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Chaos as Mills halts payments
KOMIATE on 02/08/2009 at 8:08pm (UTC) | | | A storm has erupted over the payment of ex-gratia award to ex-President J.A. Kufuor in the last few days,on the blind side of President Atta Mills.
The Chronicle learnt that the authorization for the release of funds through the Accountant General had been authorized by Togbe Afede and has sparked off massive tongue-wagging within the corridors of power.
The man known in private life as Mr. James Akpo currently chairs the Transition Team Committee on the economy, and has been given powers to release monies for urgent disbursements, but this action of the man has incurred suspicion about the man whose personal relations with the former President is widely known to be chummy especially.
He went on to the Board of the Bank of Ghana along with other presidential friends like Messrs Nick Amartefio and Kwabena Darko, a strong member of the NPP and the latter, a former Presidential candidate of the National independent Party, and a Reverend Minister.
Togbe Afede's membership of the NDC has remained clearly private, but he was a prime mover in the formation of Databank which was with current chairman Mr. Ken Ofori Atta in 1990, but split up with him going on to form Strategic African Securities(SAS) around 1994.
While Mr. Ofori Atta had remained a bulwark in the NPP, Togbe Afede had remained very aloof with his political proclivities, spawning a rash of papers on macro economics and calculations of gross domestic Product.
In 2008, he touched off a massive row with Dr. Charles Mensah and the Volta River Authority (VRA) over the citing of an energy plant from China on land he believed had been ceded him by the chief and people of Kpong.
President Kufuor waded in the matter and had him relocate his plant to a suitable location, thus earning the friendship of President Kufuor.
'Maybe it was this gesture which has endeared him to Kufuor, and influenced his decision to single-handedly authorize the payment of the award which is the single most important issue that is awaiting decision by the President'.
'This places the President in an awkward position', said a source close to the transition team which is now dissolved but still functions at the conference centre," there is a lot of commotion over this ex-grazia award and the president is waiting to take a decision on it, what impression will be created in the mind of people if he is known to have taken a decision such as this'.
On Tuesday the Committee of Joint Action, a Kwesi Pratt sponsored organ, hit the streets demanding a Presidential review of the award. Some MPs have come out to say they will review the package, and Hon P.C Ofori has threatened legal action.
In the midst of this President Mills has put a freeze on all such payments, ex-gratia or not while things are sorted out.
At the same time Mr. Frank Agyekum, the director of Communications of the Office former President President Kufuor was quoted in the Ghanaian Times of Tuesday as saying that since January 2006, both ex-President Kufuor and ex-President Rawlings have been drawing the enhanced emoluments and the associated benefits.
But this was contradicted by Mr. Kofi Adams special aide to the former President who noted that as much Rawlings drew his regular pension, he has rejected the special package awarded under the Chinery Hesse committee.
The freeze on payments appeared to have affected the MPs as well as the directive was said to have been issued by the Bank of Ghana on behalf of the Transition team.
Dr. Kwabena Dufuor was said to be locked in a series a meeting with a visiting delegation from the International Monetary Fund.
Togbe Afede who is in the storm over the release of funds has been cited to be in the running for the job of Governor of the Central Bank.
Sources say that his temperamental attitude does not sit well with most people. The current Governor whose term of office draws nigh does not seem to be on the best of terms with him.
The soft spoken Governor, according to sources who know them, say that Acquah been every so laid back in releasing timely internal information of the Bank's data to him because of fears that SAS, Afede's company could be a potential arbitrageur. His company trades on the Ghana Stock Exchange, and he could be a beneficiary of such sensitive banking information.
Suspicions abound around him because of his obvious conflict of interest situation he find himself in as an investment banker whose insider knowledge of financial information from the Bank of Ghana will give advantage over others who dabble in stocks and shares on the Ghanaian bourse.
Source: AllAfrica
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U.N. Chief Visits Iraq, Praises Progress
komiate on 02/06/2009 at 6:06pm (UTC) | | | BAGHDAD -- The U.N. secretary-general said Friday that provincial elections were an important step toward full democracy but told Iraqis they still have work to do before they can "enjoy genuine freedom and security and prosperity."
Ban Ki-moon made his second visit to Iraq as U.N. chief a day after official preliminary results showed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's allies swept to victory in the vote for powerful local councils, an endorsement of his crackdown on extremism and violence.
"You have come such a long way, but still you have to go a far way to say that you will fully be able to enjoy genuine freedom and security and prosperity," he said during a meeting in Baghdad with President Jalal Talabani. He also met with Mr. Maliki.
U.N. representatives worked closely with the Iraqis in preparing for the balloting, in which voters chose provincial officials in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Mr. Ban said the U.N. would continue to provide technical or political assistance as needed. "I'm very much encouraged by what you have achieved," he said.
Mr. Ban also stopped in Afghanistan on Thursday and urged U.S. and NATO-led forces to prevent civilian casualties in their operations.
Last Saturday's elections in Iraq were the first nationwide balloting since December 2005 and went off relatively peacefully. Mr. Maliki's impressive showing in Baghdad and eight other provinces, which must be certified by international and Iraqi observers, places the prime minister in a strong position before parliamentary elections late this year and could bolster U.S. confidence that it can begin withdrawing more of its 140,000 troops.
Mr. Ban's meeting with Mr. Maliki come under different circumstances than their last meeting in March 2007 when a nearby rocket attack forced him to duck behind a podium during a joint press conference in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone. Violence is down sharply since last year after a U.S.-Iraqi offensive broke the power of Shiite militias and after many Sunni gunmen abandoned the insurgency. U.S. military death tolls have fallen to a fraction of levels seen at the height of the war.
The relatively violence-free elections won praise from Mr. Ban, President Barack Obama and others, though tensions have been running high in the former insurgent-stronghold of Anbar where a leading sheik, Ahmed Abu Risha, has accused his Sunni rivals of rigging the election.
A Shiite cleric loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also told worshippers Friday that "fraud took place during the elections," railing against those who spent millions of dollars on their campaigns.
"Let the people in Sadr City hear about this huge amount of money spent on publicity while they live without water or electricity," Sheik Muhannad al-Moussawi said during a sermon in Baghdad's main Shiite district. Worshippers burned American and Israeli flags in the streets after the prayer service.
Other Shiite and Sunni preachers called for unity and urged the new provincial councils to work to provide much-needed basic services. "This country has suffered so much from wrong policies and from those who have made religion a cover for their acts," Sheik Ahmed Hassan al-Taha said during prayer services at Baghdad's main Sunni mosque.
Ahmed al-Safi, an aide to the country's pre-eminent Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, warned those who won their elections not to make people regret voting for them.
"If we are to serve the citizens, these relations must be good," he said.
Meanwhile, Iraq's state minister of women's affairs, Nawal al-Samarraie, said Friday that she submitted her resignation this week over what she calls a lack of support for the widows and other women facing great hardship in the wartorn country. She said she was waiting for a response from the prime minister's office. Tens of thousands of women have been left widows by Iraq's violence. They have virtually no safety net and few job opportunities and usually depend on extended families. | | | |
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MAAME DOKONO,S ORPHANAGE CLOSED DOWN.
komiate on 02/06/2009 at 6:02pm (UTC) | | | The Peace & Love Orphanage belonging to Maame Dokono has been closed down after an eight year old boy allegedly sodomised a six month old baby.
The Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Police say the action was meant to protect the inmates of the orphanage.
Chief Inspector Irene Oppong, Public Relations Officer of DOVVSU told Joy News the orphanage was operating illegally.
According to her, the license of the orphanage expired in March 2006 and had since not been renewed.
Officials of DOVVSU on Thursday stormed the orphanage to invite Grace Omaboe for questioning, but a scuffle ensued in what Inspector Oppong said was triggered by insults from Ms Omaboe.
But this has been denied by the actor and gender activist.
Maame Dokono claimed attempts were made by the officials to forcibly arrest her even though she had informed them of her willingness to come to the office with her lawyer.
She suspects her ordeal is politically motivated.
Grace Omaboe popularly called Maame Dokono had been with the NDC but decided to cross carpet to the then ruling NPP which lost the last election.
She thinks the closure of the orphanage is an attempt to teach her a lesson.
Inspector Irene Oppong said her outfit has preferred charges of exposing child to harm against Maame Dokono as stipulated by the Children's Act.
This is because under the ACT, a person under 12 years cannot be charged with a criminal offence but rather the parent or guardian of the child.
Protests
Myjoyonline Ghana News Photos |
A bus load of NPP activists led by Ms Frances Assiam on Thursday stormed the headquarters of DOVVSU to protest the alleged detention of Maame Dokono.
Maame Dokono was held for questioning after she voluntarily appeared in the offices of DOVVSU.
Speaking to the media, Ms Assiam said the protestation was in solidarity to a colleague who has been unjustly held by the police.
She warned the NPP is not going to countenance acts of intimidation by the government on perceived sympathizers of NPP and called on the Acting IGP Mrs Mills Robertson to be up and doing.
Meanwhile, a lawyer, Dave Kwarteng told Joy News Maame Dokono can only be held liable for the offence of sodomy if it can be proven she abetted or conspired to have the offence committed.
The best thing to do is to close down the orphanage, he advised.
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Bid to trim Obama's stimulus plan
komiate on 02/06/2009 at 5:59pm (UTC) | | | US senators are reviewing President Barack Obama's $900bn (£616bn) economic stimulus package to try to cut costs.
Moderate Democrat and Republican senators have argued that the plan should be trimmed by up to $90bn before it is voted through.
Mr Obama has warned the economic crisis could become a "catastrophe".
The president said that if Congress failed to pass his stimulus package, the resulting recession could destroy five million US jobs.
Speaking at a meeting of Democrats from the House of Representatives, Mr Obama said: "They didn't vote for the status quo; they sent us here to bring change. We owe it to them to deliver."
'Trim the fat'
Bipartisan talks resumed on Friday.
The New York Times reported that the cuts included $40bn in aid for states, more than $14bn for various education programmes, $4.1bn to make federal buildings energy efficient and $1.5bn for broadband internet service in rural areas.
Democratic senator Mary Landrieu, one of those involved, said the group had "trimmed out some of the fat".
SENATE BILL: KEY POINTS
Tax cuts for working families: $247bn
Job-creating investments in infrastructure and science: $165bn
Job-creating investments in health: $153bn
Job-creating investments in education and training: $138bn
Job-creating investments for an energy independent America: $82bn
Job-creating investments tax cuts for small businesses: $21bn
Helping Americans hit hard by the economic crisis: $72bn
Source: Senate Appropriations Committee
Q&A: Stimulus plan
She told the Associated Press news agency that the senators had then added extra infrastructure spending.
On Thursday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was "cautiously optimistic" that the bipartisan group would reach a deal by the end of Friday.
If not, he said he would call for a vote on Sunday, aimed at moving to a final vote.
The House of Representatives approved its version of the package last week, worth $825bn, without any Republican support.
The two different versions of the bill will then have to be reconciled in a joint House-Senate committee before facing a final vote.
About one-third of the package being considered is composed of tax relief, with the rest devoted to spending on infrastructure projects.
Broadly, Republicans want more tax relief and less spending, and they complain that some projects would do little to stimulate the economy or create jobs.
Democrats say the spending Republicans are calling wasteful amounts to a tiny percentage of the overall package.
It comes amid another batch of gloomy economic figures.
The labour department said the number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits had hit a 26-year high last week.
And figures published on Friday showed that nearly 600,000 private sector jobs were purged last month, the worst monthly figure since 1974. | | | |
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OBAMA DENOUNCES STIMULUS HOLD-UP
tetteh fio on 02/06/2009 at 5:55pm (UTC) | | |
Obama denounces stimulus hold-up
Barack Obama: 'The situation could not be more serious'
US President Barack Obama has said the Senate's delay in passing his $900bn (£616bn) economic stimulus package is "inexcusable and irresponsible".
He described the economic situation as "an urgent and growing crisis", which could become "a catastrophe" if the Senate failed to act.
The bill includes measures to cut taxes and invest in job creation.
Moderate Democrat and Republican senators have argued that the plan should be trimmed by up to $90bn.
'Echo chamber'
Mr Obama described as "devastating" the news that nearly 600,000 Americans lost their jobs in January.
"The situation could not be more serious. These numbers demand action," he said.
Mr Obama's remarks came as he unveiled a new board of economic advisers, chaired by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve.
"I created this board to enlist voices that come from beyond the echo chamber of Washington DC," said Mr Obama, "and to ensure that no stone is unturned as we work to put people back to work and to get our economy moving."
SENATE BILL: KEY POINTS
Tax cuts for working families: $247bn
Job-creating investments in infrastructure and science: $165bn
Job-creating investments in health: $153bn
Job-creating investments in education and training: $138bn
Job-creating investments for an energy independent America: $82bn
Job-creating investments tax cuts for small businesses: $21bn
Helping Americans hit hard by the economic crisis: $72bn
Source: Senate Appropriations Committee
Q&A: Stimulus plan
The Senate is likely to vote on the stimulus bill later on Friday, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Moderate senators from both parties have been holding talks in an effort to find common ground on the package.
About one-third of the bill is currently composed of tax relief, with the rest devoted to spending on infrastructure projects.
Republicans and some centrist Democrats are keen to reduce the number of spending commitments in the bill, and without their support the bill may not have enough votes to pass in the Senate.
The House of Representatives approved its version of the package last week, worth $825bn, without any Republican support.
If the Senate gives its approval to the bill, the two different versions will then have to be reconciled in a joint House-Senate committee before facing a final vote.
President Obama has said he wants the passage of the bill to be completed by 16 February. | | | |
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