AFAG seeks NDC Chairman's prosecution

The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) has formally lodged a complaint with the police asking for the arrest and prosecution of the Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Dr. Kwabena Adjei .

The group is accusing Dr. Adjei of making subversive comments against the Judiciary when he called on the Chief Justice to purge the Judiciary of corruption and biases or the party shall purge it for her.

His comments drew lots of criticisms from the general public, the Bench and the Clergy, while many others, including the minority in Parliament, also called for his arrest and prosecution.

On Thursday, leading members of AFAG, a pressure group aligned to the opposition New Patriotic Party, filed a complaint at the Nima Police Station in Accra.

Martin Adjei Mensah, a leading member of AFAG told Joy News' Justice Baidoo that their action is “to ensure that Dr. Kwabena Adjei is brought to book.”

“We find his comments subversive and we think it largely infringes on several aspects of our laws.

“We expect the police to arrest, investigate and possibly prosecute him."

It is not yet clear if the police will act on the matter.

Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

NDC Supporters clash over Effiduase DCE

Supporters and opponents of Mr Kwadwo Addai, the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Sekyere East District of the Ashanti Region Wednesday morning clashed at the district capital, Effiduase.

Police personnel had to fire warning shots to disperse the rioters and maintain security.

Nhyira FM’s correspondent, Alexander Afrifa who was reporting on the riots, became a victim, having been assaulted by the supporters. He has since been hospitalized.

Some supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) had accused the DCE of sidelining them in the execution of development projects in the area.

Although Mr Addai repeatedly denied the allegations, the angry supporters gathered at his office Tuesday and threatened to kick him out.

They vowed to defect to another political party if the appointing authority fails to sack the DCE.

To calm tensions and find an amicable solution to the impasse, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Kofi Opoku Manu Wednesday went to the district to try and intervene in the matter.

But when he entered the Effiduase, the two groups – supporters and adversaries of the DCE – launched an audacious attack on each other.

Joy FM Correspondent, Kwabena Ampratwum said the police had to whisk the both the DCE and the Regional Minister out of the area to prevent anything untoward happening to them.

The embattled DCE, told Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh that he had scheduled the meeting with Mr Opoku Manu at a secured location but the Regional Chairman of the NDC who led the Regional Minister’s delegation bypassed that location and drove the convoy into the trouble makers’ zone.

He dismissed the calls for his dismissal by his detractors, maintaining that out of the 62 branches of the NDC in the district, “58 branches are solidly behind me.”

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$2 Million Ghana Airways Royalty Go Missing

Royalties in the sum of $2million paid to Ghana Airways from 2005 to 2008 have not been accounted for. The payment, by KLM, was made at the time Ghana Airways was not in operation, raising questions as to who received the money and to which account it was paid.

Some former workers of the defunct company are therefore calling on the government to investigate the royalty payment in particular and the liquidation of Ghana Airways in general.

According to the former workers, the entire liquidation of Ghana Airways was very ‘stinky’ and disgraceful and went against professionalism and good governance, saying it was also unconstitutional to deprive citizens of their jobs and also distribute national assets without due care.

Speaking on behalf of the workers, a former Senior Staff Association Chairman of the Ghana Airways, Roland Mosore, told journalists that the circumstances under which the airline was liquidated made them to believe that it was a deliberate move to collapse the company, dispose its assets and form a new airline solely for the benefit of a few persons in the former administration, including the then President, John Kufuor.

He said during the period of challenges of the airline, the workers sacrificed 30 per cent reduction in salary for a period of seven months, got reduced payment of all allowances by 40 per cent and worked overtime without collecting any payments, all in a bid to contribute to the survival of the airline. Furthermore, he added, the then government rejected a loan request of $7million and $2million respectively by the airline to help in its resuscitation. “All these we believe were steps to ‘kill’ Ghana Airways, because airlines like KLM, Kenya Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Fidelity, among others had expressed partnership interest”, he said. According to Mr. Mosore, all these reputable airlines were disqualified to partner with Ghana Airways and in rather mysterious circumstances, the airline was declared liquidated and a new so-called Ghana International Airline formed with tax payers’ money taken from SSNIT contributions.

Interestingly, he noted, while the company needed less than $9million to stay afloat, the NPP government spent $6.5million in retrenching workers of the airline and spent an additional $5million to form a new airline in partnership with GIA USA, which, according to him, had never even operated a ‘bicycle rental business’.

“How then could Ghana Government partner such a business in aviation?” he asked.

Mr. Mosore said the ‘salivating NPP politicians’ and their cronies took charge of the assets of Ghana Airways and wrongfully decided to share them under the guise of liquidation, thereby forcing the airline into extinction without any steps to restructure or discuss with the experienced aviation professionals to find suitable methods of solving the problems.

He held that the government, in forming a new airline, has much to learn from the experience of Ghana Airways and GIA, and this would ensure that the new airline succeeds.

“The government’s developmental agenda will be enhanced with the formation of a New Ghana Airways and drawing from the lessons of the previous NPP-led and failed GIA, the NDC-led government shall not fail in the formation of a better state-of-the-art national carrier”, he said in a statement co-signed by Alex Koufie, a former Union Chairman of Ghana Airways.

Mr. Mosore said there were hidden ‘vampires’ in the administration of the aviation industry in the Transport Ministry and suggested to government to engage the representatives of the former workers to be part of any decisions and formulations of any policy or formation of a national carrier. He called on government to inform Ghanaians about the cost of the liquidation exercise and how the assets were disposed (who bought what and at what price). He requested also for a full disclosure on the total income realized from the sale of the assets of the company.

According to him, the information would not be hard to come by since a Chief Director, Mr. T.A. Selby, who was an advisor of the previous administration at the Ministry of Transport, and later at the Aviation Ministry, who played super active roles in halting the operations of Ghana Airways and the formation of GIA, is still at post, steering the affairs and advising the current Minister for Transport.

The then acting Registrar General, Mr. J.K. Harlley, who presided over the liquidation exercise of the company, is also at post, he added
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Ashawo Man Robs Clients

A 23-YEAR-OLD MAN who has been ‘servicing’ men while dressed as a woman has been arrested.

The suspect, Francis Atsu, smartly dressed as a fashionable attractive female, tells his sex partners he is called Gifty Atsu.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE exclusively at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters after his arrest yesterday, Francis/Gifty Atsu revealed that he started dressing like a woman and practising prostitution at Aflao years ago.

“I only came to Accra recently to look for greener pastures when a soldier man hired my services for the night,” he said.

According to him, he had so far had sexual intercourse with ten men since arriving in Accra and seemed sorry his adventure had been so quickly terminated.

Even the police were fooled initially because they thought they had a woman in their grips who had just looted items from one of her clients, a soldier.

Francis had breasts like a woman. Apparently, they were two gloves filled with water and nicely tucked into a brassiere.

He wore earrings, three pieces on each ear, beads on his waist, an anklet and had a wig on, and wore a lady’s skirt and blouse that made him look completely like a woman.

In his hand, Francis carried a lady’s handbag which was filled with condoms and a make-up kit.

Drama unfolded when the prostitute was hauled to the police station for stealing his/her client’s laptop and other items after spending the night with him.

He was arrested when he tried selling the items at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle last Monday and was subsequently detained in the female cells of the Accra Central Police Station.

According to a police source, ‘Gifty’ Atsu was spotted by the soldier during the celebration of the Homowo Festival Bash at Teshie on Saturday.

The source said the soldier then bargained with the lady to spend the night with ‘her’ for a fee of GH¢20.

After the agreed deal, the soldier (name withheld) then took ‘her’ to d Morea friend’s house to spend the night.

“That night, the soldier was so drunk that he could not perform and therefore did not touch Gifty till the next morning,” the police said.

In the morning, the soldier left Gifty in his friend’s (also a soldier) room for work, with the intention to return later in the day to satisfy his sexual desires.

“Gifty, after the soldier left, took the laptop of their host, digital and manual cameras, a barbering machine, as well as some jeans trousers together with an amount of GH¢20 and bolted.”

The soldier however did not report the matter to the police.

Confirming the story to DAILY GUIDE, the Accra regional crime officer, Superintendent Frank Adufati, indicated that Francis Atsu was arrested Monday night by the police when he tried to sell the stolen items.

He noted that the police could not immediately detect that she was a man until close examination by the investigator in charge of the case the next day.

“In her caution statement, Francis Atsu gave his name as Gifty Atsu. We could also not immediately detect she was a man because she had breasts, and was wearing earrings, beads, a wig and a lady’s dress and other items used by women.”

Mr. Adufati said the investigator, upon interrogation, realised Gifty was behaving as if she was a man.

“The investigator then sought permission to examine Gifty and it was during the examination that we detected she was a man.”

The police have since contacted the soldier the prostitute allegedly robbed for his statement.

Francis Atsu would be arraigned soon, according to the regional crime officer, to answer charges of stealing.

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At Osu Children’s Home

The Osu Children’s Home, built alongside the Remand Home in the 1950s for orphans and homeless children to be trained to become useful citizens, has become a ‘death transit camp’ where gruesome atrocities are committed against inmates.

The helpless and parentless children have been literally turned into objects of violent physical abuse, emotional torture, corporal punishment and reckless neglect that led to death of three of the orphans just within three months.

Ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’s working in an undercover operation at the orphanage has been able to capture a video recording of this crime against humanity and has narrated to DAILY GUIDE how death is so rampant at the orphanage that mass burial of the inmates have become the order of the day.

The said video also captured caregivers of the orphanage gleefully sharing among themselves, food stuffs and other items that had been donated to the orphans while some of them packed and set on fire clothes and toys that ought to be shared among the inmates.

“There was a point I had to disguise myself into a woman; I used the name ‘Hajia Barkisu’ and the caregivers of the home sold to me some of the food stuffs that had been donated to them.

“At another time I disguised myself as a pastor called ‘Rev. Abednego Akpabli’ of the Christ of Jah Church; the whole thing took me about seven months to uncover and we used about thirty secret cameras hidden at vantage locations in the home,” Anas told DAILY GUIDE.

The video also showed 6-year-old Yaw Moses, a physically-challenged lad who was reportedly beaten until he had a broken vertebral column and died.

Yaw was in House One, where he and a host of others were being cared for by Florence Adama, Aunty Zenabu, Comfort Anang, Madams Adobea, Grace and Dora.

Madam Grace, according to the children, was supposedly responsible for Yaw until he died. She was sighted in the video clip holding tight the hands of a young boy by name Evans Doudoo, as she ordered other children to slap him.

“Because of his condition, all the caregivers beat him a lot. Aunty Grace beats him anytime she finds anything wrong with him. The last time he fell off his wheelchair and broke his lip, a caregiver, instead of treating him, beat him the more. He was left in the open on the bare floor very often,” a child reported.

Interestingly, while the child was in visible agony, House One record book on his daily condition read that Yaw Owusu was looking healthy, quite cheerful and had a peaceful night.

In the video, he, like other helpless inmates, ate meals from the floor because their ‘mothers’ would not care to lift them up.

When he finally gave up and died with scars all over his body, Yaw was buried at the La Cemetery under the sponsorship of Anas.

House Two is taken care of by one Hajia as house mother, Cecilia Bafo-Bone as her assistant and madams Rachael and Florence as other caregivers, but the situation is not different.

In House Three, the children are in the care of Gladys (house mother), Madam Elizabeth, Edith Kwao-Kuma, Comfort Bekoe, Rose and a woman called Lizzy, while the nursery section is in the care of Edith Awor and Madam Nancy, with Evelyn as cook.

Some of the male overseers who allegedly terrified the children and inflicted pain on some of them include Akuamoah Boateng, 21, who was captured in the video dishing out violent slaps to the children before giving them their daily ration of oranges.

The children also spoke of rampant sodomy, penal weeding, and their food sometimes being maggot-infested.

But in spite of most of the inmates looking malnourished, the supervisor of the home, Sharon Abbey, insisted in the video that all children were adequately taken care of, with each being fed on two eggs a week and the institution using five cartons of chicken per day for their meals.

The daily beatings were not only confined to the home. Those who attend the La Estate Primary School and Osu Home School at South Labadi Estate are caned regularly for non-payment of fees, according to Anas’s findings.

They returned to the home to de-silt gutters while barefooted, as others did their homework seated on the bare floor, unsupervised.

After the investigations in Ghana, Anas travelled to other countries as Senegal, Liberia and the USA to see if what was happening at the Osu Children’s Home is the norm but it turned out to be an exception.
With this revelation, it is not clear what the government, UNICEF, religious leaders and policy think-tanks would do to bring sanity to the home and give the children a better life, as it is expected to do.


Asked what motivated him to investigate happenings at the home, Anas had this to say: “Well we have been doing stories on trafficked children and I commend DAILY GUIDE on this because we have done a couple of collaborative investigations on this subject but this time round I wanted to know what happens to the children we rescue from traffickers and lo and behold this was what I saw. I am tempted to believe that the conditions in the orphanage is worse than what the children would have gone through if we had allowed them to have been trafficked,” Anas explained.


Some scenes in the video showed three babies who died in the last three months under the watch of caregivers, all of whom were buried in a mass grave. After their death, they were lifted up ‘lovelessly’ like unwanted wet kittens which should be gotten rid off as quickly as possible.

The Remand Home has a ‘prison cell’ where children who ‘pilfer’ minor items such as a bottle of Coca Cola are summarily locked up for hours. A child who had diarohea was left to stand for several hours in his own feaces while his colleagues taunted him as ‘nii ni fo’ (he who shits).
A pathetic scene showed babies seated on chamber pots for long hours with no care-giver available to clean them up until they fell asleep on their potty.

Apart from the dead babies, it is now on record that 7-year-old Kobi Stephens, who had a swollen leg, was not attended to for several months and later died on admission at the Ridge Hospital from what hospital sources described as ‘severe internal infection and pneumonia’.

Another inmate, Yayaa Cynthia, 15, also died of unknown causes, but DAILY GUIDE sources say she had complications and went blind in the home before she eventually passed away, while Victor Ataa, 25, also died of an untreated disease.
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Ghana Black Stars : Where is the Money ?

Credible information gathered by The Chronicle as at press time last night, indicates that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will, this morning, dispatch letters to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Akua Sena Dansua, and the president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr. Kwasi Nyantekyi, inviting them to explain how bonuses meant for Black Star players had delayed, and the allegation that the players rejected the money because it was being paid to them in cedis instead of dollars.

The decision follows President Mills' reaction to recent Chronicle publications that players of the national team had rejected bonuses meant for them, because the money was in Ghana cedis, instead of dollars as promised by the President.

In an interview he granted The Chronicle last week Friday, President John Evans Atta Mills took strong exception to a report carried by the paper that the Black Stars players had rejected the bonuses he promised them, because the money was paid in Ghana cedis, and not US dollars.

"I have paid them in US dollars, and my ministers, especially the Sports Minister, can tell you. I have not reneged on my promise to them. I have paid them long ago," he stressed.

The Chronicle, however, prompted the President to do a little bit of background checking as the paper stated that if he did not hand over the money personally then he should probe into the issue.

Official sources contacted at the SFO confirmed that if two personalities were being invited for questioning, in connection with the Black Stars bonuses.

According to the source, the invitation letters were ready, and would be dispatched to them early this morning.

The Chronicle also gathered that apart from the controversial dollar bonuses, the SFO would also be questioning the duo over how the various sponsorships secured for the national teams were utilised.

The SFO would be looking -at the quantum of the sponsorship, and the utilisation vis-a-vis government's contribution to the management of the senior national teams.


The interrogation would also cover proceeds from the Metro TV, Rice Masters, Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, Inter-Sports and PUMA deals.

The SFO would further be investigating the Glo sponsorship of the Premier League, and a revelation that a company was paid 10% agency fee at a time Glo had indicated that it dealt directly with the GFA, and not through any agent.

Source: The Ghanaian Chronicle
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Two Million Barrels Oil For Ghana

Ghana and Equatorial Guinea have concluded a sales and purchase agreement under which two million barrels of Zafiro blend crude oil will be lifted annually from Equatorial Guinea to Ghana.

The Crude Oil Sales/Purchase Contract was signed between the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Guinea Equatorial de Petroleos on behalf of their respective countries.

A statement released yesterday by the head of the Economic Evaluation & Monitoring Unit of GNPC, Mr Kwame Ntow Amoah, said the deal concluded what was begun in May, this year when President Mills paid a three-day visit to Equatorial Guinea.

It said the GNPC had effected the first lifting of about one million and fifty thousand barrels under this Contract since July, this year.

President Mills secured the deal at the May talks with the President of Equatorial Guinea, Mr Theodore Nguema Mbasogo.

It is to sell the oil to Ghana under a 90-day credit agreement, similar to earlier ones Ghana struck with Libya and Nigeria.

Equatorial Guinea is one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producers with about 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) of output.

Ghana is expected to join the ranks of commercial oil producers by the end of this year when pumping starts from the giant offshore Jubilee Field.

Initial production is pegged at 120,000 barrels per day, which could catch up with the Equatorial Guinea production level in five years.
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Kumasi and the Snake Girl

THE ADAGE that ‘wonders shall never end’ was demonstrated at Tafo, a suburb of Kumasi, yesterday morning, when a woman believed to be in her late twenties allegedly turned into a snake.

The information virtually caused a stampede at the Tafo District Police command when residents trooped to the scene to catch a glimpse of the ‘snake woman.’

Abena Agyeiwaa, a native of Mampong in the Ashanti region, turned into a big black cobra at about 7:30 am at Tafo Mile Four.

The incident, according to eyewitnesses, unfolded at a culvert located in front of the Maranatha Kingdom Faith Ministries, a local church in the area.

An eyewitness, Adelaide Yeboah aka ‘Ama Ataa’, wife of the pastor in charge of the church, told DAILY GUIDE “I was at home when I heard people shouting that there was a snake in front of the church.”

Alarmed by the shouts, Mrs. Yeboah said she decided to come out and find out what was amiss and to her surprise, she saw an extremely large black cobra crawling slowly in front of the church.

According to her, the large crowd which appeared at the scene as a result of the incessant shouts, attempted to kill the snake, a development which saw the snake seeking refuge in a culvert.

Determined to kill the mysterious snake, the pastor’s wife noted that the unwavering crowd decided to pour hot water into the culvert to force the snake out.

Few minutes after the hot water had been poured into the culvert, Mrs. Yeboah said that a wretched-looking woman emerged from the culvert to the utter shock of the multitude that had gathered there.

“When the people shouted that the snake had turned into a human being, the woman angrily responded, and so what,” the frightened pastor’s wife claimed.

She added that the crowd became convinced that the woman was indeed the snake that entered the culvert, when she began wiggling her body like a snake after emerging from the culvert.

She disclosed that there were visible burns on the body of the woman after emerging from the culvert, a development which suggested that she was badly affected by the hot water that was poured into the culvert.

The pastor’s wife said when the woman was interviewed after she had come out of the culvert, she indicated that she was not a snake and that she decided to enter the culvert because she did not have any place to sleep.

When asked of her location, Mrs. Yeboah said the woman told them that she was a native of Mampong, who is married to one Lawrence and has two children and that she came to Kumasi for business.

Fearing that the woman could be attacked by the angry crowd, the pastor’s wife said the Tafo district police command was called in to come and whisk the woman to the station for protection.

Police officers at the station had a hectic time controlling the crowd that besieged the station to catch a glimpse of the woman.

Realizing that the crowd was overwhelming them, the district police commander, Superintendent Kwaku Buah, called for reinforcement from the Regional police command.

The crowd only dispersed after the reinforcement from the regional police command had arrived and taken the woman to the central police command for protection.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, Superintendent Buah said it was untrue that it was a ‘snake-woman’, stressing that nothing of that sort could happen.

He disclosed that information reaching his outfit revealed that the woman was a deranged person who had been brought to a prayer camp at Anwiaa, a suburb in Kumasi.

The district commander disclosed that the woman became mentally challenged after she gave birth to her second child and that she usually left her home at Mampong for unknown destinations.

Superintendent Buah observed that the woman was being detained for protection from the angry and superstitious mob.

Within minutes, news about the said strange happening had reached every corner of Kumasi, as radio stations thronged the station to telecast live reports, a development which made the story the most topical issue in town.

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Mayhem At Atiwa

The events that characterised the just-ended Atiwa bye-election have sent worrying signals to several Ghanaians, especially the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) who are raising concerns about acts of atrocities perpetrated by elements of the ruling party in recent polls.

The NPP is not sure the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in a peaceful atmosphere considering the manner in which the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) used intimidation to contest the recent elections, with the police looking on helplessly.

It said it could not understand the brutality that was visited on members of the NPP in Atiwa, Akwatia and Chereponi by the NDC and its assigns.

With police’s failure to protect them, the youth in Atiwa on Tuesday mounted road blocks to prevent attacks inflicted on them.

At Abomosu, the NDC Women’s Organiser Anita De-Souza’s Toyota Prado vehicle crushed several people at a road block in the full glare of policemen, after some hoodlums imported by the NDC had assaulted residents.

Even though Anita denied running over some residents who are in critical condition at various health facilities in the region, with some nursing broken limps and peeled skins among other bodily harms, reports have been made at the Abomosu Police who confirmed to DAILY GUIDE that three cases of violence were reported to them by three people.

According to the police, Kofi Bremang, who arrived at the police station with blood all over his body, complained that he was beaten and hit with clubs by suspected NDC goons.

The NDC ‘Sese’ Group, headed by a certain Polo, confirmed on Oman FM that he had led his boys to the constituency on the day of the bye-election.

Polo, who described the group as a very dangerous one, said they were funded by some key people in the party as well as businessmen.

Kofi Gyampo, Abuakwa South constituency chairman of the party, was also attacked by the hoodlums at a settler community near Asunafo where he was a polling agent.

Complaint about Anita’s 4×4 car running over some youth was reported at the police station by Evans Adjei-Mensah.

A statement issued by NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie yesterday said “the implications of such negative signals even ahead of 2012 for the economy and the country as a whole are obvious” since “the recurring failure of state security to protect these bye-elections poses a frightening threat to our democracy”.

The NPP scribe asked President Atta Mills, Minister for the Interior and Inspector General of Police to explain this failure.

The party said what are being presented as ordinary security lapses “are indeed a deliberate strategy to intimidate political opponents and give electoral advantage to the ruling NDC”.

For him, the inability of the country’s security agencies to provide adequate security in the Atiwa elections should be a great worry to each and every Ghanaian since he could not fathom why the election recorded the same security failures that occurred during the Akwatia and Chereponi bye-elections.

“Under this administration, armed policemen looked on unconcerned while organised thugs, wielding arms and other dangerous weapons, attacked innocent people at will.”

Sir John, as the NPP scribe is affectionately called, said “the persistent excuse given by such well armed but indifferent security personnel that they are unable to act because they have not received instruction to do so is, to say the least, ridiculous!”

He asked: “What is the use of security presence if the personnel would look on unconcerned while armed thugs assault innocent voters and scare off others?”

The NPP does not rule out the complicity of senior elements in the security agencies, since according to its General Secretary, “it is obvious that police personnel sent to election premises are instructed not to act without specific command from above while thugs are encouraged to intimidate political opponents and their sympathisers”.

Unless these threatening developments are addressed by government, “the country stands the danger of violent elections in 2012 when 230 constituencies (not one constituency) will need state security.”

The NPP therefore asked government to explain these security failures and the measures being taken to ensure that they would not happen again especially during the 2012 elections.

Pollster and editor-in-chief of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson shares a similar view since he also believes that the events that characterised the Atiwa bye-elections could be repeated in 2012 if adequate measures are not put in place to forestall any such unhealthy occurrences.

He said, “These are signs we must work towards... we shouldn’t always think that God will always be a Ghanaian. God can decide to shift his attention to another country.”

This, according to him, is because “He (God) has done enough for us and we have to be innovative and find out ways of preventing it.”

He had a message for the so-called foot-soldiers who are often used by politicians to perpetrate some of these dastardly acts against their fellow human beings for paltry monetary benefits:

“If somebody tells you that, ‘look, get this money and let’s go and show we have macho, we have this or that’, you should tell that politician to bring the daughter or the son to accompany you to do the violence and see whether he will bring the relative to accompany you to do the violent act.”

But the Member of Parliament for Okere, Dan Botwe says if he were the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), he would resign (over the issue).

Speaking on Joy FM, he said, “You had policemen on the ground, you had the topmost police people there, and there was mayhem.

People were holding guns, beating people openly and they openly and freely did it in the daytime. …the police were there, our cars were smashed, the police were standing by helplessly.”

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Some Politicians Are Desperate To Become President Due To Old Age: Vice President

Vice President John Dramani Mahama has stated that he is not desperate to be President of Ghana.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Chronicle newspaper in his office yesterday, in reaction to the use of T-shirts which had his effigy embossed on them, during the recent by-election held in the Atiwa constituency in the Eastern Region, he said the fact that people were seen wearing the T-shirt did not mean that he was working to undermine President Mills. “I have a working relationship with my President, and will do my work loyally in accordance with the oath I swore to the people of Ghana, I did not contest Mills in 2008, and I will not contest him in 2012,” he noted.

He explained that the T-shirts, which his opponents were using against him, were leftovers from the 2008 election campaign and were not new T-shirt meant to further any presidential ambition.
“I am 51 years old, and by the grace of God, I believe I have many more years of life ahead of me,” he said. According to him, due to advance in age, some politicians were desperate to become president of the country, because they believe time is running out of them. These people, he noted, see him as a stumbling block to their ambitions.

Vice President Mahama further told the Chronicle that President Mills had said on several occasions that he would seek a second term of office, and that should lay any speculations to rest. “I wan’t to say once more, and emphatically, that I would support President Mills to seek a second term in office. I would never contest for the presidency against President Mills. For me, political office is not a matter of life and death, as it is for some people. I have many ways of fruitfully spending my tine if I leave politics today. I am interested in agriculture, and I believe our destinies are in the hands of God, and leadership is bestowed by God. If God does not will it, all the macho men and T-shirts in this will never win you leadership.

The call to serve one’s people is an honorable one, and I am grateful to the people of Ghana for giving me the opportunity to serve in the high office of Vice President,” he ended
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Kumasi Prostitutes Angry with Nigeria Rivals

Ghana Telescope
New York - Accra - London


Ghanaian girls who offer sex for money at Adum, a suburb of Kumasi in the Ashanti region, have expressed anger over some Nigerians importing younger and prettier girls who are gradually taking over the sex business.

If not for the intervention of the assembly member for the area, Albert Osei-Banahene, the enraged sex workers would have hit the streets in their nakedness and marched from one office building to another, just to get the authorities to come to their aide.

“It is not that they are better than us in bed but as you know, most men prefer younger girls and these Nigerian girls are younger. Some are still in their teens and their agents protect them but we do not have agents who make things easier for us so the conditions of work are not fair.

“We would start attacking any underage ashawo from Nigeria because they are spoiling the market,” one of them noted. Interestingly, though both groups are prostituting, the Ghanaian girls say they are commercial sex workers while the Nigerians are ‘ashawos.’

According to the Ghanaian sex workers, the arrival of sexier girls from Nigeria is making business very competitive and compelling them to lower their rates or lose customers. Not pleased about the development, the disillusioned sex workers have declared their preparedness to hit the streets, should authorities fail to respond to their call and put in place appropriate measures to arrest the worrying situation.

In an interview with NEWS-ONE, the stationed sex workers revealed that some Nigerians living in Kumasi have made it their business of bringing in very pretty sex workers from the oil-rich country to practice their trade in the Ghana.

“Having realized the potential in the business, some Nigerians living in the city have decided to make it their business by bringing sex workers from their country to come and work here,” one of the disgruntled sex workers observed.

“When they bring them, they initially put them in hotels, before hiring rooms for them to practice their trade but we do not have agents or promoters so we are losing the market even in our own country,” another dissatisfied sex worker noted.

According to them, they would do everything within their means to ensure that the practice was stopped, because they believe that as Ghanaians, they have exclusive right to the trade. “We cannot allow Nigeria to take over everything in the country including the sex trade,” the sex workers emphasized.

The assembly member for the area, Hon Albert Osei-Banahene, who has being appealing to the sex workers to remain calm, appealed to the government to take up the matter and ensure that it is resolved amicably. He noted that it was important for the government to come in strongly because of the ages of the girls who are purported to have been sent into the city for sex trade.
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3 Sankofa Gold Robbers Jailed 180 Years

Gold Bars On Display



Two employees of Sankofa Gold Mines and a gold dealer who masterminded a gold robbery at the Sankofa Gold Mines at Prestea have been sentenced to a total of 180 years imprisonment in hard labour (IHL). The convicts are Stephen Adom, plant operator and Francis Cobbah, CIL operator, both employees and Yussif Amudah, a gold dealer.

Cobbah and Amuda were charged with conspiracy to commit crime and robbery and sentenced to 60years JHL on each count. The sentences are to run concurrently, Stephen Adom was sentenced to 60 years for conspiracy but was acquitted on the charge of robbery.

The three had earlier on October 23, last year pleaded not guilty when they appeared before the Tarkwa Circuit Court presided over by Mr. Obeng Diawno.

Presenting the facts, Deputy Superintendent 0 Police (DSP) D.K. Adiita, told the court that on October 20, 2009, the three men attacked the, Sankofa Gold Mines and stole a gold bar weighing 9.413 kilogrammes valued at $276,722.90.

He said the company normally processed its gold ore into bars on Tuesdays and stored them in a room after they had been weighed, sampled and sealed by the Customs, Excise and Preventive officials.

DSP Adiita said on September last year, the gang met at Cobbina's room at Prestea, and plotted-to steal the gold bars.
They rented a gun from a friend of Amuda who resides in Kumasi at a fee of GH¢1,000 for the operation.

The prosecutor told the court further that; the gun was kept in Cobbar's room and the three kept on communicating on their mobile phones on plans and strategic until they struck on October 20, 2009.

He said that Cobbah and Amuda, who took strategic positions near the company, covered their faces with masks and as the gold was being re¬ moved from the plant manager's office by Stephen to the gold room, they fired two shots at the escort who quickly abandoned the gold and fled.

The two, DSP Adiita said, took the gold bar and fled.

He said the two convicts quickly went to Gambia, a suburb of Prestea, and using a hacksaw blade, cut the gold bar into two and hid it in the ceiling of Amuda’s mother's room at Mankessim, also a suburb of Prestea.

The court after the judgment ordered the company, to keep the proceeds from the sale of the gold and commended the police for their swift response in the recovery of the gold.
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Ghanaian Students Stranded in China

About 14 Ghanaian students studying medicine in China risk deportation or imprisonment if immediate action is not taken to raise money to pay their school fees, which guarantees them permit to stay in that country.

Samuel Kwadwo Boateng, President of the National Union of Ghana Students-China (NUGS-China), who raised the alarm in an interview with Public Agenda in Accra last Thursday, however, feared there could be more Ghanaian students in similar situations in China as there are over 500 universities across that country.

He said the attraction of the students, most of them from the deprived and rural parts of the country, to China is based on the promises of guaranteed jobs, low fees and scholarships made by fraudsters who claim to be representing schools in Ghana. "Meanwhile all that they do is to go on the internet to locate the schools and look for prospective victims. What they want is the money rather than satisfying the interest of the students whom they claim to be representing".

Mr Frimpong therefore, warned students and guardians wishing to travel to China for further studies to beware of such unscrupulous agents who seek nothing but money.

He said, according to the immigration laws of China, students are not supposed to work whilst studying. When caught in such an unlawful arrangement, such students face immediate deportation and forfeiture of their education.

He said the students cannot work out visas whilst in China and therefore, warned prospective students to secure all their finances before embarking on such journeys.

Mr Frimpong also raised accusing fingers at officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs who gave letters to the agent introducing him to the Chinese Embassy.

He said if the officials had done their homework well, this problem would have been averted.

The NUGS-China President said they were recruited by Dr. Alvin Annan, Head of International Students Care. Before embarking on the journey in 2009, each of the students was made to pay several charges amounting to $3000 or more to the agency. However, upon arrival in China country, they were confronted with a different story altogether. Instead of the $2500 per annum school fees quoted by Dr Annan, the actual school fees they were to pay was $4000.

The jobs and scholarships promised them by the agent were also a farce. The immigration conditions of China demand that students are to pay their school fees before being given resident permits. With the little money they had on them they were able to pay the first semester school fees. With the expectation that Dr Annan will work the scholarships and jobs for them they negotiated with the school authorities to grant them some concession to pay the second semester fees later. However, the persistent calls to the agent to come to their aid never yielded positive results. They therefore went into another negotiation with the school which graciously granted them rebates, enabling them to complete the second semester.

A new semester is about to commence but how are these students going to continue their education. Now stranded without money for accommodation, food and school fees and possible deportation or jail, these students are appealing for immediate intervention from the Ghana government, corporate bodies, district and municipal assembles and philanthropists to assist them raise the school fees.

Mr Frimpong gave the assurance that investment in these students will not be in vain as they will certainly return to work in Ghana, especially the rural areas, where the number of doctors is grossly inadequate.

One of the students from Sene in the Brong Ahafo Region, managed to raise money to purchase his ticket home. But his ordeal will not deter him from continuing with his course; he intends raising funds to pay for his school fees. His other purpose is to solicit funds for his friends who are likely to be deported in September, unless funds are quickly raised to pay their fees.

On how he came into contact with the agent, he said a friend brought him down from Sene to Dr Annan whom he claimed could assist him to travel to China to study to become a doctor. "As my little savings could not pay for the money demanded by the agent, I had to fall on friends and family to raise the money. Even the district assembly assisted me," he said.

Mr Frimpong said NUGS-China has reported the matter to the Ghana Embassy in China which has also referred it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but his fear is that a new academic year is about to commence in China and other students are likely to fall prey to these agents.

Dr Anna, in a telephone interview with Public Agenda denied the allegations, blaming the students for their own woes.

According to him, the issue is purely about payment of schools fees, which the students before embarking on the journey made everything to indicate that they were capable of meeting their financial obligations until the completion of their studies.

"I helped 36 students in that particular year to study in various universities in China, but why it is that only this 12 are claiming that they are having problems. It is because they made false claims to me that they are capable of paying their fees," he said.

On the allegation of charging the students high processing fees, Dr Annan refuted taking various sums of money from the students. "I am not an agent. What my organization did was to guarantee for these students to facilitate their journey. We are an organization of an international repute and we have assisted several students to realize their dreams of studying abroad and we don't extort monies from them," he stated.

He also blamed the schools for the hikes in the school fees and worst for failing to inform the students and their parents about the increment.

Dr Annan described the predicament of the students as unfortunate, but indicated that the situation could have been helped if the students had come to him directly with the problem instead of going to others. "In spite of these circumstances I am still happy that I helped these students," he said
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NHIS Goes Public Against MP For Unpaid Bills

The National Health Insurance Scheme in the Asunafo North Municipality is meeting today to decide on what actions to take against the MP for the area who has failed to pay an amount of eight thousand Ghana cedis he owes the scheme since 2008.

Mr. Robert Sarfo Mensah registered over 700 of his constituents during the 2008 parliamentary campaign ostensibly to gain votes. But he has since failed to pay the amount.

The Municipal Scheme Manager of the NHIS, Mr. Edward Nkrumah says they are compelled to go public because the MP is proving difficult.

“The man is not ready to come and pay the money but we need the money,” he said.

The MP has written to the Asunafo north municipal assembly directing it to use part of his share of the Common Fund to settle his indebtedness to the Health Insurance Scheme.

But the Municipal Chief Executive, Mohammed Kweku Doku says he won't pay the money because the MP is been investigated for alleged misappropriation of his share of the common fund.

He alleged that Mr Sarfo Mensah collected monies, “spent the money outside the assembly, wherever he spent it no one knows whatever items he bought with state funds were not routed through government stores.”

The quoted what he said is an audit report saying the MP collected “some HIPC funds in 2009 and has misapplied the funds.”

He in view of these queries raised against Mr. Sarfo Mensah which were yet to be answered, the assembly will not commit any more funds to the MP.


Source : Joy News/Ghana

Mad Rush for Land

In anticipation of a surge in commercial activities when Ghana commences oil and gas production in commercial quantities, there is a mad rush for acquisition of land in the Ahanta Municipality, where most of the activities relating to the extraction will take place. The lands which are being acquired in large tracts with some exceeding 1600 acres have resulted in a situation where people are being deprived of their livelihoods.
?How would the youth of a given community who are between the ages of 8 and 15 today feel when they turn 20, have completed school and realize that they have no lands on which to farm on because they have been sold to third parties who are benefiting from them? What would be their reaction when they realize that although they could be employed, others not from their communities have taken their place and their generated wealth goes to support other areas outside their community?? He asked.

To ensure security, Dr Anning proposed that community interest s and concerns should be factored into the design and implementation of the proposed oil and gas bill.

He also called for intensification in educating the public on the expected revenue from the oil and gas to avert their anger especially, the frontline communities whose daily activities will be directly affected by the oil and gas extraction.

Following the announcement of the oil discovery in 2007, hopes and expectations have been varied and high among the public with some expecting that their situation will change overnight. This anticipation was heightened by politicians, especially, during the 2008 elections with the politicians making a tall list of promises to the people including jobs, money, infrastructure and various industries. However, to the experts until the oil revenue starts pouring in it is premature to have such hopes.

To avoid conflicts among traditional rulers as to who has jurisdiction over the oil and gas, the security analyst said, government must come clear and state its position on the matter and rope in the chiefs in its consultations. He said the people must also be educated on their roles as they can play monitoring roles, especially in pollution of the sea by the oil companies.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Rev. Dr Joyce Aryee, who chaired the session, noted that if the expectation of the public is not well managed it could lead to disillusionment and eventually public anger.

?We expect everything to be done because we have oil, but the most important thing is that we are able to build legacies that outlive the oil,? she philosophized.

She therefore called on the various agencies working on the oil sector to make public their work for the public to also to make their inputs