29/5/09
Daily Graphic- Page 3
THE government is set to lay before Parliament the long-awaited Right to Information Bill, in fulfilment of its promise to ensure transparency and accountability in governance.
The Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, who disclosed this in an address read on his behalf at the opening of a training programme on democracy and governance in Accra yesterday, gave the assurance that the government would place before Parliament “the Economic and Organised Crime Office Bill before the end of the year".
“The President has also indicated his willingness to review the Public Assets Declaration Law to make it more transparent and accessible to the general public, while protecting the right of public office holders who will declare their assets as mandated by the constitution,” he noted.
He said the Economic and Organised Crime Office Bill, when passed into law, would replace the Serious Fraud Office Law.
He said the Economic and Organised Crime Office Bill had been designed to bring on board issues of tax evasion, tax avoidance, electronic base crimes, cross-border crimes, money laundering, human trafficking and other forms of serious fraud.
The Vice-President further disclosed that the government would also pass the Mutual Legal Assistance Bill which would ensure that legal assistance would be provided and received in the areas of investigation and tracing of crimes which began outside the country’s borders but which affected Ghana and those which began in Ghana but affected other countries.
The reason, he said, was that the quest for public accountability had led to dire consequences, including allegations of human rights abuses.
He encouraged the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) to re-invigorate itself and venture into the area of capacity building for CSOs whose focal activity was anti-corruption and good governance.
Mr Mahama commended the organisers of the seminar, the Marquette University’s Les Aspin Centre for Good Governance, for doing a tremendous job in the training of many Ghanaians, with support from USAID.
Participants in the training programme, which began on May 27, 2009 and ends on June 7, 2009, include 16 government and civil society personnel from Ghana, six from Nigeria and five from Mali.
The goal, according to the Co-ordinator of African Programmes, Les Aspin Centre for Government, Dr Cephas Lerewonu, was to train the participants to understand accountability and good governance systems, as well as the necessary strategies to promote accountability in the public and private sectors.
He said after their training participants would use the experience, knowledge and resources to develop country specific strategies for managing and implementing effective performance and delivery systems.
The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Donald G. Teitelbaum, urged the media and Parliament to hold public officials accountable.
To ensure that, he said they would also be training the media in methods and techniques of holding public officers accountable at the macro level and the freedom of the press to access public information.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Cut dependency on developing partners—K.B. Asante
A RENOWNED diplomat, Dr K.B. Asante has stated that Ghana cannot experience a radical growth unless it cuts its dependency on developing partners.
“We are where we are because we still depend on what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank tell us. We are not moving forward, how can we move forward when the help being given to us is in actual fact credit to make us stay put,” he said.
Dr Asante was speaking at the first in a series of lectures being organised by the All African Students Union (AASU) to mark the centenary celebration of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
He said the country’s resolve to turn to developing partners anytime it needed help had “washed” the thinking of Ghanaians as they were made not to think for themselves.
“Right now, our budget is being supported by developing partners and we call that development when the help being given us is to make us dependent on them,” he emphasised, and ridiculed the idea that the country was experiencing an economic growth, when in real terms the economy had not undergone any transformation.
Dr Asante, who served in the Nkrumah-led administration from independence until its overthrow in 1966, observed that Ghana could not succeed by depending on the price of cocoa on the world market, stating that “we cannot put all our eggs in one basket”.
The Coordinator of the Third World Network, Dr Yao Graham, a Pan-African research and advocacy organisation, who spoke on the theme: “Nkrumah at 100: Lessons for African Leadership”, said one of the key lessons from Ghana’s development experience under Nkrumah was linked directly to his commitment to a Pan-African solution to the challenges of under development on the continent.
“Nkrumah’s leadership and rallying role in African affairs went beyond his vision and theorising. Importantly, it included support for national liberation movements. This support embodied a unity of his Pan-Africanism and commitment to anti-colonial independence as a necessary precondition for the continent’s unity and progress”, he stated.
Dr Graham attributed Nkrumah’s commitment to anti-colonial independence to the reason why Nkrumah stepped up with a £10 million to help newly independent Guinea from collapse after France had stripped that country of anything they could carry after it had opted for independence.
To this day, he said, Nkrumah’s detractors in Ghana still pointed to that act of solidarity as exemplary of how he wasted Ghana’s resources on matters he should have not been concerned with.
Dr Graham recounted that during the last six years of Nkrumah’s rule, Nkrumah attempted to transform the colonial economy he inherited from the British and many leaders in his generation—Nyerere in Tanzania, Kaunda in Zambia, and many others, recognised that as a primary task of post colonial economic policy.
The truth, he asserted, was that despite the claims that Nkrumah’s difficulties were because of his socialist policies, Nkrumah was in fact a good pupil of the dominant economic policies and ideas of his day as widely acclaimed by leading thinkers in the West.
“Using existing resources, Nkrumah rapidly expanded education, health and infrastructure. Many of the agro-industrial projects were in their infancy when he was overthrown. He inaugurated the Akosombo hydroeletricity dam, the centre piece of his Volta River project, which he saw as powering Ghana’s industrialisation a month before his overthrown”, he remarked.
Sadly, Dr Graham said even in the face of global crisis, many African governments were looking outward towards their “development partners” rather than exploring the opportunities for deepening regional and continental cooperation and integration.
According to Dr Graham, all those offered important opportunities for a new agenda for economic transformation in Africa, and dared African leaders who were ready to go beyond guaranteeing the sanctity of aid flows.
A lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Account (GIMPA), Dr Bright Oduro Kwarteng, who spoke on the theme: “Nkrumah, was he misunderstood?”, debunked all the allegations propagated by the Danquah-Busia tradition against Nkrumah.
“The story must be told, and we are here to tell our story”, he said, stating that before independence, Dr K.A. Busia, the Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Ghana, travelled to the United Kingdom in an attempt to convince the British government to deny Ghana its independence with the excuse that Ghana was not yet ready for independence.
Dr Kwarteng said it was true that Dr J.B. Danquah proposed the name Ghana, and Dr Busia even formed a political party with the name Ghana, but they both opposed the name when Nkrumah chose it as the country’s name after independence merely because they were not the ones declare it.
Recounting the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah, he urged the government to remove the statue of Kotoka from the Kotoka International Airport for his part in the 1966 coup.
“The CIA gave them $13 million dollars to stage the coup”, he alleged, and stated vehemently that “if you do not remove that statue, we will remove it”.
Dr Kwarteng, however, suggested that “Ghana must invest in compulsory education and primary healthcare, exemplary of Nkrumah’s administration, adding that “you cannot have the private sector as the engine of growth, unless you have an efficient public sector”.
“We need to also invest in the public sector to make the private sector flourish. Our planning for the future education must stand tall in the list of priorities. We need to have an educational system that is home grown”, he stressed.
“We are where we are because we still depend on what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank tell us. We are not moving forward, how can we move forward when the help being given to us is in actual fact credit to make us stay put,” he said.
Dr Asante was speaking at the first in a series of lectures being organised by the All African Students Union (AASU) to mark the centenary celebration of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
He said the country’s resolve to turn to developing partners anytime it needed help had “washed” the thinking of Ghanaians as they were made not to think for themselves.
“Right now, our budget is being supported by developing partners and we call that development when the help being given us is to make us dependent on them,” he emphasised, and ridiculed the idea that the country was experiencing an economic growth, when in real terms the economy had not undergone any transformation.
Dr Asante, who served in the Nkrumah-led administration from independence until its overthrow in 1966, observed that Ghana could not succeed by depending on the price of cocoa on the world market, stating that “we cannot put all our eggs in one basket”.
The Coordinator of the Third World Network, Dr Yao Graham, a Pan-African research and advocacy organisation, who spoke on the theme: “Nkrumah at 100: Lessons for African Leadership”, said one of the key lessons from Ghana’s development experience under Nkrumah was linked directly to his commitment to a Pan-African solution to the challenges of under development on the continent.
“Nkrumah’s leadership and rallying role in African affairs went beyond his vision and theorising. Importantly, it included support for national liberation movements. This support embodied a unity of his Pan-Africanism and commitment to anti-colonial independence as a necessary precondition for the continent’s unity and progress”, he stated.
Dr Graham attributed Nkrumah’s commitment to anti-colonial independence to the reason why Nkrumah stepped up with a £10 million to help newly independent Guinea from collapse after France had stripped that country of anything they could carry after it had opted for independence.
To this day, he said, Nkrumah’s detractors in Ghana still pointed to that act of solidarity as exemplary of how he wasted Ghana’s resources on matters he should have not been concerned with.
Dr Graham recounted that during the last six years of Nkrumah’s rule, Nkrumah attempted to transform the colonial economy he inherited from the British and many leaders in his generation—Nyerere in Tanzania, Kaunda in Zambia, and many others, recognised that as a primary task of post colonial economic policy.
The truth, he asserted, was that despite the claims that Nkrumah’s difficulties were because of his socialist policies, Nkrumah was in fact a good pupil of the dominant economic policies and ideas of his day as widely acclaimed by leading thinkers in the West.
“Using existing resources, Nkrumah rapidly expanded education, health and infrastructure. Many of the agro-industrial projects were in their infancy when he was overthrown. He inaugurated the Akosombo hydroeletricity dam, the centre piece of his Volta River project, which he saw as powering Ghana’s industrialisation a month before his overthrown”, he remarked.
Sadly, Dr Graham said even in the face of global crisis, many African governments were looking outward towards their “development partners” rather than exploring the opportunities for deepening regional and continental cooperation and integration.
According to Dr Graham, all those offered important opportunities for a new agenda for economic transformation in Africa, and dared African leaders who were ready to go beyond guaranteeing the sanctity of aid flows.
A lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Account (GIMPA), Dr Bright Oduro Kwarteng, who spoke on the theme: “Nkrumah, was he misunderstood?”, debunked all the allegations propagated by the Danquah-Busia tradition against Nkrumah.
“The story must be told, and we are here to tell our story”, he said, stating that before independence, Dr K.A. Busia, the Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Ghana, travelled to the United Kingdom in an attempt to convince the British government to deny Ghana its independence with the excuse that Ghana was not yet ready for independence.
Dr Kwarteng said it was true that Dr J.B. Danquah proposed the name Ghana, and Dr Busia even formed a political party with the name Ghana, but they both opposed the name when Nkrumah chose it as the country’s name after independence merely because they were not the ones declare it.
Recounting the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah, he urged the government to remove the statue of Kotoka from the Kotoka International Airport for his part in the 1966 coup.
“The CIA gave them $13 million dollars to stage the coup”, he alleged, and stated vehemently that “if you do not remove that statue, we will remove it”.
Dr Kwarteng, however, suggested that “Ghana must invest in compulsory education and primary healthcare, exemplary of Nkrumah’s administration, adding that “you cannot have the private sector as the engine of growth, unless you have an efficient public sector”.
“We need to also invest in the public sector to make the private sector flourish. Our planning for the future education must stand tall in the list of priorities. We need to have an educational system that is home grown”, he stressed.
‘Relieving public officials of post is vindictive’
SOME leading senior public servants have described the decision by public servants to enter into partisan politics as a desecration of the service.
They have also noted that the government’s decision to relieve public officials from post was vindictive.
They have, therefore, called on public servants who wish to engage in partisan politics to strictly adhere to the provisions of the 1992 Constitution regarding their decisions.
Furthermore, they urged the government to ensure that conditions of service of public servants were improved to make political aspirations unattractive to them.
They made references to constitutional frameworks, and scenarios which they felt were derogatory to the good of the Public Service and what they expected of both public servants and the government in separate addresses at the 2009 Annual Public Lecture organised by the Public Services Commission (PSC), in Accra, and urged public servants to refrain from seeking political appointment, and be apolitical to promote the public interest.
The theme for the lecture was: “Re-enforcing Democratic Governance in Ghana: Public Servants and Partisan Politics”.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, who chaired the forum said the removal of public servants by successive governments without explanation was counter productive, and described the situation as “putting square pegs in round holes”, to the detriment of the country.
Prof Tagoe noted that appointments should rather be based on merit and transparency and not on political patronage and urged the government to respect the contract and neutrality of public servants, “by not asking people to go on leave is a step in the right direction”.
The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Theodora Georgina Wood, said the signals of public servants interested in engaging in partisan politics was not a healthy sign for the development of the country.
In an address read on her behalf by Justice Jones Dotse, a Justice of the Supreme Court, she called for a purposive approach to the interpretation of the law and enactments that allowed public servants to engage in active politics, a situation she also described as a recipe for disaster.
The Chief Justice, therefore, called on public servants to respect the sanctity of their office and resign if they had any interest in political appointments.
The Chairman of the PSC, Prof S. N. Woode, urged public servants to remain apolitical, neutral and competent in their advisory roles in the implementation of the policies of the government of the day.
Consequently, he said, civil servants should not engage in partisan politics and that the provision of the code of ethics and conduct of the Ghana Civil Service was to insulate them from partisan politics.
Other provisions which banned public servants from engaging in partisan politics, he said, included the Political Parties Act 2000, which banned public officers from canvassing in support of or against a political party or a candidate and Article 94 (3b) of the 1992 Constitution, which debarred certain members of the services from seeking political appointments.
The reason, he indicated, was that when public and civil servants went into partisan politics it led to the loss of public confidence and trust in the services, devalued them, adding that a country in search of a functioning government and good governance could not afford to have the service devalued.
“The service is a conservative institution and it should be allowed to remain conservative”, he said.
A Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Joseph R Atsu Ayee, who presented a paper in consonance with the theme, said there was a cause to worry over the growing interest of public servants to engage in partisan politics, the constitutional and legal implications, the challenges.
Prof Ayee said the public service and public servants operated within a highly intense political environment but despite the interconnectedness between the service and the government, it was still possible for public servants to remain neutral by following the rules and regulations within which they operated.
He said a survey conducted from 1993 to 2009 reflected a significant increase in the number of public servants engaged in partisan politics without resigning from their positions. He said from a figure of 32 in 1993 the number rose to a total of 235 in 2009.
To address these incoherences, he called for a review of the appointing power of the president, which was often used to build patronage for himself and his party, by streamlining the modalities for appointments.
Prof Ayee advocated an improvement in the service condition of public servants and urged the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to expedite action on the Code of Conduct for public officers, which it started sometime ago.
They have also noted that the government’s decision to relieve public officials from post was vindictive.
They have, therefore, called on public servants who wish to engage in partisan politics to strictly adhere to the provisions of the 1992 Constitution regarding their decisions.
Furthermore, they urged the government to ensure that conditions of service of public servants were improved to make political aspirations unattractive to them.
They made references to constitutional frameworks, and scenarios which they felt were derogatory to the good of the Public Service and what they expected of both public servants and the government in separate addresses at the 2009 Annual Public Lecture organised by the Public Services Commission (PSC), in Accra, and urged public servants to refrain from seeking political appointment, and be apolitical to promote the public interest.
The theme for the lecture was: “Re-enforcing Democratic Governance in Ghana: Public Servants and Partisan Politics”.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, who chaired the forum said the removal of public servants by successive governments without explanation was counter productive, and described the situation as “putting square pegs in round holes”, to the detriment of the country.
Prof Tagoe noted that appointments should rather be based on merit and transparency and not on political patronage and urged the government to respect the contract and neutrality of public servants, “by not asking people to go on leave is a step in the right direction”.
The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Theodora Georgina Wood, said the signals of public servants interested in engaging in partisan politics was not a healthy sign for the development of the country.
In an address read on her behalf by Justice Jones Dotse, a Justice of the Supreme Court, she called for a purposive approach to the interpretation of the law and enactments that allowed public servants to engage in active politics, a situation she also described as a recipe for disaster.
The Chief Justice, therefore, called on public servants to respect the sanctity of their office and resign if they had any interest in political appointments.
The Chairman of the PSC, Prof S. N. Woode, urged public servants to remain apolitical, neutral and competent in their advisory roles in the implementation of the policies of the government of the day.
Consequently, he said, civil servants should not engage in partisan politics and that the provision of the code of ethics and conduct of the Ghana Civil Service was to insulate them from partisan politics.
Other provisions which banned public servants from engaging in partisan politics, he said, included the Political Parties Act 2000, which banned public officers from canvassing in support of or against a political party or a candidate and Article 94 (3b) of the 1992 Constitution, which debarred certain members of the services from seeking political appointments.
The reason, he indicated, was that when public and civil servants went into partisan politics it led to the loss of public confidence and trust in the services, devalued them, adding that a country in search of a functioning government and good governance could not afford to have the service devalued.
“The service is a conservative institution and it should be allowed to remain conservative”, he said.
A Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Joseph R Atsu Ayee, who presented a paper in consonance with the theme, said there was a cause to worry over the growing interest of public servants to engage in partisan politics, the constitutional and legal implications, the challenges.
Prof Ayee said the public service and public servants operated within a highly intense political environment but despite the interconnectedness between the service and the government, it was still possible for public servants to remain neutral by following the rules and regulations within which they operated.
He said a survey conducted from 1993 to 2009 reflected a significant increase in the number of public servants engaged in partisan politics without resigning from their positions. He said from a figure of 32 in 1993 the number rose to a total of 235 in 2009.
To address these incoherences, he called for a review of the appointing power of the president, which was often used to build patronage for himself and his party, by streamlining the modalities for appointments.
Prof Ayee advocated an improvement in the service condition of public servants and urged the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to expedite action on the Code of Conduct for public officers, which it started sometime ago.
Include African youth and students unions — In African unity in deliberations
SOME student representatives at the University of Ghana, Legon, have called for an inclusion of youth and students unions in Africa in deliberations leading to African unity.
They agreed that the agenda of unity in Africa could not be spearheaded without the output of the youth who constituted the majority of the continent’s population.
The President of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the university, Mr John Mark Bekui, at a panel discussion with leaders and members of halls at the university, said it was important for the youth across Africa to collectively have a united front to let the world know that they were in support of African unity.
“If the leaders are not going to call on us, we should be considering ways we can impose ourselves on them,” he stated, adding, “If the mountain is not going to come to you, then you have to go to the mountain.”
The discussion was in recognition of the African Union Day, May 25, and how the youth across Africa could contribute in spearheading African unity.
It was facilitated by Wailing youth for a united Africa (WAIYUA), a youth advocacy group, and the Legon SRC.
The discussions focused mainly on whether Africans desired a unitary government, whether it was possible, what and how it could be done, the challenges and the way forward with the active involvement of the youth across the continent.
The President of WAIYUA, Mr Crusader Sampson Babson, said there was no way continental unity could be achieved considering the continuing neglect of youth participation.
He said the formation of a union government was long overdue and that the long awaited union government could only be achieved through the involvement of the youth, student groups and associations.
The President of the Commonwealth Hall, Mr Bernard Oduro Takyi, who agreed with the inclusion of students in deliberations leading to African unity, however, opposed the idea that Africa could develop only through integration.
He said the Organisation of Africa Unity was not successful, hence the AU would also not be successful because the colonial culture and ideologies inculcated in Africans by their colonial masters were still in place.
“We need selfless leadership and a paradigm shift from our way of doing things before we can unite or develop,” he added.
A member of the Akuafo Hall, Mr Clement Amegatse, agreed that the youth needed to be involved in the whole African unity process but stated emphatically that “Africa is not ready to unite” and that until Africa was ready, the whole continent would remain where it was.
He said the leadership of the continent was not committed at all to the cause of African unity, adding, for example, that the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, was made to believe that if he relinquished power, he was going to be supported by African leaders, but he was given up to the West and currently standing trial outside Africa — a sign of lack of political commitment to the cause of African unity.
“Consider the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, who is championing the African unity agenda. Even in his own country how does he treat immigrants?” he asked.
The President of the Mensah Sarbah Hall, Mr Stephen Forson, also agreed with the inclusion of the youth in championing African unity but argued that theoretically Africans were united but they were practically not.
He said until all the conflicts in Africa were resolved, it was going to be very difficult for Africa to unite, stating that it would be possible only if the youth in Africa had one mindset to break what was regarded as barriers to African unity.
They agreed that the agenda of unity in Africa could not be spearheaded without the output of the youth who constituted the majority of the continent’s population.
The President of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the university, Mr John Mark Bekui, at a panel discussion with leaders and members of halls at the university, said it was important for the youth across Africa to collectively have a united front to let the world know that they were in support of African unity.
“If the leaders are not going to call on us, we should be considering ways we can impose ourselves on them,” he stated, adding, “If the mountain is not going to come to you, then you have to go to the mountain.”
The discussion was in recognition of the African Union Day, May 25, and how the youth across Africa could contribute in spearheading African unity.
It was facilitated by Wailing youth for a united Africa (WAIYUA), a youth advocacy group, and the Legon SRC.
The discussions focused mainly on whether Africans desired a unitary government, whether it was possible, what and how it could be done, the challenges and the way forward with the active involvement of the youth across the continent.
The President of WAIYUA, Mr Crusader Sampson Babson, said there was no way continental unity could be achieved considering the continuing neglect of youth participation.
He said the formation of a union government was long overdue and that the long awaited union government could only be achieved through the involvement of the youth, student groups and associations.
The President of the Commonwealth Hall, Mr Bernard Oduro Takyi, who agreed with the inclusion of students in deliberations leading to African unity, however, opposed the idea that Africa could develop only through integration.
He said the Organisation of Africa Unity was not successful, hence the AU would also not be successful because the colonial culture and ideologies inculcated in Africans by their colonial masters were still in place.
“We need selfless leadership and a paradigm shift from our way of doing things before we can unite or develop,” he added.
A member of the Akuafo Hall, Mr Clement Amegatse, agreed that the youth needed to be involved in the whole African unity process but stated emphatically that “Africa is not ready to unite” and that until Africa was ready, the whole continent would remain where it was.
He said the leadership of the continent was not committed at all to the cause of African unity, adding, for example, that the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, was made to believe that if he relinquished power, he was going to be supported by African leaders, but he was given up to the West and currently standing trial outside Africa — a sign of lack of political commitment to the cause of African unity.
“Consider the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, who is championing the African unity agenda. Even in his own country how does he treat immigrants?” he asked.
The President of the Mensah Sarbah Hall, Mr Stephen Forson, also agreed with the inclusion of the youth in championing African unity but argued that theoretically Africans were united but they were practically not.
He said until all the conflicts in Africa were resolved, it was going to be very difficult for Africa to unite, stating that it would be possible only if the youth in Africa had one mindset to break what was regarded as barriers to African unity.
CJA calls for speedy prosecution of former officials
THE Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has urged the Mills administration to fast-track procedures to prosecute all members of the past administration suspected to have involved themselves in corrupt practices after proper investigations.
It further urged President John Evans Atta Mills to honour his campaign promise of probity, accountability and integrity to the good people of Ghana who had been waiting anxiously for five months into his administration.
A leading member of the CJA, Mr Kwesi Pratt Junior, who made the call at a panel discussion yesterday, questioned the delay and hesitation by President Mills to take immediate steps in honouring his promise to Ghanaians.
“We want to see probity, accountability and integrity. President Mills must ensure this. Five months into his office, we are still waiting,” he stated.
He said some corrupt officials were still insisting on the payment of their ex gratia, knowing very well that their drivers and relatives in the villages had no access to potable water and adequate health care.
He said corruption was embedded in the fabric of the Ghanaian society, to the extent that the hierarchy of the Judiciary was believed to be under investigations for corruption.
Mr Pratt, who is also the editor of the Insight newspaper, blamed the hierarchy of the Police Administration for the corruption in the lower ranks of the service, stating that the corruption at the top was a reflection of the break down of the command.
He stated that after eight years of maladministration, ministers of state were proud owners of $300,000 houses and $100,000 cars, adding “All of a sudden they have become multi-millionaires and when we question them about the source of their wealth they ask us why.”
Mr Pratt said if Ghanaians did not sit up and call for probity and accountability, they would not get access to potable water, health care and other basic amenities they were yearning for.
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mr Vitus A. Azeem, also urged the government to speed up the passage of the Right to Information Bill, taking into consideration the changes suggested by civil society actors.
He said the law would ensure transparency and accountability and hence serve as an effective anti-corruption tool, while complementing the anti-corruption laws already in existence.
Mr Azeem, in his definition of corruption, said it had been defined leaving many with the impression that it was only people who occupied public offices who were capable of abusing their office or power.
He categorically stated that the definition did not make any allowance for other forms of corrupt activities, including market rigging, insider trading, tax dodging, non-disclosure of conflict of interest and illicit part funding.
According to him, corruption encompassed abuses by government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling and fraud.
Mr Azeem described corruption as being pervasive which had to do with motive and opportunity that usually came about when there were weak systems or institutions of accountability, lack of checks and balances, as well as a general state of moral decadence.
He stated that research findings always pointed to the fact that corruption was a serious problem in Ghana, adding that from 1999 to 2008 the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had pointed to the fact that Ghana was far from winning the fight against corruption as a nation.
Attributing the causes of corruption to lack of political will, Mr Azeem said, “All previous leaders of the country have at least paid ‘lip service’ to its eradication.”
He said in 2001 former President Kufuor declared a zero tolerance for corruption and promised to promulgate a code of conduct to guide political appointees and consequently established an office within the Presidency to monitor it, “yet corruption continued to be attributed to his administration and some of his officials”.
A former General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Professor Nii Noi Dowuona, said the lessons learnt from the 2008 general election should guide politicians not to take Ghanaians for granted and, therefore, urged the political class to sit up.
He stressed the need for the political leadership to rise to the occasion, considering the limited resources of the country, compared to the increasing population and the rate at which the limited resources were being looted.
It further urged President John Evans Atta Mills to honour his campaign promise of probity, accountability and integrity to the good people of Ghana who had been waiting anxiously for five months into his administration.
A leading member of the CJA, Mr Kwesi Pratt Junior, who made the call at a panel discussion yesterday, questioned the delay and hesitation by President Mills to take immediate steps in honouring his promise to Ghanaians.
“We want to see probity, accountability and integrity. President Mills must ensure this. Five months into his office, we are still waiting,” he stated.
He said some corrupt officials were still insisting on the payment of their ex gratia, knowing very well that their drivers and relatives in the villages had no access to potable water and adequate health care.
He said corruption was embedded in the fabric of the Ghanaian society, to the extent that the hierarchy of the Judiciary was believed to be under investigations for corruption.
Mr Pratt, who is also the editor of the Insight newspaper, blamed the hierarchy of the Police Administration for the corruption in the lower ranks of the service, stating that the corruption at the top was a reflection of the break down of the command.
He stated that after eight years of maladministration, ministers of state were proud owners of $300,000 houses and $100,000 cars, adding “All of a sudden they have become multi-millionaires and when we question them about the source of their wealth they ask us why.”
Mr Pratt said if Ghanaians did not sit up and call for probity and accountability, they would not get access to potable water, health care and other basic amenities they were yearning for.
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mr Vitus A. Azeem, also urged the government to speed up the passage of the Right to Information Bill, taking into consideration the changes suggested by civil society actors.
He said the law would ensure transparency and accountability and hence serve as an effective anti-corruption tool, while complementing the anti-corruption laws already in existence.
Mr Azeem, in his definition of corruption, said it had been defined leaving many with the impression that it was only people who occupied public offices who were capable of abusing their office or power.
He categorically stated that the definition did not make any allowance for other forms of corrupt activities, including market rigging, insider trading, tax dodging, non-disclosure of conflict of interest and illicit part funding.
According to him, corruption encompassed abuses by government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling and fraud.
Mr Azeem described corruption as being pervasive which had to do with motive and opportunity that usually came about when there were weak systems or institutions of accountability, lack of checks and balances, as well as a general state of moral decadence.
He stated that research findings always pointed to the fact that corruption was a serious problem in Ghana, adding that from 1999 to 2008 the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had pointed to the fact that Ghana was far from winning the fight against corruption as a nation.
Attributing the causes of corruption to lack of political will, Mr Azeem said, “All previous leaders of the country have at least paid ‘lip service’ to its eradication.”
He said in 2001 former President Kufuor declared a zero tolerance for corruption and promised to promulgate a code of conduct to guide political appointees and consequently established an office within the Presidency to monitor it, “yet corruption continued to be attributed to his administration and some of his officials”.
A former General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Professor Nii Noi Dowuona, said the lessons learnt from the 2008 general election should guide politicians not to take Ghanaians for granted and, therefore, urged the political class to sit up.
He stressed the need for the political leadership to rise to the occasion, considering the limited resources of the country, compared to the increasing population and the rate at which the limited resources were being looted.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Ghana’s population to hit 25m by 2010
Ghana’s population will hit 25 million by the 2010 census, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has projected.
The service intends to undertake a census as part of the preparation for the 2012 general election.
Making the announcement in Accra on Thursday, the Head of the GSS, Dr Grace Bediako, said about 50,000 recruits would be engaged to conduct the census.
Dr Bediako was receiving 10 computers presented by the Chinese government as technical support to the GSS for the census.
She said the census required of them to collect the background details of all Ghanaians identified as having been in the country throughout the three weeks duration of the exercise.
Presently, she said, they were at a very important stage, where they were ascertaining people living in designated areas to devise a strategy for their prospective recruits to undertake the exercise.
“We are also preparing questionnaires which we would use to collect basic information about the individuals and also preparing a strategy document for the 50,000 recruits,” she pointed out, noting that the exercise was in fulfilment of Ghana’s obligation as a member of the United Nations Statistical Division under the United Nations Population Programme, which obliged every member country to conduct the exercise every decade.
Ghanaians should expect that when the time was due, people would come around during the three-week period to ask them basic information, Dr Bediako stated, and said it was important for everyone to familiarise themselves with basic details of their relatives.
“We need the actual age of citizens, where they work, and the type of work they do, to be able to estimate population distribution properly,” she noted.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Yu Wenzhe, who presented the items to the leadership of the service in Accra yesterday, said the exercise involved huge capital and believed that Ghana needed help from its development partners to make the exercise successful.
He said census was the basis for making informed decision by the government for good governance.
Mr Wenzhe expressed the hope that the support offered would make the exercise successful.
The Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) thanked the Chinese government for the gesture.
The service intends to undertake a census as part of the preparation for the 2012 general election.
Making the announcement in Accra on Thursday, the Head of the GSS, Dr Grace Bediako, said about 50,000 recruits would be engaged to conduct the census.
Dr Bediako was receiving 10 computers presented by the Chinese government as technical support to the GSS for the census.
She said the census required of them to collect the background details of all Ghanaians identified as having been in the country throughout the three weeks duration of the exercise.
Presently, she said, they were at a very important stage, where they were ascertaining people living in designated areas to devise a strategy for their prospective recruits to undertake the exercise.
“We are also preparing questionnaires which we would use to collect basic information about the individuals and also preparing a strategy document for the 50,000 recruits,” she pointed out, noting that the exercise was in fulfilment of Ghana’s obligation as a member of the United Nations Statistical Division under the United Nations Population Programme, which obliged every member country to conduct the exercise every decade.
Ghanaians should expect that when the time was due, people would come around during the three-week period to ask them basic information, Dr Bediako stated, and said it was important for everyone to familiarise themselves with basic details of their relatives.
“We need the actual age of citizens, where they work, and the type of work they do, to be able to estimate population distribution properly,” she noted.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Yu Wenzhe, who presented the items to the leadership of the service in Accra yesterday, said the exercise involved huge capital and believed that Ghana needed help from its development partners to make the exercise successful.
He said census was the basis for making informed decision by the government for good governance.
Mr Wenzhe expressed the hope that the support offered would make the exercise successful.
The Country Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) thanked the Chinese government for the gesture.
Ghana-China Friendship - Association organises forum
THE Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, has urged the Registrar-General’s Department and the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) to open up their administrative procedures to create an enabling environment for foreign businesses in Ghana.
The reason, he said, was because Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attraction had become very competitive and sophisticated and given the global economic meltdown, the FDI terrain was going to be fiercely and more aggressively battled out.
He, therefore, tasked the two authorities to ensure an effective, transparent and predictable regulatory framework devoid of arbitrariness for the domestic markets to be competitive.
Mr Ahwoi was speaking at a public forum organised by the Ghana-China Friendship Association (GHACHIFA) on the theme, “Doing Business in Ghana in a Friendly Way”, at the weekend in Accra.
According to him, the theme fell in line with the government’s quest to deepen the country’s relationship with its development partners in order to increase the benefits from such relationships.
Currently, he said the GIPC Act 478 , Ghana Free Zone Act 1984, the Minerals and Mining Law of 1986 and the Petroleum Law 1984 were being reviewed to deepen the transparency and predictability of these enabling legislation.
He suggested that what Ghana needed to do was to position itself to be able to join the battle and attract its due share of the global investment by creating the right conditions for investment such as opening up the economy,
Mr Ahwoi expressed his ministry’s appreciation at the support it had been receiving from the government of China in the areas like irrigation and rice projects since independence.
He said China was the number one in the League of Nations with 383 registered projects from 1994 to 2008 10 of which were in the agricultural sector.
He, therefore, congratulated Chinese companies who have chosen Ghana as a business destination and appealed to them to venture more in the area of agriculture since China was noted for its potential in agriculture.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Yu Wenhze, said the GHACHIFA had played a positive role by promoting the friendship between the two countries since its establishment in 1999, stating that his outfit in 2008 alone had issued about 250,000 visas to Ghanaians.
Tracing the friendship between the two countries to the era of Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, he said after the Beijing Summit in 2006, the two countries had through their relationship obtained good results in the various fields.
He said considering the volume of trade between the two countries, it had become quite necessary for the citizens to learn the language, culture, customs and practices of each country.
Mr Wenzhe appealed to Ghanaian ministries and authorities to continue improving the business environment in order to attract more foreign cooperation and investment, and challenged Chinese companies to share their business success with the local community.
The President of GHACHIFA, Mr Kojo Amoo-Gottfried, in a brief address, recounted his experience in China as an Ambassador during Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s visit to China in 1966.
He said China had over 22 per cent of the world’s population and was a guarantor to Ghana’s development, adding that “If we have to develop, then we need to do so with a country that supported us in the past, to also support us in the future”.
A State Attorney at the Registrar Generals Department, Mrs Jemimah Oware, who briefed the participants at the forum on guidelines of registering a business in Ghana, urged the investors not to go looking for middlemen to help them but seek assistance from their front office.
She said a major hinderance to their operations was restraining clients who preferred to the use of the back door and added that the department intended to centralise their operations to make it more customer friendly.
She urged businesses to file their annual returns 18 months after their incorporation since if they failed to do that, their names would be deleted from the register and also cautioned investors to sign their own documents and not allow others to sign for them.
“The objects should not be immoral or deceptive to the public, as that goes against the Companies Code”, she added.
The Director of Business Development at GIPC, Mr Ashong Lartey, explained the process of acquiring the right documentation to participants to enable them do credible business in the country
His discussion bordered on regulations and the GIPC Act 478 specifically. He added that the government of Ghana was proud that Ghana had been ranked the best place to do business in West Africa and the 10th in Africa for 2009.
The reason, he said, was because Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attraction had become very competitive and sophisticated and given the global economic meltdown, the FDI terrain was going to be fiercely and more aggressively battled out.
He, therefore, tasked the two authorities to ensure an effective, transparent and predictable regulatory framework devoid of arbitrariness for the domestic markets to be competitive.
Mr Ahwoi was speaking at a public forum organised by the Ghana-China Friendship Association (GHACHIFA) on the theme, “Doing Business in Ghana in a Friendly Way”, at the weekend in Accra.
According to him, the theme fell in line with the government’s quest to deepen the country’s relationship with its development partners in order to increase the benefits from such relationships.
Currently, he said the GIPC Act 478 , Ghana Free Zone Act 1984, the Minerals and Mining Law of 1986 and the Petroleum Law 1984 were being reviewed to deepen the transparency and predictability of these enabling legislation.
He suggested that what Ghana needed to do was to position itself to be able to join the battle and attract its due share of the global investment by creating the right conditions for investment such as opening up the economy,
Mr Ahwoi expressed his ministry’s appreciation at the support it had been receiving from the government of China in the areas like irrigation and rice projects since independence.
He said China was the number one in the League of Nations with 383 registered projects from 1994 to 2008 10 of which were in the agricultural sector.
He, therefore, congratulated Chinese companies who have chosen Ghana as a business destination and appealed to them to venture more in the area of agriculture since China was noted for its potential in agriculture.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Yu Wenhze, said the GHACHIFA had played a positive role by promoting the friendship between the two countries since its establishment in 1999, stating that his outfit in 2008 alone had issued about 250,000 visas to Ghanaians.
Tracing the friendship between the two countries to the era of Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, he said after the Beijing Summit in 2006, the two countries had through their relationship obtained good results in the various fields.
He said considering the volume of trade between the two countries, it had become quite necessary for the citizens to learn the language, culture, customs and practices of each country.
Mr Wenzhe appealed to Ghanaian ministries and authorities to continue improving the business environment in order to attract more foreign cooperation and investment, and challenged Chinese companies to share their business success with the local community.
The President of GHACHIFA, Mr Kojo Amoo-Gottfried, in a brief address, recounted his experience in China as an Ambassador during Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s visit to China in 1966.
He said China had over 22 per cent of the world’s population and was a guarantor to Ghana’s development, adding that “If we have to develop, then we need to do so with a country that supported us in the past, to also support us in the future”.
A State Attorney at the Registrar Generals Department, Mrs Jemimah Oware, who briefed the participants at the forum on guidelines of registering a business in Ghana, urged the investors not to go looking for middlemen to help them but seek assistance from their front office.
She said a major hinderance to their operations was restraining clients who preferred to the use of the back door and added that the department intended to centralise their operations to make it more customer friendly.
She urged businesses to file their annual returns 18 months after their incorporation since if they failed to do that, their names would be deleted from the register and also cautioned investors to sign their own documents and not allow others to sign for them.
“The objects should not be immoral or deceptive to the public, as that goes against the Companies Code”, she added.
The Director of Business Development at GIPC, Mr Ashong Lartey, explained the process of acquiring the right documentation to participants to enable them do credible business in the country
His discussion bordered on regulations and the GIPC Act 478 specifically. He added that the government of Ghana was proud that Ghana had been ranked the best place to do business in West Africa and the 10th in Africa for 2009.
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