The West Africa Network for Peace Building, Ghana (WANEP-Ghana) has initiated dialogue between the Konkombas and Bimobas with the view to finding a lasting solution to the Kpemale conflict in Nankpanduri in the Northern Region.On the theme “Promoting Peace Through Dialogue,” it is bringing together opinion leaders from both sides of the conflict, key stakeholders and peacemakers who can contribute meaningfully to the resolution of the conflict.Since June 4, 2012, the Bimobas and the Konkombas have been fighting over a parcel of land at Kpemale, a suburb of Nankpanduri.  A number of people have died as a result of the recurring conflict, with many homes destroyed.At the opening of the dialogue in Tamale, an Executive Committee Member of WANEP-Ghana, who is also the Catholic Bishop for Yendi, Most Reverend Vincent Boi-Nai, commended the Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council, the District Chief Executive for East Mamprusi, the Catholic Church of Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, the Konkomba Youth Association and the Bimoba Youth Association for their untiring efforts towards the organisation of the dialogue.He reminded the people that violence could not be a conduit to resolving conflicts, adding that “we must all be reminded that peace is not a gift to be received but a task to be undertaken”.The Executive Director of WANEP, Mr Emmanuel Bombande, expressed delight that the two protagonists had mutually agreed to help find a solution to the conflict.“The fact that both Konkombas and Bimobas are sitting together here is a significant achievement and I will entreat you not to think about what you did to each other during the conflict in this meeting but to see yourselves as peace-loving people who are out to find a solution to an unfortunate situation,” he admonished.The Northern Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr Ken Yeboah, expressed delight that a dialogue had been organised to find a solution to the conflict.For his part, the Northern Regional Minister, Mr Bede Angwataazoma Ziedeng, commended both Konkombas and Bimobas for the strides made earlier on their own through dialogue.He described the Kpemale area as one of the least developed areas in the region, and said the conflict had worsened the already bad situation in the area.Credit: Graphic.com.gh

The West Africa Network for Peace Building, Ghana (WANEP-Ghana) has initiated dialogue between the Konkombas and Bimobas with the view to finding a lasting solution to the Kpemale conflict in Nankpanduri in the Northern Region.On the theme “Promoting Peace Through Dialogue,” it is bringing together opinion leaders from both sides of the conflict, key stakeholders and peacemakers who can contribute meaningfully to the resolution of the conflict.Since June 4, 2012, the Bimobas and the Konkombas have been fighting over a parcel of land at Kpemale, a suburb of Nankpanduri.  A number of people have died as a result of the recurring conflict, with many homes destroyed.At the opening of the dialogue in Tamale, an Executive Committee Member of WANEP-Ghana, who is also the Catholic Bishop for Yendi, Most Reverend Vincent Boi-Nai, commended the Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council, the District Chief Executive for East Mamprusi, the Catholic Church of Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, the Konkomba Youth Association and the Bimoba Youth Association for their untiring efforts towards the organisation of the dialogue.He reminded the people that violence could not be a conduit to resolving conflicts, adding that “we must all be reminded that peace is not a gift to be received but a task to be undertaken”.The Executive Director of WANEP, Mr Emmanuel Bombande, expressed delight that the two protagonists had mutually agreed to help find a solution to the conflict.“The fact that both Konkombas and Bimobas are sitting together here is a significant achievement and I will entreat you not to think about what you did to each other during the conflict in this meeting but to see yourselves as peace-loving people who are out to find a solution to an unfortunate situation,” he admonished.The Northern Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr Ken Yeboah, expressed delight that a dialogue had been organised to find a solution to the conflict.For his part, the Northern Regional Minister, Mr Bede Angwataazoma Ziedeng, commended both Konkombas and Bimobas for the strides made earlier on their own through dialogue.He described the Kpemale area as one of the least developed areas in the region, and said the conflict had worsened the already bad situation in the area.Credit: Graphic.com.gh

Chief Directors and other senior officials at the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have been urged to strengthen supervision and internal control procedures to prevent financial irregularities in their operations.The Auditor General, Mr Richard Q. Quartey, who made the appeal in the December 31, 2011, Financial Report on MDAs, also asked the officials to apply the necessary sanctions against offending officers and clients or organisations who defaulted in the settlement of their tax obligations.The recommendation followed intense scrutiny of the financial transactions of MDAs by the Auditor-General which revealed that the country lost GH¢118.8 million as a result of  irregularities in 2011.Additionally, the state purse also shrunk by $246,744.24 and £136,084.22 owing to similar phenomenon.The cataloguing of financial irregularities in the Auditor-General’s Report on MDAs and other agencies has become an annual ritual that seems to have no effects because affected MDAs are not seen to be taking any effective action to address the basic problems of lack of monitoring and supervision and non-adherence to legislation put in place to provide effective financial management of public resources.According to the Auditor-General’s Report on MDAs, the breakdown of amount lost to the state for the year 2011 include, tax irregularities which amounted to GH¢52,807,322.72 and GH¢13,824.11, representing 44.22 per cent.  Cash irregularities, on the other hand, led to the loss of GH¢ 33,583,678.14 and $76,883.31 and £122,260.11 representing 28.43 per cent as a result of irregularities.  Outstanding loans amounted to GH¢5,602,153.84 and $73,306.18 which is 4.78 per cent. For Payroll, the amount lost was GH¢ 909,278.80 and $76,496.25, representing 0.86 per cent, while Stores/Procurement resulted in the loss of GH¢ 780,027.67, which is 0.65 per cent.Failure by some MDAs to follow laid down procedure in the award of contracts also led to a loss of GH¢24,946,637.32, representing 20.88 per cent. Furthermore, the state incurred GH¢191,077.17 which accounted for 0.18 per cent as the MDAs neglected the deduction of the monthly rent from their staff salaries.According to the Auditor-General, the incident of cash irregularities were rife in the ministries of Justice and Attorney General; GH¢16,375,045.05; Health, GH¢12,089,459.63; Education, GH¢ 2,621,482.63; MoFEP GH¢ 2,004,238.00; Employment and Social Welfare GH¢ 276,723.53; Youth and Sports GH¢ 237,864.70;Defence, GH¢ 81,039.61 and other agencies GH¢ 84,758.12.The report noted that most of the “ tax  irregularities arose from poor supervision of schedule officers and failure to enforce tax laws and financial regulations, as well as failure by heads of MDAs to sanction offending staff.”For stores and procurement, the Auditor-General raised issues related to anomalies in “purchases not taken on ledger charge, contract variations, payments for uncompleted works and fuel coupons not properly accounted for.”There was also “failure to adhere to the Public Procurement Act, and Store Regulations.”“Unauthorised expenditure, misappropriation of revenue/other receipts, failure by accounting officers to properly acquit payment vouchers or produce them for inspection and validation and imprests not accounted for were responsible for the cash irregularities.Payroll irregularities involved mostly unearned salaries paid to separated staff, as well as irregularities in pension payments and the failure to ensure timely deletion of the names of separated persons.“Outstanding loans continued to be an issue because often, loans were granted without specifying terms of recovery and responsible officials fail to monitor performance, while the beneficiaries also do not willfully ensure that the loans granted them are being recovered,” the report stated.In 2011, the value of reported irregularities in contract administration was significantly higher as a result of contract management lapses that occurred particularly at the ministries of Health, Defence, Roads and Transport, Education and Employment and Social Welfare, the report further stated.Credit: Graphic.com.gh

Chief Directors and other senior officials at the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have been urged to strengthen supervision and internal control procedures to prevent financial irregularities in their operations.The Auditor General, Mr Richard Q. Quartey, who made the appeal in the December 31, 2011, Financial Report on MDAs, also asked the officials to apply the necessary sanctions against offending officers and clients or organisations who defaulted in the settlement of their tax obligations.The recommendation followed intense scrutiny of the financial transactions of MDAs by the Auditor-General which revealed that the country lost GH¢118.8 million as a result of  irregularities in 2011.Additionally, the state purse also shrunk by $246,744.24 and £136,084.22 owing to similar phenomenon.The cataloguing of financial irregularities in the Auditor-General’s Report on MDAs and other agencies has become an annual ritual that seems to have no effects because affected MDAs are not seen to be taking any effective action to address the basic problems of lack of monitoring and supervision and non-adherence to legislation put in place to provide effective financial management of public resources.According to the Auditor-General’s Report on MDAs, the breakdown of amount lost to the state for the year 2011 include, tax irregularities which amounted to GH¢52,807,322.72 and GH¢13,824.11, representing 44.22 per cent.  Cash irregularities, on the other hand, led to the loss of GH¢ 33,583,678.14 and $76,883.31 and £122,260.11 representing 28.43 per cent as a result of irregularities.  Outstanding loans amounted to GH¢5,602,153.84 and $73,306.18 which is 4.78 per cent. For Payroll, the amount lost was GH¢ 909,278.80 and $76,496.25, representing 0.86 per cent, while Stores/Procurement resulted in the loss of GH¢ 780,027.67, which is 0.65 per cent.Failure by some MDAs to follow laid down procedure in the award of contracts also led to a loss of GH¢24,946,637.32, representing 20.88 per cent. Furthermore, the state incurred GH¢191,077.17 which accounted for 0.18 per cent as the MDAs neglected the deduction of the monthly rent from their staff salaries.According to the Auditor-General, the incident of cash irregularities were rife in the ministries of Justice and Attorney General; GH¢16,375,045.05; Health, GH¢12,089,459.63; Education, GH¢ 2,621,482.63; MoFEP GH¢ 2,004,238.00; Employment and Social Welfare GH¢ 276,723.53; Youth and Sports GH¢ 237,864.70;Defence, GH¢ 81,039.61 and other agencies GH¢ 84,758.12.The report noted that most of the “ tax  irregularities arose from poor supervision of schedule officers and failure to enforce tax laws and financial regulations, as well as failure by heads of MDAs to sanction offending staff.”For stores and procurement, the Auditor-General raised issues related to anomalies in “purchases not taken on ledger charge, contract variations, payments for uncompleted works and fuel coupons not properly accounted for.”There was also “failure to adhere to the Public Procurement Act, and Store Regulations.”“Unauthorised expenditure, misappropriation of revenue/other receipts, failure by accounting officers to properly acquit payment vouchers or produce them for inspection and validation and imprests not accounted for were responsible for the cash irregularities.Payroll irregularities involved mostly unearned salaries paid to separated staff, as well as irregularities in pension payments and the failure to ensure timely deletion of the names of separated persons.“Outstanding loans continued to be an issue because often, loans were granted without specifying terms of recovery and responsible officials fail to monitor performance, while the beneficiaries also do not willfully ensure that the loans granted them are being recovered,” the report stated.In 2011, the value of reported irregularities in contract administration was significantly higher as a result of contract management lapses that occurred particularly at the ministries of Health, Defence, Roads and Transport, Education and Employment and Social Welfare, the report further stated.Credit: Graphic.com.gh

International audit firm, KPMG, has completed auditing the pink sheets at the heart of the election petition challenging the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as the winner of the 2012 Presidential election.The company was expected to present 15 copies of the final report to the registrar of the Supreme Court before 9 a.m. today.Each of the nine justices of the court were expected to be given copies, and so were all the parties in the case.The extra copy will go to the Judicial Secretary.This was disclosed to the Daily Graphic by a Senior Partner of KPMG, Mr Joe Winful, in Accra yesterday.The Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results forms, also known as pink sheets, have been at the heart of the election petition because the petitioners — the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; his running mate, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, and the Chairman of the NPP, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey — have alleged that gross and widespread irregularities took place on the face of the pink sheets from 11,842 polling stations.Although they insist they supplied 11,842 pink sheets to prove claims of over-voting, persons voting without undergoing biometric verification, some presiding officers not signing the pink sheets and some polling stations having the same serial numbers, the respondents allege that they were not supplied with 11,842 pink sheets.The petitioners are currently relying on 11,115 pink sheets to make their case for the annulment of more than four million votes.Realising the controversy surrounding the actual number of pink sheets supplied to the Supreme Court Registry would not die down, the court, on May 9, 2013, appointed KPMG to audit the pink sheets.The AuditKPMG completed auditing the first set of pink sheets submitted to the Supreme Court Registry, issued a draft report on it and requested parties in the petition to respond to the draft report, but the court, on June 5, 2013, directed that the pink sheets of the President of the panel, Mr Justice William Atuguba, be used as control in the audit.As a result of that, the Supreme Court, on June 13, 2013, adjourned proceedings to today to enable the audit firm to complete its work to allow parties to rely on the report to make their case for and against the annulment of more than four million votes. “We will defend our work”Mr Winful declined to disclose the content of the report on the grounds that the firm was appointed by the Supreme Court and it was only fair that the court be allowed to see the content first.“We have done our professional work diligently and are prepared to defend our work when called to testify in the case,” he emphasised.“We worked thoroughly and tirelessly, including weekends and sometimes up to 2 a.m., in order to finish the work on time,” he intimated. Emergency MeetingReacting to the widely circulated report that lawyers for the petitioners had called for a meeting with the KPMG, Mr Winful explained that the meeting actually took place on Friday, June 21, 2013.He indicated that the meeting was to iron out a few issues before the issuance of the final report on the audit. The PetitionThe hearing of the substantive petition began on April 17, 2013.So far, Dr Bawumia and the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, have testified for the petitioners and President Mahama, as well as the NDC, respectively.The Chairman of the EC, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, began giving his evidence-in-chief on Thursday, May 30, 2013 and is currently being cross-examined by Mr Philip Addison, the lead counsel for the petitioners.The petitioners have alleged that the December 7 and 8, 2012 presidential election was fraught with malpractices of over-voting, non-signing of pink sheets by some presiding officers or their assistants, voting without biometric verification and duplicated serial numbers of pink sheets.However, President Mahama, the EC and the NDC have denied that any such irregularities occurred during the election.Credit: Graphic.com.gh

International audit firm, KPMG, has completed auditing the pink sheets at the heart of the election petition challenging the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as the winner of the 2012 Presidential election.The company was expected to present 15 copies of the final report to the registrar of the Supreme Court before 9 a.m. today.Each of the nine justices of the court were expected to be given copies, and so were all the parties in the case.The extra copy will go to the Judicial Secretary.This was disclosed to the Daily Graphic by a Senior Partner of KPMG, Mr Joe Winful, in Accra yesterday.The Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results forms, also known as pink sheets, have been at the heart of the election petition because the petitioners — the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo; his running mate, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia, and the Chairman of the NPP, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey — have alleged that gross and widespread irregularities took place on the face of the pink sheets from 11,842 polling stations.Although they insist they supplied 11,842 pink sheets to prove claims of over-voting, persons voting without undergoing biometric verification, some presiding officers not signing the pink sheets and some polling stations having the same serial numbers, the respondents allege that they were not supplied with 11,842 pink sheets.The petitioners are currently relying on 11,115 pink sheets to make their case for the annulment of more than four million votes.Realising the controversy surrounding the actual number of pink sheets supplied to the Supreme Court Registry would not die down, the court, on May 9, 2013, appointed KPMG to audit the pink sheets.The AuditKPMG completed auditing the first set of pink sheets submitted to the Supreme Court Registry, issued a draft report on it and requested parties in the petition to respond to the draft report, but the court, on June 5, 2013, directed that the pink sheets of the President of the panel, Mr Justice William Atuguba, be used as control in the audit.As a result of that, the Supreme Court, on June 13, 2013, adjourned proceedings to today to enable the audit firm to complete its work to allow parties to rely on the report to make their case for and against the annulment of more than four million votes. “We will defend our work”Mr Winful declined to disclose the content of the report on the grounds that the firm was appointed by the Supreme Court and it was only fair that the court be allowed to see the content first.“We have done our professional work diligently and are prepared to defend our work when called to testify in the case,” he emphasised.“We worked thoroughly and tirelessly, including weekends and sometimes up to 2 a.m., in order to finish the work on time,” he intimated. Emergency MeetingReacting to the widely circulated report that lawyers for the petitioners had called for a meeting with the KPMG, Mr Winful explained that the meeting actually took place on Friday, June 21, 2013.He indicated that the meeting was to iron out a few issues before the issuance of the final report on the audit. The PetitionThe hearing of the substantive petition began on April 17, 2013.So far, Dr Bawumia and the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, have testified for the petitioners and President Mahama, as well as the NDC, respectively.The Chairman of the EC, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, began giving his evidence-in-chief on Thursday, May 30, 2013 and is currently being cross-examined by Mr Philip Addison, the lead counsel for the petitioners.The petitioners have alleged that the December 7 and 8, 2012 presidential election was fraught with malpractices of over-voting, non-signing of pink sheets by some presiding officers or their assistants, voting without biometric verification and duplicated serial numbers of pink sheets.However, President Mahama, the EC and the NDC have denied that any such irregularities occurred during the election.Credit: Graphic.com.gh