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Hon. Kofi Buah apologises for his utterance

The Minister of Energy and Petroleum has apologized for suggesting that Ghanaians should turn off their lights if electricity tariffs are too expensive.

According to Emmanuel Armah Kofi Boah, he did not mean to insult the intelligence of Ghanaians by attempting to instruct them not to use electricity if tariffs are rising.

On his word, he only advised for the adoption of a prudent use of electricity, such as turning on lights and other gadgets only when they are needed. This, in his view, could go a long way to cut down on the price of electricity.

“… Ways through which we can help provide electricity to people who need and also create jobs is what am doing. And I will not attempt to deliberately offend Ghanaians who work hard despite the hardships. I am sorry that what I said has angered people. That is not what I meant. That is not how I was trained,” he explained ruefully.

Hon. Kofi Boah has come under intense public criticism in the last 24hours for calling on Ghanaians who have concerns over the high electricity tariffs to ‘turn your lights off, if electricity is expensive’.

“…Electricity is no more going to be some free water flowing. It is expensive; it is going to be expensive going into the future and the reality is that we must begin to understand that,” the Minister asserted.

However, in a telephone interview with Nana Yaw Kesse, the Host of “Platform” programme on Peace Fm, to further throw light on the issue, Hon. Boah apologized for his comments and called for a judicious use of electricity as a way to help reduce the cost of electricity in the wake of utility price hikes.

Peacefmonline.com

Moses Anim appeals to government to suport private schools

A two-storey new school block for the Roka International Complex at Fise in the Ga West Municipality has been inaugurated.

In his inauguration address Mr Moses Anim, the Member of Parliament for Amasaman-Trobu, said quality education continued to remain the single pathway to success and development.

He, therefore, called on families, institutions, communities, individuals and business organizations to join hands with government in providing educational system that would meet the aspiration of the nation and future generations.

Mr Anim said the initiative of Madam Kissiwa Osei, the Proprietress, and her management in putting up the school was in the right direction and congratulated them.

He appealed to the government to support private schools to compliment national efforts in enhancing quality education.

Naa Densua I, Queenmother of Fise, appealed to women to let the education of their children to be their priority.

Madam Osei appealed to the government to extend some of the facilities enjoyed by the public schools to private ones to support brilliant but needy children.

The school has 32 classrooms from the crèche to Junior High School with facilities such as science laboratory, libraries, computer science laboratory, dinning-hall with kitchen and a sickbay (infirmary).

The rest are an administration block, games complex (basketball, lawn tennis, handball, netball, football) and a recreational centre.

The school was established 14 years ago and it has a student population of 820, 44 teachers and 10 non-teaching staff.

GNA

Gov’t to collect data on state properties – Ah

The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing is to collect data on all state properties in the country and capture them into a central database as a way of managing government assets more efficiently.

The Ministry has therefore adopted the Geographic Information System (GIS) format which is being introduced in the management of the facilities, starting from the Greater Accra Region.

About 70 per cent of all state properties nationwide are located in the Greater Accra Region while the rests are scattered in the other seven regions. Most of the properties are either being lost or stolen by the general public due to lack of proper data on such properties.

Mr Sampson Ahi, Deputy Minister of Water Resources, works and Housing who announced this on Thursday in Accra, said the lack of supervision of government properties had also resulted in boys’ quarters, garages, porches and land spaces of bungalows being turned into convenient stores, chop bars and restaurants adding more stress on the structures.

He said this at a day’s workshop on the Development of GIS for Managing State Properties for estate officers of the Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Greater Accra Region.

He said a pilot inventory was done in the Greater Accra Region and that also revealed that some of the state bungalows meant for one household rather contained more than one family and in some cases, as many as six different occupants.

It was also discovered that some of the occupants of government accommodation have not gone through the laid down allocation process and are therefore not paying the stipulated rent that applies to all occupants.

“This is a loss of revenue to Government, and stifles the state of resources that could have been used to maintain this structure,” he said.

Mr Ahi said that was why the 11-member Government Buildings and Properties Management Committee was set up last year to take inventory of all government properties, delineating office and residential accommodation.

The work of the Committee would help provide reliable information on the different categories of properties, current status, occupants and also have a fair idea of the economic value of the properties.

Mr Ahi appealed to estate officers of public sector institutions to support the Committee to do its work in ensuring that Ghana had a meaningful planning with accurate data.

A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

Mr Louis Darko, Head of Technical and Support Service, Sambus Geospatial, the Company that designed the GIS, explained that the system would enable the collection of data of all state properties to help map them out and to manage buildings and installations.

GIS also allows viewing, understanding, question, interpreting, and visualizing data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

GNA

Gbevlo Lartey must confer with Prez Mahama as a matter of urgency – Titus Glover

Nii Kwartei Titus Glover, New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Tema East, has called on the National Security Coordinator to hold a meeting with President John Dramani Mahama over the recent economic issues.

Speaking on Oman FM in relation to the tariff adjustments on utilities, Titus Glover admonished Lt. Col Larry Gbevlo Lartey to advise the President on the impending danger that the tariff increments and other associated issues may have on the nation.

According to him, the brouhaha surrounding the new tariffs may not augur well for the country and as a result, adversely affect the peace in the nation.

He therefore asked the National Security Coordinator to note that it is his duty to “confer with the government and explain to the government that the issues confronting the nation do not promote peace in the nation…When the Coordinator meets the President, he must say it as it is and tell him that what such things happen, it brings tension into the country.”

He also urged the Labour front to unite to bring a lasting solution to the current situation.

16 communities to get electricity -Asikuma MP

The Member of Parliament for Asikuma Odoben Brakwa, Hon.Georgina Nkrumah Aboah has secured funds to ensure the completion of an on-going electrification extension project for about sixteen communities in her area.

Beneficiary communities include Asadiem, Sowutum, Amanti, Besease, Anhuwiam, Anhiwiam camp and Nkaase, among others.

The MP who made this known in an interview with GhanaMPs.gov.gh further added that, the project is specifically aimed at enhancing socio-economic activities in the area and open more avenues for job creation in the beneficiary communities.

According to her, the project is expected to be completed within a scheduled period of thirty days.

Hon. Nkrumah Aboah further disclosed that efforts were also being made to provide mechanized boreholes for deprived communities to ensure the supply of potable water in the constituency.

Meanwhile, the MP has emphasized her commitment to improving the deplorable road network in the area and has hence begun the reshaping of some roads to improve transportation in the area.

Irene Kwakye/GhanaMPs.gov.gh

PAC gives NVTI ultimatum to refund funds

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Wednesday gave a three-month ultimatum to the Head of Accounts of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) to furnish the Committee with documentation on transactions he undertook.

The PAC said he would be compelled to reimburse the state with the value of the deal if he fails to produce the documents on the transaction.

Mr Paul Awuah negotiated some financial transactions to the tune of GH¢11, 112 and GH¢ 9,350 for the NVTI but when auditors from the Auditor-General’s office scrutinized the accounts of the organisation, documentation on those transactions could not be traced.

The PAC members, who are currently holding public hearings to consider the Auditor-General’s report for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years, were amazed by goings-on at the NVTI and ordered that Mr Awuah should refund the amount involved in those transaction by December if he fails to provide evidence to substantiate his claim.

The Deputy Auditor-General told the PAC that his outfit cannot establish whether those payments were made or not because no documentation to that effect had been brought to their notice.

To compound the situation, the NVTI, the Auditor-General’s report revealed had also breached the Financial Administration Act, 2003 (Act 654) by not paying surpluses made at the end of the year through internally generated funds into the Consolidated Fund, as mandated by the Act.

The NVTI, according to the Report, had not finalized its financial reports for the 2007, 2008, 2009 fiscal year for validation by the Auditor-General, a clear breach of the Financial Administration Act, that demands that government subvented institutions submit their accounts to the Auditor-General every financial year for validation.

Mr Awuah, told the Committee that he was not aware of certain provisions in the Law, and accepted that statutes of the country had been breached and described the anomaly as “a fundamental mistake on our part”.

GNA

We don’t need more than 50 MPs in Ghana – IMANI

The Vice-President of IMANI Ghana has blamed financial imprudence on the part of government for the sharp rise in Ghana’s debt, which currently stands at GH₵43.9 billion (49.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Speaking Wednesday on Accra-based Joy FM, Mr Kofi Bentil said a large chunk of Ghana’s revenue was being spent on governance and on paying public servants to the detriment of core needs like education, health, water, energy, transportation and telecommunication.

According to him, Ghana’s “heavy government” is draining the country’s national resources. He said Parliament, for instance, has 275 members whose job is to create laws. “We have an expensive parliament of 275 people who are supposed to make laws. You don’t need more than 50 people to make laws [in this country],” he said.

Mr Bentil said Parliament had also failed woefully in its other function of scrutinising the activities of the Executive, especially in relation to how government money is spent.

“The Executive has found a way to get them [Parliament] to play ball,” he added. The IMANI Vice-President also called for a drastic reduction in the number of public servants, as part of efforts to reduce government waste.

He said 70 per cent of national revenue was being spent on paying 500,000 public servants, who he said were among “the least productive groups of people in the country”.Mr Bentil said the total productivity of the civil service was about 10 to 30 per cent of what it must be.

“The average civil/public servant works effectively about one day. You can get rid of half the civil service and productivity will not fall,” he added.

Ghana’s high debt has led to economic challenges within the country, with the government admitting to liquidity challenges. The World Bank has already cautioned Ghana against the debt, which it says has the tendency to stifle the country’s economic growth and deepen poverty.

The country’s development partners (DPs) have also served notice of their intention to ask what they described as “hard questions” on how the government raised and spent revenue in the just ended fiscal year.

Such questions, they said, would be based on the evidence available to them.

Source: Daily Graphic

Asante-Akim North MP robbed

Kwadwo Baah Agyemang, Member of Parliament for Asante Akim North constituency in the Ashanti Region on Wednesday had his residence ransacked by robbers.

The robbers reportedly invaded the MP’s Agogo residence while the inhabitants were away. They took away electronic and electrical gadgets, the MP’s personal belongings as well as other vital documents.

His mother, Madam Hannah Ampong who is a teacher told Myjoyonline.com that nobody was at home when the incident happened. Madam Ampong said, upon her arrival from school she saw all the doors to the rooms had been taken down and the items taken away.

According to her, most of the items had been brought there by the MP to be donated to the Presbyterian Hospital in Agogo later this month.

The police are currently investigating the incident.

Myjoyonline.com

PURC is being remote- controlled by gov’t – Ursula

Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu has downplayed the relevance of the Public Utility and Regulatory Commission (PURC), labeling the Commission as “useless and defunct.”

Contributing to a panel discussion programme on Oman FM, Hon. Ursula Owusu was of a strong view that the PURC is only doing the bidding of government; a reason why they astronomically increased the tariffs on electricity and water services in the country.

According to her, the PURC is being “remote controlled” by government.

Due to this, the PURC seems to shirk its official duties and has become inconsiderate in their operations towards the Ghanaian citizenry.

Appealing to the Commission to consider the plight of Ghanaians, Hon. Ursula Owusu stressed that it has since “proved that they are a totally useless, defunct organization because they will do their master’s bidding. And it doesn’t matter which government is in power; they have a duty of care to the Ghanaian people.”

Peacefmonline.com

Ellembelle MP donates items to communities

About 13 communities in the northern part of the Ellembelle District have benefitted from assorted items to improve their standard of living.

The items are 12 sewing machines, four packets of iron sheets, five spraying machines and 450 bags of cement. The rest are seven pairs of wellington boots, exercise books, 21 boxes of sidalco, 12 sets of jerseys and 2 footballs.

Beneficiary communities are Adiembra, Anwologa, Asoredanho, Dadwen,Asomasi, Bonsukrom, Kroboline and Kwasikrom.The rest are Mandumbgane, Aidoosuazo, Agyei-Obengkrom and Ewerekokrom.

The Member of Parliament for Ellemblle, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah and the District Chief Executive, Mr. Daniel K. Eshun, made the presentation during a three-day working tour of the area.

Mr Buah thanked the people for their massive votes to retain the NDC government in power during the 2012 general elections.

He said the government remained sensitive to the plight of Ghanaians especially those in the hinterlands and would bring government closer to their doorsteps.

Receiving the items on behalf of the people, the chief of Ewerekokrom,Tufuhene Arloo and the chief of Kroboline, Nana Joseph Amono, thanked the MP and the DCE.

GNA