Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
OVER-AGED VEHICLES TO BE BANNED (Back page) 10-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah & Francis Yaw Kyei
THE importation of vehicles aged more than 10 years is to be banned as part of government measures to reduce wastage in fuel consumption, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has hinted.
According to him, 30 per cent of fuel imported into the country was wasted, and old vehicles, particularly in traffic situations, were responsible for a high chunk of the wastage.
Interacting with journalists in Accra on Monday, Dr Donkor said the nation could no longer afford to waste fuel of that magnitude vis-a-vis the substantial increase in petroleum prices.
Currently, the importation of vehicles aged more than 10 years attract a penalty, the essence of which is to discourage the importation of such vehicles.
Last weekend, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) announced a 30 per cent increment in petroleum products.
Dr Donkor explained that the 30 per cent increase in petroleum prices was the result of a huge debt inherited by his ministry.
He said that debt, in addition to the GH¢11.46 million debt of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), “has left the Energy Ministry in a very tight financial situation”.
Dr Donkor said the Government paid GH¢7 million to TOR as subsidies to maintain fuel prices in May, but that could last for only two weeks, adding that the Government could no longer pay for those subsidies due to lack of funds.
He denied assertions that President Mills promised to reduce fuel prices to GH¢2, and explained that the President rather promised to reduce fuel tax by 20 per cent.
Dr Donkor said the Energy Ministry had fulfilled that promise, pointing out that fuel prices would have increased further if fuel taxes had not been reduced.
He entreated Ghanaians to have confidence in the Government and gave the assurance that government would do its best to keep the current economic situation under control.
THE importation of vehicles aged more than 10 years is to be banned as part of government measures to reduce wastage in fuel consumption, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has hinted.
According to him, 30 per cent of fuel imported into the country was wasted, and old vehicles, particularly in traffic situations, were responsible for a high chunk of the wastage.
Interacting with journalists in Accra on Monday, Dr Donkor said the nation could no longer afford to waste fuel of that magnitude vis-a-vis the substantial increase in petroleum prices.
Currently, the importation of vehicles aged more than 10 years attract a penalty, the essence of which is to discourage the importation of such vehicles.
Last weekend, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) announced a 30 per cent increment in petroleum products.
Dr Donkor explained that the 30 per cent increase in petroleum prices was the result of a huge debt inherited by his ministry.
He said that debt, in addition to the GH¢11.46 million debt of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), “has left the Energy Ministry in a very tight financial situation”.
Dr Donkor said the Government paid GH¢7 million to TOR as subsidies to maintain fuel prices in May, but that could last for only two weeks, adding that the Government could no longer pay for those subsidies due to lack of funds.
He denied assertions that President Mills promised to reduce fuel prices to GH¢2, and explained that the President rather promised to reduce fuel tax by 20 per cent.
Dr Donkor said the Energy Ministry had fulfilled that promise, pointing out that fuel prices would have increased further if fuel taxes had not been reduced.
He entreated Ghanaians to have confidence in the Government and gave the assurance that government would do its best to keep the current economic situation under control.
FUEL PRUCE INCREASES TO SAVE ECONOMY (Pg 31) 10-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Agyei, says the recent increases in the prices of petroleum products are to save the national economy from collapse.
He said although the National Democratic Congress (NDC), as a social democratic party, was concerned about the welfare of the people, the total national debt inherited by the Mills administration was so huge that subsidising the price of petroleum products would be disastrous for the national economy.
"We all have to bear with the government in the short term. In the long term, we will decide, as a social democratic party, on something to reduce the pressure," the minister told the Daily Graphic.
Without giving exact figures, Dr Oteng-Agyei said the national debt portfolio which the government inherited from its predecessor in January 2009 had enlarged as previously unknown debts trickled in from various sources.
He said his ministry, for instance, had a debt of about GH¢126 million, involving commitments to local contractors for work done on the extension of electricity to rural areas, some of which debts had been outstanding since 2003.
In addition, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) had a debt of about GH¢114.6 million (¢1.146 trillion), all of which had to be offset by the government.
He said failure by the government to clear the TOR recovery debt or fulfil its financial commitments to oil marketing companies (OMCs) could lead to shortage in the supply of petroleum products, since the OMCs might not have the financial capacity to import crude.
Currently, TOR supplies about 60 per cent of the country’s petroleum consumption, while the OMCs make up for the remaining 40 per cent.
Recently, the government has come under intense pressure from sections of the public, particularly activists of the largest minority party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the Committee for Joint Action (CJA), a political pressure group, to reduce the prices of petroleum products in fulfilment of the NDC’s campaign promise, describing the recent price increases as a breach of faith.
The reduction in the prices of petroleum products was a major campaign promise made by the NDC in the run-up to the December 2008 elections but since assuming office last January the prices have increased intermittently, with the latest being last weekend’s 30 per cent increase in prices.
Dr Oteng-Agyei disagreed with the critics, contending that the NDC had, indeed, fulfilled its campaign promise by taking off various taxes on the petroleum price build-up soon after assuming office, which essentially reduced the ultimate price of petroleum products.
He said the NDC had been justified in calling on the then ruling NPP government to reduce the prices of petroleum products because at that time there was a slump in the price of crude oil on the world market.
Therefore, the minister argued, the critics of the government could only be justified in their assertion if the government did not reduce the prices of petroleum products to reflect a reduction in the price of crude oil on the world market.
On the current intermittent power cuts, Dr Oteng-Agyei said the problem was due to the fact that most of the sub-stations were old and cited the Achimota Sub-station, which was about 40 years old.
He said there was the need to change equipment at all the sub-stations but the problem was that anytime work was being done on one station, the weakness in other stations emerged, resulting in the power cuts.
Dr Oteng-Agyei urged the institutions responsible for electricity generation and supply to communicate the difficulties well to the public because "it is not acceptable to always wait for electricity to go off before coming out to say it’s a technical problem".
"We are really working to take the public out of this situation," he assured the nation, adding that the reinforcement programme on the sub-stations would be completed by the end of December 2009.
THE Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Agyei, says the recent increases in the prices of petroleum products are to save the national economy from collapse.
He said although the National Democratic Congress (NDC), as a social democratic party, was concerned about the welfare of the people, the total national debt inherited by the Mills administration was so huge that subsidising the price of petroleum products would be disastrous for the national economy.
"We all have to bear with the government in the short term. In the long term, we will decide, as a social democratic party, on something to reduce the pressure," the minister told the Daily Graphic.
Without giving exact figures, Dr Oteng-Agyei said the national debt portfolio which the government inherited from its predecessor in January 2009 had enlarged as previously unknown debts trickled in from various sources.
He said his ministry, for instance, had a debt of about GH¢126 million, involving commitments to local contractors for work done on the extension of electricity to rural areas, some of which debts had been outstanding since 2003.
In addition, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) had a debt of about GH¢114.6 million (¢1.146 trillion), all of which had to be offset by the government.
He said failure by the government to clear the TOR recovery debt or fulfil its financial commitments to oil marketing companies (OMCs) could lead to shortage in the supply of petroleum products, since the OMCs might not have the financial capacity to import crude.
Currently, TOR supplies about 60 per cent of the country’s petroleum consumption, while the OMCs make up for the remaining 40 per cent.
Recently, the government has come under intense pressure from sections of the public, particularly activists of the largest minority party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the Committee for Joint Action (CJA), a political pressure group, to reduce the prices of petroleum products in fulfilment of the NDC’s campaign promise, describing the recent price increases as a breach of faith.
The reduction in the prices of petroleum products was a major campaign promise made by the NDC in the run-up to the December 2008 elections but since assuming office last January the prices have increased intermittently, with the latest being last weekend’s 30 per cent increase in prices.
Dr Oteng-Agyei disagreed with the critics, contending that the NDC had, indeed, fulfilled its campaign promise by taking off various taxes on the petroleum price build-up soon after assuming office, which essentially reduced the ultimate price of petroleum products.
He said the NDC had been justified in calling on the then ruling NPP government to reduce the prices of petroleum products because at that time there was a slump in the price of crude oil on the world market.
Therefore, the minister argued, the critics of the government could only be justified in their assertion if the government did not reduce the prices of petroleum products to reflect a reduction in the price of crude oil on the world market.
On the current intermittent power cuts, Dr Oteng-Agyei said the problem was due to the fact that most of the sub-stations were old and cited the Achimota Sub-station, which was about 40 years old.
He said there was the need to change equipment at all the sub-stations but the problem was that anytime work was being done on one station, the weakness in other stations emerged, resulting in the power cuts.
Dr Oteng-Agyei urged the institutions responsible for electricity generation and supply to communicate the difficulties well to the public because "it is not acceptable to always wait for electricity to go off before coming out to say it’s a technical problem".
"We are really working to take the public out of this situation," he assured the nation, adding that the reinforcement programme on the sub-stations would be completed by the end of December 2009.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
MORE OIL EXIST IN EASTERN CORRIDOR (Pg31) 09-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE UN International Seabed Authority (ISA) has confirmed the existence of about eight billion barrels of crude reserves in the ultra-deep waters of the country's eastern corridor.
Ghana is, therefore, seeking the expansion of her continental shelf to help redeem that natural resource.
A Foreign Service Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Solomon Korbieh, told the Daily Graphic that Ghana had already made a submission to the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) for the expansion of the continental shelf, which has a lot of prospects for more oil discovery.
The submission, which was made to the CLCS on April 28, 2009, in accordance with Article 76, paragraph 8 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, seeks to expand Ghana's exclusive economic zone from the current 200 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles, thus widening the scope of the country's oil potential.
Information gathered indicates that in the absence of any objections, consideration of Ghana's submission is likely to be included in the agenda of the 24th session of the commission scheduled to be held in New York from August 10, 2009 to September 11, 2009.
Mr Korbieh, who confirmed the submission, said it was very certain that Ghana’s request would be approved by the UN commission.
Under laid down procedure, proposals submitted will be published on the website of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea to entertain criticisms and objections, after which a subcommittee will be set up by the commission to sit on the merits of individual proposals.
Ghana is among 50 countries worldwide, including Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya, who beat the May 13, 2009 deadline for UN member countries to seek expansion of their territorial waters.
Experts say the oceanographic work required to research and fine-tune submissions for extension is very costly.
The National Co-ordinator of the Ghana National Continental Shelf Delineation Project, Mr Lawrence Apaalse, said $8 million was budgeted for the preparation of the document.
He said if no objection was raised against the submission, the next step was for Ghana to make a presentation of the technical details to the commission for consideration.
Mr Apaalse, who is also a Lead Geologist at the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), said but for issues of overlapping boundaries that might arise from submissions made by neighbouring countries, the success of Ghana's submission was not in doubt.
THE UN International Seabed Authority (ISA) has confirmed the existence of about eight billion barrels of crude reserves in the ultra-deep waters of the country's eastern corridor.
Ghana is, therefore, seeking the expansion of her continental shelf to help redeem that natural resource.
A Foreign Service Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Solomon Korbieh, told the Daily Graphic that Ghana had already made a submission to the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) for the expansion of the continental shelf, which has a lot of prospects for more oil discovery.
The submission, which was made to the CLCS on April 28, 2009, in accordance with Article 76, paragraph 8 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, seeks to expand Ghana's exclusive economic zone from the current 200 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles, thus widening the scope of the country's oil potential.
Information gathered indicates that in the absence of any objections, consideration of Ghana's submission is likely to be included in the agenda of the 24th session of the commission scheduled to be held in New York from August 10, 2009 to September 11, 2009.
Mr Korbieh, who confirmed the submission, said it was very certain that Ghana’s request would be approved by the UN commission.
Under laid down procedure, proposals submitted will be published on the website of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea to entertain criticisms and objections, after which a subcommittee will be set up by the commission to sit on the merits of individual proposals.
Ghana is among 50 countries worldwide, including Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya, who beat the May 13, 2009 deadline for UN member countries to seek expansion of their territorial waters.
Experts say the oceanographic work required to research and fine-tune submissions for extension is very costly.
The National Co-ordinator of the Ghana National Continental Shelf Delineation Project, Mr Lawrence Apaalse, said $8 million was budgeted for the preparation of the document.
He said if no objection was raised against the submission, the next step was for Ghana to make a presentation of the technical details to the commission for consideration.
Mr Apaalse, who is also a Lead Geologist at the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), said but for issues of overlapping boundaries that might arise from submissions made by neighbouring countries, the success of Ghana's submission was not in doubt.
MINISTER CALLS FOR CLEAN-UP OF TOR (Pg 3) 09-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah & Francis Yaw Kyei
THE Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Agyei, has called for a clean-up at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to eliminate inefficiencies that have plunged the company into huge debt.
He cited security lapses, over-employment and increased commercial activities on the premises of TOR as some of the factors contributing to the company’s inefficiencies.
Dr Oteng-Agyei expressed the concern at the inauguration of the board of directors of TOR in Accra yesterday after he had earlier inaugurated the board of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
Dr Oteng-Agyei charged the members to bring their expertise to bear on the job and ensure that the refinery became a strategic company in the West African sub-region.
As of 2008, the total TOR debt, according to government information, stood at GH¢11.46 million as of 2008 up from GH¢3.2 million as of 2000.
Pointing at some of the inefficiencies in the system to the Daily Graphic later, the minister said in spite of the acquisition of an equipment known as Residual Fuel Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) whose automated nature did not require so many hands at TOR, the number of the company’s employees was still very high.
Again, he said, despite the numerous close-circuit television (CCTV) equipment installed at TOR and the presence of security guards on the premises, “the system there is not full-proof”.
Dr Oteng-Agyei cited instances where about 18 tanks loaded from the premises of TOR but only three of them reached, describing the situation as “unacceptable”.
He expressed concern about what he considered to be too many commercial activities on the premises of TOR, pointing out that as a refinery, the premises of the company should not be engulfed in such activities but, instead, must be kept clean to reflect its image.
Dr Oteng-Agyei said TOR was a strategic asset to the nation and the government’s overriding objective was to redeem it from all inefficiencies and make it more viable and beneficial to the nation.
He said the government was committed to eliminating the huge under-recovery and debt burden of TOR.
The minister, who administered the oaths of office and secrecy to the nine-member TOR board, charged the members to approach their task with unity of purpose to achieve results.
He advised them to be guided by the tenets of transparency, probity, accountability and fairness as President Mills demands of all government appointees, cautioning that if anyone consciensciously or unconsciensciously, advertently or inadvertently did anything to undermine those tenets, “we will have no problem in offloading you from the board”.
Dr Oteng-Agyei announced plans by the ministry to collaborate with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to organise an orientation programme for all board members of institutions under the ministry in order to define their roles and avoid interference from any quarter.
Adding his voice to the minister’s admonition, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, said the problems of TOR “beat any business paradigm”, but he encouraged the board to appreciate the peculiar challenges of the company and run it as a business to ensure its vibrancy and survival “and leave the politics to us”.
On behalf of the TOR board, the chairman, Mr Eric Okai, a banker, said the members were very clear on the President’s admonition for transparency, probity, accountability and fairness and assured the minister that “We will do what it takes to make sure that we do not let you down.”
Other members of the board are Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area; Mr Alfred Agbesi, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashaiman; Nana Mprah Besemuna III, Krachiwura; Mr E. M. Commodore-Mensah, an agriculturist and businessman; Ms Elisabeth Adjei-Mensah, a legal practitioner; Kazawura Yahaha; Alhaji A. A. Abubakar, a businessman, and Dr Kwame Ampofo, acting Managing Director of TOR.
Addressing the nine-member NPA board, Dr Oteng-Agyei reminded the members of the task they had accepted, for instance, the need to review the petroleum price formula to ensure a correlation between the price of crude oil and the finished product.
He urged the board to educate the public on the pricing concept to dispel the notion that the government was responsible for petroleum price fixing.
The Chairman of the board, Mr Kojo Fynn, a chartered accountant, said the members recognised the important role NPA played in the petroleum sector and the country’s development and promised to discharge their duties efficiently.
The other members of the board are Mr William Tewiah, a banker; Mrs Clothilde Agbernoto, a legal practitioner; Mr Ralph Roland, a chartered accountant; Dr Boni Yao Gerbeh, a lecturer at the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA); Mr Alex Mould, the Executive Secretary of the NPA; Mr Emmanuel Armstrong; Mr Suleman Koney and Mrs Barbara Serwah Asamoah.
THE Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Agyei, has called for a clean-up at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to eliminate inefficiencies that have plunged the company into huge debt.
He cited security lapses, over-employment and increased commercial activities on the premises of TOR as some of the factors contributing to the company’s inefficiencies.
Dr Oteng-Agyei expressed the concern at the inauguration of the board of directors of TOR in Accra yesterday after he had earlier inaugurated the board of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
Dr Oteng-Agyei charged the members to bring their expertise to bear on the job and ensure that the refinery became a strategic company in the West African sub-region.
As of 2008, the total TOR debt, according to government information, stood at GH¢11.46 million as of 2008 up from GH¢3.2 million as of 2000.
Pointing at some of the inefficiencies in the system to the Daily Graphic later, the minister said in spite of the acquisition of an equipment known as Residual Fuel Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) whose automated nature did not require so many hands at TOR, the number of the company’s employees was still very high.
Again, he said, despite the numerous close-circuit television (CCTV) equipment installed at TOR and the presence of security guards on the premises, “the system there is not full-proof”.
Dr Oteng-Agyei cited instances where about 18 tanks loaded from the premises of TOR but only three of them reached, describing the situation as “unacceptable”.
He expressed concern about what he considered to be too many commercial activities on the premises of TOR, pointing out that as a refinery, the premises of the company should not be engulfed in such activities but, instead, must be kept clean to reflect its image.
Dr Oteng-Agyei said TOR was a strategic asset to the nation and the government’s overriding objective was to redeem it from all inefficiencies and make it more viable and beneficial to the nation.
He said the government was committed to eliminating the huge under-recovery and debt burden of TOR.
The minister, who administered the oaths of office and secrecy to the nine-member TOR board, charged the members to approach their task with unity of purpose to achieve results.
He advised them to be guided by the tenets of transparency, probity, accountability and fairness as President Mills demands of all government appointees, cautioning that if anyone consciensciously or unconsciensciously, advertently or inadvertently did anything to undermine those tenets, “we will have no problem in offloading you from the board”.
Dr Oteng-Agyei announced plans by the ministry to collaborate with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to organise an orientation programme for all board members of institutions under the ministry in order to define their roles and avoid interference from any quarter.
Adding his voice to the minister’s admonition, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, said the problems of TOR “beat any business paradigm”, but he encouraged the board to appreciate the peculiar challenges of the company and run it as a business to ensure its vibrancy and survival “and leave the politics to us”.
On behalf of the TOR board, the chairman, Mr Eric Okai, a banker, said the members were very clear on the President’s admonition for transparency, probity, accountability and fairness and assured the minister that “We will do what it takes to make sure that we do not let you down.”
Other members of the board are Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area; Mr Alfred Agbesi, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashaiman; Nana Mprah Besemuna III, Krachiwura; Mr E. M. Commodore-Mensah, an agriculturist and businessman; Ms Elisabeth Adjei-Mensah, a legal practitioner; Kazawura Yahaha; Alhaji A. A. Abubakar, a businessman, and Dr Kwame Ampofo, acting Managing Director of TOR.
Addressing the nine-member NPA board, Dr Oteng-Agyei reminded the members of the task they had accepted, for instance, the need to review the petroleum price formula to ensure a correlation between the price of crude oil and the finished product.
He urged the board to educate the public on the pricing concept to dispel the notion that the government was responsible for petroleum price fixing.
The Chairman of the board, Mr Kojo Fynn, a chartered accountant, said the members recognised the important role NPA played in the petroleum sector and the country’s development and promised to discharge their duties efficiently.
The other members of the board are Mr William Tewiah, a banker; Mrs Clothilde Agbernoto, a legal practitioner; Mr Ralph Roland, a chartered accountant; Dr Boni Yao Gerbeh, a lecturer at the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA); Mr Alex Mould, the Executive Secretary of the NPA; Mr Emmanuel Armstrong; Mr Suleman Koney and Mrs Barbara Serwah Asamoah.
'SAKAWA' DEALS AND MONEY TRANSFERS (Front Page) 09-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
INTERNET fraudsters operating in the ‘sakawa’ underworld are said to have deeply penetrated some money transfer outlets with enticing offers to retrieve large sums of money sent to them by their victims abroad.
A case in point is a lady attendant at one of the transfer outlets in Accra alleged to have been compromised by ‘sakawa’ boys with huge sums of money in ‘kickbacks’ in lieu of the presentation of correct documents to collect their remittances.
The attendant (name withheld) allegedly collects 10 per cent of the amounts involved from ‘sakawa’ boys who present code numbers and their personal identity cards to collect money in the name of females and 20 per cent from those who do not present identity cards.
The system of money transfer requires the recipient to produce a code number from the sender and recipient’s national identification, such as passport, driving licence or voter ID card, in order to redeem the money sent.
Meanwhile, the ‘sakawa’ boys pose as females to deceive their victims and money is sent to them in the female names they present. In their bid to retrieve the money, they have struck a deal with the lady attendant to circumvent the requirement by not presenting the appropriate identity cards or presenting only the code numbers.
In a practice believed to be widespread, money transfer attendants allegedly demand big percentages before obliging the deal, sometimes to the displeasure of the ‘sakawa’ boys.
A source at Accra New Town, whose lead the Daily Graphic followed to ascertain the deal, said while transacting a business at one of the money transfer outlets at the Accra North Post Office recently, he eavesdropped on a bargain between a suspected ‘sakawa’ boy and a lady at one of the counters on the percentage to pay on the money he was to collect.
The source said he was confused initially because he thought it was the responsibility of the sender, not the receiver, to pay the transfer charges. It was curiosity that made him know that the ‘sakawa’ boy wanted to collect the money in the name of a female.
"The lady told the guy that since he did not bring any ID card the percentage will be higher. After taking my money, I decided to wait a while to watch what went on at that counter. I spent almost three hours there and can you imagine that about 10 boys who came there to pick money were all taking the money in female names? Mr Editor, this lady is making money over there," he wrote to the Daily Graphic.
On a verification mission to the transfer post at the Accra North Post Office, some clients who had gone there to transact business were observed giving money to some of the attendants but the purpose of the gesture was not clear.
Although the financial manager in charge of money transfer at the Accra North Post Office could not immediately confirm or deny the allegation, she indicated that in the past there had been reported misconduct on the part of some of the attendants, for which reason they had been reshuffled.
She said the matter would be investigated, after which appropriate action would be taken.
The particulars on the identity cards presented for collecting money are keyed into a database for purposes of record keeping, but sources at some money transfer outlets said it was difficult to track where a recipient was coming from because once he/she had the code number from the sender and a national identity card, he/she could collect the money at any of the money transfer outlets across the country.
Some of the ‘sakawa’ operatives have also targeted the Ghana Post Company (GPC) as another major conduit for sending messages to and receiving parcels from their victims abroad.
On a daily basis, ‘sakawa’ boys troop to the GPC Headquarters in Accra and other post offices elsewhere to collect large quantities of parcels.
Some workers at the GPC Headquarters confirmed to the Daily Graphic that the ‘sakawa’ boys were always lurking around the vicinity to collect parcels.
The difficulty facing the company, however, is that it cannot determine a fraudulent parcel unless it is based on a tip-off, a fact acknowledged by the Deputy Managing Director (Operations & Development) of the GPC, Mr Nicholas N.Y. Dery.
He said without a tip-off from a sending administration about the fraudulent nature of a parcel, “we will go ahead and deliver”.
Mr Dery cited two instances when the company had to return parcels to the sending units in the US and Canada because they were deemed to have been fraudulently sent.
In the early days of ‘sakawa’, the ‘Swedru boys’, who are widely acknowledged as the pioneers of cyber fraud in Ghana, used the post office as the main conduit for sending large volumes of letters and nude pictures of ladies, mostly scanned from magazines, to their victims abroad.
Some of the ‘sakawa’ boys managed to lure their victims to Ghana, put them in plush hotels, squeezed all the money on them and left them stranded in town.
Security sources at the GPC recalled instances when some of the foreign victims who could not buy air tickets back home had to wander along the corridors of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, hoping for salvation.
In one instance, according to the sources, a white lady who was lured into the country was dispossessed of every money, impregnated and abandoned in misery by ‘sakawa’ boys.
With the passage of time, the use of the post office for correspondence with their victims became unattractive for the ‘sakawa’ boys, as officials of the company began intercepting volumes of the correspondence and, with the collaboration of the police, succeeded in arresting some of the boys.
The Internet, thus, became a safer, faster and more preferred option for the ‘Swedru boys’ and in no time they infested all the major cities of the country with the cyber crime.
The proliferation of Internet cafes, their accessibility and affordability, as well as growing ICT literacy rate among the population and the potential wealth the Internet offers, have all conspired to make online crime a rather daunting task for an emerging ICT country such as Ghana.
While acknowledging the government’s plans to address the problem through the enactment of a Cyber Security Law and the establishment of a Cyber Emergency Response Team as steps in the right direction, an ICT consultant, Mr Kwami Ahiabenu, said, “We have a long way to go in our attempt at resolving this problem.”
He said the security agencies, for instance, lacked resources and capacity to deal with the complex nature of cyber crime in terms of policing online space, making arrests and prosecuting suspects.
He said as of now the situation clearly indicated that Ghana was not prepared for the ICT race, otherwise pre-emptive measures would have been taken, knowing very well that cyber crime was part of the ICT revolution.
The complicity of some policemen in the cyber crime, as exemplified by the recent arrest of a policeman for allegedly defrauding a Namibian of $7,900, and the admission by DSP Felix Mawusi of the CID that the police lacked the capacity and logistics to combat cyber crime underline the enormous security challenge facing the nation.
In their correspondence with victims, the Internet fraudsters also make extensive use of mobile phones, but with the proliferation in the mobile telecommunication industry, cheap mobile handsets and SIM cards, combating the cyber menace appears to be a Herculean task.
Vodafone, a leading telecommunication company in the country, has expressed its willingness to support any initiative that will help to protect juveniles against indulgence in ‘sakawa’.
The Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone, Mr David Venn, said the company had followed with keen interest the concerns raised by Ghanaians over the cyber fraud and promised to support any campaign to ensure that “juveniles who use the Internet to indulge in cyber fraud are exposed and punished in accordance with the law".
East Ayawaso, comprising Nima, parts of Maamobi and New Town, has become very notorious for ‘sakawa’, with children of all ages joining the fray of the ‘get-rich-quick’ syndrome.
INTERNET fraudsters operating in the ‘sakawa’ underworld are said to have deeply penetrated some money transfer outlets with enticing offers to retrieve large sums of money sent to them by their victims abroad.
A case in point is a lady attendant at one of the transfer outlets in Accra alleged to have been compromised by ‘sakawa’ boys with huge sums of money in ‘kickbacks’ in lieu of the presentation of correct documents to collect their remittances.
The attendant (name withheld) allegedly collects 10 per cent of the amounts involved from ‘sakawa’ boys who present code numbers and their personal identity cards to collect money in the name of females and 20 per cent from those who do not present identity cards.
The system of money transfer requires the recipient to produce a code number from the sender and recipient’s national identification, such as passport, driving licence or voter ID card, in order to redeem the money sent.
Meanwhile, the ‘sakawa’ boys pose as females to deceive their victims and money is sent to them in the female names they present. In their bid to retrieve the money, they have struck a deal with the lady attendant to circumvent the requirement by not presenting the appropriate identity cards or presenting only the code numbers.
In a practice believed to be widespread, money transfer attendants allegedly demand big percentages before obliging the deal, sometimes to the displeasure of the ‘sakawa’ boys.
A source at Accra New Town, whose lead the Daily Graphic followed to ascertain the deal, said while transacting a business at one of the money transfer outlets at the Accra North Post Office recently, he eavesdropped on a bargain between a suspected ‘sakawa’ boy and a lady at one of the counters on the percentage to pay on the money he was to collect.
The source said he was confused initially because he thought it was the responsibility of the sender, not the receiver, to pay the transfer charges. It was curiosity that made him know that the ‘sakawa’ boy wanted to collect the money in the name of a female.
"The lady told the guy that since he did not bring any ID card the percentage will be higher. After taking my money, I decided to wait a while to watch what went on at that counter. I spent almost three hours there and can you imagine that about 10 boys who came there to pick money were all taking the money in female names? Mr Editor, this lady is making money over there," he wrote to the Daily Graphic.
On a verification mission to the transfer post at the Accra North Post Office, some clients who had gone there to transact business were observed giving money to some of the attendants but the purpose of the gesture was not clear.
Although the financial manager in charge of money transfer at the Accra North Post Office could not immediately confirm or deny the allegation, she indicated that in the past there had been reported misconduct on the part of some of the attendants, for which reason they had been reshuffled.
She said the matter would be investigated, after which appropriate action would be taken.
The particulars on the identity cards presented for collecting money are keyed into a database for purposes of record keeping, but sources at some money transfer outlets said it was difficult to track where a recipient was coming from because once he/she had the code number from the sender and a national identity card, he/she could collect the money at any of the money transfer outlets across the country.
Some of the ‘sakawa’ operatives have also targeted the Ghana Post Company (GPC) as another major conduit for sending messages to and receiving parcels from their victims abroad.
On a daily basis, ‘sakawa’ boys troop to the GPC Headquarters in Accra and other post offices elsewhere to collect large quantities of parcels.
Some workers at the GPC Headquarters confirmed to the Daily Graphic that the ‘sakawa’ boys were always lurking around the vicinity to collect parcels.
The difficulty facing the company, however, is that it cannot determine a fraudulent parcel unless it is based on a tip-off, a fact acknowledged by the Deputy Managing Director (Operations & Development) of the GPC, Mr Nicholas N.Y. Dery.
He said without a tip-off from a sending administration about the fraudulent nature of a parcel, “we will go ahead and deliver”.
Mr Dery cited two instances when the company had to return parcels to the sending units in the US and Canada because they were deemed to have been fraudulently sent.
In the early days of ‘sakawa’, the ‘Swedru boys’, who are widely acknowledged as the pioneers of cyber fraud in Ghana, used the post office as the main conduit for sending large volumes of letters and nude pictures of ladies, mostly scanned from magazines, to their victims abroad.
Some of the ‘sakawa’ boys managed to lure their victims to Ghana, put them in plush hotels, squeezed all the money on them and left them stranded in town.
Security sources at the GPC recalled instances when some of the foreign victims who could not buy air tickets back home had to wander along the corridors of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, hoping for salvation.
In one instance, according to the sources, a white lady who was lured into the country was dispossessed of every money, impregnated and abandoned in misery by ‘sakawa’ boys.
With the passage of time, the use of the post office for correspondence with their victims became unattractive for the ‘sakawa’ boys, as officials of the company began intercepting volumes of the correspondence and, with the collaboration of the police, succeeded in arresting some of the boys.
The Internet, thus, became a safer, faster and more preferred option for the ‘Swedru boys’ and in no time they infested all the major cities of the country with the cyber crime.
The proliferation of Internet cafes, their accessibility and affordability, as well as growing ICT literacy rate among the population and the potential wealth the Internet offers, have all conspired to make online crime a rather daunting task for an emerging ICT country such as Ghana.
While acknowledging the government’s plans to address the problem through the enactment of a Cyber Security Law and the establishment of a Cyber Emergency Response Team as steps in the right direction, an ICT consultant, Mr Kwami Ahiabenu, said, “We have a long way to go in our attempt at resolving this problem.”
He said the security agencies, for instance, lacked resources and capacity to deal with the complex nature of cyber crime in terms of policing online space, making arrests and prosecuting suspects.
He said as of now the situation clearly indicated that Ghana was not prepared for the ICT race, otherwise pre-emptive measures would have been taken, knowing very well that cyber crime was part of the ICT revolution.
The complicity of some policemen in the cyber crime, as exemplified by the recent arrest of a policeman for allegedly defrauding a Namibian of $7,900, and the admission by DSP Felix Mawusi of the CID that the police lacked the capacity and logistics to combat cyber crime underline the enormous security challenge facing the nation.
In their correspondence with victims, the Internet fraudsters also make extensive use of mobile phones, but with the proliferation in the mobile telecommunication industry, cheap mobile handsets and SIM cards, combating the cyber menace appears to be a Herculean task.
Vodafone, a leading telecommunication company in the country, has expressed its willingness to support any initiative that will help to protect juveniles against indulgence in ‘sakawa’.
The Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone, Mr David Venn, said the company had followed with keen interest the concerns raised by Ghanaians over the cyber fraud and promised to support any campaign to ensure that “juveniles who use the Internet to indulge in cyber fraud are exposed and punished in accordance with the law".
East Ayawaso, comprising Nima, parts of Maamobi and New Town, has become very notorious for ‘sakawa’, with children of all ages joining the fray of the ‘get-rich-quick’ syndrome.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
'DEPOLITICISE WORK OF PARLIAMENT' (Pg 14) 04-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
SOME experts on security and human rights have called for the de-politicisation of the work of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) because it is not in the best interest of the nation.
They denounced the practice whereby political activists besiege the premises of the BNI whenever a high-ranking political figure of their party is invited for questioning by the national intelligence body.
One of the experts and former Director of BNI, Mr Kofi Bentum Quantson, who shared his thoughts with the Daily Graphic yesterday, described such actions by political activists as “barbaric”.
Other experts who expressed their opinions on the issue in separate interviews were the Head of Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Department at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre, Dr Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, and a human rights lawyer who pleaded anonymity.
Last Tuesday, a large number of former Ministers of State in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, some Members of Parliament (MPs) and NPP loyalists besieged the premises of the BNI headquarters at Ridge, Accra, in a show of solidarity with a former Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, who was being questioned by BNI officials on "wide range of issues".
The situation was reminiscent of an incident in 2001 when some activists of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stormed the premises of the BNI to also show solidarity with former President Rawlings and the MP for Ningo/Prampram, Mr E.T. Mensah, who were invited by the BNI for questioning.
"It's ridiculous for political parties to behave that way," Mr Quantson said, stating that the law establishing the BNI gave it the mandate to invite and interrogate anybody.
He said if some people had a problem with the law, they should seek a review in Parliament rather than engaging in actions that were not in tune with the law.
Mr Quantson said although Mr Mpiani was invited by the BNI last week, he responded to the invitation at his convenience on Tuesday.
He said it was normal for a new government, after assuming office, to change the leadership of the BNI, but the sanctity of the institution had to be maintained.
Mr Quantson, who is also a former Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, dismissed suggestions that the BNI was usurping the functions of the CID and advised those who made such suggestions to seek knowledge from the law.
He called on stakeholders such as the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the media to educate the public on the mandate of the BNI set out in the National Security Act.
For his part, Dr Aning said people should not read political meaning into the work of the BNI, insisting that the national intelligence body had the right to interrogate anyone it deemed to have questions to answer in the interest of national security.
He said if the political colouring was taken off Mr Mpiani's case, "the BNI has not done anything wrong".
Dr Aning blamed the NDC and the NPP for exerting excessive political influence on the professional performance of the BNI, saying such attitude heightened tension and undermined the trust reposed in the organisation.
He dismissed assertions by some NPP activists that Mr Mpiani's long date with the BNI last Tuesday was tantamount to human rights violation, adding that in 2001 under the administration of the NPP, whose members professed to be adherents of human rights, Mr E.T. Mensah was not just interrogated, but was also detained overnight at the BNI.
Dr Aning said so long as the interrogation of Mr Mpiani did not go beyond 48 hours, it was baseless to raise issues of human rights abuse.
He expressed concern about what he described as the "tit-for-tat" manner the two major political parties, the NDC and the NPP, were applying, meaning, anytime one of them assumed political power, it had to descend on its opponents.
Dr Aning disagreed with the claim that the BNI mandate was too broad, but he said if that was the case, then it was necessary to call a national debate to discuss the issue and for Parliament to review it.
In the opinion of the anonymous human rights lawyer, anyone who disagreed with the work of the BNI should use institutions of state, such as the courts, to seek redress rather than besiege the premises of the BNI.
He, however, contended that the National Security Act gave too broad a mandate to the BNI, arguing that it was not good to vest enormous power in one institution.
The human rights lawyer said although there was nothing wrong with the BNI inviting anyone for interrogation, the process of interrogation could be abusive of a person's human rights.
He said it was not appropriate, for instance, to keep a person idle for a long time before interrogating him/her under conditions of exhaustion and hunger.
That, he said, was because under such conditions, the person would not be able to respond to questions in a manner he/she would normally have done.
SOME experts on security and human rights have called for the de-politicisation of the work of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) because it is not in the best interest of the nation.
They denounced the practice whereby political activists besiege the premises of the BNI whenever a high-ranking political figure of their party is invited for questioning by the national intelligence body.
One of the experts and former Director of BNI, Mr Kofi Bentum Quantson, who shared his thoughts with the Daily Graphic yesterday, described such actions by political activists as “barbaric”.
Other experts who expressed their opinions on the issue in separate interviews were the Head of Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Department at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre, Dr Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, and a human rights lawyer who pleaded anonymity.
Last Tuesday, a large number of former Ministers of State in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, some Members of Parliament (MPs) and NPP loyalists besieged the premises of the BNI headquarters at Ridge, Accra, in a show of solidarity with a former Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, who was being questioned by BNI officials on "wide range of issues".
The situation was reminiscent of an incident in 2001 when some activists of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) stormed the premises of the BNI to also show solidarity with former President Rawlings and the MP for Ningo/Prampram, Mr E.T. Mensah, who were invited by the BNI for questioning.
"It's ridiculous for political parties to behave that way," Mr Quantson said, stating that the law establishing the BNI gave it the mandate to invite and interrogate anybody.
He said if some people had a problem with the law, they should seek a review in Parliament rather than engaging in actions that were not in tune with the law.
Mr Quantson said although Mr Mpiani was invited by the BNI last week, he responded to the invitation at his convenience on Tuesday.
He said it was normal for a new government, after assuming office, to change the leadership of the BNI, but the sanctity of the institution had to be maintained.
Mr Quantson, who is also a former Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, dismissed suggestions that the BNI was usurping the functions of the CID and advised those who made such suggestions to seek knowledge from the law.
He called on stakeholders such as the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the media to educate the public on the mandate of the BNI set out in the National Security Act.
For his part, Dr Aning said people should not read political meaning into the work of the BNI, insisting that the national intelligence body had the right to interrogate anyone it deemed to have questions to answer in the interest of national security.
He said if the political colouring was taken off Mr Mpiani's case, "the BNI has not done anything wrong".
Dr Aning blamed the NDC and the NPP for exerting excessive political influence on the professional performance of the BNI, saying such attitude heightened tension and undermined the trust reposed in the organisation.
He dismissed assertions by some NPP activists that Mr Mpiani's long date with the BNI last Tuesday was tantamount to human rights violation, adding that in 2001 under the administration of the NPP, whose members professed to be adherents of human rights, Mr E.T. Mensah was not just interrogated, but was also detained overnight at the BNI.
Dr Aning said so long as the interrogation of Mr Mpiani did not go beyond 48 hours, it was baseless to raise issues of human rights abuse.
He expressed concern about what he described as the "tit-for-tat" manner the two major political parties, the NDC and the NPP, were applying, meaning, anytime one of them assumed political power, it had to descend on its opponents.
Dr Aning disagreed with the claim that the BNI mandate was too broad, but he said if that was the case, then it was necessary to call a national debate to discuss the issue and for Parliament to review it.
In the opinion of the anonymous human rights lawyer, anyone who disagreed with the work of the BNI should use institutions of state, such as the courts, to seek redress rather than besiege the premises of the BNI.
He, however, contended that the National Security Act gave too broad a mandate to the BNI, arguing that it was not good to vest enormous power in one institution.
The human rights lawyer said although there was nothing wrong with the BNI inviting anyone for interrogation, the process of interrogation could be abusive of a person's human rights.
He said it was not appropriate, for instance, to keep a person idle for a long time before interrogating him/her under conditions of exhaustion and hunger.
That, he said, was because under such conditions, the person would not be able to respond to questions in a manner he/she would normally have done.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
COUNCIL EMBARKS ON PEACE MISSION (Pg24/25) 03-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE National Peace Council (NPC) has embarked on a mission to engage the political leadership in the country in a peace and reconciliation process.
Personalities targeted in the mission are President J.E.A. Mills, former Presidents J.A. Kufuor and J.J. Rawlings and leaders of the various political parties.
In line with the peace and reconciliation mission, the council last Monday held discussions with former President Kufuor at his Airport residence in Accra to discuss pertinent issues of national concern.
Members of the council who attended the meeting were its Chairman and Catholic Bishop of Cape Coast, Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson; the Vice-Chairman and Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, Maulvi Wahab Adam, and a former General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Madam Georgina Baiden.
Also present were the Executive Secretary of the NPC, Mr P.K. Opoku-Mensah, and the Research Officer, Mr Emmanuel Sowatey.
In the run up to the 2008 general election, the NPC initiated moves to engage the country's political leaders in discussions towards promoting peace before, during and after the elections.
One of the highlights of those engagements was a meeting with former President Rawlings at his Ridge residence in Accra on Wednesday, November 17, 2008.
Cardinal Turkson told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the meeting between the council and former President Kufuor was a follow-up to the peace initiatives it had embarked upon before the elections.
"We don't want to wait for elections before promoting peace. We want to keep rapport and rapprochement among them," he indicated.
THE National Peace Council (NPC) has embarked on a mission to engage the political leadership in the country in a peace and reconciliation process.
Personalities targeted in the mission are President J.E.A. Mills, former Presidents J.A. Kufuor and J.J. Rawlings and leaders of the various political parties.
In line with the peace and reconciliation mission, the council last Monday held discussions with former President Kufuor at his Airport residence in Accra to discuss pertinent issues of national concern.
Members of the council who attended the meeting were its Chairman and Catholic Bishop of Cape Coast, Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson; the Vice-Chairman and Ameer and Missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, Maulvi Wahab Adam, and a former General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Madam Georgina Baiden.
Also present were the Executive Secretary of the NPC, Mr P.K. Opoku-Mensah, and the Research Officer, Mr Emmanuel Sowatey.
In the run up to the 2008 general election, the NPC initiated moves to engage the country's political leaders in discussions towards promoting peace before, during and after the elections.
One of the highlights of those engagements was a meeting with former President Rawlings at his Ridge residence in Accra on Wednesday, November 17, 2008.
Cardinal Turkson told the Daily Graphic yesterday that the meeting between the council and former President Kufuor was a follow-up to the peace initiatives it had embarked upon before the elections.
"We don't want to wait for elections before promoting peace. We want to keep rapport and rapprochement among them," he indicated.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
THE SEARCH FOR PEACE IN BAWKU - PRESIDENT'S ROLE SIGNIFICANT (Pg 31) 02-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE personal involvement of President John Evans Atta Mills in the search for peace in Bawku remains significant in spite of last Sunday’s sporadic shooting in the town that resulted in the reported killing of three persons.
The Executive Director of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), Mr Emmanuel Bombande, who made the point, said the President’s personal involvement, particularly by bringing together the leaders of the two factions, was crucial in resolving the conflict and incidents like last Sunday’s shooting should not be allowed to derail the initiative.
“We should not be distracted by this particular incident,” he told the Daily Graphic via telephone from Sweden, where he is a guest facilitator at a Peace Academy.
Mr Bombande said although the President’s intervention was laudable, it was not the end of the matter, and therefore called for a national stakeholders’ meeting involving the Bawku Municipal Assembly, National Security, National Peace Council (NPC), traditional leaders, opinion leaders, and women and youth groups in Bawku to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
He said there was a lot of hope for peace in Bawku but he was quick to add that a lot depended on the two factions to show commitment to the peace process.
At a meeting with the Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, Naba Abugrago Asigri Azoka II, at Bolgatanga last Wednesday, during his two-day visit to the Upper East Region, President Atta Mills reiterated the government’s commitment to the maintenance of peace and stability in Bawku and its surrounding communities.
He appealed to opinion leaders in Bawku to lend their support to the government’s effort to secure peace and security in the area, particularly so because the recurrence of the conflict had adversely impacted on development projects in the area, apart from the huge sums of money the government was spending to maintain peace.
However, while the President’s footprints were still fresh after his departure from Bawku, shooting broke out in some parts of the town, resulting in the killing of three persons as confirmed by the police.
Mr Bombande said there was the need to separate such minor incidents from the President’s peace initiative, adding that, “It’s important to stay focused and ensure that what the President has started works”.
According to him, the masterminds of the violence were armed bandits who tended to exploit the psychology of fear in the people to facilitate their livestock trade.
Mr Bombande blamed the renewed clashes on security lapse, explaining that the similarity between last Sunday’s incident and another one that occurred earlier within the same area raised questions about whether or not the security personnel were on top of their job.
He stressed the need for the security to put their act together to flush out the armed bandits in order to have peace in Bawku.
Mr Bombande said the shooting incidents also confirmed the heavy circulation of small arms in Bawku, which he attributed to the fear generated by the December 2007 clashes.
THE personal involvement of President John Evans Atta Mills in the search for peace in Bawku remains significant in spite of last Sunday’s sporadic shooting in the town that resulted in the reported killing of three persons.
The Executive Director of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), Mr Emmanuel Bombande, who made the point, said the President’s personal involvement, particularly by bringing together the leaders of the two factions, was crucial in resolving the conflict and incidents like last Sunday’s shooting should not be allowed to derail the initiative.
“We should not be distracted by this particular incident,” he told the Daily Graphic via telephone from Sweden, where he is a guest facilitator at a Peace Academy.
Mr Bombande said although the President’s intervention was laudable, it was not the end of the matter, and therefore called for a national stakeholders’ meeting involving the Bawku Municipal Assembly, National Security, National Peace Council (NPC), traditional leaders, opinion leaders, and women and youth groups in Bawku to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
He said there was a lot of hope for peace in Bawku but he was quick to add that a lot depended on the two factions to show commitment to the peace process.
At a meeting with the Paramount Chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, Naba Abugrago Asigri Azoka II, at Bolgatanga last Wednesday, during his two-day visit to the Upper East Region, President Atta Mills reiterated the government’s commitment to the maintenance of peace and stability in Bawku and its surrounding communities.
He appealed to opinion leaders in Bawku to lend their support to the government’s effort to secure peace and security in the area, particularly so because the recurrence of the conflict had adversely impacted on development projects in the area, apart from the huge sums of money the government was spending to maintain peace.
However, while the President’s footprints were still fresh after his departure from Bawku, shooting broke out in some parts of the town, resulting in the killing of three persons as confirmed by the police.
Mr Bombande said there was the need to separate such minor incidents from the President’s peace initiative, adding that, “It’s important to stay focused and ensure that what the President has started works”.
According to him, the masterminds of the violence were armed bandits who tended to exploit the psychology of fear in the people to facilitate their livestock trade.
Mr Bombande blamed the renewed clashes on security lapse, explaining that the similarity between last Sunday’s incident and another one that occurred earlier within the same area raised questions about whether or not the security personnel were on top of their job.
He stressed the need for the security to put their act together to flush out the armed bandits in order to have peace in Bawku.
Mr Bombande said the shooting incidents also confirmed the heavy circulation of small arms in Bawku, which he attributed to the fear generated by the December 2007 clashes.
Monday, June 1, 2009
'SAKAWA' POLICEMAN IDENTIFIED (Pg 19) 30-05-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
A POLICEMAN in uniform and wielding an AK47 rifle was caught in the web of ‘sakawa’ last Wednesday when he and two civilians were arrested for allegedly defrauding a Namibian of $7,900.
The policeman and his civilian accomplices were in the process of collecting another $29,000 from the victim to be used to pay taxes on a so-called $30-million facility which they claimed he could access after the payment of the “taxes” when the police arrested them.
The three suspects managed to lure their victim to Ghana with the intention of defrauding him in a ‘sakawa’ scam that has become notorious in the country recently.
The victim possessed documents, including letterheads bearing the Ghana Coat of Arms, indicating correspondence between him and the suspects through the Internet.
After the victim had arrived in the country, the suspects collected the his passport from him but he declined a hotel accommodation offered by his hosts and arranged for an alternative accommodation.
Later at a meeting with the Namibian, the suspects succeeded in collecting $7,900 from him as part of the tax obligation needed to redeem the $30-million facility.
Subsequently, they attempted to relocate the victim to another hotel, while trying to collect another $29,000 from him, but he became worried when they refused to give his passport back to him.
The Namibian then discussed the issue with the hotel manager who, smelling something fraudulent, asked the victim to feign interest, while they contacted the police.
Following the discussion with the hotel manager, the Namibian informed his hosts that he would need his passport to enable him to check out of the hotel.
So on Wednesday, while the suspects had gone to the hotel to evacuate their guest, police officers in plain clothes swooped on them to effect their arrest.
At the time of their arrest, the policeman involved was waiting in a vehicle they had brought to convey the victim and, according to sources, there was a struggle between the plain cloth policemen and the police suspect as he attempted to resist arrest.
Sources at the CID Headquarters in Accra confirmed the arrest of the three suspects but would not give further details, particularly their identity.
A POLICEMAN in uniform and wielding an AK47 rifle was caught in the web of ‘sakawa’ last Wednesday when he and two civilians were arrested for allegedly defrauding a Namibian of $7,900.
The policeman and his civilian accomplices were in the process of collecting another $29,000 from the victim to be used to pay taxes on a so-called $30-million facility which they claimed he could access after the payment of the “taxes” when the police arrested them.
The three suspects managed to lure their victim to Ghana with the intention of defrauding him in a ‘sakawa’ scam that has become notorious in the country recently.
The victim possessed documents, including letterheads bearing the Ghana Coat of Arms, indicating correspondence between him and the suspects through the Internet.
After the victim had arrived in the country, the suspects collected the his passport from him but he declined a hotel accommodation offered by his hosts and arranged for an alternative accommodation.
Later at a meeting with the Namibian, the suspects succeeded in collecting $7,900 from him as part of the tax obligation needed to redeem the $30-million facility.
Subsequently, they attempted to relocate the victim to another hotel, while trying to collect another $29,000 from him, but he became worried when they refused to give his passport back to him.
The Namibian then discussed the issue with the hotel manager who, smelling something fraudulent, asked the victim to feign interest, while they contacted the police.
Following the discussion with the hotel manager, the Namibian informed his hosts that he would need his passport to enable him to check out of the hotel.
So on Wednesday, while the suspects had gone to the hotel to evacuate their guest, police officers in plain clothes swooped on them to effect their arrest.
At the time of their arrest, the policeman involved was waiting in a vehicle they had brought to convey the victim and, according to sources, there was a struggle between the plain cloth policemen and the police suspect as he attempted to resist arrest.
Sources at the CID Headquarters in Accra confirmed the arrest of the three suspects but would not give further details, particularly their identity.
FIRE SERVICE STRUGGLING (Front page) 01-06-09
Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has been rendered incapable of dealing with many of the fire outbreaks in the country due to the breakdown of most of its fire engines and the only turn-table ladder used by fire fighters to gain access to high structures for rescue operations.
The Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, Divisional Officer III Timothy Osafo-Affum, told this paper in Accra that ideally, every fire station ought to have at least two fire engines and a water tanker, “but as of now, some stations don’t have any fire engine because a lot of them have broken down”.
He said the Kumasi Metropolis, for instance, required about 10 fire engines but had only four and that accounted for the difficulty in fighting last Thursday’s inferno at the Kumasi Central Market.
According to him, fire engines had to be mobilised from Ejisu, Konongo and Obuasi.
Mr Osafo-Affum said there were only four fire engines serving eight fire stations in Accra” and so if there is any major fire outbreak in Accra, it will be difficult to fight it”.
Since 2003, when the GNFS took delivery of a fleet of fire engines, the service has been struggling to put its fire engines on the road, at least to give a signal of their presence in times of fire outbreaks.
At the moment, the GNFS is counting on a $50-million facility approved by Parliament last year for the acquisition of fire equipment, including fire engines.
Mr Osafo-Affum said an ideal situation would be to have two fire-fighting helicopters, one in the north and the other in the south, but he was quick to ask; “Even the Ghana Air Force, how many aeroplanes do they have?”
The Fire Precaution (Premises) Regulation, 2003 (LI 1724) makes it mandatory for all public buildings to have fire safety facilities, such as escape routes, fire detection systems and fire suppression systems.
Mr Osafo-Affum said logistical constraints, coupled with lack of access to fire spots, particularly markets, posed a major challenge to the service.
The GNFS has recorded six fire outbreaks at markets throughout the country this year with last Thursday’s Kumasi Central Market disaster being the most devastating.
The other infernos were recorded at Asafo Market and Moro Market, both in Kumasi, and Krofofrom Market, all in the Ashanti Region and the Kaneshie and Konkomba Markets in Accra.
In all those instances, one major difficulty fire fighters had to contend with was lack of access to the markets.
Mr Osafo-Affum said in the Kumasi Central Market fire outbreak, for instance, a bulldozer had to demolish some of the structures to enable fire fighters to get access to the seat of fire because there were no demarcated lanes to allow fire engines to gain access.
He said the GNFS had recommended the creation of alleys, decongestion and segregation at the markets to enhance easy access to fire engines in times of fire.
Mr Osafo-Affum said the segregation of the markets meant the grouping of traders who sold similar items in particular locations, pointing out that if the items were mixed up, it made the raging of fire very fierce.
He said five years ago, the GNFS recommended to district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies to provide fire wardens at marketplaces to ensure fire safety, but the assemblies had not done anything about it.
THE Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has been rendered incapable of dealing with many of the fire outbreaks in the country due to the breakdown of most of its fire engines and the only turn-table ladder used by fire fighters to gain access to high structures for rescue operations.
The Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GNFS, Divisional Officer III Timothy Osafo-Affum, told this paper in Accra that ideally, every fire station ought to have at least two fire engines and a water tanker, “but as of now, some stations don’t have any fire engine because a lot of them have broken down”.
He said the Kumasi Metropolis, for instance, required about 10 fire engines but had only four and that accounted for the difficulty in fighting last Thursday’s inferno at the Kumasi Central Market.
According to him, fire engines had to be mobilised from Ejisu, Konongo and Obuasi.
Mr Osafo-Affum said there were only four fire engines serving eight fire stations in Accra” and so if there is any major fire outbreak in Accra, it will be difficult to fight it”.
Since 2003, when the GNFS took delivery of a fleet of fire engines, the service has been struggling to put its fire engines on the road, at least to give a signal of their presence in times of fire outbreaks.
At the moment, the GNFS is counting on a $50-million facility approved by Parliament last year for the acquisition of fire equipment, including fire engines.
Mr Osafo-Affum said an ideal situation would be to have two fire-fighting helicopters, one in the north and the other in the south, but he was quick to ask; “Even the Ghana Air Force, how many aeroplanes do they have?”
The Fire Precaution (Premises) Regulation, 2003 (LI 1724) makes it mandatory for all public buildings to have fire safety facilities, such as escape routes, fire detection systems and fire suppression systems.
Mr Osafo-Affum said logistical constraints, coupled with lack of access to fire spots, particularly markets, posed a major challenge to the service.
The GNFS has recorded six fire outbreaks at markets throughout the country this year with last Thursday’s Kumasi Central Market disaster being the most devastating.
The other infernos were recorded at Asafo Market and Moro Market, both in Kumasi, and Krofofrom Market, all in the Ashanti Region and the Kaneshie and Konkomba Markets in Accra.
In all those instances, one major difficulty fire fighters had to contend with was lack of access to the markets.
Mr Osafo-Affum said in the Kumasi Central Market fire outbreak, for instance, a bulldozer had to demolish some of the structures to enable fire fighters to get access to the seat of fire because there were no demarcated lanes to allow fire engines to gain access.
He said the GNFS had recommended the creation of alleys, decongestion and segregation at the markets to enhance easy access to fire engines in times of fire.
Mr Osafo-Affum said the segregation of the markets meant the grouping of traders who sold similar items in particular locations, pointing out that if the items were mixed up, it made the raging of fire very fierce.
He said five years ago, the GNFS recommended to district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies to provide fire wardens at marketplaces to ensure fire safety, but the assemblies had not done anything about it.
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