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Uneducated citizenry is like a pitch any game can be played on it. Illiteracy is what has given the politicians in Ghana the chance to fool so many people for so a long a time.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Cocaine man jailed 10 years


The Dormaa Ahenkro Circuit Court has sentenced a 24-year-old man to 10 years’ imprisonment for possessing 18 wrapped pieces of cocaine at Nkrankwanta in the Brong Ahafo Region.

The convict, Ali Umoru, a native of Nkrankwanta, pleaded guilty to the charge of possession of a narcotic drug, contrary to Section 2 Subsection 1 of PNDC Law 236 of 1990, but with explanation.

Umoru told the court, presided over by Mr Justice Alexander Osei Tutu, that the cocaine was given to him by somebody to be given to another person. But the court found him guilty and sentenced him accordingly.

The Dormaa Municipal Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Mahmud Yussif, who briefed the Daily Graphic, said at 7.30 a.m. on April 12, 2013, the police had a tip-off that somebody was peddling narcotic drugs in an uncompleted building at Nkrankwanta, the capital of the Dormaa West District.

He said based on the tip-off, the police moved to the area and arrested Umoru.

A search on him by the police revealed 18 wrapped pieces of a substance found to be cocaine.

Mr Yussif said when the convict was asked where he got the drug from, he said it had been given to him by one Monney to be given to somebody at Nkrankwanta.

However, the court later found out that Umoru’s claim was false.
Source: 
Daily Graphic

Ghana Water boss sacked



Mr Kweku Botwe
President John Mahama has finally sacked the indicted Managing Director (MD) of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Mr Kweku Botwe.
The Ghana Water boss was expected to report back to his office on April 12, 2013 but a letter from the Water Resources Works and Housing Ministry according to The Herald’s sources was dispatched to him asking him to report to the Ministry for re-assignment.
The government has meanwhile, asked his deputy Mr. Kweku Dovlo to act until further notice.
The Paper said it was informed that Mr. Botwe has told some friends he will not report to the Ministry as directed by President Mahama.
GWCL under Mr. Botwe witnessed some corrupt deals including the company’s importation of expired chemical (aluminium sulphate) for the treatment of water at a cost of over US$4.5 million.
Mr. Botwe who has been implicated in several corruption investigations leading to the GWCL losing millions of money was sent on leave after refusing to take his yearly leave.
Meanwhile, The Herald is investigating another scandal involving another highly priced chemicals belonging to the GWCL, which once again has been left to rot at the Tema Port by the management under some bizarre circumstances.
Source: 
Ghana | RadioXYZonline.com

Mahama lacks appreciation of international politics - Prof. Bluwey


International Relations expert, Professor Keith Bluwey has stated that President Mahama lacks appreciation of the complex nature of international politics.

Professor Bluwey’s comment comes after President Mahama on Wednesday stated that Ghana would not cut ties with Iran because of that country’s problems with some Western countries.

Professor Bluwey prior to the Iran’s Leader’s visit cautioned Ghana to tread cautiously or risk hurting the sensibilities of its western partners who are enemies to Iran.

Speaking to XYZ News after the visit of the President Ahmadinejad to Ghana, Professor Bluwey stated that, it would be difficult for Ghana's western partners to support the country if it continues to make friends with Iran.

“You go on hobnobbing with Iran and all these people...Iran that is an avowed enemy of Israel, an enemy of the west and the next day you would turn to America that they should help you with your budget? He queried.

Professor Bluwey added “If we are pointing this out to the government and they don’t to pipe down then they can go ahead”. 

Source: 
Ghana | RadioXYZonline.com

Bawumia's Evidence Vindicates Us - NDC


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The legal team of the National Democratic Congress in the ongoing election petition case say they feel vindicated by the evidence given in court by NPP’s Dr. Bawumia.

According to NDC’s legal team, the inconsistencies in Dr. Bawumia’s presentation reflect the weakness of the petitioners’ evidence.

Speaking to the media after hearing on Wednesday, spokesperson for the NDC legal team, Nana Ato Dadzie said Ghanaians will better understand their position when the cross examination of the witness begins.

“We know what our friends from the other side have, they have rolled out their evidence and they are about to so we know what they have”.

“We simply feel comfortable and we are waiting to have the opportunity our team cross-examine Dr. Bawumia.

“We would want to draw a distinction between allegations and then evidence”.

But the New Patriotic Party said it believes it has had a good start in court.

Gloria Akuffo told Journalists that their case will get even better as it progresses.

“I have nothing to complain about, I have found it satisfactory, I think it is a good start and it is our expectation that it would get even better” Madam Gloria Akufo stated.
Source: XYZ News

EC Admits To Errors But...

 
 
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Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on Wednesday took the witness stand and for more than four hours explained the Petitioners case in the ongoing Presidential Election Petition and why the rightful winner of the 2012 December elections should have been Nana Akufo-Addo.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Vice-Presidential candidate for the 2012 elections who was led in evidence by lead counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison, took his time in breaking down the irregularities discovered on the face of the Pink Sheets which is the only official record of the conduct and outcome of the elections at the polling stations.

The evidence of Dr. Bawumia, who is the second petitioner, began by taking the court through the Statement of Poll and Declaration of Results Form (Pink Sheets) and explaining its various sections and what they are meant to achieve.

He mentioned that the purpose of the various sections on the Pink Sheet was to ensure the credibility and integrity of the polls and that the sections of the Pink Sheet ideally should be internally consistent.

Touching on the irregularities discovered in the analysis of the Pink Sheets, Dr. Bawumia stated that there were six categories of constitutional, statutory violations, irregularities and malpractices found. He named these as over-voting, voting without biometric verification, the absence of the signatures of presiding officers or their assistants on the Pink Sheets, the use of Duplicate serial numbers on the Pink Sheets, the use of same polling station codes for different polling station results and unknown polling stations where voting was conducted.

OVER-VOTING

On over-voting, Dr. Bawumia identified the two forms of over-voting. The first form of over-voting, according to Dr Bawumia, is where the total votes in the ballot box exceed the ballots issued to voters at a particular polling station while the second form is where the total votes in the ballot box exceed the total number of registered voters at the particular polling station.

The Economist, who also headed the team set up by the NPP to look into the irregularities which affected the December 7th elections, informed the court that they had discovered a total of 1,826 polling stations where over-voting took place with total votes at those polling stations being 791,423. He asked the court to annul these votes because they had been tainted by over-voting which was a statutory and constitutional violation and which undermined the one man one vote principle underlying our democracy bringing the integrity of the elections into doubt at those polling stations.

Dr. Bawumia also stated that on its own, should the court grant the petitioners request to annul the results from polling stations whose pink sheets were not signed by the Presiding officers or their deputies, John Mahama would be at 49.52% while Nana Akufo-Addo would be at 48.96% while annulling only polling stations affected by Duplicate serial numbers would mean that the results of the elections would be completely overturned with Nana Akufo-Addo securing 56.65% and John Mahama securing 41.96%.

The NPP Vice-Presidential candidate informed the court that indeed the Electoral commissioner prior to the December elections stated clearly that polling stations which were affected by over-voting and where voting without biometric verification took place would be annulled and that in fact the EC annulled certain polling stations because they were affected by the two irregularities.

On stating the information on annulments by the electoral commission due to over-voting and voting without biometric verification, counsel for the electoral commission, Quashie-Idun supported by the lawyers of John Mahama and the NDC, raised an objection and requested the court to strike out the statements which were also contained in the affidavit of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as it had not been pleaded in the petition of the plaintiffs. The Court after a 25 minute break dismissed the objection raised by the counsel to the EC.


NO BIOMETRIC VERIFICATION

Rattling out numerous figures to establish the NPP’s case, Dr. Bawumia indicated that from the various Pink sheets analyzed, it had been discovered that voting without biometric verification occurred in 2,240 Polling stations. He informed the court that all the analysis proved that 535,723 Ghanaians in these 2,240 polling stations were allowed to vote without successfully going through biometric verification as was legally required. He mentioned that the total tainted votes in these polling stations amounted to 856,172 votes which the petitioners were praying the courts to annul.

NO SIGNATURES OF PINK SHEETS

On the absence of the signatures of Presiding officers or their deputies from Pink sheets as is legally required to validate the results of the elections before declaration at the polling station level, the Vice-Presidential candidate to Nana Akufo-Addo revealed that they had discovered 1,739 polling stations which were affected by this particular constitutional and statutory violation and irregularity. He added that the total votes in these 1,739 polling stations affected by this irregularity came up to 705, 305 votes.

DUPLICATE PINK SHEETS

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia indicated that the fourth irregularity identified on the Pink Sheets was the use of duplicate serial numbers on 9,921 polling station pink sheets. He told the court that the serial numbers on the pink sheets were like serial numbers on cheques, passports etc. which were meant to be a security feature and make it possible to uniquely identify each polling station. He noted that the serial number on the pink sheets was the only identification feature on the sheets which came already embossed and that the name and polling station codes which were the other identifiers were handwritten.

The NPP running mate said that the total votes from the 9,921 polling stations with duplicate serial numbers amounted to 3,924,844 votes.

Dr. Bawumia indicated from their analysis that it was very clear that the phenomenon of same serial numbers on different pink sheets was the vehicle for perpetrating the other constitutional, statutory violations, irregularities and malpractices.

Churning out the various figures off the top of his head, he stated that 75% of polling stations where over voting took place were polling stations with duplicate serial number pink sheets. Similarly, he said that 77% of the polling stations where voting without biometric verification was recorded to have taken place were polling stations with duplicate serial numbers on their pink sheets. Again, he said that 75% of the polling stations which were not validated by their presiding officers or their deputies were also discovered to be polling stations with duplicate serial numbers while 85% of all polling stations where same polling station codes were used was also affected by the phenomenon of duplicate serial numbers.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia indicated that over 99% of all the polling stations where petitioners are seeking the courts to annul were affected by these four irregularities which make a material impact on the declared results.

Asked what his response was to the fact that NPP Polling agents signed the pink sheets, Dr. Bawumia stated that it was true that most of the pink sheets were signed by NPP Polling Agents but that the signatures of the agents could not validate the irregularities and illegalities.

“My Lords again, our polling agents by signing attested to the facts recorded on the pink sheets including the irregularities. They did not sign that the elections were free and fair, they signed attesting to it that indeed what is contained on the pink sheets is correct and did happen”, he added.

Again he maintained that holding the elections and counting the ballots in public as was done cannot validate the invalid votes which are tainted because of the irregularities identified.

After answering to various responses from the EC which claims the irregularities identified on the face of the pink sheets were errors and also that the final voter’s register figure of 14,158,890 used for declaring the elections on December 9th was an error, Dr. Bawumia said “it seems every irregularity and everything else is an error except the declaration”.

On whether double counting affected the analysis as had been claimed by the NDC and John Mahama, Dr. Bawumia took the court through an elaborate explanation on how double counting was avoided. He noted that because the irregularities occurred in multiples, the analysis had to identify 24 unique categories of the irregularities and their combinations to ensure that no polling station was counted twice.

Before Dr. Bawumia took the witness stand, the registrar for the court had informed the court that the petitioners had been served with 139 affidavits out of the 7,100 affidavits filed by the 1st and 3rd respondents.

Lead counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison noted that the affidavits they had received were very similar to the 320 joinder application affidavits received earlier in the course of the case with the same format and pleadings. The only differences in the affidavits according to Lawyer Addison was the names and polling stations.

Counsel for the petitioners latter in the day asked the court to take judicial notice of incidents in savelugu where officers of the Electoral commission admitted to getting unsigned pink sheets signed almost two months after elections.

Dr. Bawumia also spoke about the voters’ register used for the general elections. He stated that the EC had initially presented a voters’ register of 14,031,680 to the NPP as the final voters’ register. However, he noted that in declaring the results, the EC had used 14,158,890 as the voters’ register and also posted a voters’ register of 14,031,793 on its website as the final voters’ register.

He said these inconsistencies in the voters’ register figures were compounded by the fact that an analysis of the voters’ register indicated on the face of the Pink Sheets in section ‘B1’ shows that the voters’ register operationalised on election day at the polling stations being challenged were about a million higher than the numbers in the voters’ register of 14,031,680 given to the political parties prior to the elections.

On the foreign voters’ register, the NPP Vice-Presidential candidate said that though the EC had indicated in its response to an interlocutory filed by the petitioners that it registered 241,524 abroad, it had only been able to provide a list of 705 and that an analysis of the 705 list had shown 51 multiple names to a total of 102 and fake identities which had the same identities – name, age, location, polling station assigned but different ID numbers. More worrying, he disclosed was that these multiple identities were placed far apart from ostensibly to make detection harder and that the ID numbers also had a unique pattern.

Dr. Bawumia informed the court that the EC had still failed to provide the 241,524 Ghanaians registered abroad.

In one of the last highlights for the day, Dr. Bawumia in responding to the ECs reliance on observer reports on the December elections, said that the observer reports were irrelevant to the matter before the court, a statement which was also affirmed by Justice Gbadegbe who said that whatever the observers said does not affect the issues the court is seeking to determine, which are whether they were irregularities and whether those irregularities if any, affected the outcome of the elections.
 
 
 
Source: Communications Directorate, NPP/Ghana

Mahama’s 100 Days: GII demands action, not words

Mahama’s 100 Days: GII demands action, not words
Vitus Azeem
The Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, Vitus Azeem has demanded of President John Mahama to prove his commitment to fighting corruption, by backing his words with “action”.

Mr. Azeem noted that little had been heard or seen from Mr. John Mahama regarding his determination to combating corruption, over the last 100 days that he had been in office as President of the Republic of Ghana.

Assessing the President’s first 100 days in office on the Joy FM Super Morning Show Wednesday, the Head of the anti-graft agency said President Mahama has not openly demonstrated the will to deal with perceived correction in his government.

“The President must be prompt and order investigations into allegations of corruption and he must make the reports public; this helps in the fight against corruption”, Mr. Azeem stressed.

He said contrary to what late President John Atta Mills did barely two months after he was sworn into Office; President Mahama is yet to be heard directing his appointees to declare their assets.

“If he has given such directives” and yet some of his Ministers and appointees have failed to comply, “what action has he taken against those who have not complied,” Mr. Azeem queried.

“We are expecting action, not just words; action, action, action!”

Meanwhile, a Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, Dr. Michael Kpessah-Whyte has suggested that the government should consider widening the tax net to rake in more revenue from the informal sector, which currently commands about 85 per cent of potential tax contributors.

According to Dr. Kpessah-Whyte, the over reliance on the 15 per cent tax contributors from the formal sector over the years, cannot help the country to achieve the desired development.


Myjoyonline.com 

Live Texts: Bawumia mounts witness box to lead evidence

Live Texts: Bawumia mounts witness box to lead evidence
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

It is Day Two of the substantive hearing on the election petition. Petitioners are set to open their case.

Second petitioner Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has mounted the witness box to lead evidence.

Lead Counsel for the petitioners, Philip Addison gets ready to cross examine him.

Bawumia tells the court he is in the witness box today because the declaration made by the second respondent, Electoral Commission in the 2012 elections cannot be supported by the primary evidence he has gathered as the chairman of the committee tasked to investigate alleged irregularities in the 2012 elections.

He says as head of committee he received thousands of irregularities on statement of polls and declaration of results known as pink sheets.

“We found numerous malpractices and statutory violations and irregularities as evidenced in the primary record of the elections at the polling station called pink sheets."

It is the record on which basis the second respondent declared results for Mahama.

Philip Addison presents a copy of the pink sheet to the witness; Bawumia elaborates on the key ingredients on the pink sheets ie. statement of poll.

Philip Addison asks whether he found anything wrong with the pink sheets.

Bawumia says he examined around 24,000 pinks sheets and found so many irregularities and names over voting, voting without verification and other irregularities.

Philip Addison: Can you tell us what over voting is about?

Bawumia: Over voting is in two forms. Over voting will arrive if the total votes in the box exceeds the voters register at a particular polling station.

If the number of votes in the ballot is far in excess of the number of voters you have given ballot papers to.

The second type of over voting is what the EC chairman was very clear on before the elections. He quotes the EC chair as saying that if even one vote is seen to have exceeded the number of ballot papers issued, the results of the polling station will be annulled.

Bawumia decides to lead material evidence in the over voting he has been talking about.

Objection

Lawyer for the EC Quarshie-Idun raises an objection. He says material facts Bawumia is about to lead in evidence was not pleaded in the petition and therefore wishes the court to stop the witness from going into it.

Tony Lithur, Lawyer for the first respondent also supports the objection. He says the material facts of over voting cannot be sneaked in.

Lawyer for the NDC Tsatsu Tsikata, also concurs, saying this is elementary in law practice and should not be allowed.

Philip Addison disagrees. He says they have pleaded over voting and what they are about to do is to give an example of the over voting they are talking about.

Quarshie-Idun steps up again in a vehement objection. He says the court must not allow the witness to go into the material evidence. He admits the petitioners pleaded over voting but states emphatically that the petitioners did not call for an annulment of the said over votes in their petition.

"If they are going to give evidence of annulment, they should have pleaded so we can answer," he says.

Addison is up again. He accuses respondents of shifting goal post from issues about over voting and is now talking about the annulment of the results in polling stations where there is over voting.

He quotes portions of the petition which identifies over-voting as one of the irregularity and the request by the petitioners to have the results of polling stations with over votes annulled.

The court goes on recess and will return with a verdict whether or not to have the Witness, Dr Bawumia go into details with over votes.

Recess 

Court returns after short recess and witness Bawumia is reminded of his oath.

Objection over ruled 

Court overrules the objection by the respondents.

Bawumia goes ahead to give examples of the over-votes he had early on wanted to.

He says the votes in Upper West Akyem, Arabic Primary School polling stations as well as those in Tano North were annulled by the second respondent as a result of the over votes.

Addison seeks the judge’s permission to make reference to the affidavits sworn by Dr Bawumia.

The presiding judge Atuguba grants the request.

Over-voting 

Philip Addison asks if the findings on over voting will have an effect on the results declared.

Bawumia answers that findings suggest that if the results of over-voting were annulled, none of the two leading candidates would have attained the mandatory 50+1 per cent of the total votes cast.

He therefore seeks the order of the court to annul the results in polling stations that had over votes.

Voting Without Verification 

Philip Addison goes ahead to ask the witness what he means by voting without verification.

Bawumia answers that the second respondent prior to the 2012 elections promulgated a law which said all prospective voters had to be verified by the help of a biometric machine before voting. He goes ahead to say that the law stated emphatically that no prospective voter must vote without being verified.

He says after examination, over 535,723 people voted without verification.

Addison: Will the total results be affected if there is an annulment of the total votes in areas where there was voting without verification?

Bawumia answers yes. The results will be greatly affected if the results of voting without verification were to be annulled. He goes ahead to ask the court to annul all the results of the specific polling stations where there was voting without verification.

One of the presiding judges asks if the witness is asking the court to go ahead to annul the figures in all those polling stations merely because some people may have voted without verification.

Bawumia says yes. That was the law made by the Second respondent. He cites examples where the EC cancelled all the results in polling stations in some selected polling stations because some people engaged in voting without verification.

"The EC cannot apply one set of rules to one polling station and a different set of rules to another polling station," he says. He demands fairness and equity at all polling stations.

Pink sheets without presiding officers signature

Bawumia says there were 1039 polling stations which did not have the signatures of the presiding officers with the total votes amounting to 705, 305.

That he says is contrary to the law set out by the second respondent before the election.

He says if the votes are annulled none of the two leading candidates will secure first round victory.

Pink sheets with the same serial numbers

Bawumia says the pink sheets must have an exclusive serial number for each polling station. There must not be a situation where different polling stations share the same serial number but that was not the case in the 2012 elections. he says on the surface this anomaly might look innocuous but upon further examination it appears it was a vehicle used to alter the results in favour of the first respondent.

He says 9921 polling stations had the same serial numbers with the total number of votes in these polling stations amounting to 3,924,824.

Voting took place in 23 ‘ghost’ polling stations 

The witness says they have evidence to show that voting went on in 23 polling stations whose records were unknown to the petitioners.
Objection
Live Texts: Bawumia mounts witness box to lead evidence

Lawyer for the president, Tony Lithur, objects to the mention of 23 polling stations. He avers that the witness in his affidavits mentioned only 22 and therefore could not lead evidence in 23 polling stations. He therefore asks the witness to stick to 22.

Lawyer for the EC agreed with the objection.

Addison insists the petitioners had provided evidence for 23 polling stations.

Lawyer for the NDC Tsatsu Tsikata asked the petitioners to present better and further particulars for the 23 polling stations if it is the case.

One of the judges asks the petitioners to stick to the 22 polling stations he had early on agreed to before Wednesday’s hearing.

Addision tells the court they have provided evidence for 23 polling stations but will not belabour the point. He agrees to go ahead to lead evidence in 22 polling stations.

Bawumia goes ahead to say that whilst results from these 'ghost' polling stations were insignificant, he insists it cannot and should not have happened.

Voters Register

Witness says the figures provided by the second respondent as total figure for the Voters Register kept changing. He says the Second respondent provided a total register of 14,301,680 before the election.

On the day the chairman of the second respondent declared the results of the election, he gave a figure of 14,158,890, a difference of 127,210 from the one they had early on provided. He says when they asked for explanation from the second respondent it said that initially the figure was 13,917366 but after registration of foreign voters the figure jumped to 14,158,890, a difference of 241,554.

He says they demanded the bio-data of the foreign voters from the second respondent and the data they received indicated “fake voter ID numbers” and a “mathematical formula” where same names had different numbers running through.

Polling Agents

Addison asks if there were polling agents of the NPP present at the various polling stations where these anomalies occurred and whether or not they signed the copies of the pink sheet to authenticate what had happened at the polling station.

Bawumia says polling agents were present at all the polling stations. Majority of them signed the pink sheets, others did not. He states however that the presence or absence of polling agents and whether or not they signed the pink sheets was no basis for the kind of irregularity and malpractices at the various polling stations.


Court goes on recess on the request by Philip Addison 

The court comes back for recess but the Philip Addison prays the court to adjourn hearing a request Tsatsu Tsikata vehemently opposes.

Bawumia goes ahead with testimony.

Addison asks the witness if the second respondent stuck to its own rule that it will provide the various polling stations 10 per cent more of supplementary ballot papers on election day.

Bawumia says the EC, contrary to its own rules and its own affidavits, provided 98 per cent more of the ballot papers instead of the 10 per cent.

Addison goes further to ask the witness if it was meritorious for the second respondent to plead in its affidavits that polling agents were present and signed the pink sheets; votes were counted in public and therefore the petitioners had no business crying foul after the elections.

Bawumia responds “counting invalid votes in public does not make them valid.”

Bawumia goes ahead to cite an example in Savelugu in which the second respondent allegedly broke the rules of elections by asking presiding officers to come and sign copies of the pink sheets months after the elections had been held. He says under the EC's own laws all pink sheets had to be signed at the polling stations on the day of polls.

Counsel for the EC, Quarshie-Idun springs up on his feet, accuses the witness of being grossly out of order by introducing materials that had not been pleaded in evidence.

But Counsel for the petitioners Philip Addison maintains, issues about signing of pink sheets, when and where they were signed are relevant to the court. He quotes paragraph 17 of the second amended answer to the second amended petition where the second respondent admitted that signings went on after voting had taken place.

Judge asks the witness to limit his comments to evidence that has been pleaded before the court.

Hearing has been adjourned to tomorrow. 


Myjoyonline.com!Nathan Gadugah 

Ato Dadzie unperturbed by Bawumia’s evidence

Ato Dadzie unperturbed by Bawumia’s evidence

A lead counsel for the NDC legal team, Nana Ato Dadzie has echoed sentiments from his camp - they are as comfortable as wearing an old shoe as far as the performance of today’s star witness, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia was concerned.

It was an election petition hearing in which the New Patriotic Party’s witness and former vice-presidential candidate, Dr. Bawumia stood in the stand as a key witness to present his evidence.

Visibly, after a five-hour long hearing, Nana Ato Dadzie was eager to present the first and third respondents' side of events to an equally eager but generally lay Ghanaian population.

“Today we have had the opportunity to hear their first principal witness. If this is their case then we are comfortable. We thought they had something substantial. For us the best that he has done is to repeat the allegations they have made all over again”, he announced with a slightly dismissive air.

The case has been divisive, battle lines have been drawn but the lawyer found ample time to cross that line and appeared charitable to Dr. Bawumia.

“Dr. Bawumia is a very honorable statistician who did a good job for his side”, he assessed and then proceeded to weigh in on what he thought of Bawumia’s evidence.

“One thing is very clear from today. There is a vast difference between allegation, particularly things you say outside and what you come to court to prove because they are two distinct things”.

And Nana Ato Dadzie has hinted that he was running out of time to “put him [Dr. Bawumia] to the task”.

The former Chief of Staff said “big thing coming is that he[Dr. Bawumia] would end possibly tomorrow, we expect that as early as possible he will end then real thing will start”.

He served notice of what Dr. Bawumia should expect – nothing but a clinched determination - “to cross examine him vigorously on every single allegation”.

The Supreme Court hearing continues tomorrow.


Myjoyonline.com|Edwin Appiah

NDC lawyers to rigorously cross examine Bawumia

NDC lawyers to rigorously cross examine Bawumia

Lawyers for the second respondents in the ongoing election petition hearing, National Democratic Congress (NDC), have served notice they will subject the second petitioner to a rigorous cross examination later today.

Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia - the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) 2012 running mate - began his testimony Wednesday, challenging the credibility of the 2012 polls while demanding the annulment of a significant number of votes. He is expected to complete his testimony this morning.

And the NDC lawyers say they have already found several loopholes in the testimony Dr. Bawumia gave on Wednesday which they intend to expose during cross examination.

Speaking to Joy News, lead counsel Nana Ato Dadzie hinted he was running out of time to “put him [Dr. Bawumia] to the task”.

“Everything that Dr. Bawumia has said are allegations...our team is ever ready to show that this is not a case that should have [been entertained in court]”.

He said Dr. Bawumia should expect nothing but a clinched determination “to cross examine him vigorously on every single allegation”.

It is also expected that NPP flagbearer in the last elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo will give his oral testimony to provide further evidence to back claims of widespread statutory irregularities in the elections.


source:myjoyonline.com

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

19 'homosexual' students of Opoku Ware SHS sacked


19 students of Opoku Ware Secondary High School in the Ashanti regional capital of Kumasi have been dismissed for practicing homosexuality in the school.

According to XYZ News’ Ashanti regional correspondent, Isaac Bediako Justice, four out of the 19 students are in their first year while 15 are second and final year students.

According to him, authorities of the school decided to keep the issue out of the public domain since the students were caught some three weeks ago.

A teacher who confirmed the story stated parents of all the students involved were contacted before their children were expelled from the school.

According to reports, the students had managed to form a society on campus and regularly meet to discuss how to convince more students to practise the act.

Recently over 34 girls were dismissed from the Wesley Girls Senior High School in Kumasi for engaging in lesbianism.

Source: XYZ 

Takyiman South MP: The “Ruling Class” Is Killing Ordinary Ghanaians With Their Decisions

 
 
 
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The NDC MP for Takyiman South constituency, Hon. Agyei Mensah has chided the ruling class, saying that they feel Ghana is for them and so determine how the national assets should be shared in the country.

According to him the ruling class which constitutes top civil servants, public servants, paramount chiefs, pastors, doctors and professors as well as politicians has ganged up to loot the country, as their decisions have always favoured themselves forgetting that it is the poor cocoa farmers and the petty traders whose efforts all the educated elites are living on.

Speaking on Okay FM, the Takyiman South MP said that though the Parliamentarians and politicians are taken huge sums of money, the doctors who are now in Parliament, according him have confessed that they were getting nearly 200m cedis per month before they joined Parliament.

He stressed that the educated elites should consider the poor farmers and the small scale business operators whenever decisions are being taken.

“The ruling class is killing the ordinary Ghanaians with their decisions, and as a politician I think our work is not as difficult as the poor cocoa farmers who have to work hard to produce the cocoa the government export for foreign exchange to develop the country,” he said.

According to him “Ghana is not for the educated elites and they must always consider the poor in their decisions since it is through the efforts of Ghanaians which the country is growing”.
 
 
 
Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana

ELECTION PETITION SUIT: Prez Mahama, NDC File Affidavits


 
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Lawyers for President John Mahama as well as the National Democratic Congress have filed their affidavits at the Supreme Court, five days upon service of the three petitioners’ affidavits to respond, in readiness for the substantive hearing of the election petition.

Hearing of the landmark electoral petition on the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as the winner of the December 2012 presidential polls begins at the Supreme Court in Accra Tuesday.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (1st petitioner), his running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia (2nd petitioner) and the party Chairman, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey (3rd petitioner), are challenging the validity of the Electoral Commission’s (EC) declaration of the NDC's candidate as President in the December 2012 general elections.

The petitioners are expected to call their first witness/and or witnesses Tuesday, depending on how long the witness/witnesses would testify and how long cross-examination would take and if need be, how long the re-examination lasts.
 
 
 
Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana

Prez Mahama's First 100 Days Shows He Is Visionless

 
 
 
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A member of the communications team of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Asante Yeboah has criticized President John Dramani Mahama on his first 100 days in office, saying it is clear that he is vision less and lacks leadership qualities.

“We thought the late President Mills was the worst President in terms of his first 100 days assessment but President Mahama is far worst than him and he has proven to that. It is clear that all past presidents performed better than President Mahama. He (president Mahama) has made history for being the terrible president ever,” he stated.

According to the NPP man, the Mahama-led administration is vision less and is being ruled by its party foot soldiers.

“President has proven that there is no leadership and vision in his governance. He began his governance with foot soldier agitations. His party foot soldiers keep destroying everything because one way or the other they don’t agree with some ministerial appointments. If you remember some foot soldiers issued dead threats when Haruna Iddrisu was not nominated yet as a minister, including chiefs lobbying for positions,” he cited.

Richard Asante Yeboah however stated that; “Mahama never thought of Ghanaians and increased the price of petrol drastically. No job for the youth, utilities issues, doctors and teachers are embarking on strikes all over the country. This is really bad. This is also the first time we have had a sitting President been tagged with a gay partner which up to date he (the President) has not denied that. Everything about Mahama’s 100 days in office is an error. He is the worst ever and a confused President as well”.

Meanwhile, National Women's Organizer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Anita De Soso believes President Mahama has been the finest President ever and during his 100 days in office, he has really worked hard despite some challenges emanated from the NPP Kufuor led administration.

She however lauded the president for his exceptional governance during the first 100 days in office. 
 
 
 
Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/ Peacefmonline.com/Ghana

Alan Kyeremanten Lost The WTO Bid Because Prez Mahama Campaigned For Him

A member of the NPP’s communication team, Hopeson Adoryeh has stridently blamed President Mahama for playing a major role in Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten’s failure to become the Director General of the World Trade Organization.

According to him for a fact that there are serious issues surrounding the presidency of President Mahama, there was no need for him to have lobbied for the former Trade Minister.

Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten's bid to be Director-General for the World Trade Organisation, hit a snag after he failed to make it among the shortlisted candidates.

Prior to the selection, President John Dramani Mahama publicly confirmed his government’s support for the candidature of Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten for the position of D-G of the WTO.

President Mahama is on record to have lobbied his colleagues during an address at the 7th Summit of the Heads of State and Governments of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to join Ghana support Mr. Kyeremanten for the position.

But in an interview with Peacefmonline, Mr. Adoryeh blamed President Mahama for the defeat.

“First and foremost, let us blame President Mahama for Alan’s defeat. As soon as he opened his mouth to campaign for him, it became a threat,” he said.

He argued that majority of Ghanaians hadn’t accepted President Mahama as their leader so for this reason, it was wrong on the part of the president to have tried to lure his counterparts during the 7th Summit of the Heads of State and Governments of Africa.

“They (other presidents) saw his lobby as illegal and that affected Alan’s chances”, he established. 
 
 
 
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana

NDC ask supporters to refrain from lawlessness at Supreme Court

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has asked supporters of the party to view the election petition pending before the Supreme Court as legal process and not a political rally.

A statement signed by Mr Johnson Aseidu Nketia, General Secretary and copied to the Ghana News Agency said, party faithful should therefore desist from any act that would negatively influence the legal process.

It said information reaching the NDC secretariat indicate that an indentified group of people are planning to storm the premises of the Supreme Court in Accra on Tuesday to demonstrate their solidarity for the ruling Government.

It said the NDC intelligence indicates that members of the group clad in party colours intend to create confusion to tarnish the judicial process.

The statement urged the security to deal ruthlessly with members of the group who act lawlessly.
 
 
 
Source: GNA

OFFICIAL...Supreme Court Allows Live TV And Radio Broadcast Of NPP's Petition


 
 
There would be a live television and radio broadcast of the landmark electoral petition, which is beginning hearing of the substantive matter on Tuesday April 16.

According to Peacefm's reliable sources, the Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood instructed that the proceedings of the Supreme Court hearing of the Election petition, be telecast live on Ghana Television.

The decision, according to sources, was made some few minutes before 18:00 GMT on Monday.

The National broadcaster, GTV and Radio Ghana would be allowed to survey a set up on Tuesday April 16, 2013.

It is however not clear whether the live broadcast would commence Tuesday on the first day of hearing of the substantive matter, but the subsequent hearing days would be live on television and radio.

It is recalled that the Danquah Institute, prior to the commencement of the case brought by the petitioners, appealed to Chief Justice to allow television cameras to broadcast all proceedings of the law suit.

DI explained that a live televised broadcast of such a historical case, with its far-reaching implications for future elections, would reduce opportunities for some people to put a self-serving spin on the proceedings and decision of the court, with the intention of inciting undue negative reactions from an already divided nation.

“Full transparency,” the Danquah Institute said in a statement released at the time, “will help all Ghanaians accept the ultimate decision of the court. We need to televise this case for the benefit of the people and the growth of our democracy. Ghana needs it. Africa needs it.”

The statement continued, “Every Ghanaian must have the opportunity to see and hear what is happening in the court room in order to help form their own informed view of proceedings. This would reduce opportunities for an aggrieved party to spin the outcome of the case in a way that could negatively heighten tension and incite party supporters to react violently or in similar negative fashion.”

But the Forum for Governance and Justice (FGJ) cautioned against a live telecast of the impending Court case.

The forum believed granting such a request will expose the Judges that will sit on the case to danger since they can be vilified by parties that are unhappy with their rulings.

The Convener of the FGJ, Dr. Clement Apaak, opined that a live telecast of the court proceedings could be counterproductive for the country.
 





Meanwhile, hearing of the landmark electoral petition begins at the Supreme Court in Accra Tuesday.

The petitioners are expected to call their first witness/and or witnesses Tuesday, depending on how long the witness/witnesses would testify and how long cross-examination would take and if need be, how long the re-examination lasts.

The case, which promises to be a significant historical event in Ghana’s legal and political culture, has the petitioners urging the court to annul 4,670,504 valid votes and subsequently declare the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as the one who won the December 2012 elections.

According to them, Nana Akufo-Addo won the elections by 59.69 per cent while President Mahama polled 39.1 per cent.

They are, therefore, challenging the EC’s declaration of President Mahama as winner of the presidential polls with 50.70 per cent.

However, the EC, which is one of the respondents in the case and the conductor of the polls, is standing by its December 9, 2012 declaration of President Mahama as the winner of the polls with 50.7 per cent while it still holds that Nana Akufo-Addo placed second with 47.7 per cent.
 
 
Source: Peacefmonline.com with additional files from Enoch Frimpong & Mabel Aku Banaseh (Graphic.com.gh)

Police arrest 'Kade' Chief

Police arrest Kade ‘Chief’
Personnel of the Ghana Police Service on Friday arrested one Twum Debrah a claimant to the Kade Chieftaincy dispute accused of stealing equipment of a mining company in Prankesi near Kade in the Eastern region.

Twum Debrah, who until his arrest, had installed himself as the Chief of Kade Traditional Area, is also the Chief Executive officer of Brookland Ghana limited.

Mr Twum Debrah’s co-conspirator, Italian businessman Paolo Chiappini, who had also been on police wanted list for sometime now, in connection with series of transaction which the police are investigating, was also detained in connection with the alleged theft.

The two suspects allegedly invaded the mining site of the company name withheld and moved the equipment which included excavators, bulldozers, dumptrucks, loadbeds and water pumps. The two men have been charged with stealing and unlawful entry.

Mr Twum Debrah is deeply involved in the current chieftaincy crisis in Kade. In May last year, he together with the Krontihene of Kade Traditional Area, Denkyi Ampem-Darko were allegedly remanded in Police custody for four days. The two leaders were arrested for breach of public peace following attempts to enstool a new chief in the area.

CHIAPINNI’s RECORD

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service commenced investigations into a case of alleged falsification of documents by the Italian businessman, Paolo Chiapinni, in August 2011, following a bank transaction.

Mr. Chiapinni, Financial Director of Palazzo Mining Ghana Limited, is accused of forging the signature of one of the partners of the firm to enable him transfer an amount of 14,000 euros out of the country from the company's joint account into his own account.

The company, upon a tip-off from the bank, then reported the matter to the police, leading to Mr. Chiapinni's detention at the Nima Divisional Police Command on Monday August 1, 2011.

A journalist from the Informer newspaper, an NDC government mouthpiece, who claims to be operating from the Castle, the seat of government, after hours of Mr. Chiapinni's arrest, stormed the Nima Police Station and got a police enquiry bail for the Italian.

According to sources at the Nima Police Station, barely 24 hours after the suspect was granted bail, a phone call came from the Police Headquarters, Accra, requesting that the case be transferred to them. After that, nothing was heard about the case again.

On April 11, 2011, Mr. Chiapinni was said to have attempted to transfer an amount of 14,000 euros of the company's money at the bank into his personal account and in the process allegedly forged the signature of Lorenzo Palazzo as having authorized the transaction. He later went to the bank to check if the transfer had gone through but when the bank told him they could not authorize the transfer because they suspected the signature had been forged, Mr. Chiapinni requested for the cheque, and in the presence of the bank staff, tore it into pieces in anger and left.

According to the source, the bank alerted the other signatories to the account and also kept copies of the document destroyed by Mr. Chiapinni.

The police is still investigating this particular incident forgery.


The Publisher

Interrogation of Capt Budu is an infringement on academic freedoms -IMANI

Interrogation of Capt Budu is an infringement on academic freedoms -IMANI
Bright Simmons

IMANI Ghana says the invitation and subsequent interrogation of one of its Board members over his coup comments is an “infringement on academic freedoms.”

Retired Captain Budu Koomson was invited by the BNI over his comments that the current labour unrest and demonstration are recipes for a coup in Ghana.

But the Director of Development Research at IMANI, Bright Simmons told Joy News the invitation of Captain Budu was unnecessary.

According to him, the retired captain was only engaging in an academic exercise and putting the issues of coup d’etats in their proper historical perspectives and suggesting ways of curtailing any such threat to the country’s fragile democracy.

He said if at all National Security found the comments troubling, it ought to have written officially to IMANI, the institution which has begun academic scrutiny of security issues in Ghana for further explanations and not to invite Captain Budu Koomson for interrogation.

He said such invitations had the potential of restricting the academia from interrogating such serious security issues.

He argued in many developed countries a “scenario modeling” experience is conducted at all times to find whether the country is predisposed to any threat.

But a security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre Dr Kwasi Aning has disagreed with the views held by retired captain.

He said all governments have suffered a shaky start, adding the strikes and demonstrations are part and parcel of the expression of the democratic practice in Ghana.

He therefore found it unacceptable, attempts by Captain Budu to link a democratic expression like strikes to a possibility of igniting a coup d’etat in Ghana.

He also criticized the strategy the National security apparatus used in dealing with the matter, describing it as “unjustified.”

Dr Aning said a telephone discussion would have resolved the matter.

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