A Guide to Corruption In Ghana-The example of Quality Grain Rice

Corruption has become the blight of Ghanaians. The NPP accused and prosecuted every NDC politician they could lay their hands on when they took over in 2001. The NDC government has now turned the tables and in turn is doing the same to NPP ministers and all. This clearly will go on through and hopefully end with the NDC term. Prayerfully, an NPP government will have learned its lessons and not go prosecuting from the hip if they get another chance to run the affairs of state. Similarly, the NDC will also let matters be and not prosecute for political gain.

You don’t need to look too far a field to see all the corruption in our country. Ghanaians voted for change in government and welcome the prosecution of theft, constantly in search of a less corrupt society. We try to differentiate a “Nigeria 419” from our “Ghana sakawa” in an attempt to brand our corruption.

When you look back on some of the more celebrated cases in recent times, you can tell when a scheme is going down “corruption-avenue”. The two simple things we are missing to avert most corruption schemes are full public disclosure; and strong government institutions, with executives who don’t have to duck and dive for political survival.

Look back to the Quality Grain Rice fraud case, when the NPP government prosecuted and jailed former agricultural minister Ibrahim Adam, former finance minister Kwame Peprah and now minister for Health Dr. George Yankey on several counts of causing financial loss to the state. Justice D.K. Afreh decided the case on April 28, 2003 in Accra.

Here is the corruption guide and how it works. You need a cocktail of poor oversight, lack of attention to detail by a high level politician, the ability to circumvent and re-interpret the rules and laws of Parliament and the belief that someone higher than you on the political food chain who can affect your position is involved in one way or another with the beneficiary of a facility. Lastly, a dash of fear of losing your small “chop-chop” position. It is even easier if you usurp another government institution’s job.

Juliet R. Cotton of Quality Grain Rice met and lobbied former president Rawlings in the USA in 1994 and proposed a rice project in Ghana to alleviate the pressure on imports. As part of the due diligence, then USA Charge D’affaires Amoa-Awuah had reported in 1992 that Quality Grain Rice was not a credible company. This was further supported by Ambassador Kobby Koomson in subsequent reports to Accra and directly to then President Rawlings. Amoa-Awuah’s report recommended an alternative company from East Bernard, Texas called AG-AM Corporation and clearly advised not to go with Ms. Cotton. Mr. Rawlings was to stay involved in the case to the end. The accused attempted to use a defense of “superior orders”, which was not accepted under Act 29, S.20. Even though no one specifically said so, the defendants clearly recognized the “Old Man” behind Ms. Cotton.

When now president Mills was made vice president and placed in charge of the economic management team, he inherited the Quality Grain Rice project. He testified to the court that “ …. throughout my four years as vice president, there was no project which occupied more of my time than this Quality Grain Project”. There were many red flags all over the case and they were all ignored. Why did the government fail to join in several suits against Ms. Cotton? Why did the government not accept the FBI’s (who finally prosecuted and jailed Ms. Cotton in the USA) invitation to sue Ms. Cotton? Prof. Mills said the reason for inaction was because the government had a “trump” card – a deed of indemnity and a floating charge on assets. However, due to poor oversight, the floating charge was never registered and therefore void under Section 107(1) of Act 179 and the terms of the indemnity were never enforced. Rather, the government gave Ms. Cotton another $2 million without parliamentary approval.

After a first $7million tranche of the facility passed through parliament, all subsequent payments to Quality Grain were deemed to be the same. This was a completely false interpretation of Article 181 of the 1992 constitution requiring parliamentary approval of all new loans. The finance minister and his head of legal department managed to run rings around the system to approve more loans without further approval from parliament.

Former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. G.K. Agama complained about the legal department in the ministry of finance, which had usurped the role of the solicitor-general as advisor to the Bank. He wrote to former Attorney General Obed Asamoh to review the process of approving foreign loans for government as required under Section 48(2) of the 1992 Bank of Ghana PNDC Law 225, which ensures that all relevant cabinet/parliamentary and other approvals had been obtained by the minister of finance. His protest was ignored by the finance minister even after the A-G had formally informed him of the complaint. Both of them were powerless to make the proper corrections.

In the end Ms Cotton nearly got away with it all, if not for the fact that the EXIM bank was involved, it was a federal crime in the USA, the FBI investigated and she was prosecuted for the crime against the government of Ghana and the USA.

Then Vice President Mills had all the facts, spent a large dose of his time on the project, by his own admission, but still overlooked all the glaring loopholes in the project. He allowed political expediency and other pressures to blind-side him into making poor judgment calls. The Bank of Ghana and the Attorney General as institutions with authority to trap such attempts to by-pass the laws of foreign borrowing were powerless in the face of the legal department within the finance department, (which should not have been there in the first place) to flex their regulatory authority. Then of course, no one could bell the “old man”. This deadly cocktail of poor oversight, weak institutions, fear of the “old man” and self-serving politics is our corruption problem. There wil always be corruptible elements in society. We have the laws in place, we just do not apply them.

Now we wait for the Ghana@50 probe. I am betting that the same pattern will emerge. It is so easy to do in Ghana.

By: Sydney Casley Hayford

Corruption:Political Angels, Saints and Demons…...

There is no denying the fact that corruption is one of the “devils” that have contributed to the woes of our dear country. We have over the years failed as a nation to confront this canker which has eating deeply into the fabric of our society with all the seriousness that it deserves.

The most ironic of all is the knowledge that those who over the years have been accusing others of being corrupt are more often than not the worst corrupt. In most cases we tend to forget that when we point a finger at someone or a group of individuals, the remaining ones point at us. In our political history and development, we have witnessed changes in the political direction of Ghana, through both legitimate- and criminal (Coup d’état) ways, but the issue of corruption appears not to be addressed. Our leaders appear not to relent in their selfish desire of becoming rich through corrupt practices at the expense of the development of the country.

Most of these politicians begin their political careers as down-and-out but end up being in money. These politicians see politics as moneys on old ropes. For my money, these corrupt officials are losers, and for us to reduce this societal evil in our country to its barest minimum, those who are found to have taken undue advantage of our economy in order to be in money should be severely dealt with.

With the exception of the diabolical overthrow of our first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, which was orchestrated by the CIA, the cardinal reason that has been given by these selfish individuals for staging the other coup d’états, especially the 1979 and 1981 ones was corruption. And it is difficult to accept this reason because they are themselves guilty of the same crime they said served as the trigger for interfering in the political process of the country. If we are still poor, if we are still unable to develop our human resources, if we are still unable to add value to our natural resources in this day and age, then we should hold accountable those group of people who usurped political power under the guise of eliminating corruption in the system with the hidden motive of enriching themselves through corrupt practices.

Although a lot of people in the Ghana gave their blessing to the 1979 coup staged by former President Rawlings, I don’t. This is because it was completely unnecessary and out of place since plans were far advanced to return the country to constitutional rule. There are even some individuals, who profess to be democrats, but shamelessly and arrogantly defend and celebrate the overthrow of the Limann administration, a constitutionally elected government. Even though he was overthrown for allegedly presiding over corruption, not even a single case of corruption was found against him after his exit. But there are plethora of evidence of corruption against those who hanged and jailed people for being corrupt, most of whom were not corrupt, anyway.

We are still living in poverty because a bunch of selfish and greedy individuals took the law into their own hands and ruled according to their whims and caprices. Tell me, which military and dictatorial regime in the world has succeeded in improving their economies? The point I am drive home is that the reason that these unscrupulous individuals gave to stage the coups- corruption, was neither here nor there since it even increased to unprecedented highs under their watch. It means that all those who were sent to the gallows or incarcerated for their involvement in corrupt practices shouldn’t have suffered that fate because their accusers are even the worst offenders. They live in glass houses and yet throw stones. This is the very height of hypocrisy in the NDC because these corruption crusaders are the ones who have presided over revealing and telling corruption when they were given the mandate to chart the course of the development of the country in all its facets. They failed woefully when they had the opportunity to instil and promote discipline in the country by dealing with individuals who were found to have abused their offices by established state institutions that have the powers of investigating and recommending the prosecution of corrupt officials.

A classical example is when former President Rawlings, who staged both the 1979 and 1981 coups on the wings of corruption was confronted with an acid test in the mid 1990s when prominent ministers in his administration- Ibrahim Adams and co were found to be corrupt by the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). He was shocking, wasn’t he? He issued a white paper to clear them. What a pity! Under his watch, uncountable allegations of corruption were levelled against some of his ministers, but strangely and sadly, he allowed them to go scot free. President Rawlings failed woefully in dealing with corrupt officials in his party, but still has the audacity of accusing the former government of being the most corrupt in the country. As much as I believe that it will be naïve to insinuate that the former administration was a constellation of angels, it will be equally wrong and unintelligible for ex-president Rawlings to suggest that members of his party are angels. They surely are not and he should know better.

Only seven months into the administration of his party, the reported cases of corruption in the government have questioned his credibility and that of the government as regards their moral standings when it comes to issues of corruption in the country. Was it not shocking that the former sports minister, Alhaji Muntaka, of all the mountain of evidence of corruption that was levelled against him went scot-free?

In my candid opinion, I think ex-president Rawlings, although is entitled to express his views on issues, doesn’t have the moral rightness to accuse people of being corrupt since he failed on all counts to deal with corruption during his 19 years reign.

The prosecution by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the UnitedKingdom of Mabey & Johnson limited which involved bribing some of his “angelic” ministers in order to win contracts between 01/01/1994 and 18/08/1999 has caught former presidentRawlings and the current president, John Evens Mills ( NDC)pants down. It is indeed very embarrassing and distasteful, especially when a former President who preaches virtues has been found to have presided over bribery and corruption. This involved accepting gifts or consideration, namely sums of money for giving out contracts known as the “Priority Bridge Programme 1 and 2” and the “Feeder Roads Projects”.

I will add that president, John Evans Mills made anticorruption a focal issue in his bid to win the presidency.

I wonder if they will attend the trial in the UK to clear their name as they were part of the government in the above dates.

The rational for putting pen to paper is that we have to put our moneys where our mouths are. We should understand that the fight against corruption is not only a socio-political issue, but also a moral issue and our duty.

The above case and other cited instances which will take pages and pages to recite, demonstrates that for the NDC, fighting corruption is a mere rhetoric.

It is a pandemic which has to be confronted head-on before it finally causes an irreparable damage to our beloved Ghana.

All the stakeholders in the country- civil society, governmental and public institutions, religious organizations, and even politicians should do more by fighting this “disease”. We should understand that it is easier done than said, and not the reverse.

Let us fight this canker than disturbing our ears and those of others with empty and unproductive talks. But then, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones! God bless our new founded wealth, the black gold.

I will end here by saying please come back Mr Kufuor and the NPP, the jury have returned a verdict of not guilty! YOU ARE ALL DISCHARGED AND ACQUITTED!

Godwin A.Gyamfi

Government blows GH¢1m on Obama - AFAG

Government blows GH¢1m on Obama - AFAG

Presidents Obama and Mills at the Osu Castle during his visit to Ghana on July The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has been accused of spending over ¢10 billion on the 24 hour visit of the United State of America (USA) President, Barack Obama. According to a pressure group, Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) the misuse of the scarce State resources on the visit could have provided three (3) square meals for some families in the country. "This is a defeat of government's commitment to its austerity measures and an enormous rip-off of the tax payer's money," the group claimed. Speaking on behalf of the group at a media briefing in Accra to announce AFAG's intended August 4, 2009 "Atta Adaadaa Yen Demo", Mr Kwabena Bomfeh "a leading member of the group said the ruling government's acceptance of International Monetary Fund's (IMF’s) loan facility with such killer conditionalities was a deadly deal for the citizenry. He indicated that the freeze on public sector employment for 2 years and full cost recovery at all tertiary level of education, had led to an increase in academic user facility fee which he said was a clear demonstration of government's insensitivity to the suffering of parents and a betrayal of the President's promise to create jobs for the people. Mr. Bomfeh, youth organizer of the Convention People's Party (CPP) noted that the welfare of students was no longer a priority to President Mills' administration. "Starting next year August tertiary students would-face another high increase in their Residential Facility User Fees (RFUF) by 18% which is contrary to an earlier agreement with the NPP government to stay same the RFUF for three academic years from 2007," he said. "AFAG bemoans the tendency of mass unemployment in the private sector as a result of the eminent threat of collapse of business for reasons best political and socio economic high interest rates 33% previously base rate of 27% high import previously, based rate of 27% high import duties and cost of inputs or how wages for threat of lay offs", he underscored. Mr. Bomfeh stated that the IMF and the World Bank had no panacea for the countries economy, adding that Ghana as a country can depend on partnerships with other rising powers such as India and China to stabilize the economy in the production capacity and market within the context of South-South cooperation . He announced that the groups' August 4, demonstration would come on as promised. Source: New Crusading Guide

MUMUNI IMPLICATED IN CORRUPTION SCANDAL, AFAG says he MUST RESIGN

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…Insists Leading Member Of AFAG! Two leading members of the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), Mr. Godfred Odame and Mr. Kwabena Bomfeh, popularly known as Kabila, have called on Foreign Minister Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni to resign as a matter of urgency. They have said that with the confirmation that Alhaji Mumuni indeed has an audit report from the Auditor General implicating him in financial malfeasance and wrong-doing, the Foreign Minister is no longer fit to lead this country in international negotiations, particularly in financial matters. Speaking to this newspaper yesterday in various interviews, the two leading members of AFAG insisted that the time has come for Alhaji Mumuni to resign, or for the President to strip him off his post pending the conclusion of the various procedures that would purge Alhaji Mumuni off the various findings against him in the NVTI Audit Report. Speaking to this newspaper yesterday Mr. Godfred Odame, who is a lawyer, said that the laying of the report in parliament goes to affirm the points he and AFAG have been making. “I think that for so long as he has been cited by a report of the Auditor General which has been presented to parliament it would be unfair to the nation for him to continue to hold himself out as Foreign Minister. I say so because he is the Chief Ambassador of our nation, one who is supposed to represent the image of the nation, and the Audit Report is going to create a situation where anytime he mounts an international platform, people would say that he is a person who has been dogged by scandal, and criminality,” Mr. Odame said. He said that until Alhaji Mumuni purges himself fully of the findings in the Auditor General’s report he is not fit to hold himself out as a Foreign Minister of the land. “The question of fitness to represent the nation can be looked at from various perspectives. It is not so much about qualification. It is a question of whether being a public officer he is one that can be entrusted with state resources and power, and reading from the manner in which he conducted himself in office previously, we are sure that he is not one who can be entrusted with state resources and power, that he engaged in conduct that led to the state losing colossal sums of monies,” Mr. Odame said. “We therefore renew our call for his resignation or for the President to tell him to step aside,” he said, adding that Alhaji Mumuni’s continued stay in office was embarrassing to the nation. On his part Mr. Kwabena Bomfeh, who is the National Youth Organizer of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), said that even though they expressed their dissatisfaction with the nomination process in the first place, parliament went ahead to approve Alhaji Mumuni to become a substantive minister. He said that the Constitution was clear on whether a person who has been found liable by a constitutional body can serve as a minister. He said that until those adverse findings are set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction or by the body that made them, the person against whom the findings have been made becomes unwholesome for public office. “This not an individual who can go anywhere as the face of Ghana in seeking anything financially related and for this reason plus the fact that the Audit Report has been properly laid before parliament according to the laws of the land and the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament is now going to sit on it and make further pronouncement we feel that the man cannot be a judge in his own court. He should step aside or resign! That is the only way we can be sure that the executive would not interfere with the work of the legislature in coming out with the truth!” Mr. Bomfeh said.

Ghana:Perception of corruption worsens

Suleiman Mustapha ,

Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Joe Ghartey is assembling a Grand Coalition of anti corruption agencies in the country in an effort to reduce the incidence of corruption in the country.

The coalition, which will include both Government and civil society organisations in the fight against corruption, is to form an interface between the relevant corruption monitoring institutions, Government Spokesperson on Governance Frank Agyekum told The Statesman in response to enquiries on the Government reaction to the report of anti corruption body Transparency International which ranked Ghana high on its Corruption Perception Index.

The coalition, which will be known as the Grand Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition, is due to be inaugurated later this month and will meet regularly in a bid to plug the corruption loopholes in the system.

"In fact, the process has already begun and this is to show how serious Government is, in the fight against corruption" said the Governance spokesperson.

Mr Agyekum, who was "shocked" by Ghana's ranking on the index, said "it is unfortunate and regrettable that we should be ranked at that level."

"We do not even know who they talk to when they come to town and all we hear is that we have been ranked high."

Ghana was ranked 70 out of 163 countries surveyed in the global CPI for this year, a five-step fall from last year when there were four countries less.

Ghana received a score of 3.3 out of 10 on the CPI scale, down 0.2 point from 2005, indicating that Ghanaian society is becoming corrupt slowly but surely.

Ghana"s result, the worst in the past 10 years, is now at par with that in 1999, which was recorded when the Rawlings administration was in power.

CPI relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts, and ranges from scores of 10, which is "highly clean," and 0, which is "highly corrupt."

But according Mr Agyekum, evidence abounds of Government’s commitment to fighting corruption on all fronts, and those institutions will continue to be strengthened.

He mentioned the passage of a law to regulate Government procurements, which, though cumbersome, has blocked many loopholes previous exploited, as well as the Internal Audit Act, which makes it possible for auditors to audit Government accounts at short notice.

He said since no Government official has been indicted on corruption charges, it would be unfair to perceive that the incidence of corruption is high in the country.

Mr Agyekum emphasised that it was perception of a phenomenon which may not be the reality, but assured that Government was studying the report and would soon come out with an official pronouncement.

In the report released yesterday by TI, all low-income countries and all but two African states scored below five points, meaning they face serious perceived levels of domestic corruption.

Botswana is the cleanest ranked African state in 37th place on the list, with South Africa (51st ) and Namibia (55th) in the upper third. Nigeria is among the worst-ranked states at place 142. Guinea was the worst placed Africa nation at 160

Finland, Iceland and New Zealand came first with 9.6 points, while Haiti came in last scoring 1.8 points, according to the report.

Britain was 11th with an 8.6 rating, Germany 16th at 8.0 and the United States 20th with 7.3. Italy mustered only a 4.9 rating in 45th place, while Russia was ranked 121 with 2.5.

Countries with a significant worsening of corruption include: Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and the US, said the report.

Countries with a significant reduction in perceived levels of corruption include: Algeria, Czech Republic, India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uruguay.

The Berlin-based Transparency International’s CPI ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. It is a composite index, a poll of polls, drawing on corruption-related data from expert and business surveys carried out by a variety of independent and reputable institutions.

The value of the results is sometimes disputed because they are based on the opinions of the people polled and the amount of data used in surveys is different for each nation. TI requires at least three sources to include a country in the CPI.

Corruption under Rawlings: Mabey and Johnson Trial Postponed

The trial of the first major British company to be prosecuted for paying bribes abroad which was suppose to have taken place at Southwark crown court, London, today has been postponed until August 7th.

The firm is accused of corruptly influencing politicians and officials in Ghana between 1994 and 1999 to land build-bridging contracts.

The firm, owned by one of Britain's richest families, is also accused of corruptly paying €422,000 (£363,000) to Saddam Hussein's regime between May 2001 and November 2002 and is also accused of conspiring to make corrupt payments in Jamaica between 1993 and 2001.

Allegations of improper payments in Jamaica emerged when Mabey and Johnson traded allegations of wrong-doing with former sales executive Jonathan Danos in a civil case. Mabey refused to say how it had settled that case. The firm Mabey has also been accused of corruption in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Mabey and Johnson's prosecution comes after years of attacks on London for its alleged hypocrisy in criticising poor countries over corruption, while failing to tackle the British companies and managers that feed it by paying bribes to win contracts.

The prosecution by the Serious Fraud Office comes five years after allegations of foreign bribery by the Reading-based company revealed.

Rawlings Linked To $6m Bribery Case in UK

Evidence available to The Statesman suggest that perhaps as much as $6 million were paid as bribery money to top government officials under the National Democratic Congress in the government’s dealings with one foreign company alone for three projects.

The company is Mabey & Johnson of UK and the contracts involved are “Priority Bridge Programme 1”, “Priority Bridge Programme 2”, and “Feeder Roads Projects”.

According to the charge sheet of case number 0902300773, the first badges of bribery for the first project, Priority Bridge Programme 1, were paid between 01/01/1994 and 01/01/1995, from one year after the nation returned to constitutional rule under President Rawlings.

The second corruption case took place between 01/01/1995 and 01/01/1997 for the Priority Bridge Programme 2.

The third actually took place much later, still under the NDC. But, the details of the corruption case, comes directly under the watch of President Mills. More on that in the next edition.

The case will go on preliminary trial next month. And, high profile names of government officials who were paid huge sums of money are expected to be dropped.

It is the first case in which a British company is being prosecuted in the United Kingdom for engaging in corruption in a foreign country, and Ghana, under President Jerry John RawlingsandVice President John Atta Mills, is one of the countries where this corruption took place.

It takes place at Southwark Crown Court, London on August 7th.

The firm is accused of corruptly influencing politicians and officials in Ghana between 1994 and 1999 to land build-bridging contracts.

The firm, owned by one of Britain's richest families, is also accused of corruptly paying €422,000 (£363,000) to Saddam Hussein's regime between May 2001 and November 2002 and is also accused of conspiring to make corrupt payments in Jamaicabetween 1993 and 2001.

Allegations of improper payments in Jamaica emerged when Mabey and Johnson traded allegations of wrong-doing with former sales executive Jonathan Danos in a civil case. Mabey refused to say how it had settled that case. The firm Mabey has also been accused of corruption in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Mabey and Johnson's prosecution comes after years of attacks onLondon for its alleged hypocrisy in criticising poor countries over corruption, while failing to tackle the British companies and managers that feed it by paying bribes to win contracts.

The trial is also the next such case in recent years in Europe to which President Rawlings’ name and government have been linked. Ironically, Mr Rawlings is asking for his political opponents to be prosecuted for corruption.

In 2007, his name popped up in a Norwegian court, when former top officials of cement firm, Scancem admitted in court that they paid millions of dollars of bribe money to President and Mrs Rawlings.

Also in the UK last year, Private Eye magazine quoted the head of Biwater company as saying that he used to pay the school fees of Mr Rawlings’ children. This happened at a time that his company was bidding for a major oil contract in Ghana.

Source: The Statesman

JJ/NDC Slush Fund ‘Baloney’

NEW. Watch live television from Ghana plus the latest Ghanaian movies plus OBE TV.

Another Nigerian Governor Strikes

• Throws Allegation Into Dustbin

The baseless allegation by a Nigerian private website, amplified by the notorious anti-Rawlings New Patriotic Party (NPP) press in Ghana that some Nigerian Governors bankrolled the 2008 election campaign of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and President John Atta Mills through former President Rawlings, has been met with yet another fierce rebuttal.

Former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Bola Ahmed on Monday in Lagos, reacted to the allegation by pointblanknews.com, on his purported role in bankrolling the election of President John Evans Atta Mills, saying those who are helping Nigeria to stimulate lies and those who are resorting to name-calling and blackmail should not be part of the country’s democratic struggle because they are not democrats.” The Governor of the Rivers State, who was mentioned together with the former Lagos State Governor was the first to react to the damning allegation, describing the report as not only the “figment of the imagination of a mischievous writer” but “rubbish” and “arrant nonsense.”

According to media reports from Nigeria, Mr. Bola Ahmed said he did not find the need to rush to react to the allegation because he was not obliged to react to speculations. He spoke with reporters at celebrated journalist, Wole Soyinka’s, 75th birthday organized by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism at the Muson Centre, Onikan, in Lagos last week.

Surreptitiously drawing an analogy between Ghana and Nigeria as far as democracy is concerned, the former Nigerian governor likened his country to a suckling baby. He called on those behind such unfounded allegations to stop worsening the country’s already bad story by lying to the people, especially about the man who, even though a military leader at the time, kick-started Ghana’s current widely acclaimed successful democracy in 1992 and gave it a shot in the arm in 2001 by surprisingly handing over peacefully to an opposition party after supervising a peaceful election.

“Nigeria is about to be fifty and it is still in the incubator and using diapers; A fifty year old baby that bed-wets in elections, lying to its own people,” the former Governor reportedly fired. He advised those behind such wild claims to redirect their energies to helping build a better democracy in Nigeria.

The former Nigerian Governor’s advice could perhaps be more beneficial to Ghana, which is considered to be at the centre of Africa’s democracy presently, if the Ghanaian collaborators in the spread of these palpable lies would take a cue.

The Nigerian-owned and diaspora-operated pointblanknews.com, on 24th June 2009 published that “intelligence reports” available to it said that about $3.5 million belonging to the people of Rivers State in Nigeria was criminally used by the governor to fund the NDC campaign through former President Rawlings. It also mentioned the former Governor of Lagos State in a similar allegation.

As usual, a section of the Ghanaian media wholeheartedly embraced the allegation by the Nigerian website and amplified it to the high heavens, prompting the Rivers State governor to send an emissary to Ghana to pump some sense into the heads of the Ghanaian propagators of the falsehood, described by him in an official statement as “arrant nonsense.”

Prior to the unexpected visit by the emissary of the Rivers State governor to Ghana to clear the air about his bosses innocence, a man who called himself Ude Jackson and claimed to be the editor of pointblanknews.com who spoke on Citi FM, an Accra-based private radio station, failed to show a single proof to back his claim as he spent the whole time flip-flopping around “credible sources.”

Despite attempts by some elements in the Ghanaian society to demonise former President Rawlings, it is no secret that apart from the unparalleled following he enjoys back home in Ghana, the former President who ruled Ghana for 19 years, enjoys tremendous support internationally with Nigeria being no exception.

Former President Rawlings has been the target of a deliberate ploy by his opponents who have gone to all lengths to dent his image through allegations of corruption, which can be least described as imaginary.

As the evidence shows however, the Rawlings naysayers have time and again failed in their wily track.

Since he left office as head of state in 2001, there have been myriads of claims by former President Rawlings’ sworn enemies like Mr Malik Kweku Baako Jnr to smear the incorruptible NDC Founder with allegations of corruption.

It would be remembered that the then managing editor of the now passive Crusading Guide published an imaginary Swiss bank account number in his paper, which he claimed belonged to the Rawlingses, in which the former President was supposed to have stashed away Ghana’s stolen money ‘Mobutu Sese Sekou style’ whilst in office.

Mr Kweku Baako’s baseless allegation crashed right on the runway before takeoff.

The failed adventurous visit to Norway by Mr Kweku Baako and Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko of now ‘off the newsstands’ The Statesman, to seek out evidence to nail former President Rawlings in the SCANCEM bribery allegation, is another ample proof of a vicious agenda against the former President.

There is a relentless effort to bring former President Rawlings down to the level of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, who is generally believed not only to have prevailed on the most corrupt administration in Ghana as President, but that he was personally involved in massive corruption during his reign.

This belief was reinforced by the exposure by Mr Harona Issekou, then NPP chairman that former President Kufuor was involved in kickback corruption at the seat of government, the Castle, Osu. The belief was also given impetus by the claim by Ms Giselle Yazji that ‘Hotel Kufuor de Waa, Waa’ was not bought by the former President’s 41-year-old-accountant-son as he would make Ghanaians believe but that Mr Kufuor is the real owner of the $8million private property.

Source: Catalyst Newspaper

Dr Duffuor Denies Directing Donor Inflows Through his Bank

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The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor has expressed shock at a media report imputing acts of impropriety on him. The Independent newspaper in its Thursday, May 28th, 2009 edition, reported on its front page that the Finance Minister has suggested to some “donor partners that, donor inflows to the country must be channelled through his bank, Unibank”.A statement by his Media Liaison, Abdul Hakim Ahmed, said Dr Duffuor has stated categorically, "that it is not true that he has ever made a suggestion or even contemplated making a suggestion for donors to channel their assistance through the Unibank or any other private bank. In fact it is not a convention anywhere that anybody can take such a decision." The statement also said it is again not true that the issue has been discussed anywhere in government as speculated by the newspaper, "much less bringing the Minister and President on collision course as the newspaper reported. In any case, GoG does not have an account with the Unibank and does not intend to have one.""It must be put on record that cash transfers from donors to GoG are done through the Central Bank, and when he was even the Governor of the Central Bank and in control of all government’s accounts, the Finance Minister did not do such a thing. So it is unthinkable that he will do that in this different position. "For the sake of the general public, the Ministry would like to explain below the process that loans and grants go through before disbursement by government or the beneficiary Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA)."When the Ministry and a donor, for example the World Bank, have negotiated and reached an agreement on the amount, the interest rate etc, for a facility, the document is sent to Office of the President for Cabinet approval, after which it is sent to Parliament for parliamentary approval as required by the Constitution. Then after these approvals the agreement is signed or executed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning. "After this, the documents are sent to the Attorney General’s Department for final legal opinion. The A-G’s department is required under our laws to certify that all due process had been adhered to. They will then issue a letter giving the government the go ahead, without this letter the loan or grant will not be effective i.e. the World Bank would not release the money for government to use. A copy of this letter is therefore sent to the World Bank Office."If the money is a grant, the account to hold the funds is at the Bank of Ghana (BOG). If it is for budget support it goes straight to the consolidated fund at the Bank of Ghana. However, if it is a credit for a programme or project the money is lodged in a commercial bank selected by the beneficiary MDA and approved by MOFEP. The process is as follows; "After obtaining the A-G’s legal opinion, MOFEP through the Controller and Accountant General then directs the Bank of Ghana to open an account in a commercial bank for the disbursement of the facility. The Ministry would before this ensure that the beneficiary entity has a qualified accountant and adequate staff to manage the project. "It is important to note that the full amount is not paid into the account; only an agreed percentage is paid into the account and is replenished upon submission of statement of account and statement of expenditure on all eligible expenditures showing Government and the World Bank how the money has been used. It would only be replenished when the World Bank is satisfied that the money was used for the purpose for which it was obtained." Source:GNA

AMA Boss in "Kuluulu" Contract

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... Awarded multi-billion dollar contract to "invisible" firm
... Refutes allegations
Dr. Alfred Vanderpuije, Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) on Thursday refuted the contractual allegation levelled against him by the media.

The MCE is accused of awarding a multi -billion -dollar contract to a newly formed sanitation company (EWS Ghana Limited), which has not been registered with the Registrar General's Department. Dr Vanderpuije was also blamed for having a vested interest in the contract, which inspired him to approve the contract which would last for 25 years.

Addressing a press conference in Accra, Dr Vanderpuije said EWS Ghana limited was formed earlier this month as part of the company's Holdings, which had branches in Germany and the US. He denied being a shareholder of the company. The MCE said the company did not go through the tendering process because it had accepted to bear all the cost of production for which government was not required to pay a penny. The contract would also last for 10 years and not 25 years.

He said the Ministry of Local Government was fully aware of all the negotiations with the company and that nothing was done in the dark. Dr Vanderpuije cited the recycling of waste products to generate electricity as one of the main benefits of the contract. The emotionally charged MCE urged journalists to cross check their facts before publication in order to avoid feeding the public with falsehood.

He said he had the city of Accra at heart and that he would not be deterred by such frivolous allegations.

Source: GNA