Welcome to Aziz Amankwah Boateng's Blog: July 2017

EC are said to be neck deep in the confusion

The Sword of Damocles is hanging over the heads of the three top figures of the Electoral Commission (EC), as President Nana Akufo-Addo has referred two more petitions to the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, invoking the provisions of Article 146(3) of the Constitution.

President Akufo-Addo on Friday referred the petitions against the two deputy chairpersons of the EC, Georgina Opoku-Amankwa, and Amadu Sulley, to Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo.

The two are said to be neck deep in the confusion that has rocked the EC following accusations and counter accusations between them on one hand and the Chairperson, Charlotte Osei.

A petition against Ms. Osei demanding her impeachment had earlier been sent to the CJ by the president.

She had been accused of corruption, maladministration and gross incompetence by some staff of the EC.

According to the staff, the EC boss lacks the managerial skills needed to lead the commission.

Last week the president referred the petition against Charlotte Osei to the Chief Justice for

Jeff Bezos, the owner of online retail giant Amazon.com, briefly held the top spot as the world’s richest person earlier on Thursday when his personal wealth surpassed $91 billion.

Bezos briefly beat out Bill Gates, the 61-year-old co-founder of Microsoft Corp, who has held the top spot since May 2013, with $90 billion.

But Bezos quickly slipped to second best when Amazon reported its second quarter earnings showing a profit of $197 million on strong sales of $38 billion.

The dip in profit is a 77 per cent drop from $857 million this time last year, and it’s mainly due to Amazon’s aggressive investments in its own business.

Around 9.30am on Thursday, shares of Amazon.com jumped 1.8 per cent to $1,071.31 in New York, pushing Bezos’ personal wealth to over $91 billion.

Bloomberg noted that if shares of Amazon.com maintained to the end of

The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto on Thursday told parliament that the government has so far spent GH¢157,023,174.00 on its ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme in the southern sector and the three northern regions.

He said out of the amount, GH¢24,963,981.00 has been spent on improved seeds, especially for the production of maize, rice, soyabean, sorghum, tomato, onion and pepper, while GH¢132,059,193.00 has been spent on fertilizer and haulage or distribution of fertilizer to the farmers.

He said so far, 188,338 farmers and potential farmers have been registered under the scheme, out of the targeted 750,000 opportunities to be provided for the prospective farmers, particularly the youth. He disclosed that this year the ministry’s target is to register 200.000 farmers.

Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who was responding to a question filed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South, Eric Opoku, on the status of the programme and expenditure so far made, said that the government plans to inject about

Former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey, has advised current managers of the Ghanaian economy to be careful of demons that hover around public policy lapses and destroy fiscal consolidation.

According to him, these demons have for decades worked as hard as the builders. Lack of focus on economic growth, he says, gives the demons room to operate.

He was speaking to a packed audience in Accra at the launch of a 320-page book entitled, Africa in Search of Prosperity – Ishmael Yamson’s Essays on Development Economics, Business, Finance and Economic Growth. It was launched by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

The book was edited by Ivor Agyeman-Duah – a visiting associate professor and director of the Wole Soyinka Foundation at the University of Johannesburg and Pof. Bill Buenar Puplampu, Vice Chancellor of Central University in Accra. It has two forewords from Lynda Baroness Chalker of Wallasey and former Minister for Africa, British and the Commonwealth Office

Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak has condemned the raiding of the home of former Minister of Power, John Jinapor by some security operatives.

“To just run into their homes with guns…. Some of them have young ones… What kind of impression are you creating? I do not think that is right,” Mr. Muntaka said on Eyewitness News.

Two of the police men effecting the raid were reported to have been armed with AK 47 assault rifles. They were in search of documents related to the controversial AMERI contract.

Mr. Jinapor, the MP for Yapei Kusawgu, was on his way to Parliament when he was detained and held for about two hours.

Member of Parliament for Kpandai, Matthew Nyindam sided with Mr. Muntaka’s position , saying Members of Parliament should be accorded some respect.

“If you look at the 1992 constitution, it gives Members of Parliament some privileges and immunities. Not that we are too special and for that matter we are better than any other Ghanaian but ..no Member of Parliament can commit a crime and run. If someone does something wrong and the law has to

A former deputy Power Minister and Member of Parliament for the MP for Yapei Kusawgu, John Jinapor’s says his two children were left traumatized by the Friday morning police raid on his home for documents pertaining to the 2015 AMERI deal.

His Tema home was stormed by five police, two of them armed and three others in plain clothes, and the MP felt the security personnel “didn’t need to go to that extent… I don’t think it is proper to besiege my house.”

Speaking after the incident, Mr. Jinapor narrated to Citi News that when he was about to leave home for Parliament, “five policemen, two of

President Akufo-Addo exchanging pleasantries with some military officers at the ceremony in Accra

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday witnessed the ceremonial change of the guard at the presidency – Flagstaff House.

The quarterly ceremonial parade is a colonial legacy inherited from the British and similar to that of the Buckingham Palace, the seat of the British Empire (United Kingdom).

Instituted on May 5, 2013, the change of guard is conducted with 20 each of

Ghana’s electricity sub-sector will soon have an oversight body regulating its activities, as envisaged in a Legislative Instrument passed by Parliament in 2008.

Officials of the Energy Ministry say the Electricity Market Oversight Panel (EMOP)
would among others, seek to monitor the general performance of electricity transmission, ensure smooth and efficient operation of the wholesale electricity market, monitor pre-dispatch schedules and ensure long-term optimisation of

US President Donald Trump says transgender people cannot serve in “any capacity” in the military.

He tweeted that he had consulted with military experts and cited “tremendous medical costs and disruption”.

The Obama administration decided last year to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military.

But in June, Defence Secretary James Mattis agreed to a six-month delay in the recruitment of transgender people.

Some Republicans have voiced opposition to allowing transgender people to serve at all.

The independent Rand Corporation estimated in 2016 that 2,450 of the 1.2 million active-duty service members are

The Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill has been withdrawn from Parliament by government following calls by the minority.

The Parliamentary, Constitutional and Legal Committee of Parliament last week rejected a request by government for the office of the Special Prosecutor’s Bill to be passed under a certificate of urgency.

The committee recommended the

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has today, Wednesday July 26, 2017, referred the petition seeking to impeach the chairperson of the Electoral Commission Charlotte Osei to the Chief Justice.

Some faceless staff of the Election Management Body have petitioned President Akufo-Addo to impeach Mrs. Osei over misconduct and abuse of office.

“Whilst the President was out of the country, the office of the President received a petition, initially undated and unsigned, against the Chairperson of

The latest salvo in the growing rift within the Electoral Commission (EC) saw the deputy Chairperson of the commission in charge of Corporate Services, Georgina Opoku Amankwah, accuse her boss, Charlotte Osei, of being unfit to head the EC.

“In my view, the chairperson rather lacks the requisite managerial skills in public administration. This needs no elucidation since the current leadership style is publicly evident,” Mrs. Amankwah stated in a 25-point response to the Council of State concerning claims of corruption and recalcitrance made against

The two top Electoral Commission (EC) officials caught up in the alleged corruption scandal continue to trade accusations.

The Chairperson of the EC, Charlotte Osei, dropped a bombshell over the weekend when she accused her deputy in-charge of Operations, Amadu Sulley, of collecting about GH¢6 million from political parties without recourse to the commission.

Mrs Osei, who has been accused of abuse of office and corruption by some unnamed EC staff, said in her response to the petition asking for her

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye has approved an urgent motion filed by the Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa, K.T Hammond for the government to reverse its decision on the AMERI power agreement.

The motion has since been tabled for debate by Members of Parliament.

K.T Hammond, who was the ranking member of the Energy Committee of Parliament in 2015 when the deal was approved, filed an urgent motion seeking the reversal of the

The Deputy General Secretary of the opposition party National Democratic Congress (NDC) Koku Anyidoho said the allegations levelled against the EC Officials on corruption scandal are personal issues between the officials.

He said, "Madam Georgina Opoku Amankwah and Madam Charlotte Osei was in the same class in Lagon and they were my seniors in school and the late President Atta Mills got

Four bodies have been retrieved from a galamsey pit at Pentransa in the Asante Akyem Central Municipality in the Ashanti Region.

The illegal mining pit collapsed on Sunday night killing small-scale miners who were within its belly at the time.

It is not clear how many more people have been trapped in the pit but local journalist Akua Adepa Agyemang told ClassFMonline.com that

Businessman, Alfred Woyome, was given a break in court on Monday, July 24, so he could take some medication during his oral examination on how he intends to repay the GHc 51 million wrongfully paid to him as judgment debt.

During the oral examination conducted by a Deputy Attorney General, Godfred Dame, Mr. Woyome’s lawyer, Ken Anku, asked for permission for his client to take his medication saying his client was not in

Five years after the demise of former President John Atta Mills, his only surviving son, Sam Atta Mills, has said he has still not seen the autopsy report of his father.

“The hospital never gave any autopsy report to show that this or that was the reason why he passed away so I don’t think any member of my family would be able to give evidence on what happened or what caused his death…I have not

Barring any last-minute hitches, the Attorney General (AG) and the Minister of Justice, is today expected to orally examine National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, over the GH¢51.2 million judgement debt he received from the State.

This follows the dismissal of an application filed by lawyers of the embattled businessman at Supreme Court last week seeking to temporarily halt the examination.

The three-member panel of judges presided over by Justice William Atuguba had held that the matter before the court had been settled by

Chop! Chop in EC, Charlotte Osei confirmed the petitioners are from the office.

The infighting that has rocked the Electoral Commission (EC) is getting nastier by the day with revelations that some of the commissioners are neck deep in corrupt practices, including inflating contract sums.

Since some unnamed staff of the commission petitioned the president to initiate impeachment proceedings against the Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, serious allegations of abuse of office and corruption continue to be traded among the top hierarchy of the

Indications are that there has been no support from the Akufo-Addo administration towards the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the death of President John Evans Atta Mills, who was the first Ghanaian Head of State to die in office on July 24, 2012.

In a Citi News interview, Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, said he was not aware of any involvement from the government.

onetheless, some friends and associates of the Atta Mills will commemorate the anniversary with some activities of their own, starting with a meeting at the

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has removed the wanted tag on Roland Agambire and has also re-opened his locked office for business.

The office of ACI Construction Company Limited, a subsidiary of Agams Holdings, was re-opened for business last Thursday by the tax authority following the resolution of inconclusive tax issues with the company.

The National Coordinator for the Task Force at the GRA, Henry Sam, who disclosed this, said the decision to re-open the company for business followed a meeting with

New figures from the Bank of Ghana(BoG) has shown that the country’s total public debt as at May this year has hit GHS137.2 billion.

By this, the debt-to-GDP ratio is now at 67.5%. This was contained in the economic and financial data released by the central bank at the end of its Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

According to the report, the debt stock increased by GHS9.4 billion in three months from GHS127.8 billion to

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei has accused the Deputy Commissioner in-charge of Operations at the EC, Amadu Sulley of bagging some GHC 6 million from political parties without informing the Commission’s Finance Department.

Charlotte Osei in response to a petition filed by employees at the Commission said: “The Deputy Chair Operations collected above funds six million Ghana cedis in cash from political parties for the organization of party primaries without recourse to the structures of the Commission, without the involvement of the finance department of the

A former deputy Minister for Power, John Jinapor has said that he is not perturbed about a proposal for the government to reverse the controversial AMERI power deal passed in 2015.

According to him, the previous government approved the Bill based on its understanding of all the information it had about it.

Mr. Jinapor was reacting to a move by the Adansi Asokwa Member of Parliament, K. T Hammond, who has filed an urgent motion in Parliament to get government to rescind the approval of

The leader and founder of the All Peoples Congress (APC), Mr Hassan Ayariga has waded into the discussions on the petition asking for the removal of the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei and questioned why the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has jumped to the defence of Mrs Osei.

“My concern is I don’t understand why the NDC is defending the EC boss and asking the president not to do witch-hunting,” Mr Ayariga said in a

FIVE ARMED robbers have been jailed a total of 150 years with hard labour by the Ashaiman circuit court in the Greater Accra Region.

They were slapped with 30 years’ imprisonment each by the court, presided over by Gabriel Mate-Teye, in connection with a robbery case which took place at Zenu in the Kpone-Katamansu District.

They were charged on two counts of conspiracy to

Embattled Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei, has fought back her accusers, saying they have evil agenda.

A litany of allegations have been leveled against Mrs Osei, including spending GH¢3.9 million to partition an office and receiving a Toyota Land Cruiser from the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, as well as attending Cabinet meetings under

The petition sent to the presidency by unnamed staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) against the Chairperson, Charlotte Osei, is bringing out interesting issues and perceived rot at the commission.

Insatiable Taste

The petitioners, who are being led by their counsel, Maxwell Opoku-Agyemang, are claiming that the EC boss spent gargantuan GH¢3.9 million to arrange a new office complex, they insist, she unilaterally took from the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

“As part of compromising her

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is seeking finality in the petition sent to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on the $2.25 billion bond by a National Democratic Congress (NDC) activist.

Mr Ofori-Atta has charged CHRAJ to expedite action on the matter to establish whether or not he contravened any provision of the 1992 Constitution in the public offer of the $2.25 billion bond as being alleged by the opposition NDC.

He is therefore, requesting the

The Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Charlotte Osei has rubbished allegations of financial malfeasance leveled against her by some employees of the Commission.

The employees have accused Mrs. Osei of corruption, breaching public procurement regulations and disregarding administrative procedures in her management of the electoral body.

They therefore petitioned the President to dismiss her.

But Mrs Osei in a rebuttal dismissed these claims , saying they were a “product of an overactive evil imagination.”

“The political motive hunting would not serve the greater purpose. The ‘motiveless malignity’ behind this

The Abeka Sanitation and Motor Magistrate court on Monday fined 21 people GHc720 each or default serve a six months imprisonment each for dumping refuse at unauthorized places on the Lapaz section of the N1 Highway contrary to section 56(a) and (b) of Act 851, Public Health Act (2012).

All the accused persons are residents of Lapaz and its environs within the Okaikoi North Sub – metro of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA).

The Magistrate, Mrs Victoria Ghansah cautioned that, persons who flout sanitation laws would be given severe sanctions to serve

An Accra High Court General Jurisdiction 5 has dismissed an application brought to it by Nana Obiri Boahen, Abronye and David Asante to dismiss a defamation suit brought before it by the National Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Kofi Adams.

The presiding judge dismissed their application and slapped them with a cost of GH¢3,000.00

The court said it was surprised that they couldn’t “notice” the clear and adequate particulars the plaintiff pleaded plus the reliefs sought before they filed the motion to ask the court to strike out the case for allegedly not disclosing a cause of action.

The court held that the plaintiff had made more than sufficient references to the specific allegations, the dates and times they were made and the specific radio/media platforms on which the allegations were made by defendants against plaintiff.

The second claim of non-payment of required fees is equally not sustainable and even if that were the case, the plaintiff would be made to pay a top-up.

In any case, the rules of court do not support the

The Supreme Court has dismissed the application filed by National Democratic Congress (NDC) businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, seeking to temporarily halt his oral examination by the Attorney General over the GH¢51.2 mllion paid to him by the state as judgement debt.

According to the three-member panel of judges presided over by Justice William Atuguba, the matter before the court had been settled by CI 98, 2016.

The justices stated that the application was misconceived and accordingly dismissed it.

Lawyers of the businessman had dashed to the court urging the ‘three wise men’ to vary, discharge or reverse the decision by the sole judge – Justice A. A. Benin – granting the request of the state to orally quiz Mr. Woyome over the controversial cash.

Order

The judge had also placed an embargo on the shares owned by the businessman in 11 companies, following his indebtedness to the state.

Shares affected include those in

The District Chief Executive for the Garu-Tempane in the Upper East Region, Emmanuel Asore Avoka, says the collapsed bridge over the Tamale River, will lock up a lots of food stuff at the Farm gates and affect the Assembly’s Internally Generated Funds.

On Friday, July 14, the bridge collapsed when an articulated truck with registration number GT 2758 -12, loaded with bags of Soya Beans from Garu to Kumasi was crossing it.

The truck with the load, hung on one side of the bridge after the collapse. Some 200 bags of the Soya Beans could not be saved because they fell into the river. The Driver and his mate, according to the District Chief Executive are safe.

Visit to the district three days after the collapse of the Tamale Bridge, revealed that, many commercial activities have almost come to a halt, as traders who hitheto traveled to Bawku to buy

The Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid has hinted government may have to accept the 43 vehicles ordered by the erstwhile Mahama regime, if it is established that there was a proper contract.

Currently in transit in Dubai, the vehicles were ordered a few days before the then government left office.

Speaking on the Point Blank segment of Eyewitness News, Mr. Hamid said government will accept the vehicles if it discovers the contract was transparent enough.

“The last time I spoke with National Security, they were in talks with the importer. I think that if the contract to buy these cars was awarded transparently, nothing wrong with the transaction, and they have been bought with state money I think in my view, we will have to take them,” said Mr. Hamid.

Mr. Hamid also clarified that the said moratorium placed on the purchase of vehicles by

A Deputy Minister of Finance Kweku Kwarteng has defended government’s decision to borrow exceedingly more than the previous government six months into office.

He said government has been compelled to borrow more in order to defray the debt the Mahama government left behind.

Dr. Mahammudu Bawumia at Monday’s press interaction justified government’s quest to borrow more

Some aggrieved employees of the Electoral Commission (EC) have petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to dismiss the Chairperson of the Commission, Charlotte Osei.

The employees in a statement insisted Mrs. Osei should be impeached for among others, bringing the “Commission’s name into disrepute by single highhandedly petitioning EOCO on an alleged misappropriation of staff endowment fund for malicious reasons.

They further revealed that following her appointment as

President Akufo-Addo yesterday had his first encounter with the Ghanaian media after taking office as president, with a barrage of questions fired at him.

He took time to walk the journalists through some of the measures he and his government have been putting in place to restore the country to normalcy after what he called a shocking revelation about the state of affairs.

After giving an introductory speech which lasted for almost 35 minutes, addressing a wide range of issues from the

Central Regional Chairman for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Allotey Jacobs has lauded President Akufo-Addo for his ‘excellent delivery’ at the media encounter yesterday.

The President had his maiden meeting with the media at the Flagstaff House on Tuesday, 18th July, 2017.

Allotey Jacobs contributing

President Akufo-Addo has said that he does not regret his role in getting criminal libel law repealed.

According to him, he prefers the media’s role of checking government and criticizing its activities rather than a praise-singing one.

Speaking at his first special interaction with the media at the Flagstaff House in Accra, Akufo-Addo said although he has been one of the most victimized persons by the media, he believes it was important that the media had the ability to do so.

Nana Akufo-Addo, who served as Attorney General

The civil society organisations platform is advocating an extension of Ghana’s IMF programme, saying the package will best serve the nation’s interest since it will allow for better implementation of the structural reforms.

Dr. Godfred Alufar Bokpin, a Lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, said there was the need to extend the agreement in order to drive the much needed reform to improve the fiscal governance framework.

He was speaking at the Fourth National Civil Society Forum on Ghana’s International Monetary Fund Programme in Accra on Thursday on the theme: “Three Years into the IMF-Supported Extended Credit Facility Arrangement: Is the Ghanaian economy on the right path?"

He explained that, the programme had

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