Month: July 2011

The Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Zebilla Cletus Avoka, has cautioned NDC members who are nursing ambitions of becoming parliamentary candidates on the party’s ticket not to start any campaign activities now.

He said the party has not yet announce commencement of date for parliamentary primaries and any such move by aspirants would be in breach of the party’s constitution and electoral guidelines.

His warning comes in the wake of a turf war involving the incumbent Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopn who intends to re-run and another aspirant who is a Reverend Minister, a situation which has created a lot of tension in the constituency.

The aspirant is alleged have started campaigning to unseat the incumbent MP and has been occasionally meeting party delegates in his house, which also serves as a meeting place for La Dadekotopon NDC ward.

Speaking on Radio Gold on Wednesday 13th July 2011, the Majority Leader, Cletus Avoka warned aspirants not to initiate campaign activities particularly in constituencies that have NDC parliamentarians occupying the seat, as that aside breaching the party’s laws also negatively affects work of parliament.

“If sitting MPs become aware some people have started moves to unseat them, they the MPs would definitely boycott parliamentary sittings and be in their constituencies to also meet with constituents and campaign, there by affecting the passage of important bills and formulation of legislative instruments which are needed to ensure the growth of the country’’ he said.

He noted that the party from August 2011, will set dates for holding parliamentary primaries in constituencies where the opposition parties occupy seats (orphan constituencies), adding that the party is yet to come out with a date for holding primaries in constituencies occupied by NDC Parliamentarians and as such everyone should comply with the party’s laws.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament for Nsuta Kwamang Beposo, Kwame Osei Prempeh has condemned the Police for arresting and pressing criminal charges against the sitting member of Parliament for Akim Abuakwa South, Samuel Attah Akyea.

He said the case was purely a civil matter of client-solicitor relation and there was no empirical evidence to support the charges preferred against the MP.

The police Tuesday arrested Mr Atta Akyea and charged him with stealing and fraudulent breach of trust, and has since been admitted to GH¢100,000 bail with one surety for his alleged involvement in a $115,000 landed property transaction in which he is being accused of stealing $60,000.

Attah Akyea had already filed a civil suit at the commercial court division of the High Court against J. Adom Limited for failing to pay Mr Akyea, who was also the solicitor of J. Adom Ltd, for a seven-year service.

Contributing to a discussion on e.tv’s Newspaper review programme, the Member of Parliament for Nsuta Kwamang Beposo, Kwame Osei Prempeh he found it difficult to understand why the police were quick to involve themselves in an entirely civil matter between two parties which should not have been treated as a criminal case.

He noted that the police in recent times have compromised their professionalism by involving themselves in cases which they have no business involving themselves in.

Kwame Osei Prempeh was however confident that with the facts of the Attah Akyea case available to him, the Member of Parliament will come out clean at the end of the day.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanadistricts.com

Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, was Tuesday waylaid by the police and arrested while in court for alleged stealing and dishonest breach of trust.

A contractor, Joseph Adom of J. Adom Limited, a construction firm is accusing the lawyer and New Patriotic Party member of a series of dishonest acts, including defrauding him of $60,000.

Atta Akyea told Joy News the police have charged him for stealing and fraudulent breach of trust.

He is currently on a GH¢100,000 bail with one surety in the person of Gabby Okyere Darko. He suspects the government has a hand in his arrest, a charge he says will manifest soon.

“Attorney General has stepped into a purely private matter which is pending before the civil court and the forces of the state have been put behind Joseph Adom to do whatever they want to do.”

He said even though the involvement of the state was suspicious, he was not going to take action because “it is not my regime”.

Meanwhile Mr Atta Akyea has denied any wrong doing, noting that the case is already pending before the Commercial Court in Accra for adjudication between Zoe Akyea and co and J. Adom Limted, and then Joseph Adom and Atta Akyea.

Mr Atta Akyea narrated that he was about to mount the witness box in court when one Chief Inspector Lordonu accosted and ushered him to the police headquarters.

He has described the circumstances surrounding his arrest as “weird”, explaining that similar attempt has been made before but the police were asked to first write to the Speaker of Parliament because he is a Member of Parliament.

Subsequently, he said, the police wrote to the Clerk of Parliament and “the speaker is yet to act upon the letter and they want to violate the very constitution which is governing all of us”.

He maintained that he was being prosecuted “for monies that I have not spent”.

Giving some background to the case, Mr Akyea said Joseph Adom contracted him to prepare a title document for a $115,000 landed property he (Adom) wanted to buy from one Joseph Amissah.

He said in the course of the transaction he paid $60,000 in three tranches to Amissah, but it later “turned out that the guy (Amissah) was a fraudster, he was arrested subsequently and arraigned before a court of law, so how do I suffer for that?”

According to Mr Akyea, if it had not been him, Mr Adom would have lost about $115,000, “and I am being punished for this also”.

The police Criminal Investigations Department which is handling the case will not explain its action when Joy News called for more information on the matter.

The CID Public Relations Officer Chief Inspector Joseph Benefo Darkwa said the police only carried out a legitimate duty.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

Deputy Majority Leader Rashid Pelpuo has challenged the state broadcaster to clear the air on its supposed hijacking by government for the Sunyani congress of the NDC.

The Opposition NPP is accusing the ruling party of failing to pay for coverage provided during the just ended Sunyani congress and the Tamale congress held last year.

It is also questioning why Presidential Aide Stan Dogbe and Deputy Tourism Minister James Agyenim Boateng were anchors for GTV’s coverage.

Deputy Majority Leader Rashid Pelpuo told Joy News the state broadcaster must set the records straight, adding “they should be strong, they should have nerves to talk. If government hasn’t paid, government should pay and it is important for them to stand on their feet now.”

Mr. Pelpuo said the development is not good for the image of the state broadcaster.

“They are still toddling, I think they should stand and start walking because we don’t have to be protecting them all the time with people making political capital out of state media and giving them an image that in modern times we don’t want our media to look like,” he stated.

He said it is not right that GBC cannot hold its own against the private media and that it is time for this situation to change.

Source: Joy News

President J.E.A. Mills at the weekend obtained an overwhelming endorsement from delegates of the National Democratic Congress, trouncing his competitor and former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings in a manner that shocked even his most ardent partisans.

Regardless of the resounding victory, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is convinced the president will make history as the first one-term president.

NPP Member of Parliament for Aburi/Nsawam, Mr O.B. Amoah, speaking on Minority Caucus on MultiTV, said given the directionless and visionless government president Mills is presiding over coupled with the litany of broken promises, he did not see how the people of Ghana will renew President Mills’ mandate.

“If you are talking about history then this should be part of history that during your presidency for the first time somebody has challenged you at congress. The logical thing too is that history will also be made when you become a one-term president under this Republic,” Mr Amoah said.

Referring to the president’s response to his critics that he was slow but sure, Mr O.B. Amoah said Ghanaians could not put their aspirations on hold while a leader who was proud of being slow dithered.

During the 2008 general elections, Vice-Presidential candidate John Mahama notably asked party supporters to dip their hands into their empty pockets and vote for a better Ghana.

Now the people’s pockets, the Aburi/Nsawam MP believes, are not only empty but have also been perforated by the policies of the government and their small resources are leaking through the torn pockets.

He said as a result of the policies of the Mills government which are inimical to the growth of businesses, many a Ghanaian was losing their capital which is depressing.

The ruling National Democratic Congress appears to have walked into what NPP Member of Parliament for Manhyia, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, calls “a constitutional landmine” after the governing party claimed its loyalists won more than 60 percent of seats in last year’s district assembly elections.

Article 248 (2) provides that “a political party shall not endorse, sponsor, offer a platform to or in any way campaign for or against a candidate seeking election to a district assembly or any lower government.”

The NDC, Opoku Prempeh said, has just proved that “they have been acting illegally and unconstitutionally since taking over power”

“If it is true that the NDC subverted the Constitution and our local government laws then something must be done about it,” he told The Globe.

NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia released details of what he said was the success of pro-NDC candidates at last December’s district assembly polls on Saturday, lending credence to the widely held view that political parties have been violating the nation’s local government laws and the 1992 Constitution, which forbid active participation by political parties – in the form of either sponsoring or backing candidates – in district assembly elections in Ghana.

The poorly organised district assembly polls, which saw a wave of postponements in a number of districts around the country, drew widespread criticism and prompted Parliamentary investigations early this year.

In a report to party delegates at the Sunyani Coronation Park on Saturday, Asiedu Nketia, claimed in the Eastern Region – which is home to main opposition leader, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – the NDC swept “51 percent of all the seats available.”

He also claimed the performance of pro-NDC candidates in Ashanti, the last absolute stronghold of the opposition NPP, was impressive with candidates sympathetic to the ruling party taking some 38 percent of total seats available.

The success of pro-NDC candidates at the local elections, he said, is evidence that Ghanaians have endorsed the Mills presidency’s Better Ghana Agenda and would surely reward the NDC with another electoral victory in 2012.

Dr Opoku Prempeh has strongly condemned the NDC General Secretary’s comments, saying his claim, if true is “proof that the NDC has and will always continue to subvert the nation’s Constitution.”

“This is a very dangerous development that undermines everything our Constitution stands for” the Manhyia legislator said, adding “Bodies like the Electoral Commission and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice must take note and initiate the appropriate investigations.”

He said: “Parliament should also see this development as a serious threat to our democracy and immediately take steps to probe the ruling party’s claims.”

Dr Opoku Prempeh told The Globe he intends to raise the issue on the floor of Parliament for the appropriate action to be taken.

“If the NDC is subverting the Constitution to this level with impunity then what else are they not subverting?” he asked rhetorically, adding: “We must act now and fast.”

But, he was quick to add, the ruling NDC’s confession should lead to a national debate with the main aim of opening up the district assembly elections for political parties to actively contest for seats in the various district assemblies.

“That should be the solution,” he said adding the NDC’s confession “should tell us it is time we stopped the pretence.”

The NPP MP is not alone in his criticism of the NDC General Secretary.

Former President of the National Association of Local Authorities, Ghana (NALAG) George Kyei-Baffour has equally condemned the former Wenchi-West MP.

“The statement of the NDC General Secretary is not worth it sort,” he told this reporter.

The former NALAG Boss told the Globe if indeed the NDC’s claims are true, the party could be cited for breach of chapter 20 of the 1992 Constitution which requires non-partisan local government elections every four years for the nation’s Districts, municipal and metropolitan assemblies.

He also agreed with the view that the time has come for Ghana to make local government elections partisan in view of the fact that political parties in Ghana continue to breach the nation’s constitutional provisions, which forbid them from actively participating — covertly or openly — in local government elections in the country.

Source: The Globe

The NPP Member of Parliament for Aburi/Nsawam, Osei Bonsu Amoah has rubbished media report that President John Attah Mills will by the close of this week announce a reshuffle of his ministers.

He said with the current state on contentment among many of the NDC members after the just ended successful congress in Sunyani, a reshuffle at this time would be ill – timed and politically immure as that might cause some uneasiness in the ruling party.

The Al-Hajj newspaper in Tuesday 12th July edition announced that a reshuffle is in the offing stating that persons including the Minister of Transport and the National Security Coordinator are to be reshuffled.

Contributing to a panel discussion on TV Africa’s morning show today, the Member of Parliament for Aburi/Nsawam, Osei Bonsu Amoah stated that the newspaper was purely engaged in mere speculation since a reshuffle cannot be done anytime soon.

“That is not how to run a government, the NDC is just coming from a successful congress in far away Sunyani and several people are happy with the results at the end of the congress, and suddenly the President announces an unwelcome news of a reshuffle, obviously this will not go down well with most people’’ he said.

He said the publisher of the newspaper; Alhaji Bature Iddrisu is engaged in a desperate attempt to divert public attention and ridiculing of himself, after he wrongly predicted that former first lady Nana Konadu would withdraw from the recent NDC congress which never happened.

Hon. O.B Amoah was skeptical about reshuffles as according to him since the NDC assumed power in 2009, reshuffles done under the Mills administration had yielded no results as the lives of ordinary Ghanaians had not improved.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov

The Minister of Information, John Tia Akolugu and Member of Parliament for has stated that he would personally ensure that the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is paid every debt owed to it by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.

The ruling NDC party is yet to pay for live coverage of both its national delegates’ congress held in Tamale last year and the just ended congress in Sunyani where President Attah Mills was elected as the NDC flag bearer for the 2012 elections.

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the NDC of plotting to take control of the state broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) for the 2012 general elections.

The NPP has said it was reliably informed that the NDC was hugely indebted to the state broadcaster following a live coverage it provided the party last year.

It accused the NDC of abuse of incumbency and warned that the NPP would not sit unconcerned for the NDC to hijack the state owned media –print and electronic, which are being financed and resourced by the tax payer.

However speaking on Joy FM on Tuesday 12th July 2012, the Minister of Information, John Tia Akolugo refuted the NPP’s assertion saying the NDC had no plans to hijack GBC for the 2012 elections.

He nonetheless confirmed the NDC party owed the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation but said steps were being taken to settle all the debt, adding that he would see to it that GBC retrieved all monies owed it.

According to him, he queried the Director General of the GBC when he found out that the NDC had not settled the bills for the Tamale congress which took place nearly a year and a half ago.

John Tia Akolugu added that government which financially supports the GBC to run its activities would not sit down unconcerned for the state broadcaster to be run down, since that would be to the government’s own disadvantage.

Story by : Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase, has underscored the need for Muslim parents to pay more attention to the education of their children.

He said they needed to cut down on frivolous spending and rather invest in children’s education.

It was by so doing that the battle against poverty and unemployment could be won, he noted.

He was addressing the Ghana Muslim Student’s Association (GMSA) at a forum held at the Central Mosque in Kumasi.

Alhaji Mubarak denounced the high incidence of violence among young people in the Zongo communities and said everything should be done to tackle this.

They should be assisted to put their energies into productive ventures.

The MP counseled Muslim youth to be self-disciplined, submissive and hardworking.

He asked them to shun discrimination, adding that, they must accept to live in peace and harmony with all.

Sheikh Ahmed Nazir, an Islamic Scholar and Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of languages, Kumasi, urged them to avoid cutting corners, noting that, there could not be any shortcuts to success.

They would have to work hard on their books.

He appealed to Muslim parents to take interest in the activities of GMSA and provide the association with the necessary guidance.

GNA