Month: July 2011

Three New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) have warned the media to desist from using their names in a propaganda war against their flagbearer for the 2012 presidential elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

A release issued by Dominic Nitiwul, Isaac Kwame Asiamah and Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, MPs for Bimbilla, Atwima-Mponua and Takoradi respectively slammed pro-National Democratic Congress (NDC) media houses for reporting that the NPP flagbearer had not involved the youth in his campaign team.

“Our attention has been drawn to the unfortunate use of our names in attacking our flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the supposed non-involvement of the youth in his national campaign team by certain media houses.

“For the record, we are deeply involved in the ‘Victory 2012’ campaign at the highest level and we see this media propaganda as a means to create a rift between Nana Addo and us,” the MPs stated.

According to them, the members of the various campaign teams across all levels number over 400,000 and they are pleased to say that the youth form over 70 percent of Nana Addo’s ‘Victory 2012’ campaign team.

“We have never complained privately or publicly to any person or group of persons and we want to use this medium to thank the flagbearer for involving us deeply in all his decisions he has taken so far concerning his campaign towards victory in 2012,” the trio emphasised.

Mr Alban Sumanni Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Tuesday said the relevant ministries and other governmental organizations have been tasked to implement measures to prevent drowning in water bodies across the country.

The Water Resources Commission has also granted them permits to utilize the water bodies for tourism, transportation, agricultural and other purposes.

Mr Bagbin, who said this on the floor of Parliament when he appeared to answer questions, indicated that the Ministry also directed the Hydrological Services Department to conduct a comprehensive studies and design channel improvement works for the Sakumono Lagoon.

The design considered, among other things, constructing channels for the smooth runoff from upstream areas of the lagoon such as Ashaiman, Tema Community 3, 5, 6 and 12, in order to reduce backwater effects on the adjoining streams.

Mr Bagbin said the periodic flooding of the Sakumono Lagoon and the subsequent backwater effect in the connecting streams which have resulted in the isolated cases of drowning has been a concern to the Ministry.

He said works on the lagoon would also maintain the wetland in order to reduce the runoff pollution load of the lagoon.

Mr Bagbin said the studies and designs have been completed, and the project, packaged under the Presidential Task Force Projects.

It is currently before the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for funding.

Similarly, the Ministry is planning to dredge other lagoons and water bodies in other parts of the country to among other things, increase their capacities to retain flood waters.

The upcoming Delegates Congress of the NDC appears to forebode some bad news for the ruling party and Majority Leader, Cletus Avoka, is praying that the decision by former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings to contest President Mills for the flagbearership slot of the party will not follow ‘tradition’.

Ghosts of the party’s past, or so it appears, have visited Mr Avoka who envisages danger ahead of the Congress if care is not taken, because the party’s congresses have in the past given birth to one splinter group or another.

Hon. Avoka and leadership of the majority in parliament on Tuesday urged Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings to let go her ambition to lead the party into the 2012 general Elections with the explanation that it is an affront to a convention where sitting Presidents are allowed to complete two terms before bowing out.

Nana Konadu visited the parliamentarians in a bid to convince them to support her candidature but the MPs told her to shelve her ambitions and support President Mills as he is an assured candidate for victory in 2012.

Even though the campaign team of Nana Konadu has rejected this call, Hon. Avoka wants her to take a second look at their call as her candidature could spell irreparable break for the party.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, Hon Avoka said, “Nana Konadu will be a hero in the country and within NDC ranks if at Sunyani she tells the delegates and the whole world” that she is withdrawing her candidature.

“It is never too late in a political dispensation of this nature,” he said, adding Nana Konadu still has a lot of time to consider their counsel.

He revealed that this is not the first time the Majority Caucus has called on her to support President Mills as they have previously met former President Rawlings and the Council of Elders where they pleaded with them to prevail on Mrs Rawlings to withdraw from the contest.

Responding to questions whether he was scared about Nana Konadu’s candidature, Hon. Avoka said “to be frank with you our internal congresses have not normally ended in the best of results.”

He recounted situations in the past where leading members of the party had broken away to set up new parties because they felt aggrieved by the outcome of the congress.

He further stated that the Koforidua Congress in 2006 which saw Dr. Obed Asamoah losing the Chairmanship slot to Dr. Kwabena Adjei created a huge problem, with some party members leaving with Dr. Asamoah to set up the Democratic Freedom Party.

Hon. Avoka indicated that he does not understand why the convention that a sitting president should not be challenged is being tampered with, citing the two terms served by both former Presidents J.A. Kufuor and J.J. Rawlings as examples.

Throwing more light on the situation, Mr. Avoka explained that Nana Konadu is a very qualified candidate and that her credentials cannot be questioned but there is a difference between having the “morality” to contest a sitting president and being qualified to do so.

He however said the NDC MPs are not worried about the outcome of the elections because there have been assurances from both sides that the loser will work together with the winning team for victory in 2012.

Source: myjoyonline

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament have prevailed on the former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings to step down from the party’s presidential race, Majority Leader Cletus Avoka has disclosed.

The ruling party goes to congress from July 8 to 10 in Sunyani to choose a presidential candidate for next year’s presidential election, which is keenly being contested by the sitting president, John Evans Atta Mills, and former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.

As the campaigns hot up and the aspirants roundup their bid to win more delegates’ support, Mrs Rawlings Tuesday met the MPs to sell her ideas to them to win their votes.

Ironically, the MPs wished the jinx, where a sitting president was not contested internally, was not broken, and therefore entreated her to allow President Mills to sail through unopposed.

Mr Cletus Avoka told Joy News, after the closed door meeting with the MPs that, “[The appeal for her to step down] was our first request. We told her that we wished that in Sunyani we are going to have affirmation of one aspirant, and not a contest.”

But the former First Lady, whose spokespersons have discounted any idea of her bowing out on various platforms was unmoved, Mr Avoka indicated.

“She appreciated our request but she said that, may be it could have come earlier.”

Nevertheless, according to the Majority Leader, she was persuaded further to rescind her decision, stating that, “I tried to let her understand that it is still possible for people to step down even on the congress grounds.”

Mr Avoka said it was a sheer coincidence that their request was brought forth when she met them on Tuesday, explaining that they (MPs) had wanted to tell her earlier, but never had the opportune time to tell her their “peace of mind”.

He also confirmed the purpose of the meeting: “She came to solicit the support of the NDC Members of Parliament to back her during the congress coming on in Sunyani this weekend so that she emerged as the flagbearer of the NDC for the 2012 general elections. That was her request.”

Mrs Rawlings was, however, commended by the MPs for her support for the party, and particularly on women empowerment and child development, which contributed “significantly” to the development of Ghana, Mr Avoka said.

“We commended her but we tried to explain that it is important that we emerged from Sunyani more united than ever before. So we appealed to her to accept the verdict, not just her but all the aspirants, to accept the verdict of the delegates in Sunyani, so that together we can build the better Ghana agenda… if anything at all, they should desist from foul language because we still need each other at the end of the day.”

However, in an interview with journalists after the meeting, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings said issues discussed were limited to the party’s structure at the constituency and the welfare of parliamentarians.

“Just issues that affects parliamentarians. General issues that affect their well being,” she emphasized.

Moreover, Michael Teye Nyaunu, MP for Lower Manya and Campaign Co-ordinator for Nana Konadu, who was at the meeting indicated on Joy FM that no amount of persuasion would curtail their candidate’s ambition.

Meanwhile the Electoral Commission says it has resolved a dispute over how delegates at the NDC congress would vote.

Its Public Relations Officer Christian Owusu-Parry said both teams are satisfied with the arrangements and that all was set for the polls on Saturday.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

Barry any unforeseen circumstances, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) will today officially demand answers from the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, on the current state of the controversial STX Housing Project following reports that the deal has hit a snag.

The NPP MP for Bantama in the Ashanti Region, Cecilia Dapaah, who is the ranking member on Water Resources, Works and Housing, has confirmed to DAILY GUIDE she will be asking the Minister, Alban Bagbin, on the floor of Parliament, to inform Ghanaians why the housing project has not commenced months after a flamboyant sod-cutting ceremony by government.

Ghanaians, Ms. Dapaah pointed out, must be told why government has failed to start the project without any hint of when it will start.

Daily Guide reported yesterday that although officials of the STX Engineering & Construction Ghana Limited have entered into a contract with government for the construction of 200,000 houses in Ghana within five years, estimated at $10billion, the foreigners are leaving the country.

The Koreans, according to sources, are leaving the country because of lack of trust from the government which had sidelined the Koreans.

In addition, Koreans were said to be pulling out of the deal because they are persistently frustrated by attempts by the government to allegedly make them ‘irrelevant’ in the process.

However, the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alban Sumana Bagbin, debunked the reports that the STX Housing project was collapsing because the STX Korean partners were on the verge of pulling out of the deal.

Reacting to Daily Guide’s story, Mr. Bagbin confirmed that government was dealing with B.K. Asamoah and J.B. Asafo-Boakye, without the Koreans who are the technical people.

Mr. Bagbin however told Joy FM that the project was on course and that nothing would prevent its implementation.

“I can confirm that government is committed and still committed to implementing the STX Housing Project. The commitment is unwavering, total and absolute,” Mr. Bagbin, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli West, said.

He said the site for the houses would be cleared this month.

Mr. Bagbin had told Joy FM in a previous interview about two months ago that land for the project would be cleared in June.

He refuted the report that an insurance of $300 million had been paid even though the money for the project was not yet available, insisting that the “money for the project is available”.

The funds for the project, Mr. Bagbin stated, was “coming by installments according to the Suppliers Credit Agreement”, adding that “The first installment will contain the insurance.

It’s not like Ghana government is taking money from anywhere to pay for the insurance.

The first installment contains part of the insurance that will be paid.”

Daily Guide has learnt that a Nigerian bank has made available $10million for the commencement of the project, even though under the contract, the Korea Fund is supposed to make funding available for the project.

The Koreans could not make the money available because the ‘oil for cash’ in the agreement was expunged to their dissatisfaction, wondering where the Ghana government would get the $1.5billion to pay for the initial 30,000 houses for the security agencies.

Daily Guide has also picked up signals that local real estate developers, GREDA are likely to be contacted by B.K. Asamoah to provide technical support in the event that the Koreans do not return to the table.

GREDA had earlier offered to construct the 300,000 houses at half the price of the STX deal.

Ms. Dapaah said she was unhappy with the way the Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing treated the Daily Guide story, saying there were more questions than answers on the STX housing deal. She indicated that there was no malice in demanding appropriate answers to the controversial deal, which suffered numerous setbacks in Parliament before it was eventually passed.

“As a minister, I think he should appreciate the concerns of Ghanaians. Nobody is doing this out of mischief. I believe every Ghanaian has a right to know, more importantly when we have parted with a sovereign guarantee for a project because it’s the totality of Ghanaians that are being committed to this deal,” Ms. Dapaah told Joy FM.

Source: Daily Guide

The Member of Parliament for Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa, P.C Appiah Ofori has endorsed the new campaign strategy adopted by the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo Addo for the impending 2012 general elections.

Nana Akufo Addo has begun his nationwide campaign dubbed “listening Campaign” in the Eastern Region which has seen him visiting the Abetifi constituency where he met with several churches where he interacted with the communities and outlined his vision and programmes to them.

The “listening campaign” is to enable him listen to the needs and concerns of Ghanaians and have a good idea of what Ghanaians today demand of their government.

The campaign this time around is geared towards mainly interacting with small group of people rather than organizing big rallies and street jams as pertained in the 2008 general elections.

Speaking to ghanamps.gov.gh, the Member of Parliament for Asikuma Odobeng Brakwa, P.C Appiah Ofori commended the party for learning from the past mistake and not repeating the previous style of campaigning which partly contributed to the electoral defeat of the party.

He said the ‘listening campaign’ approach is the surest campaign strategy that will guarantee victory for the NPP in the 2012 election as that is an effective way of getting people to understand the vision and programmes of the flag bearer and party.

“ I’ve always been opposed to big rallies where so many people gather ostensibly to listen to one’s political messages, large crowds does not necessarily assure of victory, we have the 2008 elections to guide us and we need not repeat those avoidable mistakes’’ he said.

P.C Appiah Ofori stated that the NPP has no excuse not to win the 2012 election and urged NPP party members to give the campaign team the needed support to prosecute an effective campaign.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh