Month: July 2012

Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Deputy Minister of Energy, said political office holders were obliged to help transform the lives of the people, especially those in the remote areas.

He said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government had worked vigorously to impact positively on the lives of Ghanaians under the “Better Ghana Agenda”.

Mr Buah, who is also Member of Parliament (MP) of Ellembelle, was speaking at the inauguration of a 16-seater acqua privy toilet at Bakanta at the week.

He pledged to work hard to bring development to his constituency and the nation at large, and said the achievements of the NDC Government were incomparable with those of the erstwhile NPP Government.

Mr Buah appealed to Ghanaians to retain the Government in office to enable it to execute the second phase of its agenda.

Mr. Isaac Newton Biney, Assembly Member for the area, commended Mr Buah for contributing to the development of the constituency.

He mentioned the completion of a-six-unit classroom block with offices and a computer laboratory, a-three-face power transformer and distribution of electricity meters to people in the area as some of the achievements.

Mr.Biney also praised Mr Buah for sponsoring the education of 12 students at the National Vocational Training Institute in Takoradi.

Nana Nwinu Buah, Abusuakpanyinli of Bakanta, also commended the MP for bring development to the area.

GNA

The Member of Parliament for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak Mohammed, has expressed confidence of recording a resounding history in the up- coming December parliamentary election.

According to him, though he is not complacent, he does not see any real challenge to his seat, adding that with his experience in the last two elections, he is sure with a little effort he will garner more votes than previously.

Speaking to Ghanamps.gov.gh Hon. Muntaka Stated that, he is confidence of retaining the seat from the several projects he has ensured such as road networks and GETfund projects among others.

“I have championed a lot of thing that I don’t do my self but ensure it is done; we have just gotten our municipality (Asokore Mampong) which no one thought could ever happen. That among others boosts my confidents as my constituents’ bare witness to my good deeds”. Hon Muntaka said.

He was hopeful to launch his campaign in the middle of August after the Muslim fasting, right after which vigorous campaigning will begin.

Kwadwo Anim/GhanaMPs.gov.gh

The MP for Ablekuma central, Theophilios Tetteh Chaie, has pledged to run a campaign free of violence during the upcoming December elections.

He said he will ensure that whoever joins his campaign team is ready to play the game by the rules to ensure lasting peace in the area during and after the elections.

Hon. Tetteh Chaie made the pledge on Asempa Fm’s “Eko Sii sen” show while commenting on the NPP flag bearer, Nana Akuffo Addo’s “all die be die” statement which he said to have re-emphasized during his recent tour of the Upper West Region.

The MP who was displeased with Nana Akuffo Addo, still standing by his much condemned statement said the time has come for Ghanaians to reject any politician who preaches violence.

He said Nana Akuffo Addo by his utterances and deeds clearly show that he is not the type of leader Ghanaians need at this time and urged the electorates to vote President Mills back into power to continue the “Better Ghana” agenda of improving the lots of Ghanaians.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Work on the conversion of the State House Tower Block (Job 600) into offices for Parliamentarians would be completed in August, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Minster of Works and Housing, announced in Accra.

Addressing the media at the meet-the-press series, on Tuesday, Mr Mensah said work on the offices was progressing steadily and expected to be completed for use by Parliamentarians with, most of them “having their offices in the boots of their cars”.

He said the project showcased the Government’s bid to strengthen the structures of democracy and institutions of State as well as providing permanent offices for Parliamentarians.

On the Government’s affordable housing programme, Mr Mensah said a committee had been set up to reactivate the project and ensure that initial investment would not go to waste , explaining that, the Ministry had constituted a Housing Project Committee to evaluate proposals so far received from partners and recommend the most feasible for implementation.

He said the housing deficit in Ghana is 1.7 million housing units and to be able to address the deficit and accommodate new households, there was the need for annual delivery of about 150,000 units over the next 20 years.

The Government, he said, was partnering the private sector to help deliver housing units for the people considering that the provision of housing was a critical factor in tackling poverty and social stabilisation.

The Ministry in collaboration with the Ghana Housing Finance Association was developing a proposed legislation on condominium property to be passed into law to respond to the increased demand of development of high rise properties and its implications for shared ownership or common areas, he said.

On problems related to Rent sub-Sector, Mr Mensah announced that the Rent Control Department, established by Rent Act 1963, (Act220) received 13,603 complaints in 2011 and out of which 2,875 had been disposed off with 10,728 outstanding.

The establishment of that Department has contributed tremendously to reducing the social tension that existed in that sector.

Source:myjoyonline.com

The Member of Parliament for Akim Oda, Hon. Yaw Owusu Boateng says he will support any move to divide his constituency into two.

According to him, he has unofficial information that the Electoral Commission (EC) interns to divide the constituency with Aboabo, Oda and other 6 towns forming one constituency.

Speaking to Ghanamps.gov.gh in an interview Hon. Owusu Boateng noted that Oda has about 35% of the total population of the constituency and so with the addition of 4 villages it will be fair in population wise for divisions to be done.

“I will be very happy with such a decision taken, through separate Common Fund for the same area will be great as more development will take place”. Hon Owusu Boateng said.

He said if the EC is serious about this move, it must decide on the issue by the end of July so that who ever will take over the new constituency will begin to work to elect the Parliamentary Candidate for the December 2012 elections.

Hon Owusu Boateng urged his constituents’ not to agitate when such a decision is taken but rather support it since such a move will inure to the benefit of the entire area.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The NPP Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea says it is ridiculous and “infantile” for any member of the President Mills-led administration to suggest that a letter he authored on behalf of his client, African Automobile Limited (AAL), in 2003, meant there was a written and signed contract between the two parties and that the company deserved the whooping $1.5billion it is purportedly claiming as compensation.

“It is insulting to our good governance set-up that a letter from a Lawyer should be accepted as the gospel truth and that the government should swallow it hook, line and sinker”, he underscored.

In an exclusive interview with The New Crusading GUIDE yesterday after his said letter had been read copiously on Joy FM’s news analysis programme Newsfile last Saturday by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Information Minister, Mr. Akyea stated “the government has now become the Lawyer for the company. From the posture and propaganda of Hon. Ablakwa, it is clear that he has been hired by African Automobile Limited to champion its course”

He further accused the Deputy Minister of working against the interest of the people of Ghana. “Instead of him to find out concrete facts to defend the government, he has been converted because he speaks as if he is the Attorney for the company and that is very weird”.

Touching on the substantive matter of the existence of a contract, Hon. Atta Akyea emphasized that “There was no signed contract properly speaking; and I only made inference of contract by conduct”.

“A letter from a Lawyer is a claim; what we call a demand notice and it doesn’t end there. The one who the letter has been addressed to needs to interrogate the claims and make the appropriate response”, he clarified.

“Any serious government would subject the legitimacy of such claims to scrutiny, seek legal interpretation and advice, and challenge it in court”, he posited.

On the question of the legitimacy of the $1.5billion Mr. Ablakwa says AAL is demanding from the State, he stated “I did not put any quantum of amount in the said letter and so I am amazingly surprised that they are talking about this amount’.

He answered in the negative when asked whether he had been contacted by any investigative body as the author of that letter. He also wondered why the government had chosen not to talk to any of the past government officials who dealt with AAL relative to the importation of the vehicles.

“Instead, the government is in an indecent haste to deal with them (AAL) alone”, he underscored.

He also indicated his lack of knowledge of any court action by AAL against the State relative to the importation of the controversial Gallopers. The Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa contended on Joy Fm’s Newsfile that AAL went to Court on the matter in 2004.

According to a Daily Graphic publication last week, the company, was said to have imported the Galloper vehicles which were ordered by the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) in 1999 and delivered in 2001 for distribution to District Assemblies but were abandoned by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) when it took power in 2001.

The NPP said there was no contract between government and AAL covering the importation of the vehicles and that the vehicles did not meet the specifications for Ghanaian roads as that time, amongst others.

According to Mr. Ablakwah, after the NPP’s actions had led to rise in cost, the NPP turned around to accuse the NDC government of paying debts which they claimed were unjustified.

Mr. Ablakwa revealed that government had engaged aal in a dialogue with the aim of beating down their $1.5 billion claim on the 86 abandoned vehicles.

According to him, settlement negotiation with AAL is currently deadlocked. He added that the matter coming into the public domain was a result of the transparency in the governance system of the NDC.

Meanwhile, a former Deputy Minister of Local Government during the Kufuor regime, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, last week accused Mr. Ablakwa and the NDC government of deliberately conniving with the company (ATL) to steal from the ordinary Ghanaian.

The former Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said though at the time the issue popped up during the Kufuor regime, he was not a Minister, upon assuming work at the Ministry, he later read more about it. “I read more on the Gallopers but found no Agreement between the company and government”.

“The late Baah Wiredu was the first Minister at the Local Government Ministry and the first challenge he faced was this issue. At the time Baah Wiredu saw that the former Minister, Kwamena Ahwoi had arranged with the company to furnish the various Assemblies with vehicles but there was no Agreement to that effect. ..Though there was no Agreement, the deal would have been brokered but Baah Wiredu saw that the vehicles (Gallopers) were bad and lacked the agreed specifications so he asked them to do the right thing. We never heard from the company till the Mills government came into office”, Kofi Jumah recalled.

Kofi Jumah further asserted that the way Mr. Ablakwa was defending AAL on the “so called” judgment debt could suggest there was some level of connivance to defraud the State.

He stressed that the erstwhile Kufuor-led administration realized that the deal was bad so “I am wondering why such a bad deal can attract the so-called debt. What work did they do?”

Mr. Jumah debunked claims that the Kufuor Administration took delivery of some of the vehicles before rejecting the others, saying; “anybody who says we took even one of the vehicles, then I don’t know what is wrong with that person because we rejected all of them. We rather asked the company to take the Gallopers and furnish us with the agreed ones but we didn’t hear from them again till now. It is very glaring that this is fraud”.

He therefore called for the arrest and prosecution of the owners of the company for attempting to defraud the State. “It is even the company that should pay the said amount for taking part of the money and doing a shoddy job”.

He admonished Government not to do any out of court settlement with AAL because it will amount to willfully causing financial loss to the state.

“What is out of court settlement? It is a bogus venture because it is those people (AAL) who are trying to rob us so why negotiate with them. It is even amazing to hear the amount has accrued up to $1.5bn. It is simply fraudulent”, Mr. Jumah bellowed.

Source: The New Crusading Guide