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Katamanso land brouhaha: Court revokes bail of Estate Developer & others

By
BERNICE BESSEY
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Stephen Okutu and Benjamin Djanker - remanded

An Accra Circuit Court, presided over by His Honour Samuel Bright Acquah has revoked the bail condition of an Estate Developer, James Okine and two others for disrespecting its orders.

The court revoked the bail yesterday after it was informed by Inspector Da Costa Bobie Ansah, holding brief for Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong, that James, Stephen Okutu Kofi, alias Kofi Santoe, and Benjamin Djanker, aka Asaa, had not been reporting to the police as ordered by the court.

Mr Acquah has remanded them into police custody when they appeared before him.

James, first accused (A1), Stephen (A5) and Benjamin (A6) are standing trial, together with Abubakar Issah (A2), Kamasah Yeboah (A3) and Ali Amadu (A4).

They have been accused of conspiracy to commit crime and unlawful protection of land contrary to Section 23(1) of the Criminal Offence Act 1960 (Act 29) and Section 12 of Land Act 2020 (Act 1036).

They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. The case has been adjourned to March 28, 2023.

The facts

When the case was called on January 7, 2023 the court was informed by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong that the complainant is Godrich Ardey, a businessman, who resides at Katamanso in the jurisdiction of the court.

He added that James Okine, Abubakar Issah, Kamack Yeboah and Ali Amadu are residents of Zenu-Ashaiman, Teiman and Oyibi respectively.

ASP Oppong told the court that at the time two other people, Stephen Okutu Kofi, alias Kofi Santos, and Benjamin Djanker, aka Asaa, who should be standing trial with the accused persons were at large.

According to the Prosecuting officer, on January 3, 2023 the Complainant reported to the police that his family owns 1.625.474 acres of land at Katamanso with a Land Title Certificate covering the said area.

In addition to the Land Title Certificate, the Complainant also has a Power of Attorney from his family to back his claims.

To verify the documents submitted by the accused, he said police investigation has revealed that the Complainant’s family have had the said land in possession for several decades.

However, the court was informed that the Complainant’s family had also leased portions of the land to some estate companies who have built estate houses on them without any challenges.

According to him, the police were formed that the first accused, who also is the owner of Greenlake Estate and has recruited land guards into their family land to protect him and his workers, while they were unlawfully grading the land to commence development.

The Prosecutor told the court that on January 5, 2023 the police visited the scene with the complainant and found Kamack and Amadu using pay loader machine to grade the Complainant’s family land under the protection of Issah, Okutu and Benjamin.

He stated that Kamack and Amadu were arrested and during investigation, Okine followed up, he was also arrested for investigation.

Akufo-Addo’s record in education is matchless -Adutwum

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admin
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Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister for Education

The record of President Akufo-Addo in the education sector is unmatched, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister for Education, has stated.

According to him, the performance of the current government in the last six years leaves previous government’s miles behind in terms of educational outcomes in the last 14 years.

“From schools to schools, change is happening, and those schools that are not doing well are also receiving additional funding from MasterCard Foundation to improve teaching and learning,” he told the media in an interview in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital.

The Minister said that is the approach his Ministry has adopted to improve the standard of education in such schools, emphasising that it does not include closing down non-performing schools.

“It is about supporting teachers and head masters through the National Education Leadership Institute to improve performance in such schools.

The minister also revealed that the preliminary analysis of the 2022 P2 National Standardised Test indicates that Ghana has made a significant improvement in Literacy proficiency since 2015. The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) results in 2015 show that, only 2% of pupils in Primary 2 could read at grade level, with 50% unable to read a single word. This situation called for educational transformation that led to the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2018-2030.

“In all, about 456,481 pupils were engaged in the test, which happened to be the 1st Census test conducted by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment; with 232,003 being males while the females were 224,478.   The preliminary analysis of the 2022 test indicates a success rate of 38.7% proficiency as the mean percentage score. In terms of gender, Female average of 39.9% was slightly better than the Male average of 37.4%.

“In terms of public/private school children, there was 380,814 public school children against 11,294 private school children. The analysis also indicates mean score of 37.0% for the public schools with the private school mean score being 70.3%. Full and detailed results for both Literacy and Numeracy with the various sub-tasks and regional averages will be released in due course”, he said.

Dr. Adutwum insisted that President Akufo-Addo’s record in education performance improvement is incontestable. He said the President’s approach to improve academic performance is to resource schools with the necessary logistics.

The introduction of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and making Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) free has changed the face of education in Ghana, he noted.

According to him, until President Akufo-Addo took office only two per cent of pupils in class two could read but through sound interventions, the situation has improved to 38 per cent.

“The President has done tremendously well moving enrolment in senior high schools from about 800,000 to 1.4 million and that is what we should be discussing,” he pointed out.

Economy was challenged before Covid-19 -Mosquito

By
AGNES ANSAH
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Johnson Asiedu Nketia, NDC National Chairman

The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has chastised the President Akufo-Addo-led government for blaming Ghana’s economic challenges on the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the Russia and Ukraine war.

According to Mr. Nketiah, who is popularly known as General Mosquito, available facts show that Ghana’s economy exhibited signs of challenges even before Covid-19 and Russia and Ukraine war.

He said this point was well articulated by the Country Director of the World Bank, Mr. Pierre Laporte.

“Incontrovertible facts show that Ghana’s economy showed signs of serious challenges even before Covid-19 struck, a point that was made by the Country Director of the World Bank, Pierre Laporte…,”  the General Secretary said.

He made the comments at an address dubbed the “True State of the Nation Address”, which was held in Accra yesterday.

The address was used to counter the State of the Nation Address (SONA), which was delivered by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday March 8, this year.

Detailing some points to buttress his claims that the economy was facing challenges before the outbreak of the pandemic, Mr. Asiedu Nketiah noted that before the first case of Covid-19 was recorded in March 2020, the public debt had increased from GH¢120 billion in 2016 to GH¢225 billion in 2019, representing an increase of GH¢105 billion in the country’s debt stock. “Covid-19 was nowhere near the country, and [the] Russia and Ukraine had not thought of fighting,” the General Secretary said amid laughter.

He also indicated that Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio had increased from 56% in 2016 to about 70% in 2019, stating that figure was inclusive of the Daakye, ESLA bonds and other hidden bonds.

He continued that the debt servicing amount had also increased from GH¢11bn in 2016 to GH¢37bn, constituting 91% of tax revenue. “There was no Covid-19; no Ukraine and Russia, and the Queen was still alive, and no earthquake in Turkey,” Mr. Asiedu Nketiah said.

He added that the currency, before 2019, was plummeting in double digits, leading to the setting up of a committee to investigate the cause of the alarming depreciation of the currency.

The General Secretary noted yesterday that the Akufo-Addo-led administration rather benefitted from the Covid-19 by receiving a whopping GH¢30bn to mitigate it.

He, however, said that instead of the government expending the money on Covid-19, it rather engaged in profligate spending, including elections.

“Far from being the cause of economic collapse, Covid-19, in fact, brought the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government an unprecedented rainfall of about GH¢30bn to manage and mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Unfortunately, this was largely wasted on election-related expenses.”

Mr. Asiedu Nketiah said that according to the Auditor-General, only 11% out of the total money was spent on Covid-19-related expenditure, and the remaining amount being channeled into “so-called budget support.”

Another point he made to buttress his statement was that Covid-19 affected other countries too, but those countries managed their resources well, and that was why they were not experiencing the hardship that Ghana was experiencing.

At yesterday’s address, the Chairman also said that considering all the hardship the country was going through, the President’s claim of knowing how to revive a dead economy was a scam.

He said the assertion that Ghana would not go to the IMF was a scam, and so was the claim that there would be no haircut on bonds and investments.

“The promise to build 88 district hospitals within a year was a scam. The promise to abolish road toll was a scam. The promise to convert tollbooths into ultra-modern public toilets on our highways was a scam. The claim that there was a global shortage of measles [vaccines] was a scam…”

Mr. Asiedu Nketiah also indicated that President Akufo-Addo, based on the picture he painted with the SONA, was an indication that he was living in [a] world of his own and was not in touch with reality.

According to the General Secretary, the true SONA was “when a ball of kenkey, which was sold for 50 pesewas and GH¢1, was now being sold between GH¢4 and GH¢5. The state of Ghana was that a sack of maize, which used to sell for GH¢170 in 2016, was now being sold for GH¢900 as at February 2023. “The true SONA is where a bag of Gino rice (five kilos) which used to go for GH¢25 in 2016 is now being sold for GH¢85.|”

Mr. Asiedu Nketiah said such a government could not be allowed to continue to govern the country, and promised that the NDC would rescue the country from the abyss.

Editorial: What happened to late Prez Mills’ pre-paid meters project?

By
THE CHRONICLE
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Editorial

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), yesterday, embarked on a nationwide revenue mobilisation exercise to recover all unpaid bills, amounting to GH¢5.7 billion, from its customers. The exercise, which will last a month, targets domestic users, businesses, organisations, ministries, departments and state agencies for power already consumed from 2022 to February this year. The Managing Director of ECG, Samuel Dubik Mahama, said in an interview that the target was 100 per cent, and the plan was to get everyone who owed to pay, “so we are not leaving anyone out.”

It is very sad that the ECG, as an institution, can accumulate such a huge sum of money in debt from its customers. It is very important for everyone to pay the debt they owe to continue enjoying power. The ECG is supplied power at a cost to distribute, so if the debts are not paid in time, it will be difficult for them to stay in business. Surprisingly, government agencies and MDAs owe a bulk of the arrears. As a result, an enormous task has been placed on the ECG with their scanty field officers to go after the large number of customers that owe.

Explaining the rationale for deploying all administrative staff to be collectors for the ECG, Mr. Mahama said the debt situation had reached worrying levels, with a staff strength that cannot retrieve all the money owed them. Thus, it had become important to ensure that the company temporarily closed down all of its administrative offices to deploy its staff to be collectors on the field during the one-month period.

Interestingly, on the first day of the exercise, Parliament has been compelled to pay GH¢8.5 million from the GH¢13 million it owed, in order to avert disconnection from the national grid. Also, the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has paid GH¢10 million out of the GH¢28 million it owed to avoid disconnection by the ECG.

The difficulty in the payment of the energy consumed by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), schools, and hospitals has crippled the operational capacity of ECG.

It will be recalled that during the late Prof. Atta Mills’ administration, we were told that the government had tasked ECG to move all government institutions from post-paid to pre-paid meters. What happened to that project? Does it mean the project wasn’t successful?

During the era of President John Mahama, he also directed that pre-paid meters be installed at the various public offices to control debts owed the ECG. The decision was to ensure that officials of the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) monitor their use of the energy and pay for it.

As at that time in August 2016, government institutions owed ECG an amount of GH¢950 million as a result of subsidies and non-payment of electricity bills, but, today, the debt has ballooned to GH¢5.7 billion.

Even though we advise all defaulters to settle their debts to avoid disconnection, ECG is also to be blame because, as a company, you are not to sit down for the debts to accumulate to such a huge amount before action is taken. It should be an everyday activity to make sure those who owe pay their debts.

We again advise the ECG to do everything in their power to make sure that all those on the post-paid meters are moved on to pre-paid meter. The pre-paid meters have the provision to display the actual remaining credit or money value as well as the total kilowatts consumed. This will put consumers in the position to manage their energy purchase to suit their requirements.

FAREWELL, TT FABYAN

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admin
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Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey

On 1st January 1984, nearly 40 years ago, I joined the workforce of the Petroleum Department of the Ministry of Fuel and Power, based in the Republic House building opposite COCBOD on the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue.

The total workforce was no more than 30, and our boss, the Chief of Petroleum, was called Mr. THOMAS TROTGRAD FABYAN, a half caste Ghanaian very FIRM, extremely hardworking, full of humor, and a tough disciplinarian.

In those days, Mr. Appiah Korang was the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Secretary for Fuel and Power, and we had a small Technical Committee at the Ministry with me as the Member Secretary.

After doing all the ground work, the foundations were laid, and on February 12, 1985, the Petroleum Department was converted into the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, with our offices at the Black Star Line premises in Osu, later moved to Tema.

After working in petroleum for 10 solid years as Legal Officer, I resigned on June 1, 1994, and started my own private law firm, Nkrabeah and Associates, till date.

On Wednesday March 15, 2023, called by the ancient world as “The Ides of March” the fateful day on which historians agree the greatest man who has ever lived, JULIUS CAESAR, was assassinated in the Roman Senate by 16 conspirators, led by his own son, MARCUS BRUTUS, – on that day I bought newspapers and saw a full page OBITUARY notice of the upcoming funeral of TT Fabyan, who fell in 2022 at the ripe old age of 80 years.

This is one funeral I must attend at all costs, I said to myself.

Come Saturday March 18, 2023, I left my Kasoa abode at exactly 0600 hours, objective – Elmina – for the funeral of TT Fabyan.

Reader, believe it or not, one day in 1989, I drove from the Cape Coast High Court to the Accra High Court in exactly 55 minutes – oh yes, I did it, but not today. Even at that early hour, from Kasoa to Winneba alone took one solid hour, and I finally entered Cape Coast, circa 0900 hours.

I drove on by the seashore and entered ELIMINA called EDINA by the local people, the first location that the white man landed on our shores in 1472 – Don DIEKO D’AZAMBUNB – a Portuguesa.

Where is the funeral taking place? I drove on to the Catholic Church, but there was nobody there – oh, no, sir, a passerby pointed out – go to the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church on the other side of the Cape Coast-Takoradi Highway.

I finally located the place, a very impressive compound, in time to see the procession of the choir for the commencement of the burial mass. It was a typical Catholic liturgy, with “AGNUS DEI” and “KYRES” SANCTUS, PATER NOSTER and so on.

Even though tributes were read before the service started formally, the biography and tribute by the widow were read at the very tail end of the service.

Reader, don’t forget that I was privileged to have worked before as an Honourable Member of Parliament for Berekum for eight years, and Deputy Minister for six years under President Kufuor, so, my presence was acknowledged by the MC, and I was given an opportunity to sing my personal anthem, “M’atwen Awuarade Anim”, to the glory of my Maker, Almighty God.

To my shock, when I mounted the lectern to sing, I suddenly found myself surrounded by old comrades, all retired GNPC senior officers, including MR. SAM, who took over from me as President of the GNPC Senior Staff Association, a post I held for seven years. I had not seen any of them for more than 10 years, and I did not know whether to laugh in excitement at the sudden reunion, or to seriously concentrate on the business at hand – sing, Captain.

Around 11 o’clock everything was over and pallbearers carried the cadaver into a waiting “Transitions” motorcade or hearse out for interment.

Reader, one Sunday I went to a Presbyterian Church in the countryside, at about 10 o’clock. There was NOT even ONE car parked outside the chapel, but it was full – no sitting space.

By contrast I came out of the St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Elmina to see the car park VERY FULL, as if everybody who came to the burial mass came with a private car – you name it – BMW, 4×4 Toyota Land Cruiser, saloon cars… reader, call it a RICH MAN’S FUNERAL and you will not be far from right.

Elmina – the Omanhene, Nana Couduah IV, was my client in the early 90s – let me go to the Palace to greet him. Reader, he hosted me handsomely with fufu at the Elmina Beach Resort. When I sat in my car, I rolled the seat backwards to find two hours later that I was back home in Kasoa.

Farewell, TT Fabyan.

Written by Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey

Let’s support the less privilege -Francis Asare calls on Ghanaians

By
NAABENYIN JOOJO AMISSAH
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Mr Francis Asare handing the items to Mrs Elizabeth Forson

The Central Regional Treasurer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Francis Asare, has appealed to Ghanaians, particularly Christians, to kindly identify the less-privilege members of their immediate environs and support them.

This, he said, was the surest way to build a common community spirit and give hope to the seemingly disgruntled members of society in efforts to build a prosperous nation.

Mr. Asare made this known when he visited the Royal Promise Mission Centre, an orphanage located at Nkanfua Newtown in the Cape Coast North Constituency, to donate to the centre.

Giving a short speech during the ceremony, Mr. Asare stated that he was always worried about the plights of the less-privileged people in his community, particularly, children in orphanage.“I feel for them and always wish I could do a lot to ameliorate their situation, and that is why I am here with my family to put smiles on their faces in my own small way,” he explained.

He added: “When we fail to address the issue of streetism as a society or a country, we provide fertile grounds for the breeding of monsters, who grow and tend to terrorise us and disturb our peace.”

He further said: “There will be no future tomorrow if we cannot support and protect the vulnerable ones among us and leave them to their fate because the children are our leaders for tomorrow and future hope”

He, therefore, expressed appreciation to those who have accepted the challenge to provide decent lives for children who through no fault of theirs, have become orphans and called for regular support from others.

“The role of the media here is to become aware of this centre and highlight it so that others who will be touched about the plights of the younger ones could also come and support,” he stated.

Receiving the items, Mrs. Elizabeth Forson, who is in charge of the facility, praised Mr. Asare and his family for being generous and compassionate about the well-being of the children at the centre.

Expressing her joy, she mentioned that the donated items would go a long way to assist in the day-to-today running of the facility and therefore, prayed to God to replenish the stock of the donors.

The donation of the items which included bags of rice, bottled water, tissues, boxes of biscuits and toiletries among others, coincided with the marking of Mr. and Mrs. Asare’s twin sons.

Govt must improve upon maternal mortality rate -FJ-WoRDA

By
NAABENYIN JOOJO AMISSAH
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The Executive Director of Female Journalists for Women and Rural Development in Africa (FJ-WoRDA), Mrs. Shirley Asiedu-Addo, has urged the government to take urgent steps to improve the maternal mortality rate in the country.

This, she suggested, must be done through efficient strategies and commitments to improving access to quality healthcare facilities with adequate logistics and more competent and qualified personnel.

In a statement to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day, Mrs. Asiedu-Addo noted: “As of now, the country’s maternal mortality rate stands at 310 per 100,000 live births, which is also impeding women’s growth.”

She expressed her dissatisfaction with the above scenario, saying: “Women dying while giving birth must be a worrying concern for us as a nation.”

She, therefore, urged the government and other able organisations to bring healthcare services closer to all women.

Concern over lack of vaccines

Mrs. Asiedu-Addo was completely disturbed by the recent shortage of baby vaccines across the country.

Mothers, she said, endured overwhelming psychological effects as they continued to go in and out of hospitals seeking to vaccinate their wards, but to no avail.

In view of this, the government, she said, must urgently address the shortage of polio and measles vaccines, which have become a major concern to many Ghanaians, so as to give mothers some peace of mind.

FJ- WoRDA congratulates Women

According to FJ-WoRDA, from the farmer to the koko seller, market women, journalists, and technicians, to the female corporate executives and politicians, women continued to make immense contributions to the development of the country.

Mrs. Asiedu-Addo, therefore, recognised that women’s efforts in every developing economy were crucial, and, therefore, congratulated Ghanaian women for their critical roles and immense contributions to Ghana’s development.

The use of appropriate technology

Mrs. Asiedu-Addo added that the aforementioned critical roles played by women could be drastically improved and its impact maximised through the use of appropriate technologies.

As a result, she described as commendable the many technology training fora by government agencies and non governmental organizations to help bridge the technological know-how for both genders.

In view of the above, she lauded the interventions by the government to support more girls into technical and vocational education as well as other areas that were previously a preserve for men.

These laudable efforts notwithstanding, she noted that women still had little access to innovative technologies and wondered whether the koko seller could gain some training and access to a technology that would enable her to access customers easily.

“Can the mother in the hinterland reach a health service provider faster using technology? …Women must be consciously supported with tools that enhance their jobs and roles”.She added.

Appreciation to men for their support

While she encouraged women to continue to impact society positively with their uniqueness and selflessly contribute to make their communities better, she also thanked men for their continuous support for women.

“On this year’s International Women’s Day, FJ-WoRDA commends women everywhere for their tremendous contribution to humanity and particularly for helping sustain the human race,” she stated.

Govt earns N10tn in VAT under Buhari administration

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admin
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President Muhammadu Buhari

The Federal Government has earned N10.1 trillion in revenue from the Value Added Tax, VAT, under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

 

The latest National Bureau of Statistics report showed that VAT earnings continued to rise annually throughout the eight years.

The country earned N759.4bn in 2015, N777.5bn in 2016, N972.4bn in 2017 and N1.1tn in 2018.

VAT collections in 2019 amounted to N1.2tn, N1.5tn in 2020, N2.1tn in 2021, and N2.5tn paid in 2022.

 

In 2020 the federal government increased VAT from 5 per cent to 7.5 per cent, a development that might have led to the increase in VAT collection figure.

A renewed call propagated by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, that the incoming government should increase the VAT from the current 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent.

 

VAT is a 7.5 per cent consumption tax administered by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, when goods are purchased, services are delivered, and the final consumer bears it.

The federal, state and Local governments share the revenue from VAT through the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee.

Financial experts have called for the federal government to shut up its non-oil sector revenue collection efforts.

 

Dr Muda Yusuf, the director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE and The Chief Executive Officer of CFG Advisory, Mr Tilewa Adebayo, disclosed that the government needed to do more to bring onboard yet-to-be-taxed sectors into the country’s tax net.

Credit: dailypost.ng

Kano govt imposes dawn-to-dusk curfew amid tensions

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Ballot boxes being set up for the governorship and state house of assembly elections in Kaduna State

The Kano State Government has imposed dawn-to-dusk curfew with a view to avoid a breakdown of law and order, following tensions generated from the collation of results of the governorship and state Assembly elections.

The state Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, made the announcement in a statement issued Monday morning.

 

He said the decision was to prevent hoodlums from to causing chaos in the already made the situation tense.

The commissioner called on people in the state to remain indoors as security agents would not spare anyone or group bent on causing trouble.

Credit: channelstv.com

At least 21 killed in Nigeria’s electoral violence, says EU Observer

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EU Chief Observer Mission

As results of the governorship and state house of assembly polls are being collated across the country, the European Union says no fewer than 21 persons have died from electoral violence. The EU Chief Observer, Mister Barry Andrews, disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists on their findings in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

 Barry stated that there was massive voter apathy, mainly because voters’ expectations during the presidential election were not met.

The EU Observer also explained that there were records of vote buying in several parts of the country.

He also commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for an improvement in its logistics arrangements, adding that the electoral body did better in the conduct of the polls through the deployment and usage of technology.

Credit: channelstv.com

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