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  • Venture Capital Scandal: Court rejects Duku’s repayment plan for the second time

    Venture Capital Scandal: Court rejects Duku’s repayment plan for the second time

    The push by former Chief Executive of the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF), Daniel Duku to escape possible jail term by refunding GH¢15million to the State has been rejected once again.

    Justice Anthony Oppong said the court is not impressed with the plan to refund the money to the state by paying in bits.

    Mr.Duku and two others accused of causing financial loss to the state have been engaging the Attorney General’s office to jointly refund GH¢20million.

    The two other accused persons are Irene Anti-Mensah, who was his Executive Assistant at the VCTF, and Frank Aboagye Mensah, Anti-Mensah’s husband. The three accused persons wanted to plead guilty to a total of about 42 charges levelled against them and make amends by paying the money they allegedly took from the state, in line with Section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459).

    The court had earlier rejected the proposal saying it does not conform to the requirement of the law. He directed that they work on a new deal and submit to the court.

    Justice Oppong had pointed out that on the face of the agreement, there was no indication that the accused persons fully understood what they had signed.

    He said the agreement was basically a plea bargain and, therefore, the accused persons must be made aware of the charges which would be dropped against them, whether the prosecution, as a compromise, would drop other charges, the fact that they would not have a right to appeal, among other issues.

    At the hearing of the case on Monday, Justice was Oppong was informed of a payment plan spanning three months that will see the three refund GH¢20milion.

    Justice Oppong said this was totally unacceptable and the court would exercise its rights to reject the deal.

    He directed that trial will proceed; fixing July 3 for the case management conference.

    Source: Myjoyonline.com

  • NPP would retain power because it is delivering – Majority Leader

    NPP would retain power because it is delivering – Majority Leader

    The Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) was poised for a resounding victory in the December General Election.

    “Victory is on the way coming, because, the Nana Akufo-Addo-led Administration has so far met expectations of the people in terms of the delivery of life-transforming policies,” he emphasized.

    The Majority Leader said most sectors of the economy had witnessed tremendous changes, citing the implementation of the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’, ‘One District, One Factory’ and ‘Free Senior High School’ programmes.

    “NPP has initiated many vibrant programmes to uplift the living standards of the ordinary Ghanaian,” Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told the Ghana News Agency in an interview, citing the abolishment of Valued Added Tax on financial services, selected imported medicines and real estate sales.

    This was on the sidelines of a meeting he had with NPP delegates at Abusua Kruwa in the Suame Constituency.

    The Majority Leader, who went unopposed in the Party’s recent parliamentary primaries, reminded the executives of the critical role they need to play in ensuring victory for the party.

    “For us as leaders, we have no other duty than to galvanize grassroots support in reinforcing a second term win for the NPP,” he affirmed, stressing that the longer the NPP was kept in power the better it would be for the citizenry.

    A track record of the performance of the Party, especially under the Fourth Republican Constitution, he said, had proven that: “It is a party that could be trusted when given the mandate.”

    Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu pointed out that good development policies ought to be sustained for a considerable number of years to deliver the intended positive results.

    Therefore, Ghanaians should vote massively for the Party in the upcoming General Election, to provide infrastructure to poor and deprived communities in every constituency, while continuing with other pro-poor programmes.

    Source: MYJOYONLINE.COM

  • It will be unfair, disrespectful for me to comment on current process at EC – Charlotte Osei

    It will be unfair, disrespectful for me to comment on current process at EC – Charlotte Osei

    Former Electoral Commissioner, Charlotte Osei

    The immediate past chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs. Charlotte Osei has declined to comment on the current happenings at the EC.

    Mrs. Osei who was removed from office on grounds of misconduct said it would not be proper for her to comment on activities at the EC since she was a former commissioner.

    According to her, it would be an interference for former chairs to comment on the work being conducted by the EC.

    She was speaking in an interview with KSM last Friday.

    Mrs. Osei told the host the only thing she owes this country is her silence when it comes to activities of the EC.

    “As a former Chair, it would be unfair to publicly comment on whatever is happening at the commission now. Respect must be given to the current commissioners to do their work without the interference of commentaries from former chair”s.

    “And so, to any question you have on the current process, I would say that all I owe to my country, and to the commission, would be my silence and my prayers. And would have to leave it at that.”

    Mrs Charlotte Osei and her two deputies, Amadu Sulley and Georgina Opoku Amankwaa were removed from office in 2018 for misconduct.

    Mrs Charlotte Osei, breached procurement laws in the award of several contracts, prior to the 2016 elections.

    Excerpts of the 54-page report which warranted her removal said: “In November 2017, the Honourable Chief Justice of Ghana established a prima facie case on some of the allegations made against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission as contained in the petition submitted to His Excellency, the President of the Republic.”

    “In all, the Chief Justice made prima facie case against the Chairperson on six of the allegations contained in the said petition.”

    For all the six allegations, the committee found Mrs Osei culpable and said her explanation that she was not aware that she needed to go through procurement for some of the contracts because the monies involved were from donor partners, was untenable.

    “The findings we have made on the allegations made against Mrs. Charlotte Osei, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, clearly gives a catalogue of breaches she inflicted on the Public Procurement Act. In all the procurement activities which we had to investigate, the findings have been that Mrs. Charlotte Osei failed to comply with the Public Procurement Act.

    “The procurement activities include the engagement of Sory@Law and Associates for the Commission, the award of several contracts to STL, the two contracts for the partitioning and consultancy service of the new office block, the three contracts awarded for the construction of pre-fabricated district offices of the Commission and consultancy services thereof; the two contracts awarded to Dreamoval Ltd, and finally the two contracts awarded to Quazar Limited from South Africa. Evidence before the committee showed that all these contracts were awarded by Mrs. Charlotte Osei contrary to the Public Procurement Act” the report noted.

    “On this point we disagree with Mrs. Charlotte Osei because we are convinced that procurement forms an important part of the core business of the Electoral Commission. Indeed, without procuring relevant goods and services, the Electoral Commission will find it difficult, if not impossible, to independently conduct free and fair elections in the country. In fact, procurement is so important to the Electoral Commission, that was why no less a person than the Chairperson is made the head of entity of the Commission,” the report read in part.

    Source: rainbowradioonline.com

  • EC schools Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu

    EC schools Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu

    The Electoral Commission, Ghana (EC) has described as “unfortunate” recent statements made by the Minority Leader of Parliament following a meeting of the Chair of the Commission with the Special Budget Committee.

    Haruna Iddrisu on Tuesday told journalists that after meeting the Committee, Jean Mensa had suggested that the number of polling centres to be used for the upcoming registration exercise will be reduced.

    “They intend to phase out the registration exercise in some 6,300 registration centres out of the 33,000 centres across the country,” the Tamale South Member of Parliament said.

    Furthermore, he told the press that the EC would not be making use of biometric data from the National Identification Authority (NIA) in its compilation.

    “I do not see any cooperation and collaboration even though that has been made an essential primary reference document. [Jean Mensa’s] assurance is that they will accept it only for the purpose of identity that you’re a Ghanaian. Not a use of the data already processed and stored?”

    But in a response to these sentiments by the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) lawmakers, the EC said it has not indicated anywhere that it was going to use biometric data from the NIA.

    It said even the new constitutional instrument (CI) to guide the registration process, CI 126, spells out clearly how the citizenship of a person must be proven with the Ghana Cards.

    “Indeed, had the Minority Leader read the CI 126, it would have been obvious to him that the Commission was not seeking to synchronize its data with that of the NIA,” the response captured in a statement signed by Sylvia Annoh, the Acting Director of Public Affairs of the EC, said.

    According to the EC, it is even surprising for the Minority NDC to turn around and recommend a collaboration between the EC and NIA when members had accused the two bodies of plotting to rig the December 7 elections for the incumbent president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akfuo-Addo.

    “It is interesting that the same Minority which accused the EC of being in bed with the NIA to rig the election, would today turn around and propose data synchronization which would require the EC to work directly with the NIA and rely extensively on its biometric data in its database.”

    It assured that no polling station would be left out of the registration just that it will be done in clusters.

    “This means that the 33,367 registration centres will be divided into five. Each cluster would consist of 6,780 registration centres. Each cluster would be made up of 5 registration centres numbered 1-5. During the first phase, all the registration centres numbered 1 nationwide will register applicants for 6 days.

    “During the second phase all registration centres numbered 2, will register applicants for 6 days. This will go on until all the phases are covered. Thereafter, there will be a nationwide mop-up exercise. At no point during the discussion did the EC state that it was phasing out or reducing the polling stations by 6,780.”

    It said even members of the Committee would not have taken such suggestion lightly if it had been made.

    “Phasing out and reducing the polling stations by 6,780 is not an issue to be taken lightly by anyone let alone our Members of Parliament.”

    The statement expressed gratitude to the Committee “for their continued support and constructive feedback”.

    The EC has scheduled Tuesday, June 30 to start the registration for new voters’ ID cards.

  • Malik Jabir reveals Sammy Kufuor ‘exchanged blows’ with a teammate at Mali 2002

    Malik Jabir reveals Sammy Kufuor ‘exchanged blows’ with a teammate at Mali 2002

    Former team manager of the Black Stars Malik Jabir has opened up on the reason for Samuel Osei Kufuor’s sacking at the Nations Cup in Mali 2002.

    The Bayern Munich defender was described as the troublemaker in the team, after leading a mutiny with other players to reject the hotel offered the Black Stars at the competition.

    Kufuor also had an altercation with a teammate and according Jabir, it led to an ‘exchange of blows’ between the two players.

    “I was with Ben Koufie, that night and we went round to see if we could get a hotel which was better but it could not accommodate all of us until around 1 a.m,” he told Luv FM.

    “We returned to find them still waiting for us. He even exchanged blows with one of the players, I was told.

    “Some of them refused to sleep at the hotel. Who was leading them? I know who led them…these boys remained at the centre of this hotel until midnight and they said they won’t sleep because the hotel was a low- class hotel,” he added.

    Meanwhile, the ex-Ghana international and Bayern Munich legend has denied such reports.

    “They even said I went to the night club which was not true because there was no night club where we were staying,” he said on Joy FM.

    “I never regret being bold because I was concerned that some of the players could even catch some serious disease. Black Stars were eating by the roadside, a chop bar and you can ask any player.

    “Why did Michael Essien leave the camp and went back? Has anybody asked this question before? The players were not happy with the situation.”