Castle Chops ¢43bn On T&T And Workshops?

Prez John Evans Atta Mills at the Castle, Osu. Related Stories Documents available to Daily Guide indicate that the Presidency has apparently engaged in profligate expenditure of public funds, overshooting its budget to the tune of ¢43 billion or GH¢4,310,777 in just nine months, for the comfort of Castle staffers. The Office of the President was allocated an amount of ¢66 billion or GH¢6,617,043 for the whole year, but by the ninth month, over ¢109 billion or GH¢10,927,820 had been blown mostly on travels and workshops, contrary to the President’s austerity proclamation. The colossal amount constitutes over-spending by the Office of the President over and above what has been approved for the Presidency in the 2009 budget. This expenditure is occurring at a time that even meager allowances of poorly paid hard-working teachers have been drastically slashed by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). This apparent reckless spending, on the part of government, was brought to light through a document comprising expenditure returns for the period January to September 2009, prepared by the Office of Government Machinery (OGM), which has been presented to the Finance Committee of Parliament. Daily Guide has learnt that the over expenditure of ¢43bn has been explained to be on ‘Service Activity Expenses’, comprising training and conference cost, travel and transport (T&T), and special services. Daily Guide has further learnt that the Finance Committee of Parliament, which has the oversight responsibility of the Executive and ‘guardians’ of public purse, has strongly frowned on the extravagant expenditure at the Presidency and therefore asked the Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia, to appear before the Committee to justify the spending before the 2010 budget estimates are approved. The document, a copy of which is in the possession of DAILY GUIDE, also indicates that on the contrary, the Vice-President’s Secretariat, General Administration and Press Secretariat among others all operated within their budgets. Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, a number of MPs whose gratuity or ex-gratia was reduced as part of austere measures by President Mills, were enraged by the reckless expenditure by the Castle, describing the conduct of the Presidency as a betrayal of trust and failure to keep faith with its own policy of cutting cost at all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). The extravagant expenditure by the Office of the President is coming on the heels of an exposure that the governing NDC has blown a whopping amount of ¢56 billion or GH¢5,606,176.11 on the comfort of Ministers of State through the renovation of bungalows. It was discovered that as part of the expenditure, the Atta Mills Administration spent ¢8.58 billion on the renovation and furnishing of seven ministerial bungalows, with an average cost per bungalow of ¢1.2 billion or GH¢122,581.45. The startling figures which were contained in a written answer by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to a question raised by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bimbilla, Dominic Nitiwul, a copy of which DAILY GUIDE sighted, also revealed that government spent ¢41.1 billion or GH¢4,110,396.74 on 57 ministerial bungalows in Accra. Government’s attempt to water-down the effect of the spending spree has been condemned by many Ghanaians who believe the Mills Administration is over indulging in what the ruling NDC founder, former President Jerry John Rawlings, has described as “reckless dissipation” of public funds by “greedy bastards”. It would be recalled that just at the beginning of President Mills’ 11-month-old presidency, the NDC Transition Team blew a staggering ¢1.3 billion on tea, during its sittings in only one month, at a time Ghanaians were being told to tighten their belts. There were also reports of government lavishly spending tax payers’ money to airlift cronies considered to be highly challenged in football matters to CAF and FIFA events to serve as independent observers and advisers. Source: D-Guide

Hannah Bissew rubbishes 'kickback' allegations

Deputy Works and Housing Minister, Dr. Hannah Tetteh Bissew says claims of corruption and profligate expenditure in the renovation of seven ministerial bungalows by opposition MPs were premature and unfounded. Government in a written response to a question posed by Bimbilla MP Dominic Nitiwul on how much government spent on the renovation works indicated that a total of GH¢850,000 was spent on seven houses. The breakdown for the total cost included ¢72,000 on furniture, ¢649,000 on civil works including electrical, 14,000 on appliances, ¢55,000 on curtains and ¢68,000 on carpets. But the MP was not convinced about the total cost and the breakdown, accusing government of bloating the figures. “I am saying there was massive corruption in there. There is no way any body in Ghana can justify the fact that a bungalow that was renovated in 2001, you are renovating that bungalow at that cost." "...What are you implying that, that those people were so reckless? Were they kids? They have messed up the bungalows to the extent that you have to use GH¢122,000 to renovate it. I think the people of Ghana have been shortchanged,” the MP told Joy News’ Sammy Darko after parliamentary proceedings. But in an interesting twist to the controversy the Deputy Works and Housing Minister told Joy News that no bungalow has been renovated. According to her, the amounts quoted by the MP were only estimates from the Public Works Department detailing the cost of renovation, insisting that government had not expended a penny on any of those bungalows. Even though she admitted that the cost of bungalows were originally part of the questions which the MPs needed answers to, she explained that she was silent on the details because the Bimbilla MP failed to pose the specific question on the floor of parliament. “I did not answer that question. It wasn’t posed to me today in parliament. It was part of the questions that came. It was written but we did not speak to that question because the Hon Member of parliament I am not sure whether he was there. If he was there that question was not posed,” she explained. If that question had been posed to me, I would have explained, just like I am doing now, she told Joy FM's Bernard Saibu. Asked if government intends to do something about the estimates, the deputy minister said she believes the substantive minister after thorough assessment with the experts will cut down on the cost to be incurred on the renovation. She challenged the Bimbilla MP to provide evidence on the allegations that the ministry had bloated figures meant for the renovation. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

Pianim: I can vouch Prez Mills will not steal from Ghanaians

Mr. Kwame Pianim says Ghana is fortunate to have a president in Prof. J.E.A. Mills who will not steal from the people. Email Print Have Your Say ( 35 ) Renowned Ghanaian politician, economist and management consultant, Mr. Kwame Pianim says Ghana is fortunate to have a president in Prof. J.E.A. Mills who will not steal from the people. According to Kwame Pianim, he has seen President Mills on at least two occasions return ‘brown envelopes’ where they belong, a situation he said he did not see under John the first or John the second, in apparent reference to ex-presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor’s regimes. Mr. Pianim, one of lead discussants at the first Joy FM Debate 2009 held Monday morning at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Accra, was responding to a contributor’s question on why Ghana is not making much progress in her fight against corruption. Mr. Pianim said Zero tolerance must involve everyone and must start from the top because countries noted for corruption have corrupt leaders, but he was happy Professor Mills is the President of Ghana because he can vouch that he will not steal from Ghanaians. The challenge however, is how he makes sure those below him also tow his line. “To me if you go to any country where there is corruption, the head of state is corrupt, if he is not corrupt it won’t happen…and fortunately for Ghana now, we have a president that at least I will put my hand in the fire for, that he will not steal from the people. I have seen him on two occasions give envelopes back and I didn’t see it happen under John the first or John the second but at least now we are progressing and we have a president who I think will not steal from the people. How is he going to make sure that the people below him will also not do that – that is the question.” The Joy FM Debate 2009 was a collaboration between Coconut Grove Hotel and Joy FM in helping concensus building on national development efforts. It was under the theme Building Concesus on a National Development Agenda. Story by Isaac Yeboah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

Fighting corruption: strong institutions needed

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By: Sheila Okyere

Ghana was ranked the 69th most corrupt country in the world this year according to Transparency International, making it the second year in a row. This unenviable position puts a question mark on whether Ghana’s governments’ promise to curb corruption is in fact a proposition to be taken serious.

Amidst many political endeavours to curb the cancer of corruption in Ghana, it still seems to retain its clutches on most sectors of the country. From government officials to chief executives and heads of educational institutions, corruption is steadily decaying our country’s credibility as a democratic nation.

Bribes and facilitation payments seem to be the norm. From the market seller paying the policeman at the barrier to the multinational firm executive paying the government official to speed up the process of their contract, it is deemed the way of life. Even doctors are found to be benefiting from life threatening situations... These kinds of practices are hindering the economic development of the country.

In recent years, Ghana has managed to preserve political stability and is a prime example of a democratic nation in Africa, but can the same be said about the approach to tackling corruption? Or have the governments and other culpable sectors become a lot cleverer at concealing their corrupt ways?

Every government talks of how important tackling corruption is and eradicating it is a prime policy, but the question is how many are actually successful with this and how many of the government’s own officials are not culprits themselves?

Though when asked, most would say that the public sector and government officials are the most corrupt, Global Integrity 2008 found that the majority of citizens of Ghana deemed the Police Service to be the most corrupt. Corruption in the police can range from individual officers taking bribes and unofficial payments, to evidence in major cases going missing for example, when a large quantity of cocaine was seized by the Ghana Police but never accounted for. The problem with cleaning up this sector is that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is appointed by the president, so there is the fear that the position can be used as a political instrument for the ruling party.

Also it seems as though there is an inadequate procedure in place to formally complain about the police, which means that officers are rarely prosecuted, disciplined or dismissed. People rarely report corruption to the police through the criminal justice mechanism due to long bureaucratic procedures and a lack of legal protection for prosecution witnesses. The introduction of organisations such as Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Serious Frauds Office (SFO) was meant to prevent individuals from going unpunished if found guilty of corruption. Over the years these organisations have been plagued with rumours that they have been systematically starved of funds and in effect, governments have adroitly turned those institutions into pawns while manipulating public feelings that they are fighting corruption. The Serious Fraud Office if funded adequately should by now have been well-established and supported to perform its legitimate functions. Instead, it appears to be falling prey to the ferocious political game that the party in power lures it into. The truth is that neither the SFO nor CHRAJ is effective as consequently, no cases of corruption have been prosecuted in the past 10 years through the criminal justice mechanism of the CHRAJ and the SFO.

US President Barack Obama said when he addressed Africa on his first sub Saharan, that the end to corruption is the key to unlocking Africa's potential. Aimed at potential leaders, he stated that "No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers...No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20% off the top ... No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end. Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions." GII, CHRAJ and SFO can take advice from President Obama and the way in which laws are enforced in the USA. Their law does not only bark, it bites very deep as it doesn’t matter who is implicated; the law will not exempt anybody who falls foul of it. That’s why their citizens fear the law as they know that they will not be spared. For instance, the case of the former Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich and the former Congressman Jefferson whose corrupt deals reached Africa and Ghana and for which, he was convicted. Even officials at the White House face the full rigours of the law if they misbehave. The opposite seems to be happening in Ghana as the individuals that are entrusted with interpreting, enacting and enforcing the law are the first to flout it with impunity. The fear of the law seems to be missing in everybody and even though there are ostentatious designs on paper to fight corruption, which every government functionary openly refers to, the need to comply with the law seems to be absent. This casts some doubt about how determined Ghana is and if she is prepared to do the right thing to stem corruption and purge herself of greed.

Recent research shows that the majority of citizens are in fact willing to pay extra for corruption-free products. This is an indication that people are against corruption and that even though it is seen as a way of life; people are still reluctant to accept that not much can be done about it.

This is not to say that the purge can happen overnight; after all it is deeply embedded in numerous areas of the country, but steps taken genuinely in fighting this cancerous ‘disease’ can show the rest of Africa and the world that Ghana as a nation is an advocate for democracy and strong institutions - not only as a country that believes in free and fair elections but also one that believes that no citizen is above the law. Once that understanding is in place and a zero tolerance approach taken, striving for a country free of corruption may seem more achievable and realistic. President Obama struck the nail on the head when he called for strong institutions as enough to stem corruption. With this, individuals will not be tempted to indulge in it and that is how countries brave the storm and move forward. Ghana must move forward too and become a good example for the rest of Africa...

By: Sheila Okyere

Just Ten Months Into Office…Prof. Attah MILLS BEGINS MASSIVE MANSION!

By Kwadwo Yeboah BREMAN- ModernGhana.com Just Ten Months Into Office…Prof. Attah MILLS BEGINS MASSIVE MANSION! A wise man told me not to argue with fools, because people from a distance can't tell who is who. - By: Jay-Z ( The Take Over ) More Quotes | Submit a Quote Advertize Here for $8 a day to reach over 30,000 people Ghana Tourist Villas Offers an unforgettable holiday and business experience in Accra. The President John Evans Attah Mills has bought a land worth hundred and eighty Million old cedis (Gh 18,000) and has commenced with the building of a massive mansion on the land within 10 months in office as the president of the Republic of Ghana! Currently, the project is uncompleted, but the building, which is located at the Edina (Elmina) Essaman close to Ataabadze junction in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem in the Central Region of Ghana, is moving ahead rapidly! Investigations conducted by Modernghana news indicate that the said land was originally leased by the late father of President Atta Mills for farming purposes, but the lease lapsed a few years back. At the time Senior Atta Mills was a lecturer at the Komenda Training College in the same district. The land was originally meant for coconut and citrus plantation, Investigation conducted by this reporter reveals that the late father of the president paid a token to the Essaman Nsona Royal Family who are the owners of the land with the acquisition agreement was to be renewed after twenty-five (25) years. Our investigations in the community last week revealed that after the lease period lapsed, and following the death of Senior Atta Mills, the owners of the land informed President Mills and his siblings they will not allow the place to be used for farming activities again because the area has become a residential area. In that direction they divided the land into two and sold half to the President for an amount of one hundred and eighty million for the land. Modernghana.com learned through various interviews in the community that the money was paid to the chief of the community Nana Kwasi Tano IV, but the chief allegedly kept part of the money and gave the rest to the owners of the land the Essaman Nsona Royal Family, but this made them angry, leading to all out war between the Chief and the land owners. Highly placed sources at the Elmina Traditional Council told this newspaper that the case has been reported there for solution and the Elmina Chief has alleged spoken to the president about it. Modernghana.com has learned that a sister of the president, Madam Efe Mills who is the wife of Professor Afful of the University of Cape Coast has always been chasing the Essaman Nsona Royal family to sign the land documents, but the family has refused because they did not receive the full payment of one hundred and eighty million which Professor Mills is supposed to have paid to the Chief. The main person fronting for the building of the mansion is his brother Samuel Mills who was in America with Cadman Mills. As at Friday when this reporter led scouts to the property, the person acting as caretaker of the properties on the land was the president's nephew called Theophilus . Local inhabitants are deeply unhappy and told this reporter that they are very annoyed with the President because within this short period he has put up a mansion in the area, with his nephews, who have all suddenly become rich, also chasing lands to buy. They said that the President promised to improve their lot and bring jobs to the area, but the improvement is only happening in the lives of his family members, whilst the jobs is only construction work on his mansion and working on pigs for his farm. Source: Kwadwo Yeboah BREMAN- ModernGhana.com

GIS, CEPS to sack corrupt officers …To serve as deterrent to others

By Charles Takyi - Boadu - Ghanaian Chronicle

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The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) have vowed to weed out the supposed 'few' bad nuts among them from the Services. This was after a data gathered by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) indicted the two security agencies together with the Ghana Police Service (GPS) of massive corruption.

The data report which was gathered between the periods of September and October 2009 by three separate teams revealed serious delays and widespread corruption along the Tema-Ouagadougou trade corridor.

In a swift response to the research findings, the Head of Communications of the Ghana Immigration Service, DSI Francis Palmdeti said the GIS was prepared to dismiss any individual or group of persons who are proven to have compromised their conscience for money.

He has, therefore, encouraged those who fall victim to some of these corrupt practices to report the officers involved for prompt action, since they were not prepared to sacrifice the name and reputation of the service for anything.

On his part, Assistant Collector Phillip Amoh of the Public Relations Department of the CEPS gave the Service's commitment to institute punitive measures against officers who indulge in corrupt practices to serve as a deterrent to others who may be harbouring the intention to take bribes.

Speaking at the report launched in Accra yesterday, Director of Programmes at the LRC, Ms. Daphne Lariba Nabila talked of serious delays and widespread corruption along the trade route where drivers were stopped not less than 24 times, which averages to 2.3 times per 100km.

She noted that CEPS agents have set up the most checkpoints with an average of 9.5 stops per trip while the GPS averaged 6.5 stops per trip. In Ghana, the report indicates that drivers paid from GH ¢2.00 to GH ¢3.00 in bribes per stop, with CEPS officers accepting no less than GH ¢3.00.

The report further has it that on any given day, the number of trucks plying the route can reach 120, thereby making the total amounts of bribes collected estimated to reach GH ¢12,000 per day, GH ¢84,000 per week, GH ¢360,000 per month and GH ¢4,380,000 per year.

In addition, the report further noted that each of these stop causes delay, particularly when drivers try to bargain, indicating “on every journey, drivers were delayed from 5 to 20minutes per stop. On an average journey, it is said that a driver will be delayed a total of 5hours which averages to 29minutes per 100km. At the Ghanaian border for instance, the report indicates that GIS officer collected a minimum of GH ¢5.00 bribes per person and often asked for more.

In order instances, a traveler with all documents crossing the Ghana border to Burkina Faso was said to have been asked to pay GH ¢20.00 and when he offered to pay only GH ¢15.00, he was detained in custody for not less than 45minutes whilst those who were unable to pay were not allowed to cross the border.

The report further reveals that foreign nationals travelling in Ghana are stopped more frequently, and pay higher bribes than their Ghanaian counterparts, stating “Burkinabe businessmen travelling from Kumasi to Paga endured 19 stops by Police and CEPS, and paid a total of GH ¢48.00 in bribes per person. It was thus noted that it took them 12hours to complete their trip. Ghanaians on the other hand were said to have endured 10hours with 15 stops and a total of GH ¢35.00 in bribes per person.

Ms Nabila thus believes that these practices are a direct violation of obligations under the ECOWAS treaty to “grant full and unrestricted freedom of transit through its territory for goods proceeding to or from a third country…and such transit shall not be subject to any discrimination, quantitative restrictions, duties or other charges.”

Meanwhile, information available indicates that there are more stops in Ghana than in Burkina Faso and for that matter, drivers are unlawfully charged a total of 20,000 CFA to enter Burkina Faso and 12,000 CFA to exit.

Once inside Burkina Faso it is said that there are no less than 3 stop s before Ouagadougou whilst travelers pay 50 CFA at a toll booth.

However, a report released by the Improved Road Transport Governance (IRTG) initiative on interstate trade corridors for the second quarter of 2009 has it that the number of checkpoints have increased by 6% whilst the value of bribes collected have increased by 24% and the delays caused by checkpoints increased by 11%.

But Ms. Nabila attributes some of these worsening trends to the introduction of axle-load weight restrictions. This, according to her, was because “agents at axle-load weighbridge stations will fine drivers for being overloaded but do not provide a receipt to legitimize the transaction”, stressing “in Ghana, agents operating toll booths and weighbridges collected the most bribes, followed by Customs agents, then Police officers and finally Immigration officers.”

As a result of the widespread practice of corruption along the Tema-Ouagadougot route, the LRC says “drivers and traders are growing to accept bribery and long delays as the order of the day”, emphasizing “some drivers set bribe money aside for Police, Customs and Immigration officers along the route.”

According to the Centre, such additional costs are one of the reasons why transportation in West Africa has become the most inefficient and most expensive in the world, stressing “inevitably, these higher costs of transport are added to the price of goods and are passed on to consumers in Ghana and neighbouring countries.”

Source: Charles Takyi - Boadu - Ghanaian Chronicle

Transparency & Accountability slogan suffers a jolt

MILLS` PAL SWEATS OVER ¢12BN DEBT
… As Forestry Commission vows to strip Jowak naked

By Bismark Bebli | Posted: Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources

Austerity measures put in place by President Millls to put the economy back on track, appears to have suffered a jolt, following the discovery that Mr. John Owusu Amankrah, Managing Director of Jowak Sawn Mills Limited, who was recently appointed to the board of the Forestry Commission (FC) by the president, owes the same institution he is supposed to superintend ¢12 billion.

The debt is said to have brought the FC’s finances to its knees, but all efforts to get the board member to settle his indebtedness have proved futile.

Mr. John Owusu Amankrah admitted that his company owes the FC, but denied the ¢12b figure being bandied around.

He claims the FC also owes him ¢14 billion, which has not been settled. This reporter gathered that following the refusal of Jowak to settle the indebtedness, the Chief Executive officer (CEO) of the FC, Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey, wrote a strongly-worded letter dated September 2, 2007 to the former, asking him to pay the money or face the consequences.

The letter, which was under the caption ‘Demand notice/legal action,’ stated “Your Company was requested to fulfill some requirements, as well as pay fully for the volume of teak trees to be harvested. Up to date, your company has an outstanding balance of GH¢1,243,047.46 to be paid, which contravenes the conditions under which the permit was granted.

“Your company has been given up to September 15, 2008 to make all its financial obligations to the Forestry Commission without fail. From September 15, 2008, the Commission will resort to the following against your company - Stop your operations, publish your company’s name in the print and electronic media as a defaulter, and therefore not of good standing, and resort to legal action against your company.”

The Chronicle learnt that Jowak could not meet the above demand issued to the company by the CEO before the New Patriotic Patrty (NPP) lost power.

When National Democratic Congress (NDC) took over, they also gave the company another period to settle the debt, which expired on September 25th this year, but the company has still failed to pay the money into government chest.

Surprisingly, the powers that be, have gone ahead to offer another concession to the company to harvest teak trees.

In a letter dated July 6th 2009, Mr. F. S. Amoah. Director of Plantations, directed some of the zonal plantation managers in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions to provide uninterrupted services to the company to harvest logs that fall within their jurisdictions. “You are hereby directed to allow the company to operate, and provide them with uninterrupted services,” the letter stated.

This development is said to have incurred the displeasure of some of the board members, who think the decision infringes upon the transparency and accountability being preached by the government.

Mr. John Owusu Amankrah told The Chtronicle, when he was contactedthat he owes the FC ¢9 billion and not ¢12 billion. According to him, the debt emanated from the auction of forest reserves to him at the cost of ¢60 billion, which has paid, leaving a balance of ¢9 billion.

He also claimed the FC also owes him ¢14 billion in loans he granted the commission. According to him, somewhere in 2007, the FC approached him for a loan. As part of the agreement, the then sector Minister, Cecilia Obeng Dapaah, gave him concession to harvest trees to cover the debt.

He however regretted that an injuction had been placed on the forest that was allocated to him, so he has not been able to harvest the trees to recoup his money.

The Chronicle

Ghana:Castle Boys Fight Over Cash

John Martey Newman Confusion is raging over the salaries of members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) who were employed to work at National Security and the Seat of Government since the party came to power this year, and ‘betrayal’ best describes their mood. DAILY GUIDE has information that the said workers have pounced on the Chief of Staff, Martey Newman, for their unpaid salaries and have threatened to prove their importance and defend their rights if the money is not released to them. They have also threatened that unless they are given the money due them, they would expose any party appointee who receives any ‘back door’ envelop or money for logistics and party work. While many of them have not received any salary since they were employed in February this year, a handful of them were given only two months’ salary a few weeks ago, with an explanation that the rest would not be paid them because their working conditions had just been regularized. The workers are mostly security operatives around the President and his Vice, Protocol Officers, office attendants, drivers and ‘hangers-on’ who were employed on the basis of their party loyalty and not through the main stream civil service. Reports say since February, the workers were given a monthly allowance of GH¢300 each until last month when they protested and insisted on receiving salaries and not allowances. The Chief of Staff was thus directed to prepare their salaries, but they became more infuriated when Mr. Newman, after the said preparation of salaries, handed them a two-month’s salary each, with some of them receiving nothing. To make matters worse, many of them had their allowances slashed by as much as 50 percent, with an explanation that things would get better soon so they should hold on for better times ahead. The explanation seems not to have gone down well with the workers who insist their contribution to the party’s victory is not different from that of other party appointees who are believed to be receiving bigger booties and living in luxury. The workers have explained that they feel cheated because a number of persons who were passive during the campaign for power and many others who were not even part of the campaign, have been given lucrative appointments while some even travel with the President and enjoy juicy booties in the name of the party. By Halifax Ansah-Addo

GHANA:$850,000 fraud case takes another turn

The $850,000 fraud case involving two lawyers took another turn Thursday when the trial judge who had been authorised by the Chief Justice and the Attorney-General to hear the matter told parties in the case that he had been restrained from further hearing the matter by a High Court judge. The trial judge, Mr D. E. K. Daketsey, told the prosecution and the defence teams that he had been served with an order of injunction restraining him from hearing the case until the determination of a suit brought against him by the two lawyers. According to the judge, the lawyers, Joseph Kwame Owusu Asamani and Ekow Amua-Sekyi, who are facing charges of forgery and fraud, sought the order from the Human Rights Court, presided over by Mr Justice U. P. Dery, last Friday. According to counsel for the two lawyers, Mr James Agalga, November 12, 2009 had been fixed for hearing the motion for an order of prohibition directed at the judge whom his clients had accused of making bias statements against them. The prosecution had stated that the two allegedly prepared a Deed of Assignment, unknown to the complainant, Gordon Etroo, scanned his signature on it, registered it at the Lands Registry and presented it to Howard Eric Ewen, the Managing Director of Keegan Resources, who also signed. On March 18, 2007, the two allegedly forged a judgement titled 'Axex Company Limited versus four other defendants' and inserted an order by a High Court judge for the recovery of a mine known as Bonte Esaase Gold Mine. According to the prosecution, the two lawyers, without the knowledge of Samuel Etroo and Mr Kwame Opoku, initiated a civil suit number BL35/07, as 'Kwame Opoku versus Sametro Company Limited'. However, the two have not appeared before the court to answer the charges. The trial judge, Mr Daketsey, who did not disclose the grounds of the injunction, said he had since been served with a writ of prohibition by the two lawyers. The lawyers were said to have sought the order on the grounds that the judge was likely to show bias if he went ahead to hear the case against them. The judge told prosecutors and defence lawyers that he had instructed his solicitors to contest the case because he had no personal interest or whatsoever in the case. He also told the parties in his chambers that he felt aggrieved because the two lawyers had, on a countless number of occasions, refused to appear in his court to answer charges levelled against them. Obviously aggrieved at the turn of events, Nana Ato Dadzie, who is counsel for the complainant in the case, told journalists that the common practice was for the lawyers to be in court to state why they were absent. He said the case had had a chequered history because it took more than two years for the lawyers to be put before court. He said the Attorney-General called for the docket for study and on October 22, 2008 she formally wrote to the court authorising it to proceed with the case, adding that the Chief Justice had also authorised the judge to hear the case. Nana Ato Dadzie said although the two lawyers were at liberty to go for a prohibition order, he was of the view that such antics were calculated to frustrate the court process. He also indicated that his client was an interested party and he, therefore, intended to join the suit the Human Rights Court. He further indicated that the interest of justice would be served if all parties had their day in court. No definite date has been fixed for the hearing of the criminal matter due to the latest twist. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana

NDC Corruption: DFID Whistleblower Says £18m Vanished In '99

Is Britain's aid money well spent? One expert working in Ghana raised doubts - and was sacked. Rosie Waterhouse on the whistle-blower and the missing £18m Howard Horsley is an idealist, committed to overseas aid.

Over the years he has worked as a volunteer, a paid teacher and a VSO field officer in Africa. Then, in 1999, at the age of 54 and with a successful career as a headteacher in England behind him, he applied for a job with the Department for International Development (DfID).

"I was thrilled by the expansion of the overseas aid programme under the newly elected Labour government and keen to make my expertise available," he recalls. In May that year he took up a post managing the education field office (EFO) in Ghana, administering a British aid programme worth £50m over five years.

He liked Accra, the capital, and made plans for his wife to join him, but within a few weeks he began to notice things at work that he didn't like. As months passed, he grew more and more concerned about what he describes as "lax financial controls, unchecked powers of patronage and the potential for mismanagement and corruption".

He reported these concerns to DfID in London in e-mails, memos and telephone conversations. Yet, instead of seeing them investigated, Horsley was summarily sacked and denied a reference. It was a personal calamity. For the past five years, this former head of a tough Grimsby comprehensive, who has a glowing Ofsted report on his record, has been unable to find work. With the vigorous support of the MP Austin Mitchell, who describes his treatment as "monstrous", Horsley has fought to have his case reviewed and his complaints investigated. Now he has decided to tell his story.

It is a story that raises important questions about DfID's control over aid spending - at a time when the G8 summit has just agreed to double aid to Africa by 2010, and when our government is assuring us that our aid money is not seeping away through corruption and poor management. And, while the government insists it has done nothing wrong, uncertainty remains about its past procedures and about the fate of no less than £18m in aid.

More worrying still, it is now clear that Horsley was not the first British aid official in Accra to raise doubts about financial control. At the time he went to Accra, Britain's policy for distributing aid had shifted from big projects to local programmes administered through the Ghana Education Service, with staff at the British education field office working alongside officials in the Ghanaian education ministry.

Horsley soon heard complaints from other aid agencies, and from the Ghanaian minister and his officials, about the way money was spent and contracts awarded without adequate accounting or monitoring by DfID. Incidents included a request to authorise spending of £32,000 on office furniture, when the furniture had already been bought; the failure of DfID to provide the Ghanaian education minister with a full statement of how education aid was being spent, and the potential use of aid as, in Horsley's words, "a means of dispensing personal favours".

The most mysterious incident came after Horsley was told by the Ghanaian deputy education minister in August 1999 that Clare Short, the then secretary of state for international development, had pledged an extra £18m in aid. When none of this money turned up, Horsley made inquiries with the Ghanaian accountant general - who, he says, confirmed in September 1999 that it had been received by the government.

The money, however, did not find its way into the usual education aid channels, so Horsley, alarmed about the fate of such a sum and about the other problems he had found, wrote to London requesting a formal, independent investigation of the conduct of DfID affairs in Ghana.

Soon afterwards, on a working trip to northern Ghana, he caught typhoid and returned to Britain to recuperate. On his recovery he was called to a meeting at DfID headquarters on 6 January 2000. He thought this was to discuss the investigation he had requested and also to complete his midterm performance review, but he arrived to find that it was a disciplinary hearing. It didn't last long. Blamed for a breakdown in communication and a lack of coherence in the presentation of policy, he was sacked with immediate effect. Horsley strenuously denied the charges and received strong support from international colleagues, but, when he returned to Ghana to assemble evidence for his appeal, he found that his filing cabinets had been emptied and his computer files professionally wiped.

DfID then withdrew his formal right of appeal and threatened him with the Official Secrets Act if he spoke out. Claiming protection as a whistle-blower under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, Horsley sought to have his dismissal investigated first by DfID itself and then at an employment tribunal. The tribunal said it had no jurisdiction because he had not been employed for long enough and had not lodged his Public Interest Disclosure Act claim soon enough.

The civil service commissioners brushed him off, too, saying they could not investigate as DfID claimed he was employed on contract, not as a civil servant. The case has outraged Austin Mitchell, who raised it in the House of Commons and has written to Hilary Benn, the current Secretary of State of International Development, asking for an independent inquiry. Mitchell told the New Statesman: "As a result of his attempt to blow the whistle on financial inadequacies and possible maladministration, this man has been out of a job for nearly six years and that's a monstrous way for DfID to behave.

They made Howard a sacrificial victim. He was an embarrassment in raising these concerns. The proper procedure should have been to investigate complaints and tighten up procedures. They didn't do that." One body that has investigated DfID aid to Ghana is the National Audit Office (NAO), which reported in a letter to Mitchell: "At no point . . . has any evidence emerged to suggest that financial impropriety or mismanagement occurred within DfID."

But the letter added that "investigations revealed areas where the department might usefully tighten up its procedures and controls, which they are doing". As for the mysterious £18m, the audit office initially said that DfID claimed no such amount had been paid to Ghana in 1999. Then, in May 2003, the NAO admitted that £18m had been paid, in 2000, as "budgetary support". It explained: "It follows that for payments of budgetary support it is not possible directly to answer the questions 'What was it for?' or 'How was it spent?', except to say that it added to the resources available to the government of Ghana." This is a remarkable admission: put bluntly, it means that neither DfID nor the NAO could say what became of £18m of British taxpayers' money.

Since that investigation, the NAO has tightened up accounting procedures for aid spending in general and for "budgetary support" in particular. Howard Horsley is entitled to some credit for this, though he has had no thanks for his efforts. DfID maintains that any weaknesses in its financial procedures have been addressed and that Horsley's dismissal was "wholly related to his performance, which did not meet the requirements of the job".

It says: "All parties across Whitehall have been satisfied that DfID acted correctly in relation to Mr Horsley's dismissal and found no evidence of financial impropriety." Horsley authorised DfID to release documents to the New Statesman to clarify the grounds for dismissal. He says they prove that DfID never carried out the investigation he requested weeks before his dismissal and also that it ignored its own disciplinary procedures in sacking him.

But the story does not end there, for, in the course of his campaign, Horsley discovered he was not alone in raising concerns about aid to Ghana. His predecessor there had raised similar doubts about an "absence of checks and balances". Howard Tyers, who now works at Westminster University, has confirmed to the New Statesman that in his time at the Accra EFO he made "a number of complaints" about payments for an expensive office and also for Land Cruisers of an unnecessarily high specification, purchased without the usual tendering process.

Worryingly, after these complaints Tyers's tenure in Ghana also ended strangely. His contract ended in March 1999, but he asked for a three-month extension because he had to remain resident in Ghana, as his daughter was completing her A-levels. This request was rejected in London, and it was only after an appeal by the Ghanaian education ministry that he was allowed to stay.

However, he was sidelined to a research project and denied access to the EFO. And, like Horsley, he found his computer files wiped. The experiences of Horsley and his predecessor raise questions that should worry anyone who cares about aid. Does DfID respond properly to concerns about financial management? Does it ensure that new aid is spent wisely, with transparency and adequate financial controls? DfID says yes, but unless whistle-blowers are encouraged and protected, how can we be sure?

How does Horsley feel? "Angry that DfID has still held no one accountable for what was going on in Ghana; that no one has been held accountable for my entirely unjustified dismissal; that there has been no hearing, anywhere, on the merits of my case. And appalled that DfID can demand good governance in other countries and still fail to meet the most basic standards of good governance in its own internal practices."

He is angry, too, at the waste of years of his career. Despite the emotional and financial costs, he remains determined not to let the matter drop. Transparency International, which campaigns against corruption in aid and trade, would not comment on the case, but its executive director, Chandrashekhar Krishnan, was clear about one thing: "Any development organisation should have a policy of encouraging whistle-blowers and of ensuring that, if someone has suspicions to report, there is a mechanism to allow that person to express those concerns in a way which will not attract recriminations." The Horsley case does not seem to match that standard and it will deter, not encourage, future whistle-blowers.

Source: The Statesman - The Statesman

No wonder education in Ghana under NDC, Rawlings and Mills suffered a serious set back because of corruption.