The Police in Tema say they have arrested a 25-year-old auto electrician as a key suspect in the murder of 32-year-old Rosemond Nyampong, an employee of Stanbic Bank, Accra. The suspect, Abraham Baah Kwame Oyortey, has subsequently been remanded into police custody after he was arraigned before the Tema Magistrate’s Court on December 10 on a provisional charge of murder.Abraham Baah Kwame Oyortey was arrested from his hiding at Krobo Odumase in the Eastern Region.The police also retrieved the Toyota Yaris car with registration number GT 5333 – 10 belonging to the deceased and her three loud speakers that also went missing from the murder victim’s residence. According to the Tema Regional Police Public Affairs Officer ASP Olivia Turkson, the family of the deceased reported the incident to the police on November 21, when the body of Rosemond Nyanpong was found lying prostrate in a pool of blood in her kitchen at her Kotobabi No. 2 residence near Batsonaa on the Spintex Road.She said the body of the deceased was conveyed to the Police Hospital for autopsy.  ASP Turkson said the Tema Regional Police Command instituted immediate investigations into the incident which led to the arrest of the suspect who lived in the neighbourhood of the deceased. Listen to Police ASP Olivia Turkson.ASP Turkson said upon further interrogation, the suspect mentioned two other accomplices whose names the police are withholding to aid investigations.She said when asked to lead the police to the houses of the accomplices, the suspect led the police to a big neem tree at Achimota in Accra where he claimed was their meeting place.ASP Turkson said the suspect was subsequently searched and the three speakers identified to belong to the deceased were retrieved.The suspect will return to court on December 23.The Daily Graphic on Thursday reported the callous murder of the young woman, who was said to live alone.

  More than GH¢30 million worth of advertising transactions has been placed online in the last six months despite complaints of economic slowdown. The recession is accelerating the migration of advertising spending to digital technology - from more traditional media such as print, radio and television advertising to online, according to online experts. Mr Kwabena Opoku-Boakye, Marketing Manager for the free classified website, Tonaton.com, said the Internet was widely perceived as a cheaper and easier way of finding lower prices and bargains in most sectors, especially on the property market. Experts say the annual value of the Ghanaian online advertising is set to reach GHc 200 million by the year 2015. Internet access According to him, the growth in Internet access and users making more regular and expensive purchases online meant the trend would continue. His company, Tonaton.com, has drawn more than 101,000 classified ads since it entered the Ghanaian market in April this year. “We have a rollercoaster of a year ahead, but even in tough economic conditions, marketers still recognise the value, accountability and measurability of online advertising." He forecast that online retail transaction sales would reach more than GH¢ 100 million or US$40 million by the close of 2014. Mr Justin Mawuli, a blogger and online advertising shopper, said the tough economic times had led to a significant fall in TV, radio and print advertising spending, which saw it being overtaken about a year earlier than most had expected. He said  Ghanaian Internet users now spent an average of 12.3 hours a week online, compared with 11.3 hours watching TV, and 4.4 hours reading newspapers or magazines. As a result of this increased Internet usage, 36 per cent of people who go online spend less time looking at the television as a result. Mr Mawuli, who has done an extensive research on online usage, said search engines would continue to dominate online advertising spending, followed by display advertisements and e-mails. E-mail campaigns, classified adverts, display ads and search marketing are all classed as online advertising, he said. “There is encouraging growth in online advertising but in many cases the revenue is not going to be enough to sustain content-based sites”, he stressed. For officials of Tonaton.com, the trendy free classified online website has put in a lot of effort in getting to where it is now.  “Tonaton.com is now the largest online classifieds website in Ghana, making it the fourth biggest local website according to Alexa.com”, Mr Opoku-Boakye. Since its launch in April this year, Tonaton.com has been visited by over 2.4 million unique visitors. This confirms Tonaton.com’s status as one of the fastest growing websites in Ghana. Competitive advantage He said the website’s foremost competitive advantage, among others, was that it had a customer support team in Ghana which manually reviews all the ads that are posted on the site. This, he said, had helped to keep a clean inventory and to keep up the fight against fraudsters who invade online websites to perpetrate fraud on the general public. The website’s marketing manager confirms that as of  October 21,  2013, rival competitor, Google Trader, had dispatched emails to its users that effective  November 11; the site would no longer be available for posting new ads or reposting existing ads. All ads were to remain on the site till they reach the expiry period after which they would no longer be available. The Country Manager of Google, Ms Estelle Akofio-Sowah, confirms in an interview that the withdrawal of Google trader from the provision of free classifieds ads platform was to enable the online search engine space to focus on its core business and allow Tonaton to take up the local market with its free online portal. “This move is to allow us to focus on providing a global digital technology platform to subscribers worldwide and allow Tonaton.com and others to do what they know best”, she said.  One of Tonaton.com’s main features is the sorting of ads according to geographical areas and prices, allowing for easy browsing and locating of goods and services at the consumer’s preferred price and area.  With this easy to use interface and hassle free posting system, Tonaton.com has drawn more than 101,000 classified ads since it entered the Ghana market. The value of these ads is estimated at GH¢ 10, 167, 666 million   (US$ 4,374,514,648) which represents about 5.2 per cent of the country’s GDP, which is estimated at US$42.4 billion, according to the IMF.  Trends elsewhere in Europe The annual value of pan-European online advertising is set to reach 16bn euros (US$22bn; £10.8bn) by 2012, more than double that of 2006, says a study. The report by research body Forrester said online adverts would leap to 18 per cent of market share, up from nine per cent currently. It said 52 per cent of people were now regularly online, spending more time doing so than watching television. The UK will continue to see the most online advertising in the next four years, ahead of Germany and France. European Internet users now spend 14.3 hours a week online, compared with 11.3 hours watching TV, and 4.4 hours reading newspapers or magazines, the research group said. As a result of this increased Internet usage, 36 per cent of people, who go online, said they spent less time looking at the television as a result. The report said search engines would continue to dominate online advertising spends, followed by display advertisements and e-mails. Online advertising spending in the UK has overtaken television expenditure for the first time, a report has said. Online spending grew by 4.6 per cent to £1.752bn in the first half of 2009, while TV spending shrank 16.1 per cent to £1.639bn. Overall advertising fell 16 per cent compared to the same period in 2008 said the study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Water Resources Commission (WRC) has asked owners of disused dams to decommission the dams to avoid disasters. The Coordinator of the National Dams Safety Unit (NDSU), Dr Bob Alfa stated that unused dams posed great danger to the life and property of settlements around them.Decommissioning dams means gradually letting water out of the dams and demolishing them afterwards.Dr Alfa noted that there were currently 240 major dams in the country that could cause serious damage in case of a break.Many other smaller ones, he said, were yet to be captured on their database.These dams, he indicated, belonged to water companies, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Volta River Authority, mining companies, district assemblies and communities.Dr Alfa said apart from the big companies which have rehabilitated their dams and maintained same, most of these dams were in a deplorable state.Many of them he added, were managed by unqualified persons.He said that the lack of qualified persons in charge of dams in the country gives cause for grave concern. Dr Alfa said it was time to give dams in the country the needed attention to ensure that possible disasters were minimized.Stakeholders are at a meeting at Agona Swedru to finalize a draft regulation on Dam Safety.The regulation is to standardize the design, construction, maintenance and operations of dams in the country.The NDSU would also develop the legal framework for operating of dams, ensure training of personnel for dam operations and create a database for all dams in the country.Dr Alfa noted that though dams posed a serious threat to society and a dam break could cause serious damage to life and property, the operations of these dams were not regulated.The Acting Secretary of the WRC, Mr Ben Ampomaa said the final draft of the regulation would soon be presented to parliament so it undergoes the required to become law.

The Eastern Nzema Traditional Council in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region has donated Information Communication Technology (ICT) equipment to the Ellembelle District Police and the Nzema East Municipal Police commands. The two commands received desktop computers and printers worth GHC12,000.Speaking at a durbar of chiefs and queens of the traditional area, Awulae Amihere Kpanyile III, Paramount Chief of the Eastern Nzema Traditional Area who presented the equipment on behalf of the traditional area said the presentation was in honour of a pledge the chiefs and queens made to the two police commands sometime ago.He said in this technological age it was necessary for the police to be technologically inclined in order to effectively fight crime in the 21st century.He said instead of keeping information on paper, it would be much better to keep them in a digital form to make accessing and sharing of information less cumbersome and less-time consuming.Awulae Amihere Kpanyile III said a computer consultancy firm would soon be contracted to set up a secure centralized computerized network in the Ellembelle District that would gather information from all the police stations in the district.This, he said would aid the work of the district police commander to quickly and efficiently access information from all the police stations under his command within the shortest possible time.Receiving the ICT equipment on behalf of the beneficiaries, the District Police Commander of Ellembelle, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) John Vordzorbge expressed his gratitude to the traditional council for their kind and thoughtful gesture.He promised the traditional council that the ICT equipment would be put to good use to improve the security in the district.

  A three-man delegation from the Swedish automobile company, Scania, is currently holding discussions with some public transport operators for the provision of buses for urban and inter-city transport in Ghana. The group is also exploring ways to establish its West Africa hub in Ghana to service its West African market with the provision of services such as bus system expertise, fleet management and custom-tailored buses and engines. Currently, the Scania group is inspecting the BRT routes and terminals between Amasaman and Accra Central. This is to provide the team an insight into the system and afford it the opportunity to provide both buses and technical services for the operations of the BRT by next year. Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Chief Executive who also doubles as the head of the implementation committee of the BRT in Accra, said the Bus Rapid System (BRS) was interested in initially securing 86 buses  for its Amasaman and Accra routes. He added that the visit of the team was useful, as  the assemblies, who were the managers of the BRT, were developing business contracts with bus operators who would provide buses to operate the BRT system. The Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, held a meeting with the Scania Group and managers of BRT, Metro Mass Transit Company Limited and Intra City STC Company as a follow-up to a request made by President John Dramani Mahama during his state visit to Sweden recently where he urged the managers of  Scania to explore opportunities of sharing their wide experience with Ghana in the provision of effective and efficient public transport. According to the minister,  the move had become necessary and urgent because the government wanted to facilitate the provision of convenient and efficient public urban transport system in the country. She said this must be done with buses that would provide comfort and would also be reliable; adding that such a system would encourage people with even white colour jobs to patronise public transport. She explained that the move would reduce the number of private and mini buses on the road which would lead to lower traffic congestion, less pollution of the environment and to enable the country to make savings on its fuel imports. The leader of the Scania team, Dr Anders Folkesson, explained that the company had financing component which included operational leases, financial leases, hire purchases and insurance solutions. He added that the company also provided other services such as bus system expertise, fleet management and custom-tailored buses.  

  The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts is collaborating with the National Theatre Company to organise the first ever ‘Gift for the Season Bazaar’ from Thursday, December 13 to Sunday, December 15 at the National Theatre, Accra. The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Ms Abla Dzifa Gomashie, said in a statement copied to the Daily Graphic that, “The bazaar is to raise awareness of the need to buy made-in-Ghana arts and craft products as gifts during the festive season”. She said the event was also aimed at inculcating in children the culture of patronising locally produced artefacts. The event will be held jointly with this year’s Accra International Children’s Arts Festival (Kiddafest 2013).  A special ceremony will be held at 3:00 p.m today at the National Theatre, to officially open the bazaar. “The ministry hopes to institutionalise this bazaar as an annual event and use it as a catalyst to instil in Ghanaians the taste for locally produced products, especially artefacts,” the deputy minister said.  The event is also to serve as a platform to showcase, market and encourage the public to patronise products of the creative industry. Interested exhibitors are to contact the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and the office of the Aid to Artisans, Ghana (ATAG) for registration.  

  An operation, dubbed “Operation let traffic flow”has been launched in Accra to ensure traffic flow in the national capital. The operation, to be jointly undertaken by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the Dade Kotopon Municipal Assembly, the Motor Traffic and Transport Authority (MTTA) of the Ghana Police, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and the Department of Urban Roads, has been necessitated by public outcry on long hours spent in traffic. Launching the operation, the Chief Executive Officer of AMA, Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, said ‘Operation let traffic flow’ was an initiative to reduce the traffic congestion confronting the city, especially during the festive season.  According to him, some roads in the city would be opened to drivers to provide alternative routes to ensure accessibility and a traffic-free drive during the Christmas season. In addition, other roads would be converted to one-way lanes to serve a similar purpose. Also, traders on the principal streets of Accra would be evicted from Monday to ensure free flow of traffic. The operation would also embark on towing of all illegally parked vehicles on the streets to bring sanity and ensure an incident-free Christmas. Key streets for the operation  Key areas identified for the operation include the Winneba-Mallam Junction Road, Nsawam-Ofankor Road, Madina-Adentan, Tetteh Quarshie-Spintex-Accra Polo Court, Danquah Circle, El-Wak, Airport bypass and Danquah- Oxford Street. Other roads are Independence Square, John Atta Mills Street, Asafoatse Nettey Street to Korle-Bu Traffic Light, Beach Road Independence Square-Kpeshie Bridge) and Giffard/Burma Camp Road.  Towing centres  According to Dr Vanderpuije, towing of illegally parked vehicles would be carried out at Accra West area, Oxford Street, Kwame Nkrumah Circle Avenue, Kojo Thompson Road, Nsawam Road, “37” and Legon. Other streets are Adentan, La and the Central Business District (CBD). He also indicated that the one-way lane plan would be implemented on the North-Kaneshie Road to reduce traffic on the North Kaneshie highway. On measures to ensure a successful implementation of the operation, Dr. Vanderpuije explained that the assembly would embark on an exercise to educate road users. Traffic lights would also be installed at Kaneshie First Light to Mpamprom to help with the implementation of the one-way lane scheme. Also, bollards, durablocks, road signs and reflective studs would be placed at the various locations to aid in the exercise.   

  Organised labour has scheduled a meeting with officials of the Fortis Private Equity Fund next week to discuss matters relating to the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortis. The intended meeting forms part of consultations being made by organised labour for it to take a position on the sale of bank. Already, organised labour has held separate meetings with the staff of Merchant Bank to understand their concerns as well as officials of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to understand the position and role of SSNIT in the transaction. Consultative meetings According to the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah, organised labour would engage other independent stakeholders and civil society groups which opposed the sale of the bank in order to get varied opinions on the transaction. “The case is now in court and so we are being guided by our lawyers, as we don’t want to be in contempt of court,” he added. He said the sale of the bank involved many technical details which needed much scrutiny and consultation. Mr Asamoah debunked media reports that the TUC had representation on the Merchant Bank Board, explaining, “We rather have representation on the board of SSNIT.” Some civil society groups have questioned the silence of organised labour on the sale of Merchant Bank.  Background  Merchant Bank, which was owned by SSNIT, was sold to Fortis in a deal approved by the Bank of Ghana, but the deal has generated some controversy. The Centre for Freedom and Accuracy, headed by Mr Andrew Awuni, has filed a writ at the Commercial Division of the High Court challenging the sale of the bank.   Mr Awuni is further seeking an order of the court requesting Parliament to institute an inquiry into the sale of the bank to Fortis. In his statement of claim, Mr Awuni said the deal purportedly entered into between Fortis and the government of Ghana, with the tacit approval of the Bank of Ghana, was not good enough and amounted to short-changing the taxpayer and contributors whose money SSNIT invested.  

    There is growing controversy between some food experts and civil society organisations (CSOs) over the introduction of genetically modified (GM) food into the country. While officials at the Microbiology Division of the Food Research Institute (FRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) contend that there is nothing wrong with GM foods, CSOs have advised the government not to take hasty decisions on the adoption of such food. According to the Head of the Microbiology Division of the FRI, Dr Margaret Ottah Atikpo, GM food was not injurious to human life. Dr Atikpo is also the Focal Person for Ghana on the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAM). In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, she said there were no known risks such as cancer, allergies and infertility associated with the intake of GM food in the countries where they were commercialised. She stressed that “GM foods are safe... So there is no cause for alarm, no fears for the ordinary Ghanaian”.  Dr Atikpo said cancer could be caused by the over-use of pesticides and chemicals by farmers.  “Sometimes our farmers even taste the pesticides to find out if the mixture is good to spray. Sometimes they use the pesticide containers to store water to drink,” she explained. The Biosafety Act Dr Atikpo said those practices were what could cause cancer and infertility, not GM food, which reduces the use of pesticides. In addition, she said, GM food assured of bumper harvest, compared to non-GM food. She said the Biosafety Act, which was passed in 2011, paved the way for the introduction of GM food in the country and, therefore, dismissed claims that the Seed Breeders Bill was linked with GM food. “The Seed Breeders Bill has nothing whatsoever to do with GM food. It is to protect the breeders and bring royalty to the breeder and the country,” she explained. She announced that with the passage of the Biosafety Act 2011, the country had already started confined field trials of GM cotton in the three Northern Regions. Confined field trials Dr Atikpo explained that “confined field trial is when, as you investigate the GM crop, you confine it in a location away from human beings and animals in order to manage the risk, so that it is safe for use”. She said the position of CSOs, whom she described as anti-GM, was unfortunate and advised the anti-GM campaigners to liaise with scientists and not go read any literature and use that to confuse farmers. Dr Atikpo indicated that GM food could reduce poverty, increase food production and improve the livelihood of the farmer. She advised against politicising agriculture and urged Ghanaians to trust the country’s scientists, saying that “scientists don’t just go to the laboratory to forge results”. Rebutting Dr Atikpo’s submissions, the Executive Director of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge for Organisational Development (CIKOD), Mr Ben Guri, cautioned the government not to rush into adopting GM food. Mr Guri, whose organisation collaborates with Food Sovereignty Ghana, insisted that there was scientific proof that there were long-term side effects of GM food on human beings, adding that Europe had banned all GM foods. He insisted that there were long-term risks, including infertility, cancerous cells and high level of allergies. Supporting his claims with documents, Mr Guri stressed that it was important for scientists to educate people on both the benefits and side effects of GM food for the public to make informed decisions. Need for amendments Commenting on the Biosafety Act, 2011, Mr Guri said the act lacked some important and necessary provisions, such as the need to clearly label GM food. He said the authorities needed to also ensure that in the cultivation of GM crops, contamination or commingling of the crops with non-GM crops was prevented.    

  President John Dramani Mahama Wednesday stated that it was a humbling experience to walk past the body of President Nelson Mandela who lived an accomplished and selfless life for all Africans. "This experience demonstrates to African leaders not to pay lip-service to his ideals but learn from his principles and perseverance that took him to those levels before his death," he said. President Mahama, who was speaking to journalists after he had filed past Mandela’s body at the Union Building in Pretoria, said Mandela believed in forgiveness, which should serve as a guiding principle for all African leaders. He was accompanied by Ms Hannah Tetteh, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration; Mr Mark Woyongo, the Defence Minister; Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress; Mr Larry Gbevlo Lartey, the National Security Coordinator, and Mr Lee Ocran, Ghana's former High Commissioner to South Africa. A number of African leaders, including the Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; the Southern Sudanese President, Salva Kiir; a former South African President, Thabo Mbeki; former President Jerry John Rawlings of Ghana, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, were also at the Union Building to pay their last respects to the late global icon. Union Building renamed after Mandela The Union Building where President Mandela’s body is currently lying in state will be renamed "The Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre” after his burial at his village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape. Mandela’s death on Thursday, December 5, has attracted hundreds of mourners from all over the world to South Africa. He will be buried at Qunu, where he grew up, on December 15 to climax his funeral celebration. President Mahama said he had learnt a lot from the late Mandela, especially his selfless and forgiving attitude, which the President said had won Mandela international recognition. "We have learnt a lot from him, especially the beauty in forgiving even his bitterest enemies and the assertion that South Africa belonged to all those who lived in it, irrespective of their creed,” he added. The President said Mandela's death symbolised shared roles in society, as knowledge was not reposed in only one single individual, and entreated everyone to play his or her part in the development of Africa. "Mandela’s death marks the end of the long walk to freedom for South Africa. He has played his part and it is our time to also play our roles responsibly in society," President Mahama added. - GNA 

  The Chief Executive Officer of the Asafo-Agyei Hospital in Kumasi, Bishop Prof. Dr Asafo-Agyei Anane-Frempong, has received a Noble International Award for his contribution towards the development of West Africa. The award is an annual event organised by the West African International Magazine and the West African Nobles Forum, a non-governmental and non-profit making organiisation in the sub-region. Individuals with  integrity and character in their selected field including statesmen, politicians, medical practitioners, legal practitioners, among others are those presented with such awards. To qualify for the award, one must be an eminent West African, must have reached the pinnacle of his career and a respected member of civil society and a professional in his field of endeavour. Bishop Prof. Asafo-Agyei, who is also the founder of the Great Eternal Harvest Ministry located in Daaban, a suburb of Kumasi, gained the recognition as a renowned medical practitioner, having chalked up success in the effective treatment of the non-surgical aspect of treating piles. Upon receiving the award, Bishop Asafo-Agyei  expressed appreciation to the organisers for impacting positively towards societal growth by recognising efforts of hard-working individuals The award, he said, should serve as a motivation for individuals to strive hard to champion the cause of the socio-economic development of Africa. “Let’s develop Africa and make it a convenient place”, he said.  

  A 32-year-old employee of Stanbic Bank was found dead in her home at Baatsona in Accra after she had gone missing for a while. Rosemond Nyampong’s family members found her body in a pool of blood on November 21, 2013 after she had failed to report for work that fateful day. Colleagues of the deceased who knew her to be punctual at work prompted the family after calls to her mobile phones indicated that they had been switched off.  Co-workers  A family elder, Mr Sampson Amoah Nyampong, told the Daily Graphic that friends of the deceased, after trying to reach her on her phones without success, went to the house where she lived alone and found the doors locked, while her car was not parked in the compound. He said about 1 p.m. on that day, the friends contacted the family to inquire about Ms Nyampong, who, until her death, worked in the Credit Department at the bank’s head office. About 5 p.m., after all efforts to reach Ms Nyampong on her phones and searches at all places that she could have been had failed, the family members contacted the police for permission to break into her house for clues to her whereabouts. “When we entered the compound, we found blood there and when we broke into the house we found her in a pool of blood in her kitchen,” Mr Nyampong said. Ms Nyampong was found dead in her dark skirt suit uniform which suggested that she was dressed up for work when she was killed.   Her body was found lying prostrate, with her nose and mouth tied with a blood-soaked piece of cloth.  There were no injury marks on her body. Missing items  The family said they believed she was killed and dragged into the kitchen because of the blood spots in the compound of the house, which is located at Kotobabi Number 2, behind the Manet Cottage. It was found that her laptop, two mobile phones, television set, sound system and vehicle, a Toyota Yaris, with registration number GT 5133 10, were all missing. An autopsy was carried out at the Police Hospital in Accra and the report has been made available to the Sakumono and Community 18 Police who are handling the case. The family members said the incident had been a "nightmare" for them and demanded answers. When the District Police Headquarters was contacted, the police confirmed the incident but said investigations were still ongoing. Meanwhile, the deceased will be buried on Saturday, December 14 at the Osu cemetery in Accra.  

    Lead counsel for Mr Andrew Awuni, Mr Egbert Faibille, on Tuesday asked the Commercial Division of the High Court in Accra to dismiss an application filed before it by Fortiz Equity Fund. The application filed by the counsel for Fortiz Equity Fund, Mr Tony Lithur, is challenging the capacity of Mr Awuni to sue for an injunction to be placed on the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz Equity. Mr Lithur argued that per the statutes of SSNIT as a trust, it was only a trustee that could successfully pursue a legal action against the trust. But Mr Faibille rebutted, saying that Mr Awuni had the capacity based on the fact that he was a contributor to SSNIT,  which owns 90 per cent shares in the bank. Mr Lithur further stated that the Social Security Act had made SSNIT a corporate entity and was only answerable to the Parliament of Ghana. To that effect, he said Mr Awuni could not ask SSNIT to account to him. He consequently prayed the court to dismiss Mr Awuni’s application on the grounds that when granted, it would open the floodgates  for any other contributor to maintain an action against SSNIT in such related matters. Mr Faibille again argued that the fact that SSNIT was a trustee gave contributors every right to maintain successful action without the shield of privity of contract. He said according to Article 296 of the 1992 Constitution, public institutions had responsibilities to act in the best interest of their contributors, adding that the situation as it stood did not reflect that. The court, presided over by Ms Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko-Essah, adjourned the case to December 18, 2013 for ruling. Mr Awuni’s application for the interlocutory injunction could not be heard because it was in abeyance due to the fact that his capacity was being challenged. If his capacity standi is determined in the matter, it will pave the way for the continuation of his amended application before the court to be heard. Background Mr Awuni is challenging the sale of Merchant Bank to the Fortiz Private Equity Fund while Mr Lithur, counsel for Fortiz, is praying for the action by Mr Awuni to be dismissed for lack of capacity. Both parties have filed their affidavits in opposition to the applications and made their arguments, which had set the ground for the merit of the case to be determined. In his application, Mr Awuni is seeking, among other things, an interlocutory injunction to restrain the Bank of Ghana (BoG) from issuing any licence to Fortiz to operate Merchant Bank as a validly acquired concern. He is also seeking an order directing that the offer for sale of Merchant Bank, if justified, be advertised publicly. Parliamentary probe Mr Awuni is further seeking an order of the court requesting Parliament to institute an inquiry into the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz. In his statement of claim, Mr Awuni said in spite of the palpable silence by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to explain why it needed to divest itself of its shares, it was publicly alleged that the bank was owed huge sums of money by its creditors, which debts were adversely affecting its operations and, therefore, the decision by the government to sell it off. It said several well-known international as well as local financial and banking institutions made bids to acquire the bank, among which was the First Rand Bank of South Africa, which is reputed to have put up a strong bid. The statement said the plaintiff was reliably aware that the First Rand Bank offered to pay GH¢199.3 million to acquire 75 per cent of the shares of Merchant Bank and also undertook to recover its toxic debts which allegedly had bedevilled its operation by entering into negotiations with UT Recoveries, a local debt recovery company, upon the recommendations of the BoG. It said the deal was reported to be the best offer ever made for Merchant Bank but it was mysteriously rejected in favour of a less-known entity. It said while the plaintiff, like any other contributor, had hoped that by rejecting the bid by the First Rand Bank the offer was going to be made public for other potential investors who were going to offer even better than what the First Rand Bank offered, Fortiz popped up as having acquired Merchant Bank, with the approval of the BoG, at GH¢90 million for 90 per cent of the shares of the bank and undertook to recover only 30 per cent of the toxic debts of the alleged ailing bank. Short-changing people The statement said the deal purportedly entered between Fortiz and the Government of Ghana, with the tacit approval of the BoG, was not good enough and amounted to short-changing the taxpayer and contributors whose money SSNIT invested. It said the deal, if allowed to go on, would also be a flagrant violation of the 1992 Constitution. Mr Lithur, on the other hand, is praying the court to dismiss Mr Awuni’s suit, which he described as too weak and did not have enough grounds to halt further transactions on the deal. His application stated that Mr Awuni did not have the capacity to challenge the sale in court, though he was a contributor to SSNIT. It further stated that Mr Awuni was not a party to the deal, and, therefore, did not have the right to challenge it.    

  The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an international non-governmental organisation, has called for a concerted effort by stakeholders in the fight against child labour and its related issues in the country. Speaking at a durbar at Bortianor, a suburb of Accra, to mark this year’s Human Right Day, the Regional Co-ordinator of the CHRI, Mrs Mina Mensah, said until stakeholders teamed up and worked together as one unified institution, it would be difficult for Ghana to deal with matters relating to child labour which continued to hinder the country’s development. This year’s Human Right Day is on the theme; “Child labour deprives children of their right to development.” Child labour at Bortianor She said the reason why Bortianor was selected for this year’s Human Right Day commemoration by the CHRI was that most of the children in the area were subjected to child labour. Mrs Mensah mentioned fishing and stone quarrying as major activities which children under 18 years in Bortianor were exposed to, adding that “this activity, if not properly checked, could endanger the future of the children at Bortianor”. The role of the media A Programme Officer of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Accra, Mr Emmanuel Mensah, said ignorance on the part of the general public was the major impediment to the fight against child labour in Ghana. He said many people were ignorant or had limited understanding of the child labour phenomenon and its effect on children. Mr Mensah said many media practitioners in Ghana had no thorough understanding of child labour issues and were, therefore, unaware of the international, national and local legal frameworks, interventions, policies, programmes and existing projects addressing them. Mr Mensah said the general public was not privy to available knowledge and statistics to adequately support the fight against child labour, which hampers the efforts of stakeholders in the sector. He called for more effective collaborations between the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, International Labour Organisation, the media, the general public and other associated organisations to intensify their fight against the phenomenon to achieve the desired results for national development.  

  The acting Controller and Accountant-General, Madam Grace Adzroe, has admonished women to take advantage of the prevailing opportunities in the country to acquire the necessary skills and training to position themselves for greater national assignments. She indicated that the successes already chalked up by women in various leadership positions in both private and public institutions “must be a source of inspiration to all of us to aspire for greater roles”. Madam Adzroe was speaking at the inauguration of the Northern Region branch of the Treasury Ladies Association (TRELAS) in Tamale. She acknowledged the important role women played in the accelerated development of a nation and explained why the 1992 Constitution had placed responsibility on the state to “take all necessary steps so as to ensure the full integration of women into the main stream of economic development of Ghana.” The accountant-general commended members of the TRELAS for their hard work and steadfastness and advised them to work closely with other relevant bodies to harness their potentials and experiences for their own benefit. Government’s Commitment She said the government was committed to the efficient use of national resources for which reason it had initiated various programmes to address the inefficiencies in public financial management systems. She mentioned the recent commissioned printing site in Tamale to print payroll reports for the three  northern regions, which, she observed, had been progressing smoothly. “The department, in collaboration with MDAs and the Regional Coordinating Council, will soon give access to some selected staff of Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to process some specific transactions such as deletions, postings and transfers in the regions where the printing sites are located,” Madam Adzroe stated. She added that another key initiative by the department was the implementation of the E-Salary Payment Voucher (E-SPV) system to enable heads of the MDAs/MMDAs to have real time access to the payment vouchers. The Northern Regional Director of the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, Mr Daniel Quayson, bemoaned the traditional and social barriers militating against the progress of women. “These excesses against women can be nipped in the bud through women empowerment and encouragement, and one of the tools is the formation of women groups such as TRELAS to ensure that women have real voice in all institutions,” he observed. The chairperson of the TRELAS, Ms Paulina Akologo said the formation of the association in the region marked the beginning of the new era of advancement for the members. She, therefore, called on her colleagues to actively participate in the activities of TRELAS and contribute to its development.  

  Majority of Africans are demanding more and better basic household services from their governments because they are not satisfied with the performance of the governments in respect of providing those services. About 56 per cent of Africans say their governments have done fairly or badly in providing clean water and sanitation services, with 55 per cent expressing dissatisfaction with the delivery of reliable power supply. These are highlights of findings in the latest Afro Barometer Report titled, ‘What People Want from Government: Service Performance Ratings in 34 countries’, which was released in Accra yesterday. The report did not cite Ghana as a best or worst country in respect of the provision of such basic household and social services, meaning the country performed averagely. What is Afro Barometer? The Afro Barometer is a survey conducted by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) that tracks public perception of various governance issues. Initiated in 1999, the survey seeks to draw the attention of African governments to public approval ratings of their stewardship, with the view to influencing change in policy and better performance in respect of service delivery. This year, the survey focused on the delivery of basic household and social services and the management of natural resources and collated the views of people in 32 African countries. Other key findings On education and basic health service delivery, majority of Africans gave their governments high approval ratings, with 59 per cent lauding efforts at addressing educational needs and 57 per cent satisfied with efforts at improving basic health services. Majority of them, however, identified long wait times (77 per cent) and lack of medicines or supply (69 per cent) in public health facilities, as well as overcrowded classrooms (61 per cent) and lack of textbooks and supplies (57 per cent) in schools, as critical challenges that needed to be addressed. On the management of natural resources, the 2013 Afro Barometer Report indicated that majority of people (60 per cent) in 22 natural resource-endowed African countries said “it is fairly difficult or very difficult to know how the government uses revenues from taxes and fees”. Majority of the people (54 per cent) were also concerned about the fact that corrupt officials in the extractive industry often or always went unpunished. Majority of people in the 22 natural resource-endowed countries rated their presidents high as being law-abiding. Make use of findings The Executive Director of CDD-Ghana, Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, expressed the hope that African governments would make good use of the Afro Barometer findings. The Africa Regional Co-ordinator of the Revenue Watch Institute, Mr Emmanuel Kuyole, said there was the need to move beyond demanding access to information and transparency to ensuring enforceability of laws by governments. A Deputy Director at the UNDP, Mr Jeremias Blaser, said the findings clearly showed that now it was no longer enough to practise democracy but that democracy needed to deliver dividends to the people. “Democracy is about quality, so building schools without teachers or hospitals without doctors will not fool the citizens about democracy,” he remarked. Writer’s Email: [email protected]