ethnic arithmetic.
“I’m an Akyem, and I become the national organiser of the party. Do you know what I have suffered as an Akyem person to become NDC chairman or organiser? …Today, go to Kyebi and see; my hometown is Asikam, the next town from Kyebi. Roads are constructed in Kyebi, and the construction stops just at the border of my hometown. Not even one asphalt road has been constructed in my hometown…. (Samuel) Atta Akyea (Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South) distributed streetlights and when it got to my mother’s downtown, Akyem Adukrom, they did not even get a light because they vote for the NDC.”
The incumbent NDC Chairman is reported to have said that his citrus plantation was burnt after the 2000 elections and he was nearly assassinated when he was running to become the Member of Parliament for the Fanteakwa Constituency in 2004.
Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo should be appreciated for his commitment and dedication to the NDC over the years but that should not be based on his ethnic origins.
Other committed members of the NDC have died since 1992 for belonging to the National Democratic Congress, the latest being about eight dead in the 2020 elections.
They did not die because they were Akyems or of any particular ethnic or tribal stock.
There were so many Akyems who pitched their camp with the NDC or an NDC affiliate party in the Progressive Alliance since its inception such as Dr Adjei Marfo, the late Mr Fred Ohene-Kena of Kukurantumi, the late Mr Danny Ofori-Atta and Mr Owuraku Amofah of Ofori Panin Fie of Kyebi itself, and others, out of volition.
My disappointment in the banal level to which the NDC Chairmanship election campaign had sunk was aggravated when it was reported that the former Eastern Regional Minister and native of Kukurantumi, Mr Victor Smith, had said that he and other leading members of the party, including ex-President Mahama, advised Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah not to challenge Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo for the chairmanship position since it might create unnecessary tension, but he refused to listen to them. As if this was not enough side-taking by a senior member of the NDC, he added that:
“When the General Secretary called me one evening and indicated that he wanted to contest for the party’s chairmanship position, I told him that he was going to cause trouble in the party. But the general secretary told me that he had already made up his mind…. I told him that his move would lead to people spilling out some secrets, but he did not listen. John Dramani Mahama and the party leaders advised him not to contest, but he said he had already decided and it was a democracy.”
The message which Mr. Victor Smith sought to convey by his interview apart from carrying the ethnic undertones of the messenger’s own place of ethnic origin also implicitly sought to inform the public that John Dramani Mahama does not support Mr Aseidu-Nketiah’s bid to become Chairman of the NDC in the upcoming elections.
Mr Smith is simply urging Mr Mahama’s supporters to vote against Mr Aseidu Nketiah.
Mr John Dramani Mahama has insinuated that he does not have any preference amongst the candidates contesting for executive positions but one of his ardent supporters just openly contradicted him in favour of the retention of the incumbent Chairman at the upcoming elections.
Then comes a National Vice-Chairman of the NDC openly taking sides in the upcoming Chairmanship elections in a manner which leaves one in doubt whether he understood what he was saying when in the teeth of Mr Ofosu-Ampofo’s plea of his ethnicity as an Akyem as one of his qualifications, Mr Said Sinare said:
“The national chairman that our party, the NDC, needs for the battle in 2024 must be a man who has been de-tribalised, a man whose humanity, humility, philanthropy, and respect for everyone, regardless of tribe, religion, or political affiliation, define him. a man who truly embodies national harmony and puts his party’s interests first…. Voting against Ampofo will be the biggest political blunder or treason our party will ever commit.”
Having worked as the General Secretary of the NDC for seventeen years, Mr Aseidu Nketiah is entitled to contest for the ultimate position of Chairman of the NDC.
Mr Aseidu Nketiah was also entitled and deserved as of right to have wished to be nominated to be the Vice-Presidential candidate of the NDC in the 2020 elections and committed no sin for that wish.
In any case, why single out Mr Aseidu Nketiah, out of the three contestants seeking to replace the incumbent Chairman of the NDC?
How does the publication of leaked audio recordings attributed to Mr Aseidu Nketiah help the NDC as part of spilling secrets after the Chairmanship elections?
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo, Mr Aseidu Nketiah, Nii Armah Ashitey, and Mr Samuel Yaw Adusei who are contesting for the NDC Chairmanship position need a level playing field to enable each of them to convince the delegates to the NDC conference of his merit and what he brings to the table so that the delegates may choose who they think can best serve the interest of the NDC.
The plea of Akyem ethnicity by Mr Ofosu-Ampofo is negative electioneering and sins against the 31st December Revolution tradition.
The interventions by leading members of the NDC who should not openly be taking sides in the electioneering with ethnic undertones as the qualification for election as the Chairman of the NDC is also doing and will do more damage to the Congress we founded in 1992, going forward.
The founder of the NDC, the late President Jerry John Rawlings, and the late Mr Justice D. F. Annan who co-chaired the meeting at the Bluegate to agree to form the NDC were not ethnocentric or tribalistic.
The introduction of the ethnic and tribal element in the Chairmanship election of the NDC is a dangerous development that does great damage to the image of the late President Jerry John Rawlings and the late Mr Justice D. F. Annan a few days to the celebration of the ideals of the 31st December Revolution.
It can only aid Nana Akufo-Addo’s long game for election 2024 to install his preferred candidate as President of Ghana on 7 January 2025.
We founded the NDC in 1992 for the grassroots citizen. Do not betray the people and the 31st December Revolutionary cause.
As part of the overall strategy to prevent accidents, especially during this festive season and beyond, the Police have introduced an initiative to check the insecure loading of vehicles across the country.
The initiative, dubbed Operation PAILES (POLICE ANTI-INSECURE LOADING ENFORCEMENT STRATEGY ) is aimed at ensuring that cargo carting trucks do not take goods beyond their legally permitted limits, a practice that has become one of the major causes of accidents in the country.
According to the Police, following a piloting of the strategy in the Eastern Region over the past three months leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of over 50 insecurely loaded trucks (pictures attached), the implementation of the strategy is being rolled out across the country.
“As part of the implementation of the strategy, the Police are engaging relevant stakeholders such as the cargo association, charcoal, and timber drivers unions across the country to educate and caution them on the dangers associated with insecure loading and the need to adhere to the required legal loading limits,” a statement issued by the Police said.
“We would like to take this opportunity to urge the public to support us in our efforts to ensure strict compliance with the Anti-Insecure Loading Enforcement Strategy to make our roads safe and secure during this Christmas season and beyond,” it added.
Beginning on Friday, December 16, 2022, the cost of petroleum goods will drop significantly, according to IES projections.
The IES indicates that the expected fall follows the continuous appreciation of the cedi against the US dollar in recent times and the continued price falls recorded on the international market over the first pricing window.
The cedi’s appreciation against the US dollar currently stands at 6.60 percent.
Resultantly, new prices are projected to be at about GH¢13 and GH¢16 per litre for petrol and diesel respectively while Liquefied Petroleum Gas is expected to sell at GH¢12 per kilogram.
“With the continued price falls recorded on the international market, consumers are set to see further price relief at the pumps. The Institute for Energy Security (IES) predicts that on the back of 9.02%, 8.08% and 7.38% fall in prices of Gasoline [petrol], Gasoil [diesel] and LPG respectively, the domestic OMCs outlets are set to reduce their prices further”, the IES said in a statement.
World fuel market
The global Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) Platt averages monitored over the last pricing-window indicate that the price of petrol continues to fall, with price in the period under review dropping by 9.02 percent from US$838.78 per metric tonnes to US$763.10 per metric tonnes.
Diesel prices also further dropped by 8.08 percent from US$969.70 per metric tonne to US$891.30 per metric tonne. LPG price also followed in same direction, falling by 7.38 percent from US$618.20 per metric tonne to US$572.58 per metric tonnes.
The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) has announced measures to help curtail road crashes ahead of the Yuletide.
The Authority says it is bent to pool resources with the police to enforce the law, stressing that drivers who drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs will be arrested and prosecuted.
Ghana is among the African countries grappling with road traffic crashes.
Statistics available at NRSA indicate that Ghana has recorded an 18 per cent reduction in road crash fatalities as compared to the same period in 2021.
A total of 2,171 persons have died through road crashes between January and November 2022 as against 2,654 deaths recorded in 2021 within the same period.
This represents a decrease of 9.85 per cent.
The Authority has revealed that a total of 10,628 vehicles have been involved in road crashes within this period.
Head of Corporate Affairs Pearl Adusu Sateckla, speaking in an interview on Onua TV, said there had been reduction with all other indicators, including injuries and pedestrian knockdowns.
She reaffirmed the Authority’s determination to apprehend and prosecute adamant drivers who drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs to serve as a deterrent.
“We have arranged with the police to deal drastically with reckless drivers especially those who drink and drive in this yuletide and beyond.
“We will deploy our men together with police personnel(s) on the streets and any driver detected to be drunk or driving under the influence of a strange substance will be made to face the full rigour of the law,” she reiterated.
Ms Adusu Sateckla expounded that the Authority recently launched an initiative dubbed ‘Metwi a, mentwa — I do not drink and drive’ aimed at reducing the incidence of drunk driving through education to commercial drivers, passengers and road users.
She underscored that the NRSA has done enough to curtail road crashes and fatalities through its campaigns and would not renege on its responsibilities to upend accidents this yuletide.
She thus appealed to drivers to be responsible and heed to directives and similarly urged pedestrians and other road users to desist from crossing the road indiscriminately.
Government says persons believed to have caused financial losses to the State leading to the banking sector clean-up will be duly prosecuted.
Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah maintains, bank owners such as Dr. Kwabena Duffour of uniBank and Kofi Amoabeng of UT Bank and others will be prosecuted in order to recover monies misspent.
This comes after an Accra High Court changed its position and accepted the GH¢90 million repayment terms for a restitution deal between state prosecutors and Ato Essien, the embattled founder of now-defunct Capital Bank.
The Bank of Ghana revoked the licenses of nine banks during the financial sector clean-up.
They included UT Bank, Capital Bank, Sovereign Bank, Beige Bank, Premium Bank, The Royal Bank, Heritage Bank, Construction Bank and uniBank.
Some former officials of these banks are facing several charges over their purported culpability in leading to the collapse of the financial institutions.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Citi News, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah confirmed that, government’s quest to retrieve the monies and prosecute all other suspects is on course.
“Some of them are in court now facing prosecution. UT Bank is in court now. For uniBank, there are some people in court now same as Beige Bank”, he emphasized.
“We are also looking at the Savings and Loans and Microfinance Companies. In fact, EOCO and other investigative bodies have done so much and extensive work on these institutions. So we are preparing the dockets. Our mission is to prosecute and possibly recover”, the deputy AG continued.
In a related development, the second and third accused persons in the Capital Bank case, Tetteh Nettey and Rev Fitzgerald Odonkor respectively have been acquitted and discharged by an Accra High Court.
The two were both charged alongside the founder of the defunct bank Ato Essien.
With that same case that the Court reconsidered its decision on the GHC 90 million deal between founder of capital bank Ato Essien and the State, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah argued that the funds were state funds as the defunct capital bank has been taken over by the state and state funds expended to pay the monies of depositors.
Earlier, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Justice of Appeal, sitting as an additional High Court Judge, rejected the agreement, indicating that the amount agreed to be paid was not good enough, and adjourned the case to December 13 for the parties to address the court on the legal basis of the terms of the agreement.
A former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP), Joseph Saaka Akati, has been reported dead.
According to myxyzonline.com, the former MP for Bole-Bamboi died on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, in Accra.
The body has been flown to Bole and arrangements for the funeral will be communicated later, a family source indicated, according to the report.
Akati won the Bole-Bamboi seat with 11,452 votes in 2008, succeeding John Dramani Mahama who was contended with the late John Atta Mills for the
presidency that year.
That was when he began his political career, representing his constituents in the 5th parliament.
A Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Paul Afriyie has been declared bankrupt by a court after it emerged that he indebted to the tune of £1.7 million.
Afriyie, despite being a Brit was born to a Ghanaian father and British mother but grew up in Britain largely under the guidance of his mother.
His indebtedness according to the BBC is in two parts, an amount of around £1 million is owed to state-run HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) whiles £700,000 is owed to Barclays bank.
A bankruptcy order was made against the MP at a hearing in the Insolvency and Companies Court on Tuesday, a B0BC report added.
Afriyie is Windsor MP on the ticket of the governing Conservative Party, he had already announced he would be standing down at the next election, saying with Brexit “concluded” it was the “right time.”
Afriyie reacts to bankruptcy
Afriyie said of the court order that it was “a stressful time”.
“This has been ongoing for many years following business failures some time ago.
“I am ultimately responsible for some of the bank borrowing through personal guarantee. I’ve been trying to sell our home and downsize for some time, but it’s a tough market.
“It’ll be tough for a while, but I’m far from the only person in a difficult position, and I will continue to do my best to support my constituents until the next general election when I’ll be standing down.”
The BBC report added that the embattled MP had asked for the court proceedings to be adjourned until March arguing he would be able to pay off his debts by selling off a property.
About Adam Afriyie
He was born 4 August 1965 in Wimbledon, London to an English mother and a Ghanaian father, growing up in a council estate in Peckham.
He has been an MP since 2005 and has along the way held a number of cabinet portfolios.
He attended the local Oliver Goldsmith Primary School as well as Addey and Stanhope School in New Cross, before earning a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Wye College in 1987.
Afriyie has seven half-siblings and one brother. He said of his upbringing: “I never knew my father until I was much older and my mother, Gwen, brought us up alone. She was my rock, the gel at the centre of my life, although her tumultuous relationships with different men made for a constant state of flux at the boundaries of our family.”
The Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Isaac Adongo, has said that despite the government’s announcement of the $3 billion contract with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), nothing meaningful has been accomplished as of yet.
The legislator for Bolgatanga Central Constituency said, the government can only be excited about the IMF deal on Staff-Level Agreement if the relevant stakeholders/bondholders agree to sign up for the Debt Exchange Programme.
Some stakeholders such as the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNMA), Ghana Medical Association (GMA), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Ghana Securities Industry Association (GSIA), amongst others, had kicked against the move by government to touch their pension funds.
Reacting to the IMF deal on Eyewitness News, Mr. Adongo said, the difficult part is not the pronouncements by the government on the deal, but achieving debt sustainability is the most important thing.
Isaac Adongo said, “nothing has been achieved on the Debt Exchange Programme. This is nothing more than an outline of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU is saying that we do agree that given your circumstances, you need to get debt sustainability, and that has not been achieved”.
He observed that no Ghanaian has signed up for the Debt Exchange Programme, advising the government to work hard to get all stakeholders to sign up for the programme.
“To date, not even a single bondholder has signed to the Debt Exchange Programme, so there’s really nothing that has been achieved on Debt Exchange Programme. Nothing concrete has been achieved. The most difficult part is how we get Ghanaians and non-resident holders to sign up for government’s policy on the Debt Exchange programme.
“The banks are quietly disagreeing, Ghana Securities Industry Association say they disagree and won’t sign up to the programme in its current form, Trade Unions are saying that their pensions are already perilously low, and so they don’t want to further aggravate the pensions difficulties of their workers, and so they disagree”.
He said government should ensure that the debt sustainability is achieved in a way acceptable to both government and stakeholders.
“The difficult part is not the pronouncements that we agree to achieve debt sustainability, but how do you achieve debt sustainability in a way that stakeholders are able to work in path with you, a policy acceptable by both parties. That’s the most difficult part government must deal with,” Mr. Adongo said.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta at a joint press conference with the IMF officials on December 13, 2023, said, “against the backdrop of Staff Programmes, Ghana is indeed blessed to conclude our Staff Level Agreement within 5 months. This is historic in recent times relative to what we witnessed with Zambia, Chad and Ethiopia”.
The Minister added, “Ghana stands ready to complete all Prior Actions before the end-March 2023 but more importantly, Ghana is committed to the IMF Programme as a whole. The SLA is only one aspect of the approval process. More is yet to be done to secure IMF Management and Board approval. We hope that Ghanaians will continue to support all efforts to restore macroeconomic stability and promote robust and inclusive growth”.
“We are confident as a resilient people, and we shall rally to support this great enterprise, to restore macroeconomic stability and promote robust and inclusive growth. The world is looking at us, and I know we can do it,” Mr. Ofori-Atta stressed.
The Interim Council and Management of the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC) will on Monday, December 19 unveil its new logo.
The logo unveiling ceremony will be held at the North Dzorwulu Campus of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).
UniMAC is the first public university established by an Act of Parliament, Act 1059, which merges three specialised institutions namely GIJ, Ghana Institute of Languages (GIL) and National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI).
After the Council’s 6th Regular Meeting last month, Rector of GIJ Professor Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo was appointed Vice Chancellor of UniMAC.
His appointment took effect from Thursday, December 1.
Prof. Eric Opoku Mensah was appointed the acting Rector of the GIJ to replace Prof Kwansah-Aidoo.
Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP) and flagbearer hopeful for the New Patriotic Party, Kennedy Agyapong has declared that he is not desperate to become president.
The lawmaker who is into business and media has stressed that he will, however, not settle for a vice presidential slot if he fails to achieve the ultimate goal.
He explained that mush as he wants to serve society through politics, he won’t function properly if he has a boss who doesn’t share his vision.
“The truth is, I am not a politician who feels that without becoming president I will die. I have enough to live on and so I am here to serve but to want to serve with a vision and there is someone ahead of me who doesn’t share my vision, I prefer to stay away.
“Because if I say this is what I have experienced and want to change and I have gone to the remotest part of India … where common sugarcane is being leveraged on to generate even electricity.
“If I say we should use sugar and its extractives to generate electricity but if your president doesn’t share your vision and wants to suppress me with English, English, I won’t get that patience,” he told a gathering on his ongoing tour of the United States.
He formally launched his flagbearership campaign over the weekend reemphasizing how he would turn around Ghana’s economy.
He reiterated boosting mechanized agriculture and tourism as the main drivers of the economy if he realizes his dream of becoming president.
With respect to tourism, Agyapong harped on the need to leverage on Ghana’s coastline to attract tourists especially with the castles and other monuments dotted along the coast.
Agyapong is hoping to succeed president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as leader of the NPP going into the 2024 elections.
Prominent names that have popped up in the race include: Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, and Agric Minister Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto – none of them have officially declared their intent.
Kennedy Agyapong and former NPP General Secretary Kwabena Agyei Agyapong as well as one-time Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko, have publicly declared their intention to run for the position.
Newly reelected National Youth Organizer of the Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) George Opare Addo has openly asked his fellow Executive Sammy Gyamfi to explain his source of wealth.
According to George Opare Addo who won reelection with a slim margin against Yaw Brogya Genfi, he considered the contest as him against “that Airport Hills small boy” Sammy Gyamfi and not Brogya, Opare Addo said on Live Radio with Mugabe Maase.
Mr. Opare Addo later dared Sammy Gyamfi on air to explain how he owned the plush property.
“As for this election, it was that Airport Hills small boy I contested not Brogya, I said today I will mention names… I contested Sammy Gyamfi and I won. He is a small boy. There is nothing he can match me on, I have lived life well. He is a small boy.” Pablo said.
Sammy Gyamfi openly campaigned for his friend Yaw Brogya Genfi to be elected National Youth Organizer but lost by 25 votes at the just ended Women and Youth elections of the party. Opare Addo was not happy with Sammy Gyamfi and said Sammy Gyamfi has become an obstacle he has to deal with.
“Yes, Sammy Gyamfi has now become an obstacle and in my way and this my second term I will not joke! I will cut away anybody who stands in my way as an obstacle. It is only action that we will see. Action action action….” Opare Addo said.
Popularly known as Pablo, the reelected NDC youth leader asked that Sammy Gyamfi explains how he built a house at Airport Hills and what work he does.
“Mugabe, ask Sammy Gyamfi how he built a house at Airport Hills, what work does he do?” He asked.
Opare Addo revealed previous reconciliation attempts he made with Sammy Gyamfi that failed.
“I called him twice for us to meet at my Dzorwulu office, ask him. He was at peace FM. I called him to come for us to sit and talk so that we can work together. So what is my crime?” Opare Addo revealed.
“I told him (Sammy Gyamfi) that the situation where he passes the other way when I pass one way will not help the party and I want is to work together to bring NDC to power, ask him if I am lying” Opare Addo revealed.
A former national organizer for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Yaw Boateng Gyan, has urged the NDC’s leadership to refrain from supporting candidates in elections.
He claims that supporting one’s favourite candidate has done more damage to the party than good and for that matter electorates should choose whom they want as their leader, and not personal ties to candidates should determine the outcome of elections.
“I will not allow them to seal my mouth, I will say what I feel will help the party… the elders should stop being behind and rooting for some candidates… we won’t allow anyone to take the party as their bonafide property,” he said in Twi.
Speaking on Okay FM’s ‘Ade Akye Abia’ show on Tuesday, December 13, 2022, the astute NDC member stated that the election’s credibility has been compromised if the national executives are endorsing the many candidates running in the various contests; especially the recent NDC national conference held at the University of Cape Coast. He advised the national executives to publicly refute the fact that they all had no involvement in the election.
“All the elders, from former President to former National Executives, they should all come out and defuse the notion that they support a particular candidate… Hanna Bissiw (Women’s Organiser) even tells me what is happening, the hatred is too much, how?” he added.
The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has retrieved thirty-seven vehicles suspected to have been stolen from the United States of America (USA) and Canada.
The exercise which was carried out in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), was based on an intelligence-led operation.
In a press statement, EOCO said these vehicles were retrieved from some garages in Ghana, on December 9, 2022 and the suspects have since been questioned and granted bail.
“The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has, in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), carried out an intelligence-led operation for the retrieval of various specifications of luxury vehicles suspected to have been stolen from the United States of America (USA) and Canada.
“On Friday December 9 2022, thirty-seven (37) of such vehicles were retrieved from some garages in Accra during which ten (10) persons were arrested. The suspects have since been questioned and granted enquiry bail,” the statement further added.
EOCO’s statement comes following allegations by some importers of used vehicles that the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) and National Security unlawfully raided their garages and seized their cars.
The importers claimed that over three hundred vehicles belonging to their members were taken from them to an unknown location by EOCO.
The union had given a three-day ultimatum for government to put on hold the exercise or risk forceful retrieval of their cars even if they are auctioned.
“Even if it has been alleged that the cars have been stolen, to us we know we are not selling such cars. The cars that we are selling were completely bought. We ship them from America and Canada. We clear them here in Ghana, we have all the necessary documents to support whatever we are saying.
“We are only sending a signal to government that what they are doing does not help us as business people,” General Secretary of the Union, Clifford Ansu said, as quoted by myjoyonline.
Cristiano Ronaldo has responded to claims that he threatened to walk out on Portugal after being left out of the starting line up for the first time at the World Cup.
“I would never turn my back on my colleagues and my country,” he said in a statement following the team’s shock quarter-final defeat to Morocco.
The exit on Saturday had been the second time in succession that the 37-year-old had been dropped to the bench.
There had been suggestions following the last-16 clash with Switzerland that he had implored head coach Fernando Santos to let him go home.
But Ronaldo has now said in response that it was “not worth reacting to heat”.
“I was always one fighting for the objective of all and I would never turn my back on my colleagues and my country,” he said in a translated social media post. “Not much more to say for now.”
Ronaldo’s Portugal career appears to now be hanging in the balance. His club prospects are also uncertain after Manchester United tore up his contract over comments he made in an interview with Piers Morgan.
Against Morocco, he had exited the field in tears on Saturday, taking a final stoic glance at the crowd before cupping his hand and heading down the tunnel in tears.
“Winning a World Cup for Portugal was the biggest and most ambitious dream of my career,” he wrote.
“I fought hard for this dream. In the five appearances, I scored in World Cups over 16 years, always by the side of great players and supported by millions of Portuguese. I gave my all. Leave it all out on the field. I never turned my face to the fight and I never gave up on that dream. Sadly yesterday the dream ended.”
In a hint that this international career may be drawing to a close, he added: “The dream was nice while it lasted…”.
Ronaldo holds the world record as the all-time overall leading scorer in international play with 118 international goals in 196 matches. He is also a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, the recipient of four European Golden Shoes and has seven league titles under his belt.
Ronaldo is still deciding on his future, with a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia to weigh up in the coming days. He did not return to Lisbon on Sunday, with the Portuguese FA announcing only 14 players would be returning to the nation’s capital following the defeat.
Alongside the former Manchester United forward, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot, Ruben Neves, Rui Patricio, Raphael Guerreiro, Rafael Leao, Joao Cancelo and Maheus Nunes, were also planning to travel home independently.
Of the initial 26-man World Cup squad, Danilo Pereira and Nuno Mendes had already withdrawn through injuries.
What happened? The Selecao entered that tournament as favourites to claim a sixth global crown, but their quest for more major honours came to a close at the quarter-final stage when suffering a penalty shootout defeat to Croatia.
There have been suggestions that Neymar, who is now 30 years of age, may have graced such a stage for the last time, but iconic countryman Ronaldo believes the Paris Saint-Germain forward will add to his haul of 124 caps and pull clear of Pele as his nation’s all-time leading goalscorer.
What they said:Ronaldo has told AP: “I think Neymar is very upset with the result of the World Cup for the Brazil national team. It’s normal that he’s feeling that way for now, but I’m also sure that he will come back stronger and continue playing with the national team. He’s still young… I think he can play the next World Cup.”
The bigger picture: Neymar, who has never won a senior international title with Brazil, is level with Pele on 77 goals at the top of a notable scoring chart and Ronaldo sees enough determination in the talented playmaker to suggest that he will want to go on to 2026. The two-time World Cup winner added: “I’m very happy that he showed the world a commitment for the last six months, for the Brazil national team. He behaved himself. He took care of himself. And he played a good match, the first match. He got a very strong tackle on his ankle. He made a huge sacrifice to play again for the national team. He played very good in the last match. I think he’s very important for us. So I hope that [he] gets well soon and back strong in the football world with PSG and the Brazil national team.”
The National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has explained what led to the confusion during the women and youth leadership elections at the party’s 10th Women and Youth Conference at the University of Cape Coast.
Speaking in an interview on Power FM, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, George Opare Addo, who is popularly known as Pablo, said that the election was delayed because of issues surrounding the eligibility of some of the delegates who were to take part in the elections.
He explained that there were issues with some delegates who had been barred from taking part in the elections by court orders, as well as the leadership of student groups that had intentionally not held their elections.
According to him, there was a court order barring three executives from the Eastern Region, the regional youth organiser and his two deputies, from taking part in the election, but his opponent was saying that all the executives from the region, including the constituency executives, were not to take part in the elections.
He, however, indicated that the issues raised were resolved with the help of the party’s lawyers, who were present, and the organisers of the conference, allowing the elections to continue.
“They made a lot of demands, which I accepted; my only demand was that I was not going to accept their move to exclude executives from three constituencies in the Eastern Region because they were misinterpreting the court order.
“And that one was based on facts, law. Because the law did not say that they should not be allowed to vote. The law stated those who were barred from voting, and they were the regional organiser and his two deputies,” he said in Twi.
He added that in the Greater Accra Region, some of the names on the voters’ registers had to be taken out, and the two parties to the youth elections came to an agreement for the elections to proceed.
Pablo was the eventual winner of the NDC’s youth organiser position, but the election was marred by violence.
The Ghana Police Service has even declared 16 people who were involved in the violence during the election, wanted.
Energy Minister Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh has reaffirmed the government’s resolve to save the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) from collapse.
According to him, during the launch of the Revenue Protection Task Force, revenue leakages and unfavourable tariff regimes posed threats to the survival of the company.
“If NEDCo were selling maize, every month, it buys and transports 100 bags of maize to Tamale but is only able to account for 52 bags; in spite of this, it has to continue to go and buy another 100 bags in the next month. Clearly, Ndana, if this is not checked, sooner than later, we would not have any NEDCo in the area and by extension, there will be no national grid; I am very sure that that is the last thing we would wish for even our worst enemies,” Dr Opoku Prempeh said at the palace of the Overlord of Dagbon Yaa Naa Abdulai Andani.
Under the instruction of the Energy Ministry, the management of NEDCO is taking steps to plug revenue shortfalls, including the deployment of smart pre-payment meters, which are less prone to manipulation and power theft.
He noted that the predicament of NEDCO has been “further worsened by the current tariff regime which sells electricity to NEDCo at 50.28 GHp/kWh but enjoins them to sell the same energy to lifeline customers at 41.91 GHp/kWh. What aggravates their woes is that, of the 82.46% of their customers who are residential, as much as 46.81% are lifeline customers so their losses amass even before they start selling the power”.
While bemoaning the challenges being faced by NEDCO, the Energy Minister disclosed that a similar task force under the directive of the Ministry of Energy, the Electricity Company of Ghana, has made some significant loss recoveries.
He prevailed upon the Overlord to lend support to the task force to carry out its mandate in the area.
“Your Majesty, by this singular act, it is our humble view that you would be demonstrating the highest traditional support possible for this drive to ensure the sustainability of electricity distribution in the north. Ndana, furthermore, may I ask humbly, that as the Overlord of Dagbon, to whom we all defer, you kindly consider making a public statement in support of the mass installation of the pre-payment meters,” he added.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, has conferred a Sergeant rank on the police officer who was injured in a shoot-out with some armed robbers in Accra.
The officer and his team were following intelligence on some criminals who attacked a woman and robbed her at Caprice, a suburb of Accra, on Friday, December 9.
Two of the robbers were killed in the crossfire while one was arrested.
But one police officer, a corporal, suffered multi-fragmented fractures to the bone of his right thigh after exchanges with the robbers in their hideout.
The injured officer was immediately rushed to the hospital, where he has been receiving treatment.
He is billed to undergo surgery.
On Monday, December 12, Interior Minister Ambrose Dery visited him at the hospital.
A statement issued by the Ghana Police Service on Tuesday commended the injured officer and the other members of the operation team for “the role they played leading to the arrest of one of the robbers and the death of two others”.
The statement, signed by Grace Ansah-Akrofi, the Director of the Public Affairs Directorate, said adequate provision has been made under the Police Emergency Medical Intervention Fund (PEMIF) to provide him the best medical care in Ghana or any part of the world.
The Accra High Court has cleared and freed two defendants who were on trial with William Ato Essien, the founder of the now-defunct Capital Bank.
The two are Fitzgerald Odonkor, Managing Director (MD) of the bank, and Tettey Nettey, the MD of MC Management Services, a company said to be owned by Ato Essien.
According to the court, the second and third accused persons were found not guilty of the crimes levelled against them and have therefore been acquitted and discharged.
The presiding judge, Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, said that Ato Essien committed the crime and used the two accused (Fitzgerald Odonkor, and Tettey Nettey) without their knowledge.
On the other hand, the founder of now-defunct Capital bank, William Ato Essien, pleaded guilty to charges of misappropriation of depositors’ funds and other counts of stealing, abetment to stealing, conspiracy to steal and money laundering, among others.
This was after the court accepted the terms of agreement reached between lawyers of Mr. Essien and the prosecution to pay a total of GH¢90 million as refund to the state.
He was subsequently convicted on his own plea pursuant to the agreement by the parties.
The prosecution, represented by the Deputy Attorney General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, explained to the judge how they arrived at the GH¢90 million amount.
According to him, investigations conducted by the state showed that some GH¢65 million and GH¢35 million belonging to Capital Bank were used by another company; Capital African Group, to acquire shares in Capital Bank.
Upon realising this through its investigations, the prosecution said the share acquisition was reversed and the money was retained by Capital Bank.
These amounts formed part of some GH¢192 million the accused persons have been charged with and therefore, the share acquisition was revoked and the amount retained.
The prosecution further noted that the total amount from these two transactions was GH¢100 million and therefore the outstanding amount out of GH¢192 million currently stands at GH¢92.
The three were slapped with a combined 23 charges of stealing, abetment to stealing, conspiracy to steal and money laundering among others.
Brief facts
The prosecution, led by the then Attorney-General (A-G), Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo, accused the four people of engaging in various illegal acts that led to the dissipation of the GH¢620 million liquidity support given to Capital Bank by the BoG between June 2015 and November 2016.
It is the case of the A-G that Essien, with Odonkor’s aid, transferred the liquidity support to certain companies either controlled by him or in which he had interest.
She said, an amount of GH¢130 million of the liquidity support was transferred to MC Management Services, which was later presented to the BoG as the initial capital to set up Sovereign Bank, another bank in which Essien had an interest.
The A-G further alleged that between June and October 2015, Essien, aided by Odonkor, appropriated GH¢c27.5 million of the liquidity support by carrying it in jute bags.
“The money was purportedly used as payment for business promotion,” she told the court.
The AG also accused Essien of giving some liquidity support to his cronies in the form of a loan to be used to buy shares in Capital Bank.
Acquittal
Initially charged with (Essien, Nettey and Ordonkor) was Madam Kate Quartey-Papafio, whom the A-G had said as part of the scheme to further dissipate the GH¢620 million liquidity support, Essien transferred GH¢70 million of the money into her bank account at Cal Bank.
The prosecution further accused Ms. Quartey-Papafio of trying to withdraw the money in 2017, even though she was aware that Capital Bank had collapsed and was in receivership.
The withdrawal, the A-G submitted, was, however, prevented by the receivers of Capital Bank.
But, after the prosecution had closed its case after parading 16 witnesses, she was acquitted and discharged by the court upon its ruling on submission of no case.
In a ruling on July 8, 2021, Justice Kyei Baffour held that the prosecution failed to establish any prima facie case against Ms Quartey, to warrant her to open her defence.
He ruled that there was no evidence that showed that the businesswoman intended or acted in any way to steal money from Capital Bank.
According to the judge, the businesswoman only acted as a trustee for another person who wanted to purchase shares from the bank but had no knowledge that the said money was part of the liquidity support.
Also, the court held that the said money (GH₵70million) was still in the custody of the Consolidated Bank and had not been appropriated or stolen by the businesswoman.
“A prima facie case has not been established against her. Rather she acted childish in the deal. The law does not punish the fool but the one with evil intention,” the court ruled.
The presiding judge was Justice Eric Kyei Baffour, a Justice of the Court of Appeal sitting with additional responsibility as a High Court judge.
The case, which started on October 15, 2019, ended on December 13, 2022.
