Month: January 2011

The Member of Parliament for Manhyia, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has stated that President Mills latest comments about the on-going Ivory Coast crisis amount to a diplomatic blunder which is unfortunate.

According to the MP, the president was part of the ECOWAS body that collectively decided to back Mr Alansane Ouatarra, winner of the November elections as declared by that country’s electoral commission, while at the same time he publicly declares that he is not in support of a military option which is part of the many options the ECOWAS is considering.

President Mills, answering questions at a media forum last Friday, stated that Ghana cannot send troops to Ivory Coast, as it already committed some 500 soldiers to that country under the UN command, adding that he personally thinks a military option in Cote d’Ivoire will not be the solution to the impasse.

But contributing to a discussion on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Monday, Hon. Prempeh stated that President Mills by this statement has caused a serious diplomatic blunder. He noted that the security implications of the crisis situation in Ivory Coast on Ghana does not even allow President Mills to declare his personal opinions in the way in which he did.

Mr Prempeh explained that ECOWAS’ decision to include a military option does not necessarily mean that they are going to use strike militarily and that “even if they do strike militarily it doesn’t mean that all the total membership of that body should be part of that thing.

He added that it was inappropriate for the President to speak, not even as the representative of Ghana but on his own behalf at such a national meeting.

Reacting to suggestions that ECOWAS may have lost credibility because it did not act on its threats to remove self declared President Laurent Gbagbo from office as at the deadline the body gave, the Manhyia MP said he was not surprised at the turn of events, as some double faced persons like President Mills attend ECOWAS meetings and then decide to undermine the credibility of ECOWAS.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Akim Abuakwa South Constituency in the Eastern Region, Samuel Atta Akyea says the NDC Government must be ashamed for politicizing increments in fuel prices while in opposition.

He said contrary to the NDC’s promise to reduce fuel prices to the barest minimum upon assumption of office, it is rather doing otherwise.

Mr. Atta Akyea, who told Citi News he was not against the recent thirty percent increase in the prices of petroleum products, says issues of fuel prices must be devoid of politics since it sometimes becomes extremely necessary to increase the prices to meet national needs.

He cautioned all political parties particularly the NDC and NPP to desist from playing politics with fuel in the future.

“If you are not very careful you might think that the NDC government is disgraced because the NDC had a manifesto in which they said they were not going to increase petroleum prices. Immediately Professor Mills gave his first State of the Nation Address and the Budget was brought, petrol prices were increased. That is to say they are not very realistic. They are people who enjoy propaganda”.

“Petrol prices should be increased if it will assist the overall economy so we don’t have to play politics with the economy. If it is necessary for petrol prices to be increased for the revenue to be used to solve problems of the nation then it should be so increased. It is very bad and it doesn’t bode well for government to play politics with fuel and transportation. It is a huge embarrassment for the NDC government” he noted.

Mr. Atta Akyea’s comment follows President Mills’ call on the NPP to apologise to Ghanaians for the recent thirty percent fuel price hike which he says is as a result of the huge debts of the Tema Oil Refinery racked up by the Kufuor administration.

Reacting to the NPP’s call on him to apologize to Ghanaians for reneging on his promise of reducing fuel prices “drastically”, President Mills said “the NPP needs to apologise to the people of Ghana for leaving the Gh¢1.488 billion debt toll.
He asked the NPP what it was able to do with the TOR Debt Recovery Levy.

President Mills said this while he was answering questions posed to him by journalists at the Castle, Osu.

He explained that apart from the rising crude oil prices, the major reason for the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products is as a result of the GH¢1.488 billion debt left behind by the NPP.

President Mills further noted that his exact promise on petroleum prices has been misconstrued and twisted by the NPP to score cheap political points.

Source: Citi fm

The Member of Parliament for Adenta Constituency, Kwadwo Adu Asare, has called for a concerted effort from stakeholders to arrest the increasing spate of road accidents in the country.

He said institutions such as the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) and the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Police Service which are the bodies charged with enforcing road regulations must step- up their efforts to ensure the alarming rate of accidents is curbed.

The MP’s comments comes in the wake of revelation by the MTTU, that accidents have been increasing throughout the country since 2007, claiming at least six thousand lives and causing injury to almost 40,000 people.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM’s Morning Show, Monday morning, the Member of Parliament for Adenta, Kwadwo Adu Asare, condemned the total disregard for road traffic regulations by some road users, a situation he believes has contributed to the loss of precious lives over the years.

“I find it difficult to understand why in Ghana motorist and some pedestrian break road traffic regulations with impunity, u see motor riders dangerously jumping traffic lights when they are required to stop, some times in the full glare of police personnel,” he said.

“Ghana as a country cannot continue to look on while its citizenry loss their lives to avoidable road accidents, the nation needs its entire people to develop’’, he added.

Hon. Adu Asare, further stated that beyond the provision of more ambulances to help evacuate accident victims, paramedics and the general public at large should be trained on how to professionally handle such victims.

“The manner in which accident victims are catered for sometimes leaves much to be desired, I’m sure the poor handling of the injured people, occasionally contribute to their death’’, he noted.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea has described President Mills’ response to a question as to why the creation of 1.6 million jobs was excluded from the NDC’s Top 5 Achievement as the poorest during his interaction with the media last week.

President Mills when asked why the creation of the jobs – announced by a Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa – was not captured in the party’s Top 50 achievements, said there were plans to include them in another publication.

But Nana Akomea says the mere fact that it was not captured in their first edition means the Deputy Minister lied when he said the government had created 1.6 million jobs.

He said if Mr Ablakwa’s claims were true, it would have been the single biggest achievement of any government anywhere in the world and for the NDC to overlook such a monumental achievement in the publication of their Top 50 Achievement can point to one thing – the creation of the jobs was phantom.

“If you claim as a government that you created 1.6 million jobs in one year – 2009 – and you are compiling your top 50 achievement and you have in that list of achievement, your plans to buy hospital equipment – you count that as an achievement, the plans to buy hospital achievement – and you don’t count the creation of 1.6 million jobs, then the game is given away,” he said.

Nana Akomea said President Mills and the NDC must come again, because the response that the creation of the jobs will be listed in a second publication “is a joke.”

Source: Joy News

Minister of State at the presidency, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, has warned of adverse consequences if President Mills fails to reassign Zita Okaikwei, former Tourism Minister to another ministerial portfolio.

The Kpone-Katamanso MP’s position is in sharp contrast to his earlier stands about a year ago when he vehemently called on the president to fire Zita Okaikwei for her apparent incompetence as Information Minister.

President Mills on Tuesday January 4th made some changes in his ministerial appointments, dropping Tourism Minister Zita Okaikwei and replacing her with former Sports Minister Akua Sena Dansua.

Speaking on Citi FM in Accra, Hon. Afotey Agbeo, also known as Lion noted that President Mills will be doing his government and the NDC party a great disservice if he throws out Zita Okaikwei. He explained that “looking at the number of years she has been in that position and looking at the experience she has gained, she should not be left out because it is going to cost us a lot”.

Asked which ministry he thinks Zita should be reassigned to, Mr. Afotey Agbo said “any other ministry apart from the Ministry of Information, I think Zita can perform”.

Hon. Afotey Agbo observed that he is not shaken with the ministerial reshuffling adding “I am not a post, post man; I believe in hard work and working with my heart. The position is not something that I cherish so much and that cannot change my lifestyle.” He hinted of more ministerial reshuffling in the country.

In what appears to be a desperate face-saving move, the former Minister for Youth and Sports, Akua Sena Dansua has accused Ghanaian sports journalists of taking bribes from her detractors to malign her and scuttle her plans to develop the nation’s sports.

Coming on the heels of a recent media storm over her widely challenged claim that the Sports Ministry expended $50,000 on Ghanaian journalists who covered the South Africa 2010 tournament, the latest – and unsubstantiated allegation – by Hon Akua Sena Dansua is set to spark off another round of media frenzy.

“I know that some of you were paid money to destroy me in this ministry but I have survived it, so let me go in peace and you will see what I will do in this new ministry” she told listeners of Citi FM’s Half Time sports programme.

Asked by show host Farouk Attipaga to provide names of journalists who were paid monies to malign her, the newly-appointed Tourism Minister chickened out, saying “I won’t mention names, they know themselves…some of them are at Citi FM…I am not a small girl, I am not a novice in this game, and as I said I won’t mention any names. If you ask me a hundred times I won’t mention names.”

Ms Akua Sena Dansua, a former Features Editor of the Ghanaian Times newspaper, steadfastly refused to name the Citi FM staff she accuses of taking money to run her down.

Under the nation’s Criminal Code, it is a serious offence to give or receive bribes. But, rather than report the journalists who had allegedly taken bribes to destroy her reputation to the law enforcement agencies for the appropriate action to be taken, the four-time legislator chose to call into a live radio discussion on Citi FM to take the nation’s sports journalists to the cleaners.

“When I was doing Journalism where were they [Sports Journalists]? The kind of Journalism they are doing today is not what we were taught in the school of Journalism, they should learn to respect people.

“People have built their credibility over the years and so small boys cannot sit on radio and destroy us…I will not mention any names.”

President John Mills reassigned the North Dayi MP to the Tourism Ministry on Tuesday, January 5, after what her critics have called a “disastrous reign” at the Ministry of Sports, during which the first female Sports Minister in the nation’s history had a string of clashes with sports journalists in the country.

Hon Sena Dansua’s critics have variously accused her of arrogance and gross incompetence.

Her re-assignment, seen by critics as long overdue, is therefore believed to have been strongly influenced by the string of scandals that characterised her reign as well as the wave of media attacks drawn by her public utterances.

Hon Akua Sena Dansua’s unsubstantiated comments have since drawn a wave of vitriolic attacks from some sports journalists. Head of Sports for Metro TV, Christopher Opoku described the new Tourism Minister’s accusation as “unfortunate.”

Majority Leader, Cletus Avoka has described his political opponent John Ndebugri as a frustrated man, who is failing to come to terms with the fact that he has lost respect and recognition to the extent that he could not even succeed in his quest to become an Assembly man.

The Former PNC MP for Zebilla and a defeated contender for the Assembly man position in the Timonde Electoral Area of the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region, has blamed Mr. Avoka for his defeat in the recently held elections.

Mr. Ndebugri alleges that the current Zebilla MP amongst others compromised the voters with money and other goodies, because he feared his victory in the assembly elections, could further endanger he –Hon Avorka’s – re-election bid to the legislature.

He further alleged that Mr. Avorka, who in 2008 defeated him in the parliamentary elections, resourced the Bawku West District Chief Executive and some of his loyalists of the MP to scuttle his chances.

But Mr. Avoka in an interview with Citi News described the allegations as laughable.

“Mr. Ndebugri is responsible for what is happening to him. He is taking the people of the area for granted and that is why he has been shown the exit so he must accept it and move on. I sympathize so much with him. He is a frustrated man” he said.

“I find Ndebugri’s expirations to be very unfortunate and full of untruths. He is just somebody who doesn’t want to accept defeat with humility. It is not only in 2004 that Ndebugri and I contested parliamentary elections where he won and I won in 2008. I have defeated Ndebugri in several other elections before 2004. In 1996, I defeated him in Bawku West now the Zebilla constituency and in 2000 I defeated him. He only defeated me in 2004 after he escaped with only 15 votes. In 2008, I defeated him with over 5000 votes and he was not even second”.

Mr. Avoka vehemently denied Mr. Ndebugri’s claim that he also distributed dry fish locally known as ‘amani’ to some of the voters.

The allegation infuriated Mr. Avoka who engaged in hot exchanges with Mr. Ndebugri in an interview with Host of Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Shamima Muslim.

At this point, the two did not allow the Host to moderate the programme as they angrily insulted and threw aspersions at each other.

The Majority Leader finally dared Mr. Ndebugri to go to Court to prove the allegations levelled against him since he was a Lawyer.

It is largely expected that the 2012 election in Zebilla will be a straight contest between Mr Ndebugri and Mr Avoka.

The contest is anticipated to be fierce with the defection of Ndebugri from the PNC to the NPP.

Source: citifmonline