The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Dankyira, has warned that the country risks serious health implications if nothing is done to halt the menace of illegal mining. The effects, he said, would be very devastating. He said the use of heavy metal to pollute surface and underground water had severe health implications that would not manifest immediately but in the near future. Speaking to the media at Sekondi during a working visit to the Western Region, Dr Appiah-Dankyira called on the government, Parliament, opinion leaders, the media, religious bodies and the security services to, as a matter of urgency, speak against and stamp out galamsey. Mercury dispensed through the activities of illegal miners in the form of mercury vapour and the pollution of surface and underground water, he said, were highly toxic to humans. Dr Appiah-Dankyira said mercury, which was a heavy metal and one of the chemicals used by illegal miners in their activities, had a dire effect on the health of humans, as it could cause the breakdown of the central nervous system. “Those activities expose Ghanaians through drinking and inhaling gaseous mercury, which is absorbed into the blood. Once in the circulatory system, it can pass through the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in the brain, damaging the central nervous system,” the director general said. He said the earlier the country spoke against and took drastic measures to clamp down on galamsey, the better, since consumers of pipe-borne water may be consuming small amounts of mercury and unknown to the public, bits of it would accumulate and give negative effects in the not-too-distant future. Dr Appiah-Dankyira urged the general public to join forces with the regulatory bodies to halt the galamsey menace immediately to safeguard the life of Ghanaians. He applauded the current clamp down on galamsey but urged the task force in charge of the exercise to do more to eliminate the problem from the Ghanaian society. Other doctors present at the media encounter indicated that even though pipe-borne water was treated, it still contained some amount of the mercury. The doctors said aside those who drank treated water, millions of Ghanaians lived along the banks of these river bodies and fetched the raw water, which is heavily contaminated with chemicals such as mercury and arsenic, for domestic use. The doctors said the unregulated nature of the activities of the illegal miners polluted the underground water with other natural chemicals, which should not be overlooked. How mercury becomes a toxicological problem According to a United States geological survey on mercury contamination of aquatic ecosystems, like many environmental contaminants, mercury undergoes bio-accumulation. Bioaccumulation is the process by which organisms (including humans) can take up contaminants more rapidly than their bodies could eliminate them, thus the amount of mercury in body accumulates over time.  

The United Nations has designated February 6 as the International Day against Female Genital Mutilation to raise awareness among the general public of this traditional practice which severely violates the human rights of women and girls. The practice is still widespread in spite of a global commitment following the 2002 UN Special Session on Children to end FGM by 2010. In Africa, the World Health Organisation reports that every year, some three million girls face the risk of this inhuman act of violence, which exposes them to serious physical and emotional health challenges. In the 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East where female genital mutilation/cutting is performed, some 130 million women and girls have been affected. Studies Studies have shown that the practice of FGM, which is rooted in cultural and sometimes religious beliefs, exposed victims to prolonged bleeding resulting in death, extreme pain during child birth and HIV infection, among many others. It robs women of their self-worth and human rights. In addition, it can cause infection and infertility. Often part of fertility or coming-of-age rituals, FGM is sometimes justified as a way of ensuring chastity and genital "purity." The UN Secretary General's in-depth study on violence against women reported that, as of April 2006, 15 African states where FGM is prevalent had made it an offence under criminal law. The UN agency UNICEF is spearheading efforts to end FGM in 16 African countries by 2015, the target year for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. UNICEF's partners in this campaign include other UN agencies such as UNIFEM. ActionAid Ghana ActionAid Ghana in a statement on the organisation’s intensive action to end FGM in the country says its research shows that some communities in Bawku in the Upper East Region continue to subject young girls to this dehumanising practice.      According to the organisation, studies show that some communities in the Bawku area continue to practice FGM, although FGM is criminal and punishable by law. The study also found that 56 per cent of respondents reported that FGM had taken place in their communities, with 75 per cent reporting that in the last five years, they were aware of FGM being undertaken in their local settlements. It said what was even more disturbing was the fact that 61 per cent strongly supported the practice and 68 per cent reported that they had been subjected to FGM for a variety of cultural and moral reasons. Among many others, they reported FGM boost their chances of marriage, prevents diseases of the genitalia and also helps them avoid ridicule from rivals. Criminal Code Act 484, 1994, that amended the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) makes FGM criminal in Ghana. The primary victims of FGM in the communities studied are usually girls between 10 and 15 years, the prime age of development for the girl child.  ActionAid Ghana, working together with a local partner, BEWDA (Belim Wusa Development Agency), is committed to fighting for a violence-free environment, where the rights of girls and women are respected and promoted. ActionAid has, therefore, called for the enforcement of the law with a call on government, the police, civil society and stakeholders in health and education to help end the practice.  

The death of  64-year-old pensioner, Mr Charles Aheto Torkornoo, a former Night Editor of the Daily Graphic, has allegedly triggered the death of his wife, Mrs Antonina Eyivi-Sossou Torkornoo, 60, a businesswoman, barely an hour after news of his death got to her. Some bereaved persons who were at the mortuary, including the mortuary attendants at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, who heard about the death of the couple, are still dumbfounded because they claimed this tragedy, in which both husband and wife died within an hour, was very unusual. They further claimed they had heard of couples dying a few weeks/months after one partner had passed on, but never had they heard of one couple dying immediately after the other. One of the mortuary attendants, James Agozo, who said he had been working at the Korle Bu morgue for close to 30 years, claimed the death of Mr and Mrs Torkornoo was the first of its kind he had heard throughout his career. Incidentally, the last daughter of the couple got married on Saturday, February 1, 2014, and was followed with a thanksgiving service the following Sunday. According to Mr Romeo Ebenezer Torkornoo, a son of the departed couple who had been married for the past 33 years, he was at his workplace when he had a call from his uncle that his father, who lived at Kasoa and had been ill for the past three months, had passed on. He said he had to move to Kasoa immediately to help prepare his dad’s body for the mortuary. However, ‘not quite long after I had left the office, I had another call informing me that my mum, who was hale and hearty, had visited Tesano, a suburb of Accra, but had complained of being unwell after my dad’s condition was made known to her’. According to Mr Torkonoo, ‘I therefore changed my mind and drove to Tesano to pick my mum with the intention of sending her to a hospital in the vicinity, but she gave up the ghost a few metres after I had negotiated a curve towards the hospital.’ The grieving Mr Torkornoo said in that distraught state, he did not know what to do. He later decided to send his mum’s body to the morgue at Korle Bu. After depositing the body at the morgue, he and his sister continued to Kasoa to convey the remains of his father also to the same mortuary. According to Mr Torkornoo, most of the people he and her siblings and other family members encountered at the morgue expressed shock and wondered how cruel fate could be. The late Mr Torkornoo was employed by the then Graphic Corporation on December 1, 1974, and retired on April 21, 2009, after 35 years of service. He was one time the Assistant Production Editor, Assistant Head of Special Projects, Assitant Sub desk Editor, among others. The couple were survived by five children, Romeo, Gifty, Charleslene, Valentina and Mawumenyo Torkonoo.  

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Tony Aubyn, has identified the lack of transparency and the absence of an honest partnership between the government and mining firms as the major causes of mistrust and conflict between the two parties. He said the situation created suspicion between the government and the mining firms, in most cases leading to tension, noting that that should not be the case had the two partners been aligned. Lack of alignment Dr Aubyn, who was speaking to the Daily Graphic in Cape Town, South Africa, cited the example of Canada and Australia where their governments and the mining sectors were properly aligned. He said in their cases, any increase in taxes by the government did not result in agitation from the mining sector because both parties were in constant dialogue on policy decisions. “The gap between the government and industry has to be bridged in order to have a shared understanding of which areas we really need to channel the revenue from our industry,” he said. Panel discussion During a panel discussion dubbed, “Australia-Africa Mining Forum”, Dr Aubyn spoke on how mining could be used as a transformatory tool to improve the lives of the people. According to him, it was imperative for governments to have a clear vision of where to channel revenue from mineral resources, adding that the lack of partnership between governments and stakeholders in mining was not good enough. Dr Aubyn underscored the need for local content to be embraced by all mining companies. Resource nationalisation Speaking on resource nationalisation in the mining sector and what drove tax policy changes in the sector, Dr Aubyn identified two driving forces — internal and external. With respect to the internal forces, the CEO explained that following the rebasing of Ghana’s economy which had placed the country in a middle income category, the government needed to raise funds from other sources to support sectors of the economy as a result of limited budgetary support. “The exaggerated expectation of what mining and other natural resources can do for the country is also a major driver,” he said. Turning the spotlight on the external driver, Dr Aubyn observed that pressure from the international community, especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Ghana to implement tax policy changes, without a recourse to their implications, was not in the interest of industry. Writer’s email: [email protected]   

Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG), a civil  society group in  the country,   has kicked against the privatisation of the National Food and Buffer Stock Company (NFBC). It said privatising the NFBC would be working against the interest of farmers. A statement issued by FSG said privatising the agency would be creating a new class of profiteering middlemen and gamblers to suck the investment in agriculture. It was in reaction to comments by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Humado, that the government intended to privatise the NFBC. The minister had indicated that the government had initiated legislative processes to privatise the NFBC because the government did not have money to pump into the running of the organisation. But the FSG expressed shock and disappointment at the move by the government. It wondered if the government wanted to hand over the food supply chain to multinational agribusiness corporations who could control Ghana’s farmers and agriculture more easily with the tendency of creating artificial shortages to facilitate increases in the prices of food. “This a lose-lose proposition for farmers and for Ghanaians. Farmers lose money and Ghanaians pay more for food,” the statement indicated. On the other hand, it said, “It is a win-win proposition for gamblers and exploiters, the very people who have driven up food prices worldwide, making obscene fortunes, while millions starve in the midst of plenty.”  

  The First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has called on non-state actors to help secure the welfare of women and children. According to her, “state responsibility aside, it is important that non-state parties and even individuals contribute to the advancement of this cause”. She made the call in a speech read on her behalf by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, at the opening of Soroptimist International’s 25th General Assembly of African Federation West and Central Africa Zone (WACA) in Accra yesterday. The general assembly brought together soroptimists from Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, Nigeria, Guinea Conakry, Togo and Britain. The Accra conference was organised jointly by the Accra and Kumasi clubs of Soroptimist International on “A Well Woman for a Peaceful and Prosperous World”. Mrs Mahama said “for some reason, society, influenced by some cultural factors, has succeeded in branding this group as vulnerable when, in fact, it is a strong pillar for sustained national development and peace”. Soroptimist International The President of Soroptimist International, West and Central Africa Region, Madam Suzanne Loko, said the association would strive at working towards improving the status of women, human rights, education of the girl child, culture, health, environment, economic and social development, poverty alleviation and assistance to the needy and the vulnerable population. For her part, the President of Soroptimist International, Accra, Ms Effie Simpson-Ekuban, said the association would continue to work towards impacting the lives of the vulnerable in society to ensure that they felt a part of the bigger society.   Writer's email: [email protected]  

Beginning from the second quarter of 2014, manufacturers and dealers of radio and telecommunication terminal equipment will be required to register their facilities with the National Communications Authority (NCA) before they can use them in the country. The measure is in line with the new type approval and dealer licensing regime being introduced by the NCA to ensure the rights of consumers and safety of equipment. The Deputy Director of NCA, Mr Albert Enninful, made this known at a workshop to sensitise the public to the regulatory framework for the new regime in Accra last Thursday. He said the new regime would also improve and streamline existing procedures for approving telecommunication and radio terminal equipment. Legal backing He said new type approval and licensing regime was backed by the Electronic Communications Act of 2008. He said under the law, NCA was empowered to certify and ensure the testing of communication equipment complied with international, environmental health and safety standards, including electromagnetic radiation and emissions. Regulations 78 and 79 of the Electronic Communications Regulations L.I.1991 enjoin the authority to ensure that communication equipment used for radio transmission for commercial purposes is duly type-approved. According to Mr Albert Enninful, the act made it clear that telecommunications equipment brought into Ghana should meet the national and international standards. Expectations He said the NCA expected stakeholders to work with the NCA’s list of approved and accredited test laboratories and provide consumers and the general public with safe and quality products. Mr Isaac Boateng of the Regulatory Administration Division, NCA, in his presentation on the outline of the new type approval and dealer licensing regime, said that type approval was a simple demonstration that ensured that specified requirements relating to a product were fulfilled. He said type approval would be required before a product was introduced unto the market. Who should apply ? According to Mr Boateng, manufacturers of radio and telecommunication terminal equipment on implementation of the new regime would be mandated to apply and obtain type approval certificates. “Type Approval certificate is granted to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements. Type approval simply means that the product is guaranteed to meet certain requirements for its type, whatever that may be,” he added Mr Boateng said that the NCA would be engaging with appropriate security agencies to ensure that all such products imported were type-approved. He cautioned that stakeholders who did not comply would be sanctioned according to the law.Writer’s email: [email protected]  

The Chief Justice has urged judges not to engage in conduct that could impugn their personal integrity and that of  the judiciary, which she described as a key governance institution. Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood told them that they had a sacred duty to enhance the authority of the courts and not to diminish or undermine it. “Public trust and confidence in the judiciary is so fundamental to the rule of law and democratic governance that any conduct by those of us entrusted with judicial power and which will be inimical to our interest should not be tolerated,” she stated. Swearing in seven circuit court judges at the Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Wood stated that, “we need to understand that public confidence in the judicial system must be guarded and protected at all costs, as when this is eroded, the rule of law and all those democratic values and principles that this nation has toiled so hard for would be irretrievably lost”. The judges are Ms Effia N. Adu-Amankwah, Ms Abigail Asare, Mr Kofi Ametewe and Mr Alexander Graham.  Others are Mr Michael Abbey, Mr Bernard Bentil and Mr Baptist K. Filson.  The judges took the oath of allegiance, the oath of secrecy and the oath of the judiciary. The swearing-in was attended by a delegation from Uganda, led by its acting Chief Justice, Mr Steven B. K. Kavuma, as well as the families and friends of the judges. Judges are accountable. The Chief Justice stated that being independent did not mean that members of the judiciary had free rein to do as they pleased.She said members of the judiciary must be accountable to the sovereign people of Ghana on whose behalf they exercised judicial power. “Ghanaians now, more than any period in our history, are increasingly aware of their rights and know what to expect from public servants.” Judges not above the law Justice Wood said to consolidate judicial integrity, it required that “we do understand that as judges we are not above the law; we are subject to it”. “Judicial transparency and accountability demands that indeed we should be the first to subject ourselves to the constitution and laws of this land and be ready to give a good account of our stewardship at all times. “We, therefore, have an important role to play in this regard by upholding very high standards of judicial conduct,” the Chief Justice added. Mr Kavuma reminded the judges to be mindful of their conduct in the eyes of the public, as any action and inaction on their part could either boost or affect public confidence in the judicial process. The Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mrs Marietta Brew Oppong, said judges are the pillar of the entire justice system, hence they needed to avoid impropriety in their activities and decisions in order not to bring dishonour to the Judiciary. “You must not allow old boys, old girls, ethnicity, partisan and religious affiliations to affect your sense of judgement, as this will affect your integrity and that of the justice system,” she advised. Judgeship is a calling The President of the Ghana Bar Association, Nene Amegatcher, reminded the judges that their position is a noble one. Therefore, he asked them to see their career as a calling and not as a paid job. The President of the Association of   Magistrates and Judges of Ghana, Mr Dennis Adjei, expressed optimism that they would bring their expertise and good conduct to bear on their duties.  

The Greater Accra Regional branch of the Association of Road Contractors (ASROC) Ghana, is pushing for a law to protect it against delayed payments for executed road contracts. The contractors argued that the late payments for contracts executed by them, was negatively affecting not only their jobs but the quality and time used in constructing the nation’s roads. Mr William Apraku Bondzie, the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of ASROC, said the practice had placed many local road contractors in financial difficulty, because after executing road contracts, their investments, usually commercial bank loans accessed at high interest rates, got locked up with the government for years. Addressing the news media on the issue in Accra yesterday, Mr Bondzie said the situation was one of the biggest causes of stress for the contractors, adding that it significantly reduced their profits and had rendered a number of  them bankrupt. “Often, we do not even know when we will be paid and some have gone to the extent of selling their property to pay off the loans,” Mr Bondzie stated. Mr Bondzie said the association was aware that the enactment of such a law would require time and it was prepared and willing to travel the journey to get the law passed. Payment processes “The question, we, the members of ASROC, keep asking based on a very disturbing observation is why is it that upon completion of an assigned construction work, contractors have to wait for a minimum of three months for their documents to get processed for payment?” Mr Bondzie asked. He cited series of documentation, inspections, as well as what he described as “back and forth movements” between road contractors and their respective road agencies, the district assemblies and the Ghana Road Fund Secretariat as some of the processes the contractors had had to endure over the years. “While all of these back and forth movements go on, road contractors who have taken loans pay huge interests on these loans taken to pre-finance the contract work. This leads to high cost of doing business and reduces profitability.” Mr Bondzie explained that while the struggle over late payments to contractors had been a protracted one, a lasting solution was yet to be found to it, hence the latest advocacy by the association.  

Workers of Intercity STC (ISTC) have called on the Ministry of  Transport to constitute an independent committee to examine their grievances critically to avoid any protracted and unforeseen development in the forward march of the organisation. They stressed that the committee of enquiry set up earlier to investigate the circumstances leading to workers agitation was not properly constituted, and that they disagreed with its recommendations. These were contained in a petition addressed to the minister and signed by Messrs Samuel Clottey and Hope Kofi Klu, chairmen of the Senior Staff and the Junior Staff unions. It said the ISTC Board, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust and management, who constituted the committee, were the same entities against whom the workers had levelled allegations. “We, therefore, find the setting up of the committee of enquiry as ill-fated and not human centred,” it stated. The petition said the protest by the workers in September, last year was to draw attention to the need for the stakeholders to take steps to recapitalise and ensure the growth and sustainability of the company, but strangely the committee did not take account of that in its report. It said looking at the sensitivity of the grievances raised by workers and the recommendations of the committee, it was clear that nothing concrete had been done or achieved in the interest of the company and its employees. “Our major concern as workers is to ensure that the government salvages this onetime very promising, successful and vibrant transport organisation,” the petition stated. It would be recalled that workers of ISTC, on September 25, 2013, began a three-day protest to register their rage and despair at management’s inability to address their concerns. According to the workers, management had refused to pay their provident fund and had not increased their salaries for 10 years, although the managing director had allegedly increased his salary twice within the period. They, therefore, decided to lay down their tools until management addressed all their concerns.  

Ten Child Panel members have attended a day's training workshop organised by the Department of Social Welfare and the World Vision-Ghana at Effiduase in the Ashanti Region to equip them with skills required to mediate on matters affecting children. The workshop was also to enlighten them on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which places the child at the centre of issues affecting children and to equip them with skills for proper documentation of cases that are brought before them. Topics treated Topics treated at the workshop were definition of child, welfare principle, non-discrimination, right to name and nationality, right to education and well-being, parental duty and responsibility, and duties of panel members. The Ashanti Regional Director in charge of Child Rights, Protection and Promotion at the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Kofi Adu, advised the panel members to take the training seriously and practise what they had learnt. He said child development was crucial to the advancement of society and urged the panel members to work closely with the Social Welfare Department to promote development of children. Before the workshop, the panel members were  sworn in by the Sekyere East District Magistrate, Mr Jacob Amponsah, who charged them to work diligently to protect the right of the child at all times. The District Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr John Ofori Attram, said the inauguration of the panel conformed to Section 27 of the Children's Act 1998 (Act 560), which states, “There shall be established in each district such number of Child Panels as the district assembly may consider necessary”. Child delinquency He noted that child delinquency resulting from parental neglect was on the ascendency and expressed the hope that the inauguration of the panel would help ease the workload on the family tribunal. He called on the district assembly to support the panel members financially and provide them with the necessary logistics to perform their duties efficiently and effectively. He expressed gratitude to World Vision-Ghana, a child welfare organisation, for coming to their aid. The District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Michael Owusu Amoako, who read a speech on behalf of the District Chief Executive, Mr Adjei Mensah, observed that the nation's future depended largely on the development of children and entreated the panel members to broaden their knowledge in their various fields of operations to promote the welfare of children. Panel members The 10-member panel  comprises Mr James Atobra Boateng, the assembly’s Social Services subcommittee chairman; Mr Isaac Appau, Justice and Security subcommittee member; Mr John Ofori Attram, Secretary of the committee; Mr Richard Donkor, District Information Officer; and Nana Ohene Asiedu, a representative of the Effiduase Traditional Area. The rest are Nana Sefa Kanto, a representative of the Asokore Traditional Area; Madam Christiana Adjei, Women's representative; Inspector Regina Owusu, Ghana Police Service representative; Mr Asare Danso, community representative; and Farouk Mohammed, a teacher. Present at the ceremony were heads of departments and schoolchildren drawn from the various schools within the district.  

The student who posted nude pictures of his fiancée on Facebook in retaliation for being jilted by her wept uncontrollably at the Circuit Court in Accra last Wednesday, February 5, 2014. Henry Alibah pleaded guilty to the offence and wept as his lawyer implored the court to have mercy on him. His tears did not evoke any sentiments in the trial judge, who reminded him that emotions did not come to play in the law. That reminder, nonetheless, did not stop him from shedding more tears. He will be sentenced on February 18, 2014. Snippets of offence The accused person, who posted the nude pictures of his former fiancée on Facebook on November 25, 2013, added the caption: “Porn star, pay and f**k.” He then proceeded to attach his former fiancee’s mobile phone number to the uploaded picture for interested persons to call. He was first arraigned on January 22, 2014, and a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf by the court, presided over by Ms Ellen Vivian Amoah. Counsel for Alibah, Mr Gad Cobbinah, told the court at its sitting in Accra last Wednesday that his client had showed remorse and would, therefore, not repeat that act again. According to counsel, the accused person had apologised to the complainant, her family and the respective schools they both attended. Mr Cobbinah stated that his client was a first offender and, therefore, averted the court’s mind to the fact that the law allowed either the imposition of a fine or a bond to be of good behaviour as punishment for Alibah’s offence. The charge According to the prosecution, Alibah committed the offence at Mamprobi in Accra after his 10-minute ultimatum to the complainant to rescind her decision to leave him had lapsed. He has been charged with causing emotional, verbal or psychological abuse, contrary to Section 1 (b) (iv) and Section 3 (2) of the Domestic Violence Act 737/07. Facts of the case An Inspector of Police, Mr Kofi Atimbiri, told the court that the complainant was, for the past two years, the fiancee of the accused person. However, the complainant called off the relationship three months ago via a telephone call but her decision infuriated the accused person, who insisted the relationship be continued. According to the prosecution, Alibah had earlier called the complainant and warned her to return to him or have her naked pictures posted on Facebook. On November 25, 2013, the accused person again called the complainant on phone and gave her 10 minutes to change her mind or have her naked pictures uploaded on Facebook. He uploaded the pictures after the 10 minutes had lapsed and he had observed that the complainant was not prepared to return to him. The complainant’s friends saw her naked pictures on Facebook and quickly drew her attention to the issue. She later reported the matter to the police, resulting in the arrest of the accused person. Writer’s email: [email protected].  

Dukes Petroleum Company, with 34 trading outlets throughout the country, has presented a 42-inch flat screen television and its accessories to the science department of Swedru Senior High School (SWESCO). The donation was in response to a request by the science department of the school to help it improve the teaching and learning of science. Making the presentation, the General Manager of the company, Mr Bernard A. Havor, said it was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility to support institutions in its catchment areas. He noted that the donation also formed part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the company which is slated for the latter part of this year. According to him, the television was also to enable the science club of the school to view science-based audio-visual tapes to enable the students to better appreciate and understand most of the things they were taught in class. He appealed to the authorities of the school to maintain the television to ensure that it benefited future generations. The headmistress of the school, Mrs Agnes Leticia Hawkson, who received the items, expressed gratitude to the company and said it was a very important teaching and learning aid for science and added that it would improve the performance of the students. She was hopeful that the gesture would further strengthen the bond between the company and the school and that the company would regularly aid the school. Also present at the ceremony was Mr John K. Afram, a director of the company.  

The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, has directed the Parliamentary Select Committee on Works and Housing to investigate the demolition of houses at Adjei Kojo, a suburb of Tema, by the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and report its findings to the House for it to take a decision on the matter. He also directed that the Chairman of the Committee on Parliamentary, Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Mr Alban Bagbin; a former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr E.T Mensah; and the Chairman of the Committee on Lands and Forestry, Mr Albert Abongo, who is also a former Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, be made part of the team. Mr Adjaho gave the directive after the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema West, Ms Irene Naa Torshie Addo (NPP), had made a statement condemning the exercise carried out by the TDC. The statement drew comments from other members of the House, many of whom agreed with Ms Addo that the action by the TDC was irresponsible. Ms Addo said the action of the TDC must not be repeated anywhere in the country. She said it was unfortunate that at a time when the government was soliciting help from international organisations to build houses for workers, a government agency would demolish houses built by people struggling to eke out a living in these difficult times. Some MPs disagree Some MPs, notably Mr Sampson Ahi (NDC, Bodi) and David Tetteh Assumeng (NDC, Shai Osudoku), however, sought to suggest that the House was making a fuss over the issue. Mr Ahi said the residents of the area had sought legal redress at the courts and lost, a situation which gave the TDC the right to embark on the action. Mr Assumeng said a similar exercise had been carried out by the TDC elsewhere in 2006 but that had not generated any national debate and not being raised on the floor of the House and wondered what was special about the Adjei Kojo case. They were both stopped in their tracks by Mr Adjaho, who said Ms Addo, as a representative of the victims of the demolition, had every right to raise the issue on the floor of the House. He also advised Mr Ahi not to go into the legal merits of the case on the floor of the House. Mr Adjaho’s intervention prevented the issue from degenerating into partisanship. Ms Addo’s statement Ms Addo said there were steps that needed to be taken before any demolition exercise was carried out but the TDC failed to adhere to those regulations. The TDC, she said, needed to perform an asbestos abatement exercise, remove hazardous or regulated materials, obtain the necessary permits, submit the necessary notifications and disconnect utilities, among many others, but it failed to do all that. “Mr Speaker, there are many questions one needs to ask. How did the residents acquire the land? How did they build their houses and live there for seven to 10 years without being noticed by the TDC? Why were the structures not pulled down at the foundation stage? How did they connect electricity and water without permits? Should the conduct of the TDC and the TMA go unpunished when they have been collecting penalties and property rates from the so-called illegal residents? What reliefs were available to such residents, even if refugees from neighbouring countries are taken care of in this country?” she asked. Ms Addo said the effects of the demolition exercise at Adjei Kojo could not be quantified because it did not only displace people by making them look like refugees in their own country but also shattered the dreams and aspirations of their children. She said children and adults now slept in the open, a situation which made them vulnerable to the bites of mosquitoes, snakes and other insects. “We cannot also overlook the vices that could rear their heads, such as rape, theft and so on. Children are not able to go to school any longer. Food, shelter and water have now become a burden for a family which hitherto was able to fend for itself without support from anybody. The open defecation which is now the norm for the displaced citizens should be of great concern. This has its own attendant ailments and effects on the people,” she said. Ms Addo said the use of extreme force by the security operatives could lead to serious riots which might affect the peace and stability of the country. Contributions Contributing to the statement, Mr Assumeng, after he had been stopped by the Speaker from proceeding with the argument that the House was worrying itself unnecessarily over the demolition, said the matter needed to be referred to the leadership for action. The MP for Asawase, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka (NDC), said Parliament needed to look at the root cause of the problem and not deal with the symptoms. He said the House needed to ascertain who sold the land to the residents, who approved the building permits, why the officers who should have ensured that the buildings did not spring up in the area failed to discharge their duties and who connected water and electricity to the area. The allegation that property rates were collected from the people, among other things, he said, needed to be investigated. He also dwelt extensively on the frustration people went through to enquire about land at the Lands Commission and said that problem was partly responsible for the situation Ghana now found itself. Alhaji Muntaka said it was painful for people to toil for years to put up houses, only for state organisations to pull them down in a few minutes. He wondered why the TDC should look on while people put up structures on the land and then move in later to demolish them. He said any official of the TDC or any other organisation found to have given approval for the construction of the buildings or whose actions and inaction had led to the problem in Adjei Kojo needed to be punished. The MP for Sunyani West, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah (NPP), said it was unfortunate that innocent people bore the brunt of the inaction of public servants. He said there were laws regulating development which district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies were under an obligation to enforce but had failed to enforce which resulted in such demolitions. He said the length of time used to process applications was one of the factors that made people develop their plots of land without the requisite documents. Mr Awuah urged the assemblies to work hand in hand with the traditional authorities to ensure that development was controlled. He also called for a “synchronisation” of the laws establishing the TMA and the TDC, “so that we have one agency controlling development, otherwise we will continue to have these problems”. The MP for Nadowli/Kaleo, Mr Alban Bagbin (NDC), said the law establishing the TMA and the TDC were “conflicting and needed to be looked at again”. He said over the years, Human Rights Watch had mentioned Ghana as a country which abused human rights by demolishing houses and added that the tag was a bad one for a country in which democracy thrived. “The time has come for us to take up this matter and deal with it once and for all,” he said. The MP for Bimbilla, Mr Dominic Nitiwul (NPP), asked, “If the area where the demolition occurred is an illegal settlement, why did the utility companies collect bills form the residents.” Adjei Kojo case The Adjei Kojo case, he said, needed not to be taken in isolation and added that such demolitions occurred all over the country on a regular basis. The Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu (NPP), said it appeared as if both parties (the TDC and the residents) were not being candid on the issue. He said the demolition was carried out in a cruel manner and wondered if the TDC could not have waited for the residents to retrieve their items before the exercise. He said it was sad that the Land Administration Project (LAP) which was instituted to deal with problems associated with land acquisition had failed to address the problems.  

The Koforidua circuit court yesterday heard a chilling story of how two men said to be members of a gang of robbers that has been terrorising doctors of the Koforidua Medical Village locked up some of the doctors in their rooms and raped their female guests. The two - Samuel Kwame Akwetey (alias Agbeko) and Isaac Agomor - after satisfying themselves, called Gideon Boateng, one of their accomplices, who came in his vehicle and carted away a number of stolen items belonging to the doctors. The other members of the gang said to be responsible for a spate of armed robberies in other parts of the New Juaben Municipality are Godwin Ametorwu, Charles Awuku and Muhamed Zibo who, together with Boateng, were said to be accomplices. The six have been charged with conspiracy, rape, and armed robbery and dishonestly receiving and made their maiden appearance at the court a couple of days ago, but have again been remanded in custody to re-appear on February 17. Another person alleged to be a member of the gang, Harrison Ofori,is currently on the run. The adjournment is to enable the police ample time to complete their investigations. The prosecutor, Mrs Emily Addo Okyireh, a Chief State Attorney, pleaded with the court to give the police a few days to complete their investigations. Presenting what she referred to as a brief fact of the case, Mrs Addo Okyireh told the crowded court, presided over by Mr Ebenezer Osei, that on December 22, 2012 at about 1.30 a.m. while the doctors were asleep, Akwetey, Agomor (alias Baba), Ametorwu and Harrison, armed with a pistol and machetes, broke through the windows and attacked the doctors. She said they locked up the doctors in different rooms after which Akwetey and Agomor raped their female guests. Mrs Addo Okyireh stated that the robbers then called Gideon Boateng, who came in his Toyota Corolla saloon car, with registration number GE 2882- 12, to cart away the booty, made up of various items and cash. She further told the court that on January 23, this year (2014), a good Samaritan spotted Akwetey in the business area of Koforidua and caused his arrest. Akwetey, the prosecutor stated, during police interrogation, mentioned Agomor,Ametorwu and Harrison as other accomplices, as well as Awuku and Zibo who, he said, received the stolen items. Mrs Addo Okyireh said a number of items such as a pistol, belonging to one of the doctors, laptops, a DSTV decorder, 21 wax prints, which had been identified by some of their victims as theirs, had been retrieved from the gang. A car jack, two machetes and an industrial cutter suspected to have been used by the robbers in their operations have also been retrieved.  

Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, has criticised new forex rules by the Bank of Ghana (BOG), aimed at shoring up the cedi against major international currencies. According to IMANI, the BOG’s new rules, one of which prohibits over-the-counter cash withdrawals of more than US$10,000, will help boost a foreign exchange black market and cause the cost of doing business to shoot up. “…they just handed the US Dollar to the black market and almost quadrupled the costs of all businesses in the country in the short to medium term with effects that would last longer than the anticipated benefits”, IMANI President, Mr Franklin Cudjoe told Graphic.com.gh Thursday. This, he explained, is because Ghana’s economy is "largely an import-led one with a greater percentage of manufacturing resources imported".  Mr Cudjoe said the new forex rules will hurt business owners such as spare-part dealers who rely heavily on dollars for importation. He also suggested that smuggling of cocoa out of the country will increase on account of the new forex rules. “Payment for cocoa farmers will be affected, meaning the value of what they receive will be diminished. Some might just sell to Ivory Coast,” he said. The IMANI President called on the government to learn from the experiences of other countries which have had to deal with currency depreciation of their own in recent times. “Zimbabwe may be a farfetched example, but to deal with their almost worthless zim currency, they dollarized, to tame hyperinflation, restore stability enhance budget discipline and monetary credibility. All we should do in the interim is not to disturb the forex regime. "The effects of a growing or deepening belief that the 'regulatory environment is uncertain or unpredictable' show up more in the medium rather than the short-term, and are often more chronic than acute in nature," he stated. Mr Cudjoe underscored the need to be alert to "more insidious indicators" such as capital projects that get abandoned mid-way. The BOG, which imposed the new rules Wednesday, also banned commercial banks and other financial institutions from issuing cheques and cheque books on foreign exchange accounts (FEA) and  foreign currency accounts (FCA). The central bank went on to direct banks not to grant a foreign currency-denominated loan or foreign currency-linked facility to a customer who is not a foreign exchange earner.  Offshore foreign deals by resident companies, including exporters in the country, has also been prohibited. 

The Senior Pastor of the Charismatic Baptist Church at Taifa in Accra, Reverend Ernest Adu-Gyamfi, has been inducted into office as the First Executive President of the Ghana Baptist Convention. Rev. Enoch Nii Narh Thompson, the Head Pastor of Messiah Baptist Church, is his deputy. At the induction ceremony, the former President of the Ghana Baptist Convention, Rev. Dr Fred Deegbe, urged the two new leaders to live a ‘Christ-like life to help win souls for God. “Whenever a new structure is put in place, it can either lead to the growth or collapse of the organisation,” he said and prayed that their tenure would be successful. Rev. Dr Deegbe said the task, which had been handed over to them, was challenging but they would be successful if they were in constant fellowship with the Lord, who had called them to lead. He urged them to be focused in executing their tasks as executives of the convention; equip themselves to meet the challenges of their call and love the people they were going to work with. These values, he said, were the models God had given them to follow in the course of their duties and which, when ignored, would be to the detriment of the church.  Rev. Deegbe also advised the church to support them to make their tenure of office successful.   Solidarity Message  In a solidarity message, the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, indicated that the call to head the convention was divine and came with a divine mandate. He added that the two had come into office at a time that the impact of Christianity on the country had been questioned by many and prayed that they would be able to make meaningful contributions to people’s lives.   Rev. Adu-Gyamfi In his remarks, Rev. Adu-Gyamfi thanked the church for the confidence reposed in them and pledged that they would give off their best to build the convention and execute their mandate as new executives of the convention.  Rev. Adu Gyamfi said their goal was to work at achieving a rebranded convention in the areas of education, finance and general welfare of members, among others. An 11-member denominational board which would serve as an advisory body to the executive president and his vice was also inaugurated. It is chaired by Rev. Dr Deegbe.

The Minister of the Interior, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, has stated that recruitment into the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) will remain frozen until a thorough staff deployment exercise has been undertaken to serve the real needs of the service. He said that the deployment of staff had been lopsided and that certain areas in the country appeared to be over-staffed while other places were under-staffed. Addressing the opening session of a special regional commanders’ conference of the GIS in Accra yesterday, Mr Ahwoi said, “There is a clear evidence of under-utilisation of human resource in the service.” The three-day event, being held on the theme, “Moving the GIS towards a new institutional direction”, is being attended by management and regional commanders of the service. It is meant to create a platform for them to undertake critical institutional stock-taking of the operational and administrative activities and address the challenges facing the GIS.   Strategic plan Mr Ahwoi stated that in 2011, the leadership of the service launched a four-year strategic plan from 2011 to 2015 that defined and spelt out the visionary strategies for the service, covering policy, personnel development and deployment, as well as facilities and equipment. He was happy that preliminary work had been carried out particularly in the areas of nationwide sensitisation of personnel and the recruitment of specialist professionals in information and communications technology, law, civil engineering, paramedics and psychologists.    Mr Ahwoi noted that currently, postings and transfer of staff had not been “scientifically” analysed and done to ensure that key regions, sectors, districts and border posts had adequate staff numbers with appropriate ranks to ensure effective command and control at all times. “Jobs, we must create, but we should not add to the over-burdening problem of ‘single spine salary management’ by paying staff salaries for no work done,” he stated. The minister said his outfit had already directed the GIS leadership to overhaul staff deployment to ensure that the GIS derived maximum benefit from staff. “I am informed but yet to verify that a total staff re-deployment exercise has been carried out in the Greater Accra Region and is being extended to Tema and other regional, sector and district commands across the country,” he said.   Challenges facing service On challenges facing the GIS, Mr Ahwoi stated that he was aware the service suffered from serious deficit in areas such as accommodation, means of transport, communication equipment, uniforms and other accoutrement. He,  however,  said the government was working relentlessly to ensure that the service was provided with its essential logistics and infrastructure to enable it to perform at its maximum best.   Non-release of subvention The acting Director of Immigration, Commissioner of Police, Dr Peter A. Wiredu, said the non-release of subventions adversely affected the operations of the service last year. “This dire financial constraints compelled some regional and sector commanders of the service to resort to some ingenious ways to run their areas...,” he stated. He said the service had reconstituted its Central Disciplinary Committee to review all cases of officers interdicted for various acts of indiscipline.  

The Accra Regional Police Command has intensified measures to apprehend the members of an armed robbery gang who are behind the threat on the lives of residents of Agape near Accra. Even though 27-year-old Samiru Salifu, suspected to be the ring leader of the gang which calls itself the Armed Robbers Association (ARA), has been arrested, the police believe there are remnants of the gang in the area who have to be brought to book. As part of efforts at stepping up police operational strategy, the police have deployed plain-clothes investigators into the community to gather intelligence and increased police patrols and snap checks. Emergency meeting  The Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Christian Tetteh Yohonu, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the Odorkor District Police Command, which has jurisdiction over the area, had been directed to provide regular patrols to ensure that the lives of the residents were protected. To strengthen security in the various commands in the region, the Regional Commander met all senior officers and asked them to intensify patrols in their commands. “We consider it as a hoax and that the people behind the notice are cowards,” Mr Yohonu said. That, he said, was because “in many areas where robbery had occurred, the robbers never informed their victims in advance”. No money paid  He said even though the notice was seen late last year, “up to now nobody has paid any money to them and the people behind the notice have not been able to carry out their threats. It was a means that the suspected gang wanted to use to solicit money from the residents”. The police, he said, would continue to strengthen intelligence gathering and its security system to ensure that everybody in Accra “and not at Agape alone, lives in peace”. Mr Yohonu said as a result of the effective strategies put in place, the police had been able to stamp its authority on robbery in the country.  Background A gang which calls itself the ARA has been harassing residents of Agape near Accra to pay not less than GH¢500 per tenant in each household or risk facing its wrath.  The gang had given the residents of the community a deadline of December 30, 2013 to pay the amount but the residents failed to meet that deadline. One of the residents told the Daily Graphic that they lived in fear, since they did not know when the gang might strike. It all started in December, 2013 when the residents woke up to find notices posted on their walls, gates, electricity poles and other places, directing them to pay the said amount through MTN mobile money. Writer’s email: [email protected]

The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has expressed concern about the misappropriation of funds by officials of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and urged the management  to recover with interest all misappropriated funds. It has also called for a restructuring of the operations of the NHIA to ensure efficient and effective claims management within the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The committee’s recommendations were contained in a report it submitted to Parliament yesterday after studying the Performance Audit report of the Auditor-General on the management of claims by the NHIS. The report was adopted by the House. Presenting the report, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said the committee observed, after studying the details of investigations conducted by the Auditor-General in 2010, that GH¢ 6.4 million was misappropriated from 2005 to 2009. Overpayments for the same period totalled GH¢ 22million. He said the committee found out that the misappropriation occurred mostly through malpractices such as the insertion in the claims form of drugs not prescribed, creation of claims in respect of persons who did not attend hospital, overstatement of claims and prescriptions not serialised. According to him, the committee learnt that the NHIA had, through the Attorney-General, instituted 10 criminal prosecutions against culprits; out of which eight were ongoing and two discontinued. With regard to overpayment, he said officials of the NHIA informed the committee that measures had been put in place for the recovery of overpayments through retrospective vetting of all claims paid. To that end, he said the NHIA recovered GH¢ 8.4 million out of the GH¢ 22 million. The monies that were recovered, he added, were mostly from payments that arose out of pure errors and not fraudulent acts. Mr Agyeman-Manu said an officer of the NHIA who was found to be involved in the overpayment of claims had been convicted by the courts. Furthermore, about 100 hospitals were found wanting in the clinical audit and had had their accreditation withdrawn by the NHIA. In spite of the NHIA  putting in measures to recover the monies, he said the committee found the situation to be unacceptable. According to him, the committee found that officers in charge of vetting and paying claims at the District Mutual Health Insurance schemes did not have the requisite training and skills, a situation which brought their competence into disrepute. “The committee, therefore, urges the management of the NHIA to pursue the pending court cases with the seriousness they deserve,” he added.