People funded ‘personal economic recovery progs.’ with COVID funds; do value-for-money audit – Domelevo
Former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo has suggested there be an independent audit of all COVID-19 expenses made by the government. The anti-graft campaigner today, Wednesday, 13 October 2021, delivered a lecture at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) at which he noted that although the government has good intentions of protecting the citizens, some individuals may have taken advantage of the situation to stash their pockets with COVID funds in the heat of the fight against the pandemic. Responding to a question asked by Class91.3FM’s Blessed Sogah, Mr Domelevo said: “COVID actually provided grounds for a lot of expenditure in the public sector and Ghana is not alone, it is all over the world; there have been quick mobilisation of public resources to address the challenges posed by COVID and in the process, people also have found ways of funding their personal economic recovery programmes at the expense of the public”. He said: “I’ll recommend that we do what we refer to as value-for-money or performance audit to arrive at or to determine how our resources were used; if they were used for the intended purposes, what are some of the challenges and what are the recommendations or business continuity plan so that in case another disaster or pandemic happens – perish my thoughts; I’m not saying we should expect another one but just in case another should happen – we’ll know how to address it and be more transparent and accountable so that we do not panic and just do anything”. “The sad part of it is that, at times the government has a very good intention because you want to protect life and property or lives of Ghanaians or citizens, you may relax and not comply with some of the rules and at the same time, remain accused of abusing our resources”, he noted. He noted: “It is good we have a second look at our laws on procurement, we look at our laws on financial management to see in cases of such developments, how quickly can funds be made available, what type of procurement can be done and what are the accountability mechanisms that must be in place”. “I’m aware there is a trust fund which was set up and it provides for some of those. It is good to test it against what happened to see whether there was full compliance. If there was no compliance, what made it impossible or difficult for it to be complied with”, Mr Domelevo said. The Ministry of Finance, in March this year, debunked media reports that claimed that the government spent GH¢1.7 billion on the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the government says it spent GH¢19 billion. The Ministry, in a statement, said GH¢1.7 billion reflects expenditures on only two items under the COVID-19 related expenditures, namely, COVID-19 Alleviation Programme 1 (CAP1) and Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan 1. It said other COVID-19 expenditures were COVID-19 Alleviation Programme 2 (CAP2), COVID-19 Preparedness Plan 2, Provision of Health Infrastructure, Seed Fund for Capitalisation of Development Bank, among others. As of end-December 2020, the ministry said Ghana incurred a revenue shortfall of GH¢11,942.7 million and expenditure increase of GH¢14,074.2 million in relation to their respective targets in the 2020 budget passed in Parliament in November 2019. It said the amount of GH¢16.8 billion referred to in Appendix 12B only provided information on sources of financing the fiscal gap resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. These monies were sourced from the IMF (GH¢5,853 million), AfDB (GH¢405.7 million), EU (GH¢504 million), and BOG COVID-19 Bonds (GH¢10,000 million), among others. For the avoidance of doubt, Appendix 2A of the 2021 Budget Statement indicates that total financing for 2020 was GH¢44,897.9 million and not GH¢16,460.4 million. The Ministry also noted that media reports that suggested that the government announced that the COVID-19 levy was to be utilised in paying for free water and electricity of 2020 was incorrect. The statement said the Minister of Information’s comment to the effect that COVID-19 expenses include water and electricity, ought not to be misconstrued to mean the new taxes of 2021 are a direct charge for those services. The details of the usage of funds from the COVID-19 levy are listed on Page 75 of the 2021 budget as follows: Procurement, distribution and administration of vaccines ‒ the first batch of 600,000 doses from the COVAX Facility have already been delivered and an additional 17,600,000 vaccine doses to be delivered by June, with more to come in the course of the year. As of Wednesday 10th March 2021, over 262,335 Ghanaians received the first dose of the vaccines; Establishment of fourteen (14) medical waste treatment facilities across the country for safe disposal of medical waste in collaboration with the private sector; Thirty-three (33) major health projects approved for implementation at a cost of €890 million; To date, 14,600,000 pieces of personal protective equipment produced domestically and distributed to health workers, students, teaching and non-teaching staff of tertiary and secondary educational institutions; Fumigation and disinfection of public places including, airports, markets, schools, hospitals, offices etc.; Agenda 111 ‒ the construction of 100-bed District Hospitals in 101 Districts with no hospitals, seven (7) Regional Hospitals for the new Regions, including one for the Western Region, the construction of two (2) new psychiatric hospitals for the Middle and Northern Belts, respectively, and the rehabilitation of Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region; and The need to recruit more health care professionals, in addition to the 100,000 recruited in the first term of the President. —classfm Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. 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No NIA Card, no salary from December 1 – CAGD warns
The Controller and Accountant General, Kwasi Kwaning Bosompem, has warned that workers on government payroll without National Identification Authority (NIA) numbers will not be paid salary from December 1, 2021. According to Mr Bosompem, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD), is collaborating with NIA to have harmonized database to facilitate biometric and unique identification of all workers on the government payroll. The move, CAGD explained was “part of Government of Ghana’s efforts to deliver speedy, secured and verified payroll service to government employees and pensioners while reducing the risk of undeserving payment or claims, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Mr Kwaning Bosompem is collaborating with NIA to have harmonized database to facilitate biometric and unique identification of all workers on the government payroll. “By this notice, all existing and prospective Government workers are to ensure they are registered with the NIA and obtained their identity numbers.” Starr FM Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Radio Gold, other closed stations back
The Governing Board of the National Communications Authority (NCA) has approved the grant of a total of One Hundred and Thirty Three (133) FM radio broadcasting authorisations which include new applications from entities whose FM radio stations were closed down after the 2017 FM Audit as well as existing stations which applied for renewal of their expired FM Radio broadcasting authorisations. The approval was done at a Board meeting held on 11th October, 2021. A statement issued by the NCA on Tuesday October 12 said this approval from the Board is subject to the applicants attending a sensitisation workshop on the terms and conditions of FM radio broadcasting authorisations. “The workshop shall clarify the legal, regulatory, and technical requirements for the establishment and operation of an FM Radio Broadcasting station. “Provisional authorisations shall be issued to the successful applicants at the end of the workshop and frequencies shall be assigned to the applicants only upon the fulfillment of the conditions of the Provisional Authorisation. “The general public is reminded that per Section 2(4) of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008, Act 775, a person shall not operate a broadcasting system or provide a broadcasting service without a frequency authorisation by the Authority. “Offenders are liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than three thousand penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not more than five years or to both, as per Section 73 of Act 775 of 2008.” The NCA shut down Radio Gold and Radio XYZ, and several others. A statement issued by the NCA in Accra on May 9, 2019, said the closures were carried out in line with Regulations 65 (1) of the Electronic Communications Regulations, 2011, L. I. 1991, which states that “A person shall not use a radio frequency without authorisation from the Authority.” Referring to a 2018 ruling by the Electronic Communications Tribunal on the status of FM stations with expired authorisation, the NCA said “Companies whose authorisations had expired reverted to the same position as a fresh applicant,” adding that “these applications shall go through the required procedure for new FM Broadcasting Authorisation.” The regulator did not mention the two stations, implying that it was a general exercise. However, only Radio XYZ and Radio Gold have been closed so far. Officials of the NCA, backed by armed police officers, stormed the premises of the radio stations to enforce the shutdown in the afternoon of May 9. This is the second time in less than two years that the regulator has flexed its muscles against “defaulting stations.” In September, 2017, the NCA carried out a massive purge of the broadcasting industry that saw a total of 34 radio and television stations being shut down for various infractions, in enforcement of Section 13 of the Electronics Communications Act (2009), Act 775. The regulator also imposed fines on a number of stations ranging from GHC50,000 (US$11,000) to GHC61,000,000 (US$13.8 million) depending on the infraction and the duration the infraction persisted. —3news Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Trial Judge Labeled Opuni & Agongo Fraudsters Before Hearing Them-Lawyers Tell Supreme Court, Justice Honyenuga Was Only Waiting To Jail
Lawyers of the former Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) CEO, have told the Supreme Court to reject the Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame’s arguments to set aside its decision barring the trial judge from hearing the criminal case. They explained that, Justice Jackson Clemence Honyenuga, had made up his mind that Dr Stephen Opuni is guilty and is determined to just go through the ritual of trial, while waiting to pronounce the sentence. Records of proceedings made available to the Supreme Court, showed Justice Honyenuga, had branded Dr. Opuni and businessman, Alhaji Seidu Agongo ‘fraudsters’ ahead of their entry into the dock to respond to allegations leveled against them by the state. This, Dr. Opuni’s lawyers, explained amounts to bias on the part of the trial judge, as it is prejudicial. While dismissing the submission of no case filed by Dr. Opuni and Alhaji Agongo, Justice Honyenuga, remarked that the two accused persons had perpetuated acts to facilitate fraud against the state. He had charged “all these were perpetuated to facilitate the 2nd and 3rd accused’s business and defraud COCOBOD. Indeed these acts were all perpetuated to facilitate and intentionally, voluntarily to aid the 2nd and 3rd accused to perpetuate fraud on COCOBOD by supplying a different product from what was tested and approved.” Justice Honyenuga, further stated in his submission of no case ruling on page 54, that “…the 1st accused, although he knew the correct state of affairs and knowingly facilitated and aided the 2nd and 3rd accused to defraud COCOBOD.” After this, he went ahead to expunge certain evidence submitted by the accused persons, saying these “exhibits were all tendered through witnesses who were not authors and could not answer questions based on them…..” These, the lead Counsel for Dr Opuni, Samuel Codjoe, reiterated at yesterday review hearing, showed that Justice Honyenuga, who was promoted to the Supreme Court in the middle of the trial, but sitting as additional High Court judge, “…had made his mind and was going through the rituals while waiting to pronounce sentence”. In a close call 3-2 decision in July this year, the Supreme Court restrained Justice Honyenuga from hearing the case. Justice Honyenuga, a Justice of the Supreme Court, has since 2017, been hearing the case as an additional High Court judge. In July 2021, Dr Opuni’s lawyers applied to the Supreme Court that it should restrain Justice Honyenuga from hearing the matter. He alleged that his right to be heard fairly, had been breached by the Judge, aside from a demonstration of bias. The allegations flowed from Justice Honyenuga’s ruling on a submission of no case application. Dr Opuni’s lawyers contended that the judge committed an error of law when he rejected some documents submitted as evidence. The documents were witness statements said to have been obtained by the state during investigations. One is a statement by the Head of the Cocoa Research Institute, denying that he had been coerced to do his work. A procurement officer is also said to have given a statement, which Dr Opuni said exonerates him from any breaches of the procurement law. Another statement is said to have indicated that the fertiliser at the centre of the controversy effectively increased the yield of cocoa farms. Dr Opuni’s lawyers, said these statements were withheld by state prosecutors and only made available when they applied for them. These statements were, however, rejected by Justice Honyenuga with the following justification; “However, counsel tendered exhibits 71,72, and 73 being statements of Genevieve Baah Mante (Mrs), Fiona Gyamfi and Paula Adjei Gyang, which confirm that there was another test conducted on the Lithovit supplied to GSA for further testing. “It is trite that a witness should not talk about something of which he had no personal knowledge but rely upon his own observations and recall of the matters in dispute, and this is the rule against hearsay provided under section 117 of NRCD 323. See Ekow Russel [2017-2020] SCGLR 469 Holding (4). “It is also trite that a court could admit documents into evidence and reject same during Judgment. In view of the decision in Ekow Russel v The Republic, a Supreme Court decision, this court was wrong in admitting Exhibits 71,72 and 75 since they offend against the hearsay rule in section 117 of NRCD 323. In the circumstances, this court rejects exhibits 71, 72 and 75 as hearsay since the authors were not under section 117 of NRCD 323 available to answer questions and in the denial of PW7 about another scientific test, these exhibits are hereby rejected as marked as ‘rejected’. Further at page 88 of his ruling, he said this; “Moreover, by the decision of the Supreme Court in Ekow Russel v the Republic (supra) I would reject exhibits 58,59.60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74 and 75 as they offend the hearsay rule in Section 117 of NRCD 323 as a court has power to reject evidence during judgment stage. The exhibits were all tendered through witnesses who were not authors and could not answer questions based on them. Meanwhile, the witnesses are available”. The lawyers contended that this position taken by the judge is contrary to law. However, the Supreme Court, in its judgment, took the view that these statements were admissible. The court said these statements were crucial to Dr Opuni, and he should therefore have been given a hearing before the Judge decided to expunge it. On the allegation of bias against the Judge, the lawyers explained that the Judge made some prejudicial comments in his submission of no case ruling. “All these were perpetuated to facilitate the 2nd and 3rd accused’s business and defraud COCOBOD. Indeed these acts were all perpetuated to facilitate and intentionally, voluntarily to aid the 2nd and 3rd accused to perpetuate fraud on COCOBOD by supplying a different product from what was tested and approved.” Page 54 again. “…However, the 1st accused, although he knew the correct state of affairs and knowingly facilitated and aided the 2nd and 3rd accused to defraud
Commercial drivers must at least a pass in BECE Mathematics — Akpaloo
A pass in Mathematics at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) level should be part of the requirements for acquisition of driver’s license, Kofi Akpaloo, Founder and Leader of Liberal Party Ghana, (LPG) has suggested. Mr Akpaloo therefore called on the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) to ensure that the necessary policy initiatives were rolled out. “Driving involves mathematics and failure in calculations on the road has contributed to the rising number of accidents on our roads. “Driving is mathematics, you should be able to know that, if I driver at 50km per hour, I will be at this place, if you don’t have that knowledge how will you be able to calculate the distance between the vehicle in front of you, anticipate the breaking,” he added. Mr Akpaloo was speaking at the Ghana News Agency Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) Road Safety Campaign platform which seeks to use prominent persons to provide continuous education on the need to be safe on the roads and reduce road carnage. The Project seeks to also create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road as a user, educate all road users of their respective responsibilities, and sensitize drivers especially of the tenets of road safety regulations, rules, and laws. Mr Akpaloo who was Election 2020 LPG Presidential Candidate said it was worrying to see how some drivers illegally overtake in curves and other unauthorized places. He cautioned road safety regulators to organize sensitization programmes for commercial drivers to be abreast with road safety regulations as it was key in curtailing the carnage on the roads. Mr Akpaloo said illegal acquisition of driver’s license was one of the major problems which contributed to the increase in road crashes in the country. He said a driver who was required to have gone through a period of training from a certified driving school rather preferred the short-cut learning from others. He said “if drivers were trained properly, they could contribute more positively to the reduction of road traffic accidents and their related consequences on the country”. Mr Akpaloo urged the DVLA to redirect drivers who seek to acquire licenses to registered driving schools for training to acquire the requisite training to reduce accidents in the country. Mr Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency appealed to the media to upscale public education on road safety, stressing that, “road safety is a shared responsibility, we must not leave anyone behind”. He commended the MTTD Tema Regional Command for the effort to team-up with the Ghana News Agency Office to embark on the weekly public education campaign to make the roads safe for all. Mr Ameyibor urged drivers to be responsible on the road and protect pedestrians by stopping for them to cross while cautioning pedestrians to only cross the roads at designated places. GNA Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Bongo: Abuse of marijuana, tramadol and many more, causes high rate of mental Health disorder
Figures of Persons with Mental Health cases in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region are becoming so high and alarming to due to increase alcohol intake among the youth. Apexnewsgh.com reports The alarming revelation was made by the District Mental Health Focal Person Prince Kofi Yeboah during a meeting with representatives of mental health Self Help Groups (SHGs) together with key staff of the Bongo District Assembly and other decentralized agencies as part of activities to mark the 2021 World Mental Health Day. Mr. Yeboah highlighted that in 2017, the district recorded 764, in 2018, it came down to 697, and in 2019 it dropped again to 682 and unfortunately ballooned to 769 in 2020. He further stressed that, “…Is not like we went on the internet and google for the figure ‘No’ these are the accurate figures on the ground. “We are doing a lot but, I think we cannot do it all on our own. We need everybody on board Self Help Group we need you, media we need you, our opinion leaders we need you, security services we need you and Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, (CHRAJ), we need everybody on board. He appealed Mr. Yaboah said, Psychotropic medication still remained one of the greatest challenges they are facing because they don’t have the medications. He said in the past, the Psychotropic medication wasn’t an issue to the Bongo District because BasicNeeds-Ghana and the hospital support them in that regard but the story isn’t the same currently because of some policies. “Bongo was fortunate BasicNeeds-Ghana was helping, the hospital was also doing their best but as it stands now because certain policies help our client these medications. He said However, he pointed that the recent increase witnessed in Mental Health cases in the district is a result of the abuse of alcohol, such as drinking, tramadol, wee smoking and more. The interface meeting gave leaders of SHGs the opportunity to demand for increased support to persons with mental health conditions and the operationalization of the District Mental Health Plan. This activity is undertaken with the support of Ghana Somubi Dwumadie funded with UK aid from the UK government. The meeting is expected to bring about scaled-up quality, integrated, disability-inclusive community-based and recovery-oriented mental health and social services. More to come Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
BONGO: Assembly member thinking of banning minors from drinking spots
Even though there was no drink or alcohol in the market of Bongo district of the Upper East Region known as ‘Bongo beer’ what could be described as an unseen active beer in the minds of Bongo people and Ghanaians, in general, may be due to a popular song titled ‘Bongo bear’ released 3 years ago by a group known as Rockcity, It appears the alcohol intake in the district is skyrocketing faster than the country’s economy itself, putting the youth mental health in a disastrous state, especially those under age. On Interesting Mental Health activity, representatives of mental health Self Help Groups (SHGs) held a meeting with key staff of the Bongo District Assembly and other decentralized agencies as part of activities to mark the 2021 World Mental Health Day. The interface meeting gave leaders of SHGs the opportunity to demand for increased support to persons with mental health conditions and the operationalization of the District Mental Health Plan. This activity is undertaken with the support of Ghana Somubi Dwumadie funded with UK aid from the UK government. The meeting is expected to bring about scaled-up quality, integrated, disability-inclusive community-based and recovery-oriented mental health and social services. Meanwhile, a member of the Sub-committee and Disability Fund Management Committee Chairman in the Bongo District Hon. Nyaaba Mbabila Joseph was unhappy with the level of youth going astray through the intake of weed, tramadol, beer and some hard drugs. “The intake of this tramadol and alcohol in the Bongo district is on the increase which is not good for the district and we have realized it. So, I will be discussing it with some of my assembly members as to what to do, so that we can put a stop to this kind of thing. Every evening, if I moved from bar to bar, spot to spot. I see the youth just taken in alcohol deep into the night which i have observed. Instead of them learning a job or a trade that will let you live a better life, you rather engage in alcohol intake and this tramadol kind of thing, if daybreak, you had not to do. That can lead you into stealing and causing problems in the community which is bad. He believes, engaging his colleague assembly members for them to deliberate and come out with a bye-law that prevents minors between the age of 14, 15 and 16 years from going to the spot during day and night will be a better solution to curb the increasing canker. “So, as a community leader, I have seen it in my community. They know me, they don’t have any contribution. When they take the alcohol in the community, they go around causing a problem in the community. So, when you asked the youth in my community they will tell you, i am have been worrying them about that and atimes they will tell, Honorable Charley leave us to enjoy our life and I will them, I won’t allow you to live such life and some will take me, I won’t vote for you next time. But I always tell them, even if am no more the assembly member, I will be happy to see them live a good life. “We have to discuss it at the floor of the assembly and agree upon something by passing a bye-law. For example, if you are not up to 18 years at this time in the night or day we don’t want to see you in a spot. So, I think if we all take a collective decision on that and pass it as a bye-law. That means as assembly members in a community, if you see somebody at the age of 14, 15, 16 years sitting in a bar we will invite you and asked you why you allowed such a thing to happen. He told Apexnews Gh during an engagement after the message. He further pleaded with BasicNeeeds-Ghana to make themselves available in their next assembly sitting as a way of sensitizing them on how to handle the situation in the various electoral areas. Meanwhile, a total number of 769 Mental Health cases was recorded in 2020 in the Bongo District alone. More to come Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093