Pg 14 (Political pg) Sat. March 08/08
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stressed the need for all political parties to play a meaningful role in ensuring that the voters register for the 2008 general elections was credible to ensure a successful polls.
“None of us should do anything to malign the register or put its credibility into disrepute before the elections because such a move may have dire consequences for the nation”, he said.
“We need to encourage people to go and register than sit back only to discredit the register”, he added.
The General Secretary of the party, Nana Ohene-Ntow, gave the advise in an interview with the Daily Graphic in reaction to speculations from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and sections of the media to the effect that the voters register in the Ashanti Region in particular, a stronghold of the NPP, was over-bloated.
A document containing figures in the over-bloated voters register, said to have originated from the Electoral Commission (EC), has raised alarm in the media and among political stakeholders due to the massive increase recorded between the latest figures and those of the 2004 register.
By the document, Ashanti Region recorded the highest increase with a total jump of about 113 per cent over the 2004 figures. Other regions recorded average increases of between seven and 11 per cent.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said the party had nothing against the issues being raised but was concerned about the approach being to malign the register.
“Our concern is the approach being used by the NDC because according I believe that if they had detected any problems, they could have prompted the EC to explain why it is so”, he said.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said using the media to put out a grievance was not the best and advised any party which had issues with the EC to make their complaint to the commission and not use the media to inflame passions.
He said the country had come far with its democratic process and that needed to be guarded jealously to ensure lasting peace.
The NPP General Secretary said in countries where there had been all manner of unrest and instability began with issues that many considered minor and Ghana cannot allow that to happen to it.
“We should not send wrong signals to the electorate only to create unnecessary tension and I can only advise the parties behind such moves to desist from the practice”, Nana Ohene-Ntow.
He said the party and for that matter the government was more than resolved to ensure that Ghana went through another peaceful, credible and incident free elections come December.
“We helped build it; We helped bring about the reforms which include the introduction of transparent ballot boxes among others and we will not have these achievement and progress reversed” he added.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said when the NPP was in opposition in 1992 and was not satisfied with the results, all it could do was to document its concerns by writing “The Stolen Verdict”. It is a document that in the opinion of the party, tells how the elections in that year was rigged.
On the party’s position about the EC not calling frequent meetings between it and the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), he said “it is not by law for the EC to convene such meetings”.
He said the EC has been constitutionally mandated to oversee the organisations of elections and all its related activities in the country and that should be respected.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said the EC might, in its own accord, decided to meet the IPAC to discuss issues concerning smooth organisation of elections.
He said the first of such meetings was held Tuesday, and noted that it was as a result of the impending activities of the EC.
The Commission is soon expected to embark on an exercise to replace the voters ID cards and re-open the voters register by the middle of the year.
With regards to the Representation of the People’s Amendment Law (ROPAL) which, among others, will allow Ghanaians in the Diaspora to have a say in who governs their country by exercising their franchise, the General Secretary said the party was not disappointed that the law would not be implemented in this year’s exercise.
He said after the law had been passed, the onus lied of the EC to prepare adequately for it used it.
“They need to be prepared logistically, financially and administratively before it starts its implementation”, he said.
Nana Ohene-Ntow said it was a misconception for anyone to think funny about the law but to the NPP it was a fine opportunity to widen the number of voters.
He said in some countries where such laws were passed, implementation began after 14 years and that was all out of massive preparations.
“We want to get more Ghanaians to vote but before that, we need a law in place to set the tone because the EC could not just have come to out to announce its intentions in that regard without the law”, he added.
He expressed the hope that when the EC was ready, it will use the law to allow more people from the Diaspora to vote.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Veep urges those over 18 to register
Spread. Mon. March 10/08
Story: Joe Okyere & Charles Benoni Okine, Cape Coast
VICE-President Aliu Mahama has called on Ghanaians who have attained the voting age of 18 to endeavour to register when the registration exercise begins in May.
Consequently, he has called on parents and teachers to ensure that the youth register during the period to enable them to exercise their franchise in what he described as the “crucial” general election in December 2008.
Alhaji Mahama, who gave the advice at the 98th Speech and Prize-giving Day of Adisadel College in Cape Coast in the Central Region at the weekend, said the youth had a stake in determining who ruled, saying, “You must learn to be responsible, exercise your civic rights wisely and vote for progress.”
The voters register will be re-opened between May 8 and 17, 2008 and, according to the Electoral Commission (EC), about one million more Ghanaians are expected to be registered under the exercise.
The Vice-President also entreated the youth to enhance their talents and contribute to the growth of the country.
“To be able to do this well, you must be disciplined, you must cultivate habits that leave you in good health, with the moral courage, zeal and dedication to face new challenges,” he added.
Alhaji Mahama said acts of indiscipline, such as drug abuse, robbery, examination malpractice, truancy, rioting, organising sexual escapades and destruction of public property, were anti-social behaviour that made the youth a liability and not an asset to themselves and society.
“Sobriety, self-restraint, respect and hard work count a lot in life, for they are the touchstones of civility and good breeding,” he admonished.
The Vice-President, who was accompanied by the Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, therefore, urged the youth to refrain from over-indulgence and avoid words and actions that not only stunted their normal and spiritual development but were also inimical to their own interest and that of the country at large.
“You may score all the distinctions in your examinations but if you fail to score similar grades in the world, life is likely to be less meaningful and satisfying to you and those who look up to you for leadership and subsistence in society,” he said.
He commended the school for its achievements and the quality of leaders it had churned out for the country and expressed the hope that the country would be able to rely on it for more of such leaders.
Earlier, before his address, the Vice-President had inaugurated a four-storey 16-classroom block to accommodate fourth-year students of the school as per the demand under the new educational reform.
Alhaji Mahama also inaugurated a cold store, together with a standby generator donated to the school by the 1983 year group.
In his report, the Headmaster, Mr Herbert Krufi Graham, said the school continued to chalk up academic and sporting laurels as a result of the adherence to strict disciplinary measures enforced on campus.
He called on the GETFund to support the school with an additional dormitory to accommodate fourth-year students, since none of the students was a day student.
Story: Joe Okyere & Charles Benoni Okine, Cape Coast
VICE-President Aliu Mahama has called on Ghanaians who have attained the voting age of 18 to endeavour to register when the registration exercise begins in May.
Consequently, he has called on parents and teachers to ensure that the youth register during the period to enable them to exercise their franchise in what he described as the “crucial” general election in December 2008.
Alhaji Mahama, who gave the advice at the 98th Speech and Prize-giving Day of Adisadel College in Cape Coast in the Central Region at the weekend, said the youth had a stake in determining who ruled, saying, “You must learn to be responsible, exercise your civic rights wisely and vote for progress.”
The voters register will be re-opened between May 8 and 17, 2008 and, according to the Electoral Commission (EC), about one million more Ghanaians are expected to be registered under the exercise.
The Vice-President also entreated the youth to enhance their talents and contribute to the growth of the country.
“To be able to do this well, you must be disciplined, you must cultivate habits that leave you in good health, with the moral courage, zeal and dedication to face new challenges,” he added.
Alhaji Mahama said acts of indiscipline, such as drug abuse, robbery, examination malpractice, truancy, rioting, organising sexual escapades and destruction of public property, were anti-social behaviour that made the youth a liability and not an asset to themselves and society.
“Sobriety, self-restraint, respect and hard work count a lot in life, for they are the touchstones of civility and good breeding,” he admonished.
The Vice-President, who was accompanied by the Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, therefore, urged the youth to refrain from over-indulgence and avoid words and actions that not only stunted their normal and spiritual development but were also inimical to their own interest and that of the country at large.
“You may score all the distinctions in your examinations but if you fail to score similar grades in the world, life is likely to be less meaningful and satisfying to you and those who look up to you for leadership and subsistence in society,” he said.
He commended the school for its achievements and the quality of leaders it had churned out for the country and expressed the hope that the country would be able to rely on it for more of such leaders.
Earlier, before his address, the Vice-President had inaugurated a four-storey 16-classroom block to accommodate fourth-year students of the school as per the demand under the new educational reform.
Alhaji Mahama also inaugurated a cold store, together with a standby generator donated to the school by the 1983 year group.
In his report, the Headmaster, Mr Herbert Krufi Graham, said the school continued to chalk up academic and sporting laurels as a result of the adherence to strict disciplinary measures enforced on campus.
He called on the GETFund to support the school with an additional dormitory to accommodate fourth-year students, since none of the students was a day student.
‘Solid foundations laid vital for development'
Pg 15 (Politics lead) Mon. March 10/08
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE solid foundations of social and economic stability, infrastructural development and educational reforms should serve as a strong base for the next government to propel the nation into a middle income country, some senior citizens have advised.
According to them, President Kufuor’s legacy can be described as one of the best in the country and that poses an enormous challenge for the next government.
The senior citizens were sharing their views in an interview with the Daily Graphic on the performance of Ghana’s second president under the Fourth Republic shortly after a colourful parade by the security services and schoolchildren to mark the 51st anniversary of Ghana’s independence from British Colonial rule in 1957.
President Kufuor who assumed power on January 7, 2001, ends his two term next year with what the senior citizens described as a yeoman’s job.
Professor George Hagan, Chairman of the National Commission on Culture, outlined the infrastructure development in the country such as well laid road networks, telecommunications, among others, as some of the major legacies of President Kufuor.
He said under President Kufuor, Ghana had known unprecedented peace and political stability to an extent that all Ghanaians and foreigners were able to go about their normal duties without fear or intimidation.
“Just look around and soberly reflect on what has happened in the country over the past seven years and you will understand what I am saying; This is my candid opinion and the landmarks are there for all to see”, he added.
Professor Hagan, onetime active member of the Conventions People’s Party (CPP), said under President Kufuor, the country now had the national Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for which Ghanaians who make a little contribution towards the scheme are able to enjoy enormous health care.
He also mentioned the educational reforms which were being implemented and indicated that although the President had not accomplished all for the country, his achievements were enough for whoever succeeded him to move the country to the next level.
“It was under his regime that Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantities and wisely too, he has taken measures to ensure that when full production started, we will benefit fully from the find”, he added.
Professor Hagan also noted that the next President should also display a lot of courage in all his endeavours “but above all, he should be able to further unify the people, show a lot of humility and openness”.
Mrs Elizabeth Amoako Enimil, Deputy Director of Secondary Education at the Ghana Education Service in Accra, was also full of praise for the President, describing him as a true leader.
“President Kufuor has achieved a lot these in seven years and that sets the tone for the next government”, she added.
Mrs Enimil mentioned the NHIS and the country’s infrastructure in terms of roads in every part of the country as a major legacy.
“Being an educationist, I can say more for that sector and the reforms within the sector cannot be overlooked”, she added.
Mrs Enimil mentioned the capitation grant and the school feeding programme which, according to her had all helped improve child enrolment.
She said the reforms were an indication of the commitment of President Kufuor to build a solid human resource base for the country.
“These are but many he has done and the next President must build on and Ghana will be the best place to live under the sun”, she added.
A Senior State Protocol Director at the State House in Accra, Mr Daniel Kwasi Amoako, for his part, asked Ghanaians to rally around the next President to be able to continue with the good works of President Kufuor.
He said Ghanaians must see themselves as one and always work in unity to move the country to the next level.
Mr Amoako said President Kufuor had been able to uphold good governance, rule of law and ensured freedom of the press.
On political and economic stability, he said the achievements were there for all to see and noted that those achievements posed a huge challenge for those who will take up the mantle of governance in January next year.
A retired female educationist who would not mention here name thanked President Kufuor for how far he had brought Ghana and also advised whoever took the reigns of government to emulate his examples.
She said a country without infrastructure, stability and freedom could not stand and noted that these were hallmarks that could serve as major legacies of the Kufuor administration.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE solid foundations of social and economic stability, infrastructural development and educational reforms should serve as a strong base for the next government to propel the nation into a middle income country, some senior citizens have advised.
According to them, President Kufuor’s legacy can be described as one of the best in the country and that poses an enormous challenge for the next government.
The senior citizens were sharing their views in an interview with the Daily Graphic on the performance of Ghana’s second president under the Fourth Republic shortly after a colourful parade by the security services and schoolchildren to mark the 51st anniversary of Ghana’s independence from British Colonial rule in 1957.
President Kufuor who assumed power on January 7, 2001, ends his two term next year with what the senior citizens described as a yeoman’s job.
Professor George Hagan, Chairman of the National Commission on Culture, outlined the infrastructure development in the country such as well laid road networks, telecommunications, among others, as some of the major legacies of President Kufuor.
He said under President Kufuor, Ghana had known unprecedented peace and political stability to an extent that all Ghanaians and foreigners were able to go about their normal duties without fear or intimidation.
“Just look around and soberly reflect on what has happened in the country over the past seven years and you will understand what I am saying; This is my candid opinion and the landmarks are there for all to see”, he added.
Professor Hagan, onetime active member of the Conventions People’s Party (CPP), said under President Kufuor, the country now had the national Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for which Ghanaians who make a little contribution towards the scheme are able to enjoy enormous health care.
He also mentioned the educational reforms which were being implemented and indicated that although the President had not accomplished all for the country, his achievements were enough for whoever succeeded him to move the country to the next level.
“It was under his regime that Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantities and wisely too, he has taken measures to ensure that when full production started, we will benefit fully from the find”, he added.
Professor Hagan also noted that the next President should also display a lot of courage in all his endeavours “but above all, he should be able to further unify the people, show a lot of humility and openness”.
Mrs Elizabeth Amoako Enimil, Deputy Director of Secondary Education at the Ghana Education Service in Accra, was also full of praise for the President, describing him as a true leader.
“President Kufuor has achieved a lot these in seven years and that sets the tone for the next government”, she added.
Mrs Enimil mentioned the NHIS and the country’s infrastructure in terms of roads in every part of the country as a major legacy.
“Being an educationist, I can say more for that sector and the reforms within the sector cannot be overlooked”, she added.
Mrs Enimil mentioned the capitation grant and the school feeding programme which, according to her had all helped improve child enrolment.
She said the reforms were an indication of the commitment of President Kufuor to build a solid human resource base for the country.
“These are but many he has done and the next President must build on and Ghana will be the best place to live under the sun”, she added.
A Senior State Protocol Director at the State House in Accra, Mr Daniel Kwasi Amoako, for his part, asked Ghanaians to rally around the next President to be able to continue with the good works of President Kufuor.
He said Ghanaians must see themselves as one and always work in unity to move the country to the next level.
Mr Amoako said President Kufuor had been able to uphold good governance, rule of law and ensured freedom of the press.
On political and economic stability, he said the achievements were there for all to see and noted that those achievements posed a huge challenge for those who will take up the mantle of governance in January next year.
A retired female educationist who would not mention here name thanked President Kufuor for how far he had brought Ghana and also advised whoever took the reigns of government to emulate his examples.
She said a country without infrastructure, stability and freedom could not stand and noted that these were hallmarks that could serve as major legacies of the Kufuor administration.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Great parade, great turnout
Front: March 7/2008
Story: Stephen Sah & Charles Benoni Okine
A SMART turnout of schoolchildren and security agencies at the Independence Square in Accra yesterday climaxed the celebration of Ghana’s 51 years of independence.
The ceremony, which attracted a massive gathering of people from all walks of life, showcased military hardware and Ghanaian culture in dress and dance.
On show were armoured vehicles, multi-rocket launchers, jet fighters, Fokker 27 transport planes and police crowd control vehicles, among others.
Most of those who attended the ceremony were dressed in either kente, smock or white cloth as part of their show of patriotism and respect for the country.
At exactly 8.30 am, the President, dressed in a black suit over blue shirt with a multicoloured neck tie to match, and his wife Theresa emerged from the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium end of the square in his sleek black presidential Mercedes Benz.
His car was ushered in to the ceremonial grounds by a large motorcade and police personnel on beautifully decorated horses to add colour to the occasion, the last by President Kufuor, after what many have described as dedicated service to the nation.
Before his arrival, the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, gorgeously dressed in his white ‘agbada’ with a black Muslim hat to match, and his wife Ramatu arrived to an abridged national salute by the mass band.
The President, on his arrival, immediately took the national salute and retired to his seat after exchanging pleasantries with some of the VVIP dignitaries, including The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Sakyi-Hughes, his wife, and the Chief Justice, Mrs Goergina Woode.
That set the tone for the commencement of proceedings for the simple but very colourful parade.
Traditional and Christian prayers were offered by pupils from the Osu Klottey sub-metropolis, while pupils from Ayawaso sub-metropolis also offered the Muslim prayers for peace and unity, a violence-free elections in the country and wisdom and vision for the nation’s leaders.
After that, President Kufuor, accompanied by the Inspector General of Police, Mr Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen J.B. Dankwa and the Ministers of the Interior and Defence, inspected the contingent and later lit the national flame at the Cenotaph for the unknown soldier.
A social dance of the Nzemas and the Ahantas from the Western Region, Kundum, was performed by pupils from the Chemuna and Sempe Junior High Schools in the Ablekuma sub-metropolis while pupils from the Labone SDA Preparatory School in Accra entertained the crowd to a splendid gymnastic activity in which the group wrote “51” and “So far so good”, probably to indicate Ghana’s achievement through the years.
A contingent of 45 officers and 900 other ranks drawn from the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Air Force, Navy, Police, Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Prisons Service and Customs Excise and Preventive Service, as well as the a Ghana Education Service (GES) contingent of 32 teachers and 480 schoolchildren. took part in the parade.
The GES contingent was made up of basic schools from Ablekuma North, Osu Klottey, 5 Garrison and Kpeshie sub-metropolis and two private schools, an HIV/AIDS awareness group and a special group from the Dzorwulu Special School.
The others were second cycle schools such as Accra High, Ebenezer Secondary School and Presbyterian Secondary School at La.
The Army cadet from Kinbu Secondary Technical, Navy Cadet from Labone Secondary School, Air Force cadet from Odorgonno Secondary School and Police cadet from Depot/Airport Basic School were also at the parade.
The parade was under the command of Brig Gen Austin Apogan-Yella and had the mass band of the central bands of the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Police, the Ghana Navy and the Ghana Air Force, as well as the GES Accra Metro School band providing music.
It was attended by people from all walks of life, including Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, traditional rulers, members of the Bar and the Bench, clergymen and politicians, and members of the Diplomatic Corps.
During the march past by the contingents, they formed a line to spell “Ayekoo”, meaning well done while the Ghana Armed Forces and Ghana Police Service displayed their might in working apparatus.
Some of the military equipment bore inscriptions such as” Ghana Armed Forces, Partners in development” and Ghana Armed Forces, Ensuring peace and stability”.
While the ceremony was on-going , the Ghana Armed Forces gave the crowd an added impetus of satisfaction when some helicopters and military aircraft simultaneously hovered past, spewing smoke of the national colours of red, gold and green.
At the same time, a Ghana Navy ship was sighted on the ocean doing some displays while the 21-gun salute also boomed in the background amidst cheers from the teeming crowd.
Before President Kufuor could deliver his last independence address, a student from the Armed Forces Secondary Technical performed a drum appellation, which was interpreted by a female student from the Labone Secondary School.
Some senior service commanders were presented with Ghana’s Golden Jubilee medals.
Story: Stephen Sah & Charles Benoni Okine
A SMART turnout of schoolchildren and security agencies at the Independence Square in Accra yesterday climaxed the celebration of Ghana’s 51 years of independence.
The ceremony, which attracted a massive gathering of people from all walks of life, showcased military hardware and Ghanaian culture in dress and dance.
On show were armoured vehicles, multi-rocket launchers, jet fighters, Fokker 27 transport planes and police crowd control vehicles, among others.
Most of those who attended the ceremony were dressed in either kente, smock or white cloth as part of their show of patriotism and respect for the country.
At exactly 8.30 am, the President, dressed in a black suit over blue shirt with a multicoloured neck tie to match, and his wife Theresa emerged from the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium end of the square in his sleek black presidential Mercedes Benz.
His car was ushered in to the ceremonial grounds by a large motorcade and police personnel on beautifully decorated horses to add colour to the occasion, the last by President Kufuor, after what many have described as dedicated service to the nation.
Before his arrival, the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, gorgeously dressed in his white ‘agbada’ with a black Muslim hat to match, and his wife Ramatu arrived to an abridged national salute by the mass band.
The President, on his arrival, immediately took the national salute and retired to his seat after exchanging pleasantries with some of the VVIP dignitaries, including The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Sakyi-Hughes, his wife, and the Chief Justice, Mrs Goergina Woode.
That set the tone for the commencement of proceedings for the simple but very colourful parade.
Traditional and Christian prayers were offered by pupils from the Osu Klottey sub-metropolis, while pupils from Ayawaso sub-metropolis also offered the Muslim prayers for peace and unity, a violence-free elections in the country and wisdom and vision for the nation’s leaders.
After that, President Kufuor, accompanied by the Inspector General of Police, Mr Patrick Kwarteng Acheampong, Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen J.B. Dankwa and the Ministers of the Interior and Defence, inspected the contingent and later lit the national flame at the Cenotaph for the unknown soldier.
A social dance of the Nzemas and the Ahantas from the Western Region, Kundum, was performed by pupils from the Chemuna and Sempe Junior High Schools in the Ablekuma sub-metropolis while pupils from the Labone SDA Preparatory School in Accra entertained the crowd to a splendid gymnastic activity in which the group wrote “51” and “So far so good”, probably to indicate Ghana’s achievement through the years.
A contingent of 45 officers and 900 other ranks drawn from the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Air Force, Navy, Police, Immigration Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Prisons Service and Customs Excise and Preventive Service, as well as the a Ghana Education Service (GES) contingent of 32 teachers and 480 schoolchildren. took part in the parade.
The GES contingent was made up of basic schools from Ablekuma North, Osu Klottey, 5 Garrison and Kpeshie sub-metropolis and two private schools, an HIV/AIDS awareness group and a special group from the Dzorwulu Special School.
The others were second cycle schools such as Accra High, Ebenezer Secondary School and Presbyterian Secondary School at La.
The Army cadet from Kinbu Secondary Technical, Navy Cadet from Labone Secondary School, Air Force cadet from Odorgonno Secondary School and Police cadet from Depot/Airport Basic School were also at the parade.
The parade was under the command of Brig Gen Austin Apogan-Yella and had the mass band of the central bands of the Ghana Armed Forces, Ghana Police, the Ghana Navy and the Ghana Air Force, as well as the GES Accra Metro School band providing music.
It was attended by people from all walks of life, including Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, traditional rulers, members of the Bar and the Bench, clergymen and politicians, and members of the Diplomatic Corps.
During the march past by the contingents, they formed a line to spell “Ayekoo”, meaning well done while the Ghana Armed Forces and Ghana Police Service displayed their might in working apparatus.
Some of the military equipment bore inscriptions such as” Ghana Armed Forces, Partners in development” and Ghana Armed Forces, Ensuring peace and stability”.
While the ceremony was on-going , the Ghana Armed Forces gave the crowd an added impetus of satisfaction when some helicopters and military aircraft simultaneously hovered past, spewing smoke of the national colours of red, gold and green.
At the same time, a Ghana Navy ship was sighted on the ocean doing some displays while the 21-gun salute also boomed in the background amidst cheers from the teeming crowd.
Before President Kufuor could deliver his last independence address, a student from the Armed Forces Secondary Technical performed a drum appellation, which was interpreted by a female student from the Labone Secondary School.
Some senior service commanders were presented with Ghana’s Golden Jubilee medals.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Oil - Hope for our industriaisation drive
Ghana @51, A special Daily Graphic pull-out on 51 years of nationhood and 16 years of democracy. Page 23
Article: Charles Benoni Okine with additional files from the OECD Development Centre and BNET websites
“THE oil find in the country should in no doubt propel Ghana to realise its dream of becoming an industrialised country in the shortest possible time; The oil will not be beneficial if we do not use it to speed up our industrialisation drive.” These were the words of Mr Yaw Agyemang-Duah, Managing Director of GOIL, one of the most efficient and profitable State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the country.
He was making a brief presentation at the just ended National Oil and Gas Forum in Accra, which was called at the instance of President Kufuor to find ways of managing the country’s oil when production starts next year according to Kosmos Energy.
Mr Agyemang-Duah, who is also Chairman of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), said many countries in the world, particularly those which had oil, had used the rich resource to achieve their dream and Ghana could not afford to stay an agrarian country when it had oil.
China, in her quest to accelerate its development to become one of the most formidable industrialised country’s in the world, is buying large volumes of the world’s crude oil to the extent that the demand has contributed to the hike in crude oil prices internationally.
Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in realising the need for Ghana to become and industrialised country, took steps to ensure the construction of the Akosombo Hydroelectric Power Plant from which the Volta Aluminium Company (Valco), one of the biggest aluminium smelter’s in the world, was built.
His dream was to use electric energy to ensure that the dream became a reality. Soon after the inauguration of the project, small-scale industries started cropping up within areas where there is power.
Today, the story of hydro energy as a major source of fuel to drive Ghana into an industrialised state cannot be said to be a reality.
History of Ghana’s Industrialisation Drive
Between 1959 and 1966 individual Ghanaians and the state became more prominent in the setting up of industries than before. Consistent data for 1962 and 1966 show that Ghanaians with full or shared ownership accounted for 45 per cent of manufacturing value added in 1966 as compared to 32 per cent in 1962. Over the same period the share of the government in value added rose from 12 per cent to 15 per cent, and that of joint state-private enterprises went from 8 per cent to 14 per cent.
Apart from the inauguration of the petroleum refinery and the aluminium smelter at Tema, most of the expansion of production was in relatively simple consumer goods.
Thus food, beverages, tobacco, textiles and footwear together increased their share in manufacturing value added from 40 per cent in 1962 to 60 per cent in 1970.
The growth in output was thus based on what is normally seen as the easy phase of import substitution. Lack of success at this stage would consequently bode ill for the next, more difficult, stage.
Moreover, "the worst aspect of Ghana's poor showing was the failure of the big push of the Nkrumah years. High levels of capital formation failed to generate growth either in the short run or later in the decade.
“Those who took over from Nkrumah inherited a sorry mess and their successes in restoring some balance in the economy were considerable. Nevertheless, their response was the essentially negative one of cutting investment (and imports); ... and by 1972 the economy seemed as mired in stagnation as it had been during the preceding decade."
The failure of Nkrumah's industrialisation strategy was explicitly linked to the stagnation of domestic agriculture and the discouragement of primary exports.
Nkrumah's policy instruments were direct state investment (in agriculture as well as industry), protection, and measures designed to contain the growing imbalance on the external account.
It has been shown that, perhaps unintentionally, the protection afforded to Ghanaian manufacturing was random rather than purposive.
After 1961 domestic savings and gross domestic fixed capital formation tended to decline, and so — more importantly — did the efficiency with which capital was used.
This was due in substantial part to the distorting effects of the balance of payment controls.
For those favoured by relatively easy access to foreign exchange and import licences, capital was in effect subsidised. Its use was thus stimulated in industries that were not necessarily the most efficient.
Thus in the industries that were favoured the rate of capital formation exceeded that of output growth, so that the productivity of capital fell. Moreover, the use of imported materials was also over-stimulated.
Nevertheless the impact of controls on the less-favoured sectors was adverse. Starved of capital, foreign exchange and material imports, they simply failed to grow.
More effective policies in the foreign sector alone need not have meant more
growth in the economy. The controls compounded rather than caused more general errors in economic policy.
It has been noted that the complex and sometimes random character of the controls, the consequent diversion of entrepreneurial and bureaucratic energy, and the habit of waiting until a crisis was full blown before tackling it were at the root of failure.
Disappointing as Ghana's economic performance may have been in the 1960s, it
was destined to get worse before it got better.
The growth of real output was also slow compared to the rate of growth of the labour force and the capital stock. Thus in the period 1970-1982 the former grew by 63 per cent and the latter by 34 per cent. The productivity of both factor inputs obviously declined — at an average annual rate of 3.6 per cent for labour and of 2.0 per cent for capital.
Growth began to falter in the early 1960s. And although things obviously got worse later, particularly after 1974, there is no doubt that the dismal experience of the 1970s was a continuation of a pre-existing trend.
Just how dismal that trend was may be seen from a formalisation of what has just been said.
Output may grow because of brute increase in factor inputs, because of a rise in the productivity of such inputs, or because of some combination of quantitative and qualitative improvement. And it is clear that the benefits claimed for forced industrialisation are such that productivity increase should be an important part of the growth story.
When, however, economic circumstances dictated a marked slackening in the frenetic expansion of manufacturing in the 1970s, the growing inefficiency of resource use caused output itself to fall.
It is important to recognise that though Ghana's economic decline was arguably the most graphic and tragic in sub-Saharan Africa in the post-independence period, it was not entirely sui generis.
As elsewhere the problem lay largely in policy faults — in an exaggerated view of the beneficence and prescience of the state on the one hand and of the extent and importance of market failures on the other.
The colonial marketing boards, set up in the wake of the depression of the 1930s and the contingencies of war, should, for example, have been reduced rather than expanded. Unfortunately political and other pressures moved the newly-independent states in the other direction. Nowhere was this more true than in Ghana.
Industrialisation and energy
Ghana's long-held dream of becoming an industrial economy is based on a steady supply of relatively cheap power. The government, it seems, is putting its faith in gas rather than hydro for its future power needs.
It is often argued, and rightly so, that the poor condition of vital infrastructure in much of Africa has held back economic growth since independence.
Inadequate water supplies, unreliable power grids and the lack of fixed-line telecoms capacity is blamed for the scarcity of foreign investment and the inefficiency of many African companies.
Gas pipelines are relatively rarely considered, yet improved gas transmission infrastructure could be equally important if countries like Ghana are to transform from being steady but unspectacular economies into expanding industrial powers.
The Ghanaian economy has performed relatively well in recent years, as mining sector investment has increased and the key macroeconomic indicators have stabilised. Yet the country remains overly dependent on gold and agricultural exports such as cocoa. The government has made some strides towards widening mining sector participation, and there has also been some progress in utilising cocoa in domestic processing, but economic diversification is the key to moving the national economy onto the next level.
When Kwame Nkrumah led Ghana to independence in 1957, industrialisation was placed at the heart of the new nation's development plan. It was hoped that the Volta Dam scheme would generate the electricity to power the industrialisation of the country.
Although the hopes of the early independence years floundered on a combination of political upheaval and ineffective economic planning, the Volta River Authority (VRA) did go on to provide the lion's share of electricity for the country, with enough leftover to export to Côte d'Ivoire.
By the late 1990s, the situation had reversed. Ghana now imported electricity from Côte d'Ivoire and severe droughts in 1999 and 2000 resulted in lower water levels and greatly curtailed power production at the VRA hydroelectric power plants.
The government, therefore, decided to pursue the option of gas fired plants using either domestic reserves or gas imported from the proposed West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). Despite some domestic discoveries, the lack of domestic gas reserves forced Accra to look to Nigeria and the WAGP.
Now that Ghana is as economically and politically stable as it has been in its independent history, thoughts are once again beginning to turn to industrialisation.
The Chevron-led consortium that comprises the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) began installation of the 569km offshore section of the project in September 2005.
The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and chairman of the WAGP Company, Funso Kupolokun, commented: "As the first transnational natural gas transmission system to be developed in the sub-region, we had many complex challenges to overcome. However, the commencement of the offshore pipeline construction is a testament of the commitment that the states and the pipeline company have always maintained towards the realisation of this important project."
Apart from Chevron, the other members of the development consortium are NNPC, Shell Overseas Holdings, Takoradi Power Company, Société Togolaise de Gaz and Société Bengaz.
The inclusion of three power companies in the destination states emphasises the importance of power generation in the $600m project. The pipeline will eventually have the capacity to transport up to 475m cubic feet of gas a day from Nigeria to Cotonou in Benin, Lomé in Togo and Tema and Takoradi in Ghana.
Ghana's power sector had relied very heavily on the VRAs 1,038MW Akosombo hydro plant but the expansion of the 550MW Takoradi facility has injected an element of diversification into the sector.
Conclusion.
Apart from the oil, studies have shown clearly that Ghana has considerable volumes of natural gas.
The experts say that the deep waters of Ghana is abound with the two most powerful energy resources just as that of the many industrialised countries in the world.
However, the issue now at hand is: To what extent is Ghana ready to kick off, by taking advanatage of the oil, to propel its economy into an industriralised state?
The fact that Ghana will produce oil does not mean that the resource will be sold at a cheaper price to compel many entreprenuers to venture into the industrial sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr John Attafuah, has always argued that the greatest mistake Ghana would ever make when full production of oil begins in the country is to sell petroleum products at a cheaper price compared to what pertains on the international market. He said some oil producing countries such as Nigeria and Iran have failed with such attempts and Ghana cannot afford to tow that line.
According to him, these countries have problems in the form of shortages because they do not sell the products at the normal prices.
This means that although the oil will be produced here, companies may not necessarily have the luxury of buying it cheaper than what is on the international market. Should that happen, Ghana may still remain an agrarian country even in the face of oil.
A country as desperate as Ghana may want to find a way around this by ensuring that those who really want to go into the sector are given some form of tax reliefs and subsidies without necesarily selling the oil below the international market prices.
Proceeds from the oil could be used to open up every part of the country in terms of roads, telecommunications, electricity and other infrastructure and the dream may come alive.
Article: Charles Benoni Okine with additional files from the OECD Development Centre and BNET websites
“THE oil find in the country should in no doubt propel Ghana to realise its dream of becoming an industrialised country in the shortest possible time; The oil will not be beneficial if we do not use it to speed up our industrialisation drive.” These were the words of Mr Yaw Agyemang-Duah, Managing Director of GOIL, one of the most efficient and profitable State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in the country.
He was making a brief presentation at the just ended National Oil and Gas Forum in Accra, which was called at the instance of President Kufuor to find ways of managing the country’s oil when production starts next year according to Kosmos Energy.
Mr Agyemang-Duah, who is also Chairman of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), said many countries in the world, particularly those which had oil, had used the rich resource to achieve their dream and Ghana could not afford to stay an agrarian country when it had oil.
China, in her quest to accelerate its development to become one of the most formidable industrialised country’s in the world, is buying large volumes of the world’s crude oil to the extent that the demand has contributed to the hike in crude oil prices internationally.
Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in realising the need for Ghana to become and industrialised country, took steps to ensure the construction of the Akosombo Hydroelectric Power Plant from which the Volta Aluminium Company (Valco), one of the biggest aluminium smelter’s in the world, was built.
His dream was to use electric energy to ensure that the dream became a reality. Soon after the inauguration of the project, small-scale industries started cropping up within areas where there is power.
Today, the story of hydro energy as a major source of fuel to drive Ghana into an industrialised state cannot be said to be a reality.
History of Ghana’s Industrialisation Drive
Between 1959 and 1966 individual Ghanaians and the state became more prominent in the setting up of industries than before. Consistent data for 1962 and 1966 show that Ghanaians with full or shared ownership accounted for 45 per cent of manufacturing value added in 1966 as compared to 32 per cent in 1962. Over the same period the share of the government in value added rose from 12 per cent to 15 per cent, and that of joint state-private enterprises went from 8 per cent to 14 per cent.
Apart from the inauguration of the petroleum refinery and the aluminium smelter at Tema, most of the expansion of production was in relatively simple consumer goods.
Thus food, beverages, tobacco, textiles and footwear together increased their share in manufacturing value added from 40 per cent in 1962 to 60 per cent in 1970.
The growth in output was thus based on what is normally seen as the easy phase of import substitution. Lack of success at this stage would consequently bode ill for the next, more difficult, stage.
Moreover, "the worst aspect of Ghana's poor showing was the failure of the big push of the Nkrumah years. High levels of capital formation failed to generate growth either in the short run or later in the decade.
“Those who took over from Nkrumah inherited a sorry mess and their successes in restoring some balance in the economy were considerable. Nevertheless, their response was the essentially negative one of cutting investment (and imports); ... and by 1972 the economy seemed as mired in stagnation as it had been during the preceding decade."
The failure of Nkrumah's industrialisation strategy was explicitly linked to the stagnation of domestic agriculture and the discouragement of primary exports.
Nkrumah's policy instruments were direct state investment (in agriculture as well as industry), protection, and measures designed to contain the growing imbalance on the external account.
It has been shown that, perhaps unintentionally, the protection afforded to Ghanaian manufacturing was random rather than purposive.
After 1961 domestic savings and gross domestic fixed capital formation tended to decline, and so — more importantly — did the efficiency with which capital was used.
This was due in substantial part to the distorting effects of the balance of payment controls.
For those favoured by relatively easy access to foreign exchange and import licences, capital was in effect subsidised. Its use was thus stimulated in industries that were not necessarily the most efficient.
Thus in the industries that were favoured the rate of capital formation exceeded that of output growth, so that the productivity of capital fell. Moreover, the use of imported materials was also over-stimulated.
Nevertheless the impact of controls on the less-favoured sectors was adverse. Starved of capital, foreign exchange and material imports, they simply failed to grow.
More effective policies in the foreign sector alone need not have meant more
growth in the economy. The controls compounded rather than caused more general errors in economic policy.
It has been noted that the complex and sometimes random character of the controls, the consequent diversion of entrepreneurial and bureaucratic energy, and the habit of waiting until a crisis was full blown before tackling it were at the root of failure.
Disappointing as Ghana's economic performance may have been in the 1960s, it
was destined to get worse before it got better.
The growth of real output was also slow compared to the rate of growth of the labour force and the capital stock. Thus in the period 1970-1982 the former grew by 63 per cent and the latter by 34 per cent. The productivity of both factor inputs obviously declined — at an average annual rate of 3.6 per cent for labour and of 2.0 per cent for capital.
Growth began to falter in the early 1960s. And although things obviously got worse later, particularly after 1974, there is no doubt that the dismal experience of the 1970s was a continuation of a pre-existing trend.
Just how dismal that trend was may be seen from a formalisation of what has just been said.
Output may grow because of brute increase in factor inputs, because of a rise in the productivity of such inputs, or because of some combination of quantitative and qualitative improvement. And it is clear that the benefits claimed for forced industrialisation are such that productivity increase should be an important part of the growth story.
When, however, economic circumstances dictated a marked slackening in the frenetic expansion of manufacturing in the 1970s, the growing inefficiency of resource use caused output itself to fall.
It is important to recognise that though Ghana's economic decline was arguably the most graphic and tragic in sub-Saharan Africa in the post-independence period, it was not entirely sui generis.
As elsewhere the problem lay largely in policy faults — in an exaggerated view of the beneficence and prescience of the state on the one hand and of the extent and importance of market failures on the other.
The colonial marketing boards, set up in the wake of the depression of the 1930s and the contingencies of war, should, for example, have been reduced rather than expanded. Unfortunately political and other pressures moved the newly-independent states in the other direction. Nowhere was this more true than in Ghana.
Industrialisation and energy
Ghana's long-held dream of becoming an industrial economy is based on a steady supply of relatively cheap power. The government, it seems, is putting its faith in gas rather than hydro for its future power needs.
It is often argued, and rightly so, that the poor condition of vital infrastructure in much of Africa has held back economic growth since independence.
Inadequate water supplies, unreliable power grids and the lack of fixed-line telecoms capacity is blamed for the scarcity of foreign investment and the inefficiency of many African companies.
Gas pipelines are relatively rarely considered, yet improved gas transmission infrastructure could be equally important if countries like Ghana are to transform from being steady but unspectacular economies into expanding industrial powers.
The Ghanaian economy has performed relatively well in recent years, as mining sector investment has increased and the key macroeconomic indicators have stabilised. Yet the country remains overly dependent on gold and agricultural exports such as cocoa. The government has made some strides towards widening mining sector participation, and there has also been some progress in utilising cocoa in domestic processing, but economic diversification is the key to moving the national economy onto the next level.
When Kwame Nkrumah led Ghana to independence in 1957, industrialisation was placed at the heart of the new nation's development plan. It was hoped that the Volta Dam scheme would generate the electricity to power the industrialisation of the country.
Although the hopes of the early independence years floundered on a combination of political upheaval and ineffective economic planning, the Volta River Authority (VRA) did go on to provide the lion's share of electricity for the country, with enough leftover to export to Côte d'Ivoire.
By the late 1990s, the situation had reversed. Ghana now imported electricity from Côte d'Ivoire and severe droughts in 1999 and 2000 resulted in lower water levels and greatly curtailed power production at the VRA hydroelectric power plants.
The government, therefore, decided to pursue the option of gas fired plants using either domestic reserves or gas imported from the proposed West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). Despite some domestic discoveries, the lack of domestic gas reserves forced Accra to look to Nigeria and the WAGP.
Now that Ghana is as economically and politically stable as it has been in its independent history, thoughts are once again beginning to turn to industrialisation.
The Chevron-led consortium that comprises the West African Gas Pipeline Company (WAPCo) began installation of the 569km offshore section of the project in September 2005.
The Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and chairman of the WAGP Company, Funso Kupolokun, commented: "As the first transnational natural gas transmission system to be developed in the sub-region, we had many complex challenges to overcome. However, the commencement of the offshore pipeline construction is a testament of the commitment that the states and the pipeline company have always maintained towards the realisation of this important project."
Apart from Chevron, the other members of the development consortium are NNPC, Shell Overseas Holdings, Takoradi Power Company, Société Togolaise de Gaz and Société Bengaz.
The inclusion of three power companies in the destination states emphasises the importance of power generation in the $600m project. The pipeline will eventually have the capacity to transport up to 475m cubic feet of gas a day from Nigeria to Cotonou in Benin, Lomé in Togo and Tema and Takoradi in Ghana.
Ghana's power sector had relied very heavily on the VRAs 1,038MW Akosombo hydro plant but the expansion of the 550MW Takoradi facility has injected an element of diversification into the sector.
Conclusion.
Apart from the oil, studies have shown clearly that Ghana has considerable volumes of natural gas.
The experts say that the deep waters of Ghana is abound with the two most powerful energy resources just as that of the many industrialised countries in the world.
However, the issue now at hand is: To what extent is Ghana ready to kick off, by taking advanatage of the oil, to propel its economy into an industriralised state?
The fact that Ghana will produce oil does not mean that the resource will be sold at a cheaper price to compel many entreprenuers to venture into the industrial sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr John Attafuah, has always argued that the greatest mistake Ghana would ever make when full production of oil begins in the country is to sell petroleum products at a cheaper price compared to what pertains on the international market. He said some oil producing countries such as Nigeria and Iran have failed with such attempts and Ghana cannot afford to tow that line.
According to him, these countries have problems in the form of shortages because they do not sell the products at the normal prices.
This means that although the oil will be produced here, companies may not necessarily have the luxury of buying it cheaper than what is on the international market. Should that happen, Ghana may still remain an agrarian country even in the face of oil.
A country as desperate as Ghana may want to find a way around this by ensuring that those who really want to go into the sector are given some form of tax reliefs and subsidies without necesarily selling the oil below the international market prices.
Proceeds from the oil could be used to open up every part of the country in terms of roads, telecommunications, electricity and other infrastructure and the dream may come alive.
EC rejects bloated resgiter
Front March 05/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Electoral Commission (EC) has refuted the voter registration figures of 13 constituencies within the Ashanti Region as brought before it by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Consequently, it has distributed what it describes as the “authentic” figures in the disputed constituencies to all the political parties for their perusal.
The Chairman of the commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, told the media shortly after the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Accra yesterday that “what we have printed from our database and given to the parties are the authentic figures”.
He said the figures from the database of the commission were completely at variance with the ones held by the NDC.
However, he said the commission had agreed to jointly conduct further investigations with the political parties to ascertain the actual contents of a CD Rom that the NDC claimed to have received from the commission.
The NDC raised alarm at the weekend over figures it said it had received earlier from the EC and challenged the voter registration figures in 13 of the constituencies in the Ashanti Region which had increased by over 110 per cent.
Although the EC Chairman admitted that the commission granted the request of the NDC some time ago after the latter had sought information from the commission, he could not comprehend how the contents with regard to the actual voter registration figures on the CD Rom differed from the figures at the commission.
“Yes, the NDC requested formally in writing to be given some information and we did exactly that. What we are surprised about is the difference between what they have on that CD Rom and the authentic figures in the commission’s database,” he said.
Dr Afari-Gyan said the figures from the EC database were totally at variance with the figures put up by the NDC, reiterating that “it is based on this that the entire membership of the parties and the commission have agreed to get to the bottom of the matter”.
“We believe in the figures we have in our database and we stand by them as the authentic one,” he stated categorically.
Dr Afari-Gyan said the commission had compared its figures with those in the Ashanti Regional Office of the commission, saying the two tallied.
He said the percentage increase in registered voters for the 39 constituencies in the Ashanti Region as of 2006 was six per cent, not 113 per cent as claimed by the NDC.
Asked whether the number of polling stations in the country would be increased from the proposed 5,000 for the registration of new voters, he replied in the negative, saying, “This is a mini exercise and we cannot use all the 24,000 polling stations.”
He said such a move would be a waste of money, time and resources “because we expect to capture only about one million new voters. They will be people who have just attained 18 and can now vote”.
Dr Afari-Gyan refuted claims that the issue raised by the NDC had affected the credibility of the commission.
“It was an issue raised but we have produced what is authentic and we expect all right-thinking Ghanaians to believe what we have produced,” he added.
The meeting was boycotted by the Leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Mr Kofi Wayo, who said he did so because of the presence of representatives of donor partners at the meeting.
He said the presence of representatives of the donors at the meeting was unnecessary and an affront to the dignity of Ghanaians, since “we are capable of organising a successful, rigging-free and violence-free elections without any foreign partners”.
The media were not allowed to sit in.
Mr Wayo, who engaged journalists in a conversation outside the meeting hall for more than two hours, expressed concern over how the nation, which had independence 51 years ago, could still rely on foreign partners to organise credible elections.
“We have gold, diamond, bauxite, rivers and many natural resources that our donor partners don’t have. Why do we, then, allow our fate to be determined this way?” he queried.
On the water crisis that currently faces the nation, Mr Wayo called on the government to terminate the contract it signed with Aqua Vitens Rand Company Limited, stressing that “these companies don’t have any track record to handle our water problem”.
He wondered how people in a nation endowed with many water resources would trot with cans, on daily basis, in search of good drinking water and blamed it on the lack of focus and direction on the part of leadership.
Mr Wayo commended former President Rawlings, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, for their leadership roles and concern for mankind.
He also urged media practitioners not to compromise their profession for any immediate reward, saying, “As the Fourth Estate of the Realm, you must work fearlessly and defend the rights of the ordinary people.”
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Electoral Commission (EC) has refuted the voter registration figures of 13 constituencies within the Ashanti Region as brought before it by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Consequently, it has distributed what it describes as the “authentic” figures in the disputed constituencies to all the political parties for their perusal.
The Chairman of the commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, told the media shortly after the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Accra yesterday that “what we have printed from our database and given to the parties are the authentic figures”.
He said the figures from the database of the commission were completely at variance with the ones held by the NDC.
However, he said the commission had agreed to jointly conduct further investigations with the political parties to ascertain the actual contents of a CD Rom that the NDC claimed to have received from the commission.
The NDC raised alarm at the weekend over figures it said it had received earlier from the EC and challenged the voter registration figures in 13 of the constituencies in the Ashanti Region which had increased by over 110 per cent.
Although the EC Chairman admitted that the commission granted the request of the NDC some time ago after the latter had sought information from the commission, he could not comprehend how the contents with regard to the actual voter registration figures on the CD Rom differed from the figures at the commission.
“Yes, the NDC requested formally in writing to be given some information and we did exactly that. What we are surprised about is the difference between what they have on that CD Rom and the authentic figures in the commission’s database,” he said.
Dr Afari-Gyan said the figures from the EC database were totally at variance with the figures put up by the NDC, reiterating that “it is based on this that the entire membership of the parties and the commission have agreed to get to the bottom of the matter”.
“We believe in the figures we have in our database and we stand by them as the authentic one,” he stated categorically.
Dr Afari-Gyan said the commission had compared its figures with those in the Ashanti Regional Office of the commission, saying the two tallied.
He said the percentage increase in registered voters for the 39 constituencies in the Ashanti Region as of 2006 was six per cent, not 113 per cent as claimed by the NDC.
Asked whether the number of polling stations in the country would be increased from the proposed 5,000 for the registration of new voters, he replied in the negative, saying, “This is a mini exercise and we cannot use all the 24,000 polling stations.”
He said such a move would be a waste of money, time and resources “because we expect to capture only about one million new voters. They will be people who have just attained 18 and can now vote”.
Dr Afari-Gyan refuted claims that the issue raised by the NDC had affected the credibility of the commission.
“It was an issue raised but we have produced what is authentic and we expect all right-thinking Ghanaians to believe what we have produced,” he added.
The meeting was boycotted by the Leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Mr Kofi Wayo, who said he did so because of the presence of representatives of donor partners at the meeting.
He said the presence of representatives of the donors at the meeting was unnecessary and an affront to the dignity of Ghanaians, since “we are capable of organising a successful, rigging-free and violence-free elections without any foreign partners”.
The media were not allowed to sit in.
Mr Wayo, who engaged journalists in a conversation outside the meeting hall for more than two hours, expressed concern over how the nation, which had independence 51 years ago, could still rely on foreign partners to organise credible elections.
“We have gold, diamond, bauxite, rivers and many natural resources that our donor partners don’t have. Why do we, then, allow our fate to be determined this way?” he queried.
On the water crisis that currently faces the nation, Mr Wayo called on the government to terminate the contract it signed with Aqua Vitens Rand Company Limited, stressing that “these companies don’t have any track record to handle our water problem”.
He wondered how people in a nation endowed with many water resources would trot with cans, on daily basis, in search of good drinking water and blamed it on the lack of focus and direction on the part of leadership.
Mr Wayo commended former President Rawlings, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, for their leadership roles and concern for mankind.
He also urged media practitioners not to compromise their profession for any immediate reward, saying, “As the Fourth Estate of the Realm, you must work fearlessly and defend the rights of the ordinary people.”
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
EC ORDERS PROBE• Into authencity of document
Front (Lead) March 04/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Electoral Commission (EC) has refuted the voter registration figures of 13 constituencies within the Ashanti Region as brought before it by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Consequently, it has distributed what it describes as the “authentic” figures in the disputed constituencies to all the political parties for their perusal.
The Chairman of the commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, told the media shortly after the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Accra yesterday that “what we have printed from our database and given to the parties are the authentic figures”.
He said the figures from the database of the commission were completely at variance with the ones held by the NDC.
However, he said the commission had agreed to jointly conduct further investigations with the political parties to ascertain the actual contents of a CD Rom that the NDC claimed to have received from the commission.
The NDC raised alarm at the weekend over figures it said it had received earlier from the EC and challenged the voter registration figures in 13 of the constituencies in the Ashanti Region which had increased by over 110 per cent.
Although the EC Chairman admitted that the commission granted the request of the NDC some time ago after the latter had sought information from the commission, he could not comprehend how the contents with regard to the actual voter registration figures on the CD Rom differed from the figures at the commission.
“Yes, the NDC requested formally in writing to be given some information and we did exactly that. What we are surprised about is the difference between what they have on that CD Rom and the authentic figures in the commission’s database,” he said.
Dr Afari-Gyan said the figures from the EC database were totally at variance with the figures put up by the NDC, reiterating that “it is based on this that the entire membership of the parties and the commission have agreed to get to the bottom of the matter”.
“We believe in the figures we have in our database and we stand by them as the authentic one,” he stated categorically.
Dr Afari-Gyan said the commission had compared its figures with those in the Ashanti Regional Office of the commission, saying the two tallied.
He said the percentage increase in registered voters for the 39 constituencies in the Ashanti Region as of 2006 was six per cent, not 113 per cent as claimed by the NDC.
Asked whether the number of polling stations in the country would be increased from the proposed 5,000 for the registration of new voters, he replied in the negative, saying, “This is a mini exercise and we cannot use all the 24,000 polling stations.”
He said such a move would be a waste of money, time and resources “because we expect to capture only about one million new voters. They will be people who have just attained 18 and can now vote”.
Dr Afari-Gyan refuted claims that the issue raised by the NDC had affected the credibility of the commission.
“It was an issue raised but we have produced what is authentic and we expect all right-thinking Ghanaians to believe what we have produced,” he added.
The meeting was boycotted by the Leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Mr Kofi Wayo, who said he did so because of the presence of representatives of donor partners at the meeting.
He said the presence of representatives of the donors at the meeting was unnecessary and an affront to the dignity of Ghanaians, since “we are capable of organising a successful, rigging-free and violence-free elections without any foreign partners”.
The media were not allowed to sit in.
Mr Wayo, who engaged journalists in a conversation outside the meeting hall for more than two hours, expressed concern over how the nation, which had independence 51 years ago, could still rely on foreign partners to organise credible elections.
“We have gold, diamond, bauxite, rivers and many natural resources that our donor partners don’t have. Why do we, then, allow our fate to be determined this way?” he queried.
On the water crisis that currently faces the nation, Mr Wayo called on the government to terminate the contract it signed with Aqua Vitens Rand Company Limited, stressing that “these companies don’t have any track record to handle our water problem”.
He wondered how people in a nation endowed with many water resources would trot with cans, on daily basis, in search of good drinking water and blamed it on the lack of focus and direction on the part of leadership.
Mr Wayo commended former President Rawlings, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, for their leadership roles and concern for mankind.
He also urged media practitioners not to compromise their profession for any immediate reward, saying, “As the Fourth Estate of the Realm, you must work fearlessly and defend the rights of the ordinary people.”
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Electoral Commission (EC) has refuted the voter registration figures of 13 constituencies within the Ashanti Region as brought before it by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Consequently, it has distributed what it describes as the “authentic” figures in the disputed constituencies to all the political parties for their perusal.
The Chairman of the commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, told the media shortly after the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting in Accra yesterday that “what we have printed from our database and given to the parties are the authentic figures”.
He said the figures from the database of the commission were completely at variance with the ones held by the NDC.
However, he said the commission had agreed to jointly conduct further investigations with the political parties to ascertain the actual contents of a CD Rom that the NDC claimed to have received from the commission.
The NDC raised alarm at the weekend over figures it said it had received earlier from the EC and challenged the voter registration figures in 13 of the constituencies in the Ashanti Region which had increased by over 110 per cent.
Although the EC Chairman admitted that the commission granted the request of the NDC some time ago after the latter had sought information from the commission, he could not comprehend how the contents with regard to the actual voter registration figures on the CD Rom differed from the figures at the commission.
“Yes, the NDC requested formally in writing to be given some information and we did exactly that. What we are surprised about is the difference between what they have on that CD Rom and the authentic figures in the commission’s database,” he said.
Dr Afari-Gyan said the figures from the EC database were totally at variance with the figures put up by the NDC, reiterating that “it is based on this that the entire membership of the parties and the commission have agreed to get to the bottom of the matter”.
“We believe in the figures we have in our database and we stand by them as the authentic one,” he stated categorically.
Dr Afari-Gyan said the commission had compared its figures with those in the Ashanti Regional Office of the commission, saying the two tallied.
He said the percentage increase in registered voters for the 39 constituencies in the Ashanti Region as of 2006 was six per cent, not 113 per cent as claimed by the NDC.
Asked whether the number of polling stations in the country would be increased from the proposed 5,000 for the registration of new voters, he replied in the negative, saying, “This is a mini exercise and we cannot use all the 24,000 polling stations.”
He said such a move would be a waste of money, time and resources “because we expect to capture only about one million new voters. They will be people who have just attained 18 and can now vote”.
Dr Afari-Gyan refuted claims that the issue raised by the NDC had affected the credibility of the commission.
“It was an issue raised but we have produced what is authentic and we expect all right-thinking Ghanaians to believe what we have produced,” he added.
The meeting was boycotted by the Leader of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Mr Kofi Wayo, who said he did so because of the presence of representatives of donor partners at the meeting.
He said the presence of representatives of the donors at the meeting was unnecessary and an affront to the dignity of Ghanaians, since “we are capable of organising a successful, rigging-free and violence-free elections without any foreign partners”.
The media were not allowed to sit in.
Mr Wayo, who engaged journalists in a conversation outside the meeting hall for more than two hours, expressed concern over how the nation, which had independence 51 years ago, could still rely on foreign partners to organise credible elections.
“We have gold, diamond, bauxite, rivers and many natural resources that our donor partners don’t have. Why do we, then, allow our fate to be determined this way?” he queried.
On the water crisis that currently faces the nation, Mr Wayo called on the government to terminate the contract it signed with Aqua Vitens Rand Company Limited, stressing that “these companies don’t have any track record to handle our water problem”.
He wondered how people in a nation endowed with many water resources would trot with cans, on daily basis, in search of good drinking water and blamed it on the lack of focus and direction on the part of leadership.
Mr Wayo commended former President Rawlings, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, for their leadership roles and concern for mankind.
He also urged media practitioners not to compromise their profession for any immediate reward, saying, “As the Fourth Estate of the Realm, you must work fearlessly and defend the rights of the ordinary people.”
Monday, March 3, 2008
Revise oil spill contingency plan
Page 55 (lead) March 03/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has advocated the early revision of Ghana’s oil spill contingency plan as the country prepares for the full production of the ‘black gold’ west of Cape Three Points in the Western Region.
According to the Chief Executive of the EPA, Mr Jonathan Allotey, the current plan was designed for transit cargo oil ships and needed to be revised as Ghana prepared to go into the commercial oil production next year.
The world recorded its worst oil spill in 1980 with the blow out of the Ixtoc-1 well in Mexico which spilled up to 428 million gallons of oil, a calamity which took more than nine months to mop up after the oil had wiped out many sea birds and other creatures in the ocean.
Again, in 1983, Castillo de Bellver in South Africa caught fire and between 50 and 80 million barrels of crude oil were spilled, while the D-103 in Libya also spilled 42 million barrels of oil in 1999.
It was based on these experiences and more that Mr Allotey told the Daily Graphic that preparations against those unfortunate situations must not be toyed with.
On staff preparedness, Mr Allotey said, “They will need to be retrained. We have competent staff but adding on to what they have to make them more solid for the task ahead is not out of place.”
The competence of the EPA to effectively ensure compliance by the oil and other companies to be involved in the production process was raised during the recent National Oil and Gas Forum in Accra.
The forum also noted that the EPA was under-resourced and wondered how it would meet the challenges that would come with the commercial production of oil.
Mr Allotey was, however, confident that the EPA would be able to surmount the challenges as it prepared towards the task ahead.
He said the area where the oil was to be produced needed to be well demarcated and the map given to the EPA to get to know its area of jurisdiction.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has advocated the early revision of Ghana’s oil spill contingency plan as the country prepares for the full production of the ‘black gold’ west of Cape Three Points in the Western Region.
According to the Chief Executive of the EPA, Mr Jonathan Allotey, the current plan was designed for transit cargo oil ships and needed to be revised as Ghana prepared to go into the commercial oil production next year.
The world recorded its worst oil spill in 1980 with the blow out of the Ixtoc-1 well in Mexico which spilled up to 428 million gallons of oil, a calamity which took more than nine months to mop up after the oil had wiped out many sea birds and other creatures in the ocean.
Again, in 1983, Castillo de Bellver in South Africa caught fire and between 50 and 80 million barrels of crude oil were spilled, while the D-103 in Libya also spilled 42 million barrels of oil in 1999.
It was based on these experiences and more that Mr Allotey told the Daily Graphic that preparations against those unfortunate situations must not be toyed with.
On staff preparedness, Mr Allotey said, “They will need to be retrained. We have competent staff but adding on to what they have to make them more solid for the task ahead is not out of place.”
The competence of the EPA to effectively ensure compliance by the oil and other companies to be involved in the production process was raised during the recent National Oil and Gas Forum in Accra.
The forum also noted that the EPA was under-resourced and wondered how it would meet the challenges that would come with the commercial production of oil.
Mr Allotey was, however, confident that the EPA would be able to surmount the challenges as it prepared towards the task ahead.
He said the area where the oil was to be produced needed to be well demarcated and the map given to the EPA to get to know its area of jurisdiction.
Kosmos and partners to drill more oil wells
Spread (lead) March 03/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
KOSMOS Energy and its partners have raised $700 million to lease a floating rig to drill additional wells to the west of Cape Three Points of the Tano Basin in the Western Region.
The rig is expected to arrive in the country in September to work for three years.
The President of Kosmos Energy, Mr James Musselman, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra, said the lease formed part of efforts to intensify the search for more oil in the country’s deep waters.
“It is the intention of the group to ensure that eight wells are drilled by the end of the year,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said, the Songa Saturn, a deep-water floating drilling rig that found Ghana’s second oil in the Odum-1 Well about a week ago, would begin the drilling of the third well, Mahogany-2, before the end of the week.
Songa Saturn, which arrived from Equatorial Guinea, is expected to leave for Libya after its expedition in Ghanaian waters at a later date.
The company has so far been highly successful with its expedition in the deep waters of Ghana, following the striking of excellent quality oil in both wells it had drilled in the Cape Three Points area in the past eight months. The wells are the Mahogany-I and Odum-I.
He said the first rig, Belford Dolphin, which found oil in the Mahogany-1 Well, would also start drilling four more wells, beginning June this year, as part of the company’s intensified programmes.
Mr Musselman had earlier announced that Ghana would begin drawing significant quantities of crude oil next year from the fields west of Cape Three Points.
“The exercise we have embarked on is a very expensive one but the company is determined to ensure that it accomplishes its task,” he said.
Following the oil find, a two-day National Oil and Gas Forum was held in Accra to discuss what actions needed to be taken before actual drilling starts.
The forum, which was attended by a wide spectrum of stakeholders from Norway, Canada, Nigeria, Azerbaijan and Ghana, was organised along four thematic areas: “Turning Oil and Gas Wealth into Sustainable and Equitable Development”, “Entrenching Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement”, “Effective Management of the Oil and Gas Sector” and “Safeguarding Security and the Environment”.
Mr Musselman said it cost the company between $40 million and $50 million to drill one well but said the company was so far satisfied with the results and expressed the hope that future expenditure would not be in vain.
Asked about his impressions of the forum, he said, “This forum is simply amazing; we did not expect such a thing from the government.”
He asked all Ghanaians to rally behind the effort of the government in its quest to find ways of managing and using revenue from the find when full production began.
“We have been to other countries but nothing of that nature had happened there and we need to give a thumbs up for the President for the initiative,” he added.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
KOSMOS Energy and its partners have raised $700 million to lease a floating rig to drill additional wells to the west of Cape Three Points of the Tano Basin in the Western Region.
The rig is expected to arrive in the country in September to work for three years.
The President of Kosmos Energy, Mr James Musselman, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Accra, said the lease formed part of efforts to intensify the search for more oil in the country’s deep waters.
“It is the intention of the group to ensure that eight wells are drilled by the end of the year,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said, the Songa Saturn, a deep-water floating drilling rig that found Ghana’s second oil in the Odum-1 Well about a week ago, would begin the drilling of the third well, Mahogany-2, before the end of the week.
Songa Saturn, which arrived from Equatorial Guinea, is expected to leave for Libya after its expedition in Ghanaian waters at a later date.
The company has so far been highly successful with its expedition in the deep waters of Ghana, following the striking of excellent quality oil in both wells it had drilled in the Cape Three Points area in the past eight months. The wells are the Mahogany-I and Odum-I.
He said the first rig, Belford Dolphin, which found oil in the Mahogany-1 Well, would also start drilling four more wells, beginning June this year, as part of the company’s intensified programmes.
Mr Musselman had earlier announced that Ghana would begin drawing significant quantities of crude oil next year from the fields west of Cape Three Points.
“The exercise we have embarked on is a very expensive one but the company is determined to ensure that it accomplishes its task,” he said.
Following the oil find, a two-day National Oil and Gas Forum was held in Accra to discuss what actions needed to be taken before actual drilling starts.
The forum, which was attended by a wide spectrum of stakeholders from Norway, Canada, Nigeria, Azerbaijan and Ghana, was organised along four thematic areas: “Turning Oil and Gas Wealth into Sustainable and Equitable Development”, “Entrenching Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement”, “Effective Management of the Oil and Gas Sector” and “Safeguarding Security and the Environment”.
Mr Musselman said it cost the company between $40 million and $50 million to drill one well but said the company was so far satisfied with the results and expressed the hope that future expenditure would not be in vain.
Asked about his impressions of the forum, he said, “This forum is simply amazing; we did not expect such a thing from the government.”
He asked all Ghanaians to rally behind the effort of the government in its quest to find ways of managing and using revenue from the find when full production began.
“We have been to other countries but nothing of that nature had happened there and we need to give a thumbs up for the President for the initiative,” he added.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Volta Basin residents train in tree management
Back pg March 1/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine & Justina Ampadu-Nyarko
THE people living along the Volta Basin are to receive major training in tree management to enable them to contribute meaningfully to efforts to preserve water in the White, Black and Red Voltas.
The three Voltas serve as major tributaries to lakes, including the Volta Lake, which serve as major sources of hydro electricity for both Ghana and Burkina Faso
The Co-ordinator of the Project for Improving Water Governance in the Volta Basin (PAGEV), Mr Kwame Odame-Ababio, who said this at a day’s workshop for the steering committee of the project, said the move had become crucial because of activities along the basin which did not augur well for the future of the basin.
He said apart from the recent flooding in the three northern regions, activities such as bush burning and animal grazing had been identified as major causes of the unsuccessful tree planting project embarked on by PAGEV to protect the basin.
PAGEV is a joint project between Ghana and Burkina Faso to respond to the need for trans-boundary co-ordination and co-operation regarding the management of the Volta Basin.
It is also focused on seeking to strengthen the bilateral co-operation between the two countries on shared water resources and to demonstrate how water governance can be improved through the implementation of pilot activities.
The pilot activities include support for farmers in the form of seedlings to establish vegetable farms in the dry season, while others are supported with water pumps and watering cans to increase cropping areas for vegetable farming during the dry season.
The acting Executive Secretary of the Water Resources Commission, Mr Ben Ampomah, said the commission had pledged to give the needed support and encouragement to PAGEV to achieve its stated objectives.
“The commission pledges to continue offering its support, first to promote an important local consultative structure initiative and, second, towards the attainment of the goals of PAGEV that identifies with the vision of the commission of ensuring sustainable water management for all, by all,” he said.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine & Justina Ampadu-Nyarko
THE people living along the Volta Basin are to receive major training in tree management to enable them to contribute meaningfully to efforts to preserve water in the White, Black and Red Voltas.
The three Voltas serve as major tributaries to lakes, including the Volta Lake, which serve as major sources of hydro electricity for both Ghana and Burkina Faso
The Co-ordinator of the Project for Improving Water Governance in the Volta Basin (PAGEV), Mr Kwame Odame-Ababio, who said this at a day’s workshop for the steering committee of the project, said the move had become crucial because of activities along the basin which did not augur well for the future of the basin.
He said apart from the recent flooding in the three northern regions, activities such as bush burning and animal grazing had been identified as major causes of the unsuccessful tree planting project embarked on by PAGEV to protect the basin.
PAGEV is a joint project between Ghana and Burkina Faso to respond to the need for trans-boundary co-ordination and co-operation regarding the management of the Volta Basin.
It is also focused on seeking to strengthen the bilateral co-operation between the two countries on shared water resources and to demonstrate how water governance can be improved through the implementation of pilot activities.
The pilot activities include support for farmers in the form of seedlings to establish vegetable farms in the dry season, while others are supported with water pumps and watering cans to increase cropping areas for vegetable farming during the dry season.
The acting Executive Secretary of the Water Resources Commission, Mr Ben Ampomah, said the commission had pledged to give the needed support and encouragement to PAGEV to achieve its stated objectives.
“The commission pledges to continue offering its support, first to promote an important local consultative structure initiative and, second, towards the attainment of the goals of PAGEV that identifies with the vision of the commission of ensuring sustainable water management for all, by all,” he said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)