We haven't issued any permits- Town and Country Planning declares

THE Town and Country Planning Department says it has not issued any permits for the construction of any of the structures sited on watercourses in parts of Accra.
It has, therefore, asked the inter-ministerial committee set up for the demolition of those structures to investigate whether owners of those property have permits and where they obtained them from.
The Director of the department, Mr Kofi Dankwa Osei, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that the law should be allowed to work and those found to have issued permits without authority punished accordingly. “I think if anyone is found to have issued permits for people to build on water courses, that person should be used as an example,” he stated.
He was reacting to allegations made by some ministers in the wake of the current floods in Accra that the department might have issued permits that allowed residents to build on watercourses.
Mr Osei explained that it was not the sole responsibility of the department to issue permits, as the public had been made to believe, noting that the authority to do that rested with a technical committee comprising other land administration agencies which made recommendations for the Chief Executive of the metropolitan assembly to approve.
He stressed that under no circumstance would any member of the committee issue permits for applicants to build on watercourses and urged the media not to support residents found culpable by highlighting the agony they would go through when their buildings were demolished.
He said the department would not hesitate to furnish the inter-ministerial task force with documents to assist it in its investigations.
According to him, the fact that the department was poorly resourced did not mean that it should undermine its core functions of planning, controlling and ensuring the sustainable and cost-effective development of human settlements in accordance with sound environmental and planning principles.
He said what the government had to do was spend money on extensive dredging of drains, particularly the Korle Lagoon and the Odaw River.
"These are the major outfills and they should be free enough for water to pass through," he said, pointing out that another major headache for the national capital was the Sodom and Gomorrah settlement.
The Deputy Director of the department, Mrs Doris Tetteh, corroborated the point that the issuance of permits was not the sole responsibility of the department.“It is a comprehensive process and no individual can issue a permit without the knowledge of other members of the Technical Committee,” she stated, and mentioned some members of the committee as representatives of the Department of Urban Roads, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Lands Commission, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, the AMA and other stakeholders.
Mrs Tetteh, who was in a meeting with members of the Technical Committee during the interview, said areas such as Fadama, Awoshie, North Kaneshie, Kaneshie and other areas which experienced the recent flooding in Accra that killed seven people had always been flood-prone.
She explained that the population of the capital had increased tremendously and so facilities and infrastructure should also be improved in order to avoid the situation where people became victims of floods.
Mrs Tetteh said it was time to implement the technical decisions and the government had a duty to commit itself to the decision to demolish buildings on watercourses and free the thousands who suffered from the annual ritual of floods in Accra.

Aftermath of Rain Disaster- 45 Houses to go down

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AN inter-ministerial committee has been formed by the government to identify and demolish all buildings and illegal structures on watercourses to prevent a recurrence of last Friday’s floodsin Accra that claimed seven lives.
The inter-ministerial task force includes representatives of the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Roads and Highways (Urban Roads) and the Ministry of the Interior and officials from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council and personnel from the security agencies.
They have up to Friday to submit their report.
It is estimated that more than 45 buildings will be affected.
In August 2007, after a similar disaster in which five people were killed by floods in the western part of Accra, 25 buildings were marked for demolition by NADMO but after three of them had been pulled down, owners of the affected properties sought a court injunction to stop the exercise.
It has been on hold since then but this time the agencies charged with the job have indicated their preparedness to go all the way and demolish all the buildings and illegal structures found to have been constructed on watercourses.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, who disclosed this after a visit by the leadership of the various authorities to the affected areas and victims of the floods, said after taking inventory of all structures on watercourses, the task force would identify those that had building permits and those that did not have before taking action.
“We will determine whether the Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD) gave them permits to build. If they are covered by permits, we will negotiate with them, but if they are not, we will have to do what is right to save the rest of the members of the community from such disasters,” he said.
In addition to the demolition exercise, the AMA has been charged to clear all silted gutters in the metropolis and make sure that all kiosks and illegal structures along the streets are removed.
Commenting on the corrective measures, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Joe Gidisu, said work on that part of the Kaneshie road where the bitumen was washed away by the rain would be completed for free flow of traffic by today.
He blamed officials of the TCPD who, he said, had not been honest to the country by allowing houses to be built on watercourses.
The Deputy Minister for Local Government, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, said, “Henceforth, every law that has to do with development will be enforced. We have to do what is right and we will apply the law to the fullest.”
The Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Hanna Louisa Bisiw, also criticised the issuance of illegal permits by officials of the TCPD.
“Each illegal permit is equal to a life lost. We have to be very responsible to our country,” she said, and described the behaviour of those involved as unpatriotic, considering the amount of money the government had spent to decongest the capital and other flood-prone areas.
The National Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Kofi Portuphy, said as of yesterday trucks were loading relief items for distribution to victims and noted that NADMO had set up camps in the affected areas where the items would be distributed, with assistance from the leadership of the various assemblies.
He disclosed that a medical team would visit the affected areas to check any possible outbreak of water-borne diseases.
The Chief Executive of the AMA, Mr Alfred Vanderpiuje, during the tour, warned all victims who were reconstructing their structures along the drains to halt the practice because they were going to be pulled down.
He also said people who parked their vehicles on the road would be prevented from doing so to ease traffic, particularly on the Mallam-Kaneshie highway.
The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Rose Bio-Atinga, said the police, for their part, would provide security for all affected victims who, she urged, should feel free to contact the police in case of any complaint.

Ministry to embark on massive tree-planting exercise

THE Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources has announced plans to embark on a massive national tree- planting exercise to halt the depletion of the country’s forest plantation and reserves.
The sector Minister, Alhaji Collins Dauda, who made this known, said the ministry was currently in contact with other stakeholders to tackle the problem.
He described the extent of degradation of the country’s forests as appalling and stressed the need for such an exercise to protect natural resources.
Alhaji Dauda, who made the point during a courtesy call on him by the Bulgarian Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Nedelcho Peneff, said Ghana once had 8.2 million hectares of forest but now it had reduced to about 1.5 million hectares.
“You realise that the extent of degradation is as a result of our own activities and so we have decided that what has been lost must be replaced,” he stated.
He, therefore, asked for support from Bulgaria to deal with the situation which, he said, was badly affecting the pattern of rainfall in the country.
Ghana recently ratified the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), which requires it to strictly adhere to its own laws. The VPA is a set of standards and guidelines intended for proper forest governance and timber harvest, with the view to ensuring that only legal timber was exported from Ghana to Europe.
Alhaji Dauda said Ghana was currently faced with the challenge of adding value to its mineral resources and, therefore, requested the Bulgarian Ambassador to assist the country to attract investors who were willing to set up refineries in the country.
The courtesy call by the Bulgarian Ambassador was essentially to congratulate the minister on his appointment to that political office and to discuss possible areas of co-operation.
Mr Peneff commended Ghana for its democratic maturity, saying, “Ghana has demonstrated to the world that the culture of democracy is of high standard and should serve as an example to the continent and the rest of the world.”
He recalled the long-standing relations between Ghana and Bulgaria, dating back to 1962 when Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, visited that country.
He expressed the hope that the relations would be reactivated, and on that basis extended an invitation to Alhaji Dauda to visit Bulgaria and identify possible areas of co-operation between the two countries.
“We do not need to just exchange documents but take concrete steps that will benefit both countries,” he stated.
Mr Peneff expressed his willingness to help attract investors from Bulgaria to set up refineries in Ghana and urged the minister to furnish him with documents on the country’s total stock of minerals and natural resources for reference.

Constitution must grow with times — Gyandoh

Professor Emeritus Samuel Otu Gyandoh, a professor of Law at the Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, USA, has described the Constitution as a living organism which must grow with the times.
“We can adapt the Constitution to changing times by timely amendments, like Act 527 of 1996, and by judiciary interpretation,” he said.
Delivering a lecture to mark the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in Accra on Tuesday, Prof Gyandoh said what “we do not need as a country is another Constitutional Commission, Constitutional Assembly or Committee of Experts to draw up new Constitution for a future Fifth Republic of Ghana".
He said it was not proper for any group of people to claim to have reached the pinnacle of political wisdom to dictate to generations yet unborn.
Speaking on the theme, "Constitutional Review in Ghana", he said there was always room for improvement of the human condition, and was optimistic that a review of relevant portions of the 1992 Constitution would deepen the country's democratisation process.
He also touched on some discrepancies bordering on dual citizenship — article 8 and 9 (5) and indemnity — Act 527, 1996, which he said, had raised unresolved problems of legitimacy for the nation.
On dual citizenship, Prof Gyandoh said citizenship laws should be inclusive and not exclusive, as in a situation where a person with dual citizenship could be a Minister and Member of Parliament but not Secretary to the Cabinet, or Ambassador or Chief of Defence Staff, Inspector-General of Police, Commissioner of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service or the Director of the Immigration Service.
On indemnity, he said the 1992 Constitution should take into account the fact that the era of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) rule was a military rule in order to preserve the spirit and enduring values enshrined in the Constitution.
Professor Mike Oquaye, the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who dilevered the second lecture was also of the view that a review of the 1992 Constitution would deepen and strengthen the country’s democracy.
In his support for a review, he said constitutions were subject to the law of mutations but they should be stable enough to contain the competing forces of instability within the body politic.
He therefore urged Parliament to tighten the screws of the 1992 Constitutional engineering, but however, agreed with maintaining the indemnity clause so that the country could move forward.
He said any change in the Constitution should have specific goals to secure good governance, promote the rule of law and separation of powers.
Prof Oquaye said a review should as well check arbitrariness, secure accountability, ensure human rights and provide a credible electoral system that guaranteed smooth and effective transition of political power.
Additionally, he recommended that a review process should secure effective decentralisation, promote the rights of women, children and the vulnerable groups in the country.
"As we seek to review our Constitution, let us leave no stone unturned. Let us not take anything for granted," he stated and urged Parliament to be as detailed as possible and as imaginative as human vision would allow.
The President of GAAS, Prof Reginald Amonoo, was also optimistic that a review process would enhance the country's democratisation process.
He refereed to a paper that was presented by Prof Joseph R.A. Ayee, Dean, Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ghana, Legon on the topic "Signposts to Healthy Politics in Ghana," which identified what could be done to promote positive politics instead of negative and adversarial politics in Ghana.
According to Prof Amonoo, GAAS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiffing (FES) Foundation had been partnering to promote and strengthen democracy and social justice in Ghana since 1993.
The Resident Director of FES , Ms Kathrin Meissner, described Ghana's transformation to democracy in 1992 as a major turning point.
She commended Ghana for a peaceful election in 2008 and noted that though there were serious challenges that needed to be addressed in the future, the 2008 election was certainly proof of the overall political stability that Ghana had achieved.
Ms Meissner however noted that the relevance of Ghana's Constitution laid in the commitment of the good people of Ghana to it, and pointed out that a review process would create an opportunity and reaffirm the consensus for the country's political system.

Consider benefits for political, high office holders’

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June 18, 2009

PARLIAMENT must consider issues bordering on emoluments and retirement benefits for political and high office holders in its intended review of the 1992 Constitution.
It has further been urged to consider other provisions including political transitions, the limitation of the legislative authority of Parliament, the conduct of Presidential and Parliamentary elections and others relating to the composition, membership and conditions of service for Commissioners of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, a Principal lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), and Mr Alban K. S. Bagbin, the Majority Leader of Parliament, made the recommendation on Tuesday at the second inaugural lecture to mark the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in Accra,
They spoke on the theme, “Confronting the Challenges of the 1992 Constitution”.
Mr Ahwoi said Article 71 of the Constitution which provided a formula for the determination of salaries, allowances, facilities, privileges, retiring benefits or awards for public office holders, including the President and Vice President, needed to be amended by Parliament if judicial interpretation could not adequately address the challenges associated with it.
He was against the practice where the President appointed a committee to make recommendations for the benefit of the executive and public office holders in line with Article 71 of the Constitution.
He said “should the practice continue, a time will come when there will be a number of ex-Presidents and sets of ex-Parliamentarians all buying from the same market and yet enjoying different retirement benefits or end-of-service benefits”.
He said it was his submission that in interpreting Article 71, a distinction should be drawn between “salaries and allowances” and “retiring benefits and awards”.
Mr Ahwoi said whilst “salaries and allowances” may be determined by each new President, “the retiring benefits and awards should be fixed at all time, with an adjustment formula for inflation and other significant indicators.
For ex-Ministers and ex-Members of Parliament who may be entitled to one-time-end-of-service benefits or ex-gratia payments only, he said the solution may be to fix the quantum in convertible currency such as the US dollar or by way of formula with an in-built inflation factor.
On provisions concerning political transition, he said the experiences of the political transitions of 2001 and 2009 “should teach us that there are vast lacunae in our constitutional arrangements”, which ought to be filled by either constitutional amendment or the exercise of the residual power of Parliament conferred by Article 298.
He therefore agreed with proposals contained in the Institute of Economic Affairs draft “Presidential Transition Bill 2009”.
According to him, the draft bill, proposed among other measures the establishment of an institution that would be responsible for inventory and stock taking of state assets and properties to ensure a smooth and civic handing over of such assets from an outgoing to an incoming administration.
“That is intended to act as a buffer to avoid any dispute between the two parties over all such assets”, he added, and pointed out that the core of the problem related to the short period between Presidential and Parliamentary elections and the date of the inauguration of the new President and Parliament.
To deal with this problem, he said the provision on the period of Parliamentary elections could be amended to allow for a longer period between the Parliamentary elections and the inauguration date of January 7.
Other key areas of the 1992 Constitution he addressed included the concept and practice of the ‘hybrid’ Executive system of government, Decentralisation and Local Government, and the Media and the Right to Rejoinder.
Mr Bagbin, who partly focused his address on the limitations of the legislative authority of Parliament (article 108), said the provision deprived the legislature of one of the most effective mode of exercising control over the use of public funds by the Executive.
“By this prohibition, Parliament is prevented from debating matters that involve expenditure from public funds, the raising of taxation or increases in the rate of taxation on its own initiative without a request from the President”, he emphasised and raised other concerns which he said were inconsistent and therefore called for a review to remove the limitation.
On the appointment of Ministers by the President with the prior approval of Parliament from among members of Parliament or persons qualified to be elected as member of Parliament, except that the majority of Minister shall be appointed from Parliament, the Majority Speaker said experience over the past 16 years had shown that Ministers with Parliament seats tended to find it difficult to effectively combine the two portfolios.
“There is therefore the real challenge of divided attention which is naturally not their making”, he stated and pointed out that the situation was likely to continue for as long as Parliamentary privileges and facilities continued to remain very unattractive as compared with ministerial portfolio.
As a solution, he suggested that the hybrid executive system should be reverted to the Presidential system with complete separation of Parliament from the Executive.
Mr Bagbin also suggested that the condition of service of the Commissioner of CHRAJ, should provide for progression from the status of a justice of the Court of Appeal to a justice of the Supreme Court whilst that of the Deputy Commissioner should be allowed for progression from justice of the High Court to a justice of the Court of Appeal.
He said article 218(e) which prevented the Commission from initiating its own investigation into a matter within its jurisdiction had the effect of dampening the Commission’s initiative to investigate perceived acts of corruption, including the promotion of human rights values, integrity and the rule of law.
To that effect, he urged Parliament to amend article 218 to enable CHRAJ to perform its watchdog role as an independent governance institution.

Ghanaians urged to recognise relevance of Founder’s Day- Dr Jonah

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June 17, 2009

A POLITICAL Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Kwesi Jonah has urged Ghanaians to recognise the relevance of the intended Founder’s Day celebration to be instituted in the country.
He, therefore, urged the government to also translate the ideas and ideals Nkrumah represented into concrete action.
Dr Jonah made the assertions in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday.
He said the day should be a ceremony where the main achievements of Nkrumah would be highlighted in the media in the form of radio and television discussions, lecturers and symposiums in schools.
Congratulating the government for its intention to institute the Founder’s Day celebration, Dr Jonah suggested to the government to specifically highlight the good things that Nkrumah wanted to achieve and see which of his plans and projects were still relevant today.
“Nkrumah is the only African leader to lead a sub-Saharan African country to independence and that alone is a significant achievement to be celebrated”, he stated.
Dr Jonah stated that with that achievement, Nkrumah became the symbol of hope and the source of inspiration for all liberation movements in Africa.
He said the achievements of Nkrumah were so memorable that “Ghanaians can not afford to forget about him”.
“You cannot discuss the liberation of the African continent without mentioning Nkrumah. They all looked up to him”, he added, and enumerated some African liberation movements that looked up to Nkrumah experience.
“Some of these movements which sought advice from Nkrumah included the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) from Namibia, African National Congress (ANC) from South Africa, the National Liberation Front from Algeria, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) and many other movements which were hosted at the former Students’ Hostel in Accra”, he stated.
According to him, what made the celebration of Nkrumah even more relevant today could be justified considering two important targets Nkrumah outlined to achieve.
“That is the United States of Africa and unity in Ghana, as the country was nearly divided after independence”, he said.
First, Dr Jonah said, Nkrumah struggled for Ghana’s independence after he left the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) to form the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
That, he said, made the British realise that the struggle for independence had transcended down from the educated elite to the ordinary people.
“They became conscious of the fact that, someone was now mobilising the ordinary people to fight for independence”, he said.
He stated that because the British had no choice, they had to organise three major elections, in 1951, 1954 and 1956, all of which were swept by the CPP.
Dr Jonah said immediately after independence, Dr Nkrumah discovered that some political parties springing up in the country were based on regions, religion and ethnic groupings.
He said Dr Nkrumah, therefore, passed the “Avoidance of Discrimination Act” which banned the formation of political parties based on those lines apart from nationalistic point of view.
Dr Jonah said details of the Act which had unified Ghana so well leading to the formation of the United Party (UP), a combination of all those smaller parties, could now be found in the Political Parties Act in the 1992 Constitution, where it was indicated that all political parties should be organised on national lines and each should have at least offices in two-thirds of districts in Ghana.
He added that immediately after independence, Dr Nkrumah hit the ground running, realising that Ghana as a tiny West African country could not survive against the powerful colonial super powers, and therefore declared that the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless it was linked with the total liberation of Africa.
In that regard, he said, Nkrumah organised the Conference of Independent African states in Accra in 1958 where together with other African leaders, they discussed how to liberate the continent of colonialism.
Dr Jonah said, after that conference, Dr Nkrumah realised that most of his fellow heads of states were conservatives, because most of them had suggested that the continent could be integrated along functional lines and through regional grouping.
He said Dr Nkrumah believed that Africa needed to develop a strong economy and army to defend itself, but unfortunately, “his peers did not understand him”, and the resultant impact, he said, “politically we are unable to resolve the numerous conflicts and genocide which had been recorded on the continent”.

Two organisations sign partnership agreement

THE Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) has signed a partnership agreement with Rising Data Solutions Limited (RDS), a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, to train people and create jobs in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.
Under the agreement, RDS will provide a curriculum and logistics in the field and train teachers to teach the course at the college, while GTUC would house the classrooms, hardware and teaching personnel for the implementation of the course.
The college will also absorb the class into its official curriculum where students who earn qualifying marks in the course will gain employment with RDS.
The two institutions signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Accra yesterday to seal the partnership.
The President of GTUC, Dr Osei K. Darkwa, said the government had identified Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) and the BPO industry as one of the key industries for the creation of jobs and the provision of marketable skills for the youth for the country to position itself as a destination of choice for outsourcing.
He expressed optimism that the collaboration would equip the students of the college with the requisite skills in areas such as communication and listening, telemarketing, keyboard, time management, computer, customer care, telephone etiquette, accent neutralisation and pronunciation skills.
He indicated that a study conducted in 2006 by an Indian company, Hewitt Associates, with assistance from the World Bank and Information for Development (infoDev) in Ghana, estimated that the sector could create 37,000 jobs by the year 2011, with an added value of US$750 million to the economy.
The Vice-President of GTUC, Dr Robert Baffuor, gave the assurance that the university would continue to provide the platform and build the requisite foundation to place Ghana on the technology map.
The Public Relations Manager of RDS, Mr A. J. Whitman, noted that the partnership was part of RDS’s ongoing campaign to bring more jobs to Ghana via the BPO industry.
“We are proud of this partnership with GTUC because both parties recognise that the private sector cannot grow without the educational sector, and vice versa,” he added.
The Head of Corporate Communication, Vodaphone, Mr Albert Don-Chebe, gave assurance that Vodaphone was strongly behind the deal and commended RDS for having the courage to invest in Ghana, despite the challenges.
The Director of Finance and Administration of the Ministry of Communications, Mr M. B. Alhassan, disclosed that the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) were strongly behind Ghana in the development of the BPO industry.
“This emphasises the government’s commitment to the sector,” he indicated, and noted that to further support the sector, the government was putting up a data centre to properly monitor and evaluate its performance.