Month: April 2011

Lead counsel for 15 suspects charged for the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani says he takes no glory in getting the suspects acquitted and discharged.

Atta Akyea in a somber mood, clad in mournful black apparel on Joy FM/MultiTV’s news analysis programme NewsFile says he feels sorry for the killing of a respectable king of Dagbon and will not glory in his demise.

Being a chief himself from Akyem Abuakwa state, Akyea condemned what he said was a sacrilege which should not have happened.

But he said he will not however condone, a “juvenile” trial in which the state intoxicated and driven by propaganda will haul 15 Abudus before court and in a most shoddy manner seek justice for murder of a king, when the facts on the ground pointed to a war situation.

Atta Akyea says so shoddy was the prosecution’s case, that even the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah would have acquitted and discharged the suspects if he were the judge.

He said it was fundamental that in a war situation it would be difficult, if not impossible to prove which bullet from an adversary hit the Ya-Na.

He said the prosecution even failed to prove that the charred body for which the suspects have been hauled before court was that of the Ya-Na and did not bother to pursue a DNA analysis before proceeding to court.

He described as embarrassing failure by one of the prosecution witness- Brigadier Wadorani who was tasked to conduct the autopsy to state in clear, unambiguous terms that the charred body was that of the Ya-Na.

Instead he told the court the charred body was that of a male adult but could not state as a matter of fact whether it was that of the Ya-Na.

The sitting Judge, Justice E.K. Ayebi in his ruling said:“It was not sufficient for the prosecution to say that the Ya-Na was dead and leave it at that. Even the investigation was not conclusive of the identity of the charred body, nor was a DNA examination conducted to prove that the body was that of the Ya-Na.”

“In law, the death of the Ya-Na must be proven beyond reasonable doubt, especially in the absence of a death certificate. If the prosecution failed to prove that the charred remains were the body of the Ya-Na, then the accused persons could not be held liable for the death of the Ya-Na,” the trial judge held.

Upholding the ruling by the judge, Atta Akyea said the witnesses- all Andanis- were well fed in a hotel not only with food but with “rehearsed lies.”

He said the testimonies they provided were “dishonest,” “unreliable,” and their evidence “anemic.”

He wondered how the prosecution gathered only coloured and interested Andanis and failed to go beyond “enemies of the accused persons” to argue its case out to the judge.

Akyea said the state prosecuted the case in a way that sought to imply that all Abudus are potential suspects in the murder of the Ya-Na and that was not good enough.

Source: myjoyonline.com

A Parliamentary committee debating matrixes of the proposed amendments to the 1992 constitution resolved that a sitting President who defects from the political party on whose ticket he won elections should automatically vacate office.

Participants say the Vice-President must succeed him or her. This was contained in a communique issued after a workshop organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) at Akosombo in the Eastern region on the proposed amendments to the 1992 constitution.

Members were drawn from the leadership of Parliament and members of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Subsidiary Legislation Committees of Parliament.

The three day workshop (March 25-27,2011) under the theme, “Giving Voice to the Voiceless in Ghana’s Constitutional Review Process 93, which was organised under the auspices of the IEA/UNDEF Project aimed at building the capacity of Members of Parliament on the Proposed Constitutional Amendments.

According to the communique, where a Vice-President defects from the party on whose ticket he was elected into office, he or she must resign and under this circumstance, the President should nominate a replacement with the prior approval of Parliament.

On the controversial emoluments of article 71 office holders, the communique stated that there should be a one-time approved emolument and other benefits for the President, Vice-President, MPs and all other specified office holders under the article.

It explained that provision be made for a relevant body to make periodic adjustments for inflation and other variables. On ministerial appointment, it said all Ministers should be appointed from outside Parliament.

It said there should be a limit on the number of Ministers who may be appointed, except that the President may exceed the limit only with the prior approval of Parliament. The communique said there should be a maximum of two Deputy Ministers per Ministry and that a person ceases to be a Minister if Parliament passes a vote of censure in him or her. The President’s State of the Nation Address according to the communique must have regard to Article 34 (2) on the steps taken to ensure the realisation of the policy objectives of the Directive Principles of State Policy.

On the legislature, it said the Constitution should interpret the concept of 93financial implications” in Article 108 in a way that will enable Private Members’ Bills to be introduced. It said Constituency boundaries should be reviewed every ten years after the national population census. However, opinions were divided on whether proficiency in English should be a qualifying criterion for membership of Parliament. According to the statement, there should be an upper limit of thirteen judges (13) on the Supreme Court.

It explained that the panel system should be maintained, except that in constitutional cases, all available Justices of the Supreme Court should sit and that there should not be an upper limit on the number of Court of Appeal Justices.

It said the Regional Tribunals should be abolished. It indicated that the DCE should be nominated by the President on the recommendation of a Committee appointed by him which should include representatives of the Public Services Commission adding, the nominee should be approved by two-thirds of the members of the District Assembly present by voting.

It said The President should appoint the 30% membership of the District Assemblies based on Guidelines issued by Legislative Instrument and that Members of Parliament should not be included for purposes of calculating the 30% appointed members It indicated that the Presiding member should be elected by a simple majority of all the members of the Assembly. The communique said the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund should be appointed as an independent officer of the Constitution.

The statement said Queenmothers and female chiefs should qualify for membership of Regional Houses of Chiefs in regions where they exist and should also qualify for membership of the National House of Chiefs

It said any judicial power of Chiefs should be restricted to Chieftaincy matters adding that accountability of Chiefs should be discussed within the context of legislative reform and not constitutional review.

It mention that gender and gender-related matters should be clustered in the same provisions in the Constitution and that affirmative action provisions should be included in the Constitution which should be included to provisions on gender parity, a six month maternity leave period as well as a period of paternity leave. Discrimination against persons with disabilities according to the statement should be constitutionally prohibited. It said Independent Councils on the Disabled and on Gender should be established by the Constitution.

“Special additional parliamentary seats regionally competed for should be created for women and the disabled”, it said.

GNA

The Minority in Parliament is raising red flags over a loan agreement government is hoping to enter into with a Chinese Bank.

According to the group, the terms of the 1.8 billion dollar loan agreement for the construction of roads in the eastern corridor would tie up Ghana’s oil revenue for fifteen years.

It also requires that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation surrender its concession rights and other sensitive and valuable information.

Minority Spokesperson on Energy, Joseph Adda told Joy Business the agreement would contravene the recently passed law on the management of the oil revenue.

He said while the law required oil revenues to be rooted through the national budget, the agreement suggests that money owed the lenders should be directly to them.

This “means that the proceeds [from the sale of oil] offshore will not come through the national budget process anymore,” he said.

The MP for Navrongo Central said for the sake of transparency, “we need to know how much is being earned and that money has to come through the annual budget funding process.”

He said, currently as the agreement stands, if the GNPC lifts crude oil, the proceeds will be paid directly to the Chinese lenders – a situation he argued posed transparency questions.

Mr Adda claimed the lenders were also asking for Ghana’s survey maps, the seismic data, and other assets in the assets and the development and production process as a form of guarantee for the loan but he said that amount surrendering Ghana’s sovereignty.

The Minority are asking the Attorney-General to advise on the provisions of the loan agreement.

A nine member Parliamentary Committee is to be set up to investigate increasing reports of the destructive and criminal activities of Fulani herdsmen and their cattle.

Speaker of Parliament Joyce Bamford Addo gave the directive on Thursday March 31, after a very passionate debate in Parliament about how various farming communities were suffering at the hands of some recalcitrant Fulani herdsmen.

The debate started after the Member of Parliament for Abetifi in the Eastern Region, Peter Wiafe Peprah, read a statement on the matter following a petition he had received from the chiefs and people of Dwerebease, a farming community.

According to him, cattle herdsmen believed to be of Fulani origin carrying weapons had seized farmlands at the expense of local farmers.

He said most women have been forced to cease farming activities for fear of being raped and maltreated.

Several MPs added their voices to the debate and called on the nation’s security agencies to tackle the situation else they (MPs) will not approve budgetary allocations to them.

“If our national security has not been able to handle this problem, then one day if a country invades Ghana, what will they do? Because these are untrained Fulani herdsmen taking care of cattle, holding AK-47, raping our women, killing our people and we cannot handle that situation. So why should this House continue to approve budget and many other things for people who claim to be handling security? Please this is a serious matter and we should demand that a special action programme is put before us for people to explain why they are unable to handle this matter” MP for Okere, Dan Botwe suggested.

The Former Majority Leader and Minister for Water Resources Works and Housing, Alban Bagbin narrated a personal experience of the Fulani brutality in which a land he had acquired at Agogo for some NDC foot soldiers for the cultivation of maize was destroyed.

“I was there myself and we harvested the maize but all of it was consumed by the cattle and I didn’t even get a bag. The Fulanis prevented the labourers from entering the farm. I called the MCE and he gave me a detail report of how he tried to intervene and he couldn’t. The Paramount Chief of Agogo, Nana Akuoko Sarpong had to invite the elders of the Fulanis to a meeting but to no avail”.

“In fact, I am only hoping that my plantain farm will save the situation. But the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle are still there. I called the MCE and they petitioned the security agencies for intervention but to no avail. So we want them to come to this House to explain why we can’t handle the Fulani menace in this country. I invested a lot of money into that farm and I don’t know what to say again. I will go the extent of saying that if nothing is done to solve this problem; we should not approve any budget for any agency again. People must sit up in this country and do the right thing” he said.

The Speaker later rounded up the debate with a call for a nine member committee to be set up. She said the Committee must represent members from the most affected areas of the country as far as the Fulani menace is concerned.

Parliament has rounded up its first meeting for the year 2011, to resume on May 17, thus the Committee is to submit its report at the beginning of June.
Meanwhile the Chairman of the Fulani Community in Ghana, Iddrisa Bingle has told Citi News not all cattle herdsmen are Fulanis and says it is unfair to attribute everything criminal to Fulanis.

He explained that most often than not, the animals “go crazy” leading to the destruction of farm produce. He added that in some cases, the owners of the farms engage in peaceful discussions with the herdsmen who end up compensating the affected farmers.