NDC sympathizer suspects foul play in trials of ex-gov’t appointees

A lawyer and sympathizer of the National Democratic Congress is questioning the choice of judge selected to adjudicate cases involving former government appointees accused of causing financial loss to the state. David Annan believes too many cases have been referred to the same commercial court and to the same judge when other courts and judges are available. In an interview with Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh, the lawyer said there are six fast track high courts and other commercial courts in the country and wondered why one particular court and judge has been selected consistently to hear cases involving past government officials. He however did not mention the name of the judge nor impugn the appointee authority, even though evidence thereof is not far-fetched. David Annan was responding to allegations of political witch hunting by some NPP sympathizers as four of its high ranking members have been hauled before court to answer charges of stealing and causing financial loss to the state in the case of the Ghana International Airlines. The four are before an Accra Fast Track High Court presided over by Justice Bright Mensah. Mike Ocquaye a lawyer and member of the NPP accused government of hastily hauling its political opponents to the law court without following proper procedures of law. For instance, he said government failed to officially charge and serve writs of summons to the accused persons in the Ghana International Airline saga, but somehow expected them to appear in court based on media reports. And when they failed, the state prosecutor accused them of running away from justice. This he said is unacceptable, adding, if you have not been officially charged, how do you know which court to appear and which charges your lawyers will mount a defence on? he quizzed. But David Annan said the arguments by Ocquaye are completely out of place. He stated that the police had made several efforts to contact the accused persons and to charge them accordingly but were given wrong information about their whereabouts. If anything, the accused persons are guilty of deceit of public officials, he said. He was not happy with the choice of judge selected to sit on the matter and did not fail to register his protest. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com

CORRUPTION: Carl Wilson has been sacked

Reports indicate that the embattled Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicle Allocation Committee, Mr Carl Wilson, has been sacked. His dismissal follows agitations by some members of the ruling National Democratic Congress that the man should be removed from office because his corrupt practices had been denting the image of the party. Irate youth of the party Thursday morning besieged the party's headquarters, locked out national officers denying them access to their offices and vowed to stay there until the man was sacked. In order to calm tensions, the National Organiser of the NDC, Mr Yaw Gyan Boateng went to address the demonstrators and told the angry supporters that Mr Wilson had been sacked. He said if any clandestine attempts are made to reverse the decision, he will join them to demonstrate against the Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicle Allocation Committee and whoever is trying to shield him. The Communications Director at the Presidency, Koku Anyidoho confirmed the dismissal to Joy FM. He would not give any details regarding the reasons for Mr Wilson's sack. Carl Wilson has come under intense fire in the media and from members of the ruling party for allegedly abusing his office by unilaterally ordering the sale of confiscated vehicles to his cronies for peanuts. He has denied all the allegations claiming that some people who engaged in nefarious activities at the Tema Port and who feel their business had been threatened by his insistence on doing the right thing, were bent on doing him in. The Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Alex Segbefia who appointed him is believed to have been protecting the man in the face of all the allegation. News of Mr Wilson's sack have been rife in the media but each time, Mr Segbefia has risen to his defence. Asempa FM Wednesday evening broke the news that Mr Wilson had been sacked. But Thursday morning he spoke to Joy FM's Super Morning host Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah in his capacity as the Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicle Allocation Committee. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

¢28 Billion Vanish From Offshore Account

THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY MO IBRAHIM REFUSED KUFFOUR HIS AWARD

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A whopping $2,000,000.00 (Two Million United States Dollars), secured by President John Agyekum Kufuor and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, with a Sovereign Guarantee, to rehabilitate some Ghanaian embassies, appears to have vanished without trace.

The amount was part of a $5Million loan, whose term sheet, states “shall be utilized exclusively for the renovation of selected Ghanaian Chanceries for Ghana’s 50th Independence Anniversary Celebrations.”

A statement of account on the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning (MOFEP) bank Account number 0232002034552 with Stanbic Bank, opened for the transaction did not show a release of the $2,000,000.00 to the Government of Ghana.

The term sheet, dated December 7, 2006 addressed to the Kufuor administration through its Minister of Finance, indicates that ‘US$2,000,000.00 of the loan shall be booked with Standard Finance (Isle of Man) Limited,’ an offshore account.

Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, who was a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, signed as accepting the terms of the $5,000,000.00 loan on behalf of the Government of Ghana.

On December 11, 2006 US$3,000,000.00 (Three Million Dollars) was released to the MOFEP Account at Stanbic Bank. This amount was repaid on April 20, 2007.

On 14th May 2007, the MOFEP account with Stanbic Bank was again debited with US$3,800,000.00, described as Loan Granted to MOFEP.

The release of this $3.8Million after the repayment of the earlier amount of $3.0Million, all within the term period of the loan made the transaction appear like a revolving loan, with a ceiling of $3.8Million.

Subsequent transactions on the statement following the release of the $3.8Million reveal the various interest charges as well as repayments made to Stanbic Bank.

The $2.0Million was never released to the Government of Ghana, and it was not clear into whose account the amount was paid in the offshore bank.

The $5Million was part of a $17Million Commercial Loan Agreement approved by Parliament on 29th November, 2006. The other $12Million of the loan was to be used for UN Peace Keeping Operations.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) subsequently requested for a disbursement of the approved loan and issued a Sovereign Guarantee to secure the entire $17Million facility.

The Sovereign Guarantee, dated 7th December, 2006 to Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited, was signed by Dr. Akoto Osei.

By a term sheet dated December 7, 2006 Stanbic Bank Ghana Ltd granted the term loan of US$5,000,000.00 (Five million United States Dollars) to the Government of Ghana.

The $5 Million and interest on it was to be repaid in full within 36 months from the date of drawdown, and had October 26, 2009 as the Final Repayment date.

As of October 31, 2009 days after all outstanding amounts on the loan account should have been cleared, however, an amount of $883,332.00 was still owed to Stanbic Bank.

Mr. Akoto Ampaw, lawyer for the Chief Executive of the Ghana@50 Secretariat, had written to the Commission of Inquiry (Ghana@50) on December 8, 2009 denying his client’s knowledge of any transaction with Stanbic Bank.

In the said letter, which was titled: RE: CONTINUING INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMISSION OUTSIDE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN, and published by the New Crusading Guide of December 9, Mr. Ampaw complained that the Commission had written to Dr. Wereko-Brobby, ‘requesting for information in respect of a loan transaction between the Government of Ghana and Stanbic Bank Limited’ and that ‘he knows absolutely nothing about the transaction referred to in your letter.‘

According to Akoto Ampaw, ‘Neither the Ghana @ 50 Secretariat nor the National Planning Commission entered into any loan agreement with Stanbic Bank, either directly or through the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.’

CJA Pushes For Prosecution Of Gh¢166m Embezzlers

GHANA WILL NEVER DEVELOP SO FAR AS THESE MEN CONTINUE TO WALK FREE

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The Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has called on government to immediately prosecute all public officials cited for embezzling about GH¢166.1 million in the 2008 Auditor General’s report.

According to the committee, it will be detrimental for government to ignore the call for accountability on the part of public officials, who have engaged themselves in financial malfeasance and blatant thievery, as has been officially captured by the report.

“Government must, as a matter of urgency, prosecute these crooked officials,” a leading member, Mr. Edward Bawah, charged, insisting that “punitive actions ought to be taken against the offending officials in order to deter others from engaging in similar practice.”

Mr. Bawah, who was speaking at a press conference in Accra, warned that, the CJA will not relent on its call for corrupt officials named in the report to face the law.

He regretted that despite numerous exposures made by the CJA in the past, government, especially the Kufuor-led administration, made no effort at instilling accountability in government agencies by prosecuting offenders. Giving details of the report, Mr. Bawah mentioned that over 20 government agencies, including some ministries were involved in cash irregularities which amounted to GH¢166.1 million, representing 177.4% over that of 2007.

He stated that the cash irregularities accounted for 92.8% of the total financial irregularities mainly due to four factors, which are imprest holders refusing to account for imprests, lack of supervisory controls over revenue collection; failure of officers to obtain supporting documents for funds disbursed, and the ineffectiveness of Internal Audit Units within the Ministries.

Procurement and stores irregularities cost the nation GH¢ 898,350 in 2008, indicating an increase of 24% over that of 2007. Payroll overpayments amounted to GH¢ 762,886, while contract irregularities amounted to GH¢3.4 million.

Stating some specific findings, Mr. Bawah mentioned that the VAT Service acquired the Bannet building, near Busy Internet, Accra, for GH¢874,154. He stated that interestingly, the building was rehabilitated at a cost of GH¢ 2,387,216 although it was leased for only 11 years with no possibility of extension.

He added that three Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), which reneged on their scheduled payment plan to the tune of GH¢ 2,768,908.00 were not asked for guarantees and have not paid their debts.

MINISTRY OF TRADE

On Ministry of Trade, Mr. Bawah quoted from the report that “contrary to regulation of the Financial Administration Regulation, the Ministry opened and operated an account at the Accra High Street Branch of Barclays Bank in October 2005.”

“An amount of GH¢2 billion was transferred into it from the ministry’s main account which earned an interest of GH¢7.8 million, and the GH¢ 2 billion withdrawn,” he said, adding that the GH¢2 billion was not accounted for, neither was the GH¢7.8 million,” he asserted.

Still on the Ministry of Trade, the report captured that two private enterprises in the garment industry that were given grants totaling GHc288,000 to undertake capacity building abandoned the projects . “No attempt has been made to recover the monies,” he said, pointing out that a draft agreement commissioned at a cost of GHc 4,650 were never utilized. A building in Kumasi that was renovated by the ministry in 2006 at a cost of GHc11,492 was still standing unused in 2008 because additional funds were not made available for completion of the project.

Also, a strategic plan prepared at a cost of GHc45,696 in 2006 has been left to gather dust, he added.

He stated that the ministry made payments amounting to GH¢ 273,310 for repairs and maintenance without certification.

MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

Under the Ministry of Interior, cash irregularities amounted to GH¢286,241 and US$13,485.

These were in respect of misappropriation of proceeds of tender documents; disbursements from revenue collected and unauthorized use of internally generated fund.

MINISTRY OF HARBOURS AND RAILWAYS

Here, management misapplied an amount of GH¢600,000 out of GH¢2,150,000 voted for the payment of end of service benefits for 674 retrenched Railway workers. “It is worth noting that during this period, workers of the Railway company had not been paid for years,” he said, hinting that it may have accounted for the non-payment of salaries.

MINISTRY DEFENCE

Mr. Bawah stated that in the Support Services Brigade, cash irregularities totaling GH¢473,61) for repairs was unsatisfactory completed and had no certification.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

An amount of 76,761 euros which was transferred to the Copenhagen Mission on 2nd August 2006, could not be traced to the Mission’s accounts.

MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC PLANNING

The Audit report captured that, total release from Non-Road Accounts in violation of procedures for accessing funds from the consolidated amounted to GH¢3,066,742.

Also, the ministry failed to collect taxes amounting to GH¢2,590,922 at the Abeka Lapaz DTO alone. CEPS The CJA concluded that post clearance short collections amounted to GH¢13,655,166.

Source: Enquirer

Ghana risks being conduit for `dirty money` -UK Attorney

Ghana risks being conduit for `dirty money` -UK Attorney

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Ghana has been urged to strengthen institutions and master the political will to ensure that the country does not become a safe haven for money laundering activities, as its offshore banking ambitions 'risk being soft touch magnet for flood of dirty money'. Speaking at a public lecture in Accra yesterday, on the theme “Protecting Ghana and Ghana's Emerging Financial Offshore Centre from Money Laundering,” John Hardy QC, a UK Attorney touched on the global effect of money laundering and its attendant effect on Ghana, if pragmatic measures were not put in place to minimize to lowest ebb or completely eradicate its occurrence. The UK Attorney cautioned that given Ghana's off-shore ambitions, it is clearly vital that effective regulation, transparency and external monitoring are put in place, if its off-shore centre is not going to be at risk of being a soft touch magnet for a flood of dirty money. He noted that the issue of money laundering has become an international headache and commended Ghana's efforts through legislations such as the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2007 (in force from 22 January 2008), Banking Amendment Act 2007 and others in the country's bid to prevent the transfer of criminal funds in financial systems and also put proper alert mechanisms in place. “If the criminal fraternity cannot profit from their crimes, so the theory goes, they will have much less motive to commit them.” he emphasized. According to him, because money laundering is an international activity, it can only be restrained and restricted if anti-money laundering is conducted on the basis of international standards, internationally monitored and international co-operation measures which are empowered internationally and simplified so as to work expeditiously and without bureaucratic hindrance. “One of the principal difficulties in translating international declarations of principle and intent into effective domestic legislation was the tension between the need to promote transparency in banking transactions on the one hand and, on the other, the principle of client confidentiality which bound the banks”, he noted. According to him the 1990 Recommendation of the Financial Action task Force's (FATF), recommendations stated that “Countries should ensure that financial institution secrecy laws do not inhibit implementation of the FATF Recommendations.” It also stated among others that there must be the necessary legislation – to criminalise money laundering and secondly, the legislation must also provide for systems and resources to enforce that law. “But mere provision is not enough. There must also be genuine and deep-seated political will to enforce the legislation. That will is reflected in the provision of resources and the effectiveness of the court as institutions of enforcement. Hence regulators, investigators and judges all have their part to play. So, too, do compliance officers and those charged with supervising the ethics of the bank and other financial industries.” He noted that each state needs to utilise its own legislative and enforcement apparatus to make conditions within its borders as unfriendly as possible for money laundering. These notwithstanding, he said it was worth noting “the creation and resourcing of agencies capable of investigating large amounts of complicated transactions without assistance from the banks and other institutions, that would have involved the establishment of huge, cumbersome, bureaucratic and ineffective organisations at disproportionate expense to the public purse. Equally, the proscription of money laundering through legislation, without the establishment of effective means of enforcement, would have rendered the legislation toothless and futile.” In the case of Ghana, he noted that “what appears to be a problem in Ghana is a combination of the slow rate of progress, a sense of dithering and a lack of real political will. That lack of real political will he said “is not confined to one party”. Adding that “antimony laundering should be thrust forward to the top of governmental agenda on non-partisan basis. If that can be done here, Ghana will move forward”. Source: Daniel Nonor - Ghanaian Chronicle

Editorial:WHO WILL DELIVER GHANA FROM NDC AND NPP?

There is too much poverty in the country: in the cities and in the countryside, two-thirds of Ghanaians live on two dollars a day. That is very bad indeed for a country that has exported gold, diamond, timber and cocoa for decades.

There is too much corruption in the country: in both major political parties NDC and NPP; and in the police and immigration service; at Tema and Takoradi harbours and Kotoka Airport, and at CEPS; importers,exporters and travellers are suffering. In the universities, polytechnics, nursing and teachers’ training colleges sex is traded for grades and money is exchanged for admission. Many female students are victims.

The illiteracy level in the country is very high: Close to 30% of the adult population cannot read and write. Unemployment is very high too. Unofficially it hovers between 25 and 50%. Many of the youth have no jobs and have resorted to activities such as armed robbery, prostitution, hawking and other social vices. Graduates from our universities are without jobs either and many are doing their best to live in poverty.

In many homes basic facilities such as water and toilet are absent. Many people in our cities and towns are without quality and quantity of water. In some communities, residents have to live without water supply for weeks if not months.

In most of our rural areas people live in mud houses, roofed with raffia leaves. They are without electricity, water and social security. In the cities people have no mortgage; they face high renting and utility bills with poor services. Power cuts is everywhere in the country, yet every month the minister of energy receives millions of cedis for not providing the people with the energy thy need.

Farmers have no access to tractors and fertilisers and have to plant using cutlasses and hoes during the planting and harvesting seasons. Even when tractors are imported for them to use the corrupt politicians always hijack them. The farmers have no access to irrigation facilities and if nature fails to provide them with water then they are doomed.

Poverty is driving more and more children into the streets of Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Ho, Tema and many others. Children serving as head potters are visible everywhere in the country. They are selling ice water, coconut, plantain chips and other hawking activities. They are sacrificing their education to find food for themselves. Majority of these kids have no place to call home. They sleep in the street and wherever they can. Some of them were born in the street, have been raised by the street, taught by the street, protected by the street but many of them have been subjected to abuse by the very society that has the responsibility to protect them. The MPs, the president, the vice president and their ministers drive by: some of them even stop to buy the stuff these children are selling without asking question why these children who are supposed to be in school and be trained as future leaders are on the street selling.

There is entropy of infrastructure decay in the country: break down of the rail sector, energy shortages, poor roads, poor and inadequate housing, inadequate water and sanitation delivery systems. There are no proper waste management systems. The traffic jams and pollution in Accra, Kumasi and elsewhere are unbearable.

There is food shortage everywhere and prices are beyond the reach of ordinary Ghanaians as a result malnutrition is increasingly affecting most of the children especially in the rural areas.

Most hospitals are without essential medicines and medical staff is in short supply in most health institutions. Patients sleeping on the floor of hospitals due to inadequate beds are a common feature in our hospitals. The minister of health says there is no money for medicines but every month taxes are paid to his government and we cannot tell where the money goes.

We have been told that Tema Harbour is being raped by men working with the president. Those at the helm of affairs are doing their best to loot as much as they can for themselves leaving Ghanaians to suffer. A case in point is the corruption allegations levelled at members of both the NDC and NPP.

Ghana has not modernized at all. 53 years after independence we still carry things on our head; wash our clothes with our hands and our women still carry babies on their back. They are all signs of where we are as a nation. Quality of life is very low. Life expectancy is just 57. Young men and women are dying from diseases that ought not to kill them. Poverty and the heat from the sun have turned beautiful young ladies into old one. There is walling and gnashing of teeth in every home. Out of sight out of mind a woman has to poison herself and her five children a sign of poverty, desperation, frustration that the NDC and NPP have helped institutionalised in the country. “It has now emerged that Georgina Pipson, the 31-year-old mother suspected of killing her five children at Gomoa Nyanyano near Kasoa in the Central Region, poisoned them with parazone, a powerful, corrosive detergent.
The Children are Kwaku Osae Asante 11, Nana Yaw Asante 9, Angel Akua Asante 6, Kofi Asante 4 and Esi Asante 1.” Source: myjoyonline.com, Tuesday, 05 Jan 2010.

Nothing is manufactured in the country not even bicycles let alone tractors, cars, computers, mobile phones, dish washers and heavy equipments that help nations to develop. We are a nation that depends on what others in Europe, North America, Japan, Korea, and China have used and thrown away. Our economy is littered with used computers, used pants, and used cars things that most Ghanaians cannot do without because of poverty. In all this we have had presidents and their ministers who were paid huge salaries and bonuses to help develop the nation but only ended up impoverishing the people.

NDC and NPP have been promising to build castles in Ghana, yet people are living in mud houses. We cannot even device plans to help our farmers to increase food production. We have not recognised that the cutlasses and hoes they have been using since the time of slavery and colonialism cannot help us to move forward as a nation.

Water pollution and poor sanitation is everywhere in our cities. The people of Teshie and Nungua are using the sea and the coast as places of convenience because they have no access to toilets. In Accra the Korle Lagoon and the Odaw River have been polluted so much so that there are no living organisms in them. The stench in our cities is awful. Illegal dumping of waste is everywhere. Apart from being eyesores these dumps have also become breeding grounds for flies, cockroaches, mosquitoes, rats and mice; and cause odour problems, water pollution from runoff, and air pollution from burning.

In many of the country, for example; Sewerage is almost non-existent, with only a portion of Accra, Tema, Kumasi and few regional capitals enjoying piped sewerage services. There is no centralized wastewater treatment system in most of the cities and households and commercial premises generally have no onsite flush latrines. Within Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tema and most of the cities and towns the absence of waste infrastructures has led to a situation where solid waste sometimes remain uncollected for weeks, and is unhygienically burnt and disposed; indiscriminate dumping of waste is creating health problems.

There are few cities and towns with reliable piped water supply. Many residence of Accra do not have access to frequent supply of good drinking water and many households have to resort to extreme measures to be able to cope. In short, the infrastructures to deliver water to the people are either not existing or their capacities are too small to support the growing demand. The water situation in the rural areas is even worse. In the three northern regions people have to walk several miles in order to get water. As a result, people are not able to live healthy lives due to poor water quality and dwindling accessibility.

Rawlings and his P(NDC) spent 19 years joking with Ghanaians and the problems facing them. For better part of his 19 year reign Rawlings busied himself with celebration of June 4^th and 31^st December anniversaries than the welfare of Ghanaians. There is nothing remarkable in the country that can be associated with his 19 year reign. The SSS now (SHS) that he brought to Ghana has been a failure. Students still do not have access to textbooks close to two decades after it was introduced. Kuffour and his NPP also spent 8 years talking more and doing little.

The NDC and the NPP are toying with Ghana's secondary school system: 3 years for NDC, 4 years for NPP meanwhile they are busy sending their children to be educated abroad leaving Ghanaians to suffer from their selfish and ill thought-out policies. Nkrumah built universities and the current NDC and NPP leadership enjoyed it for free. During their time it was one student to a room, free breakfast, lunch and supper. But go to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Ghana and Cape Coast University and see the condition of our students. Four students are packed in a room meant for a student and that is when a student is even lucky to have his/her name short listed by the authorities. Students in these institutions are studying without electricity and other academic facilities that produce high quality of graduates. As for the University of Development Studies the little I say about it the better. The neglect of Ghana’s tertiary institutions is illustrated in a news report by Ghanaian Times headlined: “Water Shortage: Experts Coming from S. Africa" which reported that:

"Experts from Ballest-Nedam, the Dutch company that installed the control panel at the intake pump station of the Weija Headworks are expected in Ghana on Thursday morning from South Africa to help repair the machine. This follows the inability of local experts to get the damaged electronic equipment fixed for the pump to function again”, Source: Ghanaian Times, 09-Feb-2010.

Another news item reads: "Straight-talking Charles Kofi Wayo has poured scorn on engineers working at the gutted Tema Oil Refinery, asking if they qualify to even be called engineers when they cannot manufacture common bolts and have to wait for three months for foreign expertise to fix the minutest of problems. "If you have engineers there why is it that one small bolt you have to wait for a white man two, three months. You can’t even make your own bolts…You can’t even tool anything down there, even gasket - common gasket when it blows, you shut down the RFCC and stuff like that so where are the engineers? Where are the engineers? Source: www.myjoyonline.com, Thursday, 21 January 2010.

The simple truth is that our students are not able to invent neither do our experts able to repair even broken machines. We cannot blame our universities for failing to produce high quality graduates and experts because they have mounting resource problems. The Universities lack well trained lecturers. They lack modern facilities such as state of the art libraries, laboratory simulation facilities, studios, computers, projectors, internet facilities, constant energy supply and books. They lack them because the NPP and NDC governments have failed to invest and build the infrastructures needed to deliver 21^st century education. As a result we have to import the equipments and books from countries that have done their home work well and have invested heavily in education notably in science and technology.

Ghana has been a leading gold exporter for decades and we have been selling gold at the international gold market for decades yet ordinary Ghanaians do not know where the proceeds go. Ghanaians cannot even buy products made from gold. No one in Ghana except the corrupt NDC and their equally corrupt NPP rivals who know where the proceeds go. Now they are happy that we have discovered oil and are seriously strategising to steal so Ghanaians will continue to live in poverty again. Ghana is a leading cocoa exporter but where does the money go? Rawlings couldn't give a straight answer when he was asked. Kuffour couldn’t give a straight answer either. Are we able to even buy chocolate for our children in a country which is the world’s biggest exporter of cocoa? We continue to receive grants from rich countries in the global north but the politicians and their business friends are not allowing it to have impact in the country.

Hundreds of loan agreements have been signed and billions of dollars have been received by our governments (Rawlings and Kuffour and now Mills) and we are paying heavy interest fees for it yet Ghanaians cannot trace where the money has gone, how it was spent or the projects it has been used to complete. We only hear of the loan agreements and the interests we are paying but not the money.

For the past 28 years Ghana has been governed by two main parties: the ruling National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party but it is no point arguing that both parties have been the cause of Ghana’s economic demise. For decades they have toyed with Ghana’s economy, its infrastructure needs: energy, roads, rail lines, education, telecommunication and health.

Frustration, hopelessness and desperation can be found in the face of many Ghanaians. Since Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966 Ghanaians have been without a true leader. A leader who will provide jobs for the youth; a leader who will provide infrastructure for the economic take off, a leader who will transform Ghana's railway sector into viable transportation industry; a leader who is a problem solver and not just arm-chair president.

Come 2012 NDC and NPP politicians aided by some corrupt media practitioners will come with the same pack of lies, deceits, pledges and promises and with smooth words: vote for us and we will do this and that but once they get to parliament they cannot even put a bill together to solve some of the problems. Once they become ministers they cannot even formulate policies let alone implement one. Ghana is poor today because of NPP and NDC who have no idea how to turn the huge natural resources into goods that will benefit Ghanaians. For 28 years both parties have mismanaged Ghana.

Ghanaians are suffering not because we are poor in terms of natural resources. We are poor because those entrusted with the management of the nation have sought create wealth to benefit themselves at the expense of the poor majority who live in 18^th century conditions. We are poor because we have of bad political leaders who are interested in getting power without using the power to help develop the nation for all to benefit. Those entrusted with the management of the nation are simply visionless. They love to drive in convoy at the expense of the nation yet have no idea how to help Ghana become a food sufficient nation. 53 years after independence we still import rice from China and India and there is no sign that the importation will stop soon.

It is so sad that the leaders who came after Nkrumah have done very little to add to the foundation he laid. I don't know what would have happened to Ghana had Nkrumah not built Akosombo dam. I don't what would have happened to Ghana had Nkrumah not built Tema city and the harbour with all the infrastructures and industries such as VALCO. Nkrumah spent 9 years from 1957 to 1966 doing all these landmark projects, Rawlings and his PNDC spent 19 years selling what Nkrumah built and where did the money go? The Asia Tigers (Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore) took the same 20 years wasted by Rawlings to turn their countries around. Ghanaians would have been better off than they are now if the PNDC/NDC leadership had used the 19 years judiciously.

Rawlings and his P(NDC) couldn't even maintain the things Nkrumah developed let alone adding some to it. Rawlings and his bootlickers had to allow them to decay because they did not have any idea how important those things were to the economy of our country. Kuffour spent 8 years selling Ghana Telecom and he cannot tell us what he used the money for. He thought Mo Ibrahim would give him 5 million dollar reward for managing Ghana to benefit himself and his circle of friends but Mo Ibrahim was smart.

If Nkrumah had been alive he would have turned the oil find into jobs for Ghanaians to enjoy; he would have used it to build houses for the poor in the country; he would have constructed another Akosombo dam to solve the energy crisis facing the nation; he would have developed and modernise the railway sector to ease the congestion facing our cities.

Can Mills save Ghana? Well his style of governance shows that unemployment and many of the woes he came to meet will worsen. He has not shown any clear policy direction as what he wants to do or achieve for Ghana. He would be best remembered for his penchant for silence and dithering when major issues need to be addressed. Can President Mills emulate the extraordinary leadership of Nkrumah and save Ghana from its current economic quandary? I doubt it. President Mills has been in power for over a now year and has not found his feet yet, though his ministers are enjoying tax payers' money, driving Land Cruisers while fishermen have no premix fuel. His government is so pathetic that it has become a laughing stock in the country and even within the NDC. Has Mills been able to practice what he preached during the elections?

Will NPP's Alan Kyeremanteng and Akuffo Addo save Ghana? I don't think so because they are part of the same wagon that has not delivered to Ghanaians. No wonder both of them think the only way they can serve Ghana is to be president and have been quarrelling since the NPP primaries.

NPP and NDC share one common characteristic: both parties rely on lies, deceits, bribery, and corruption to win votes while doing nothing to improve the social and economic situation in the country. That is why for the 28 years that both parties have governed Ghana standard of living continue to fall and every statistics either official or non-official is in the negative. Both parties like to share the nation’s resources among themselves and their peers forgetting the ordinary Ghanaian who stood in the sun to elect them. Rawlings and Kuffour and their NDC and NPP could not use proceeds from gold, timber, bauxite, diamond and cocoa to develop the nation and there is no doubt that both parties have contributed immensely to impoverishing the people with their short sighted, ill conceived and vote buying economic policies. If Ghana is going to be a nation for all her people then there is the need for a leadership that will aggressively implement policies and programmes that will transform the nation from its current economic predicament; a leadership that will mobilize all the resources in the country to develop Ghana for all its citizens to benefit.

Such leadership cannot be found in the NDC and NPP and that is why it is important for Ghanaians to consider voting for independent candidates or parties that have the track record of laying the foundation for Ghana. Ghanaians must sit up and must be cautious of the people they vote for in 2012 otherwise they risk living in poverty for another four years.

By Lord Aikins Adusei

(politicalthinker1@yahoo.com)

"Probe into UK diplomat’s allegations a wild goose chase"

Craig Murray The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, is tipping off the government that its probe into allegations of malfeasance in contracts signed between the Volta River Authority and two other international businesses by former deputy British High Commissioner to Ghana, Craig Murray, would end as a wild goose chase. He said he doubts the validity and credibility of Mr Murray’s allegation. The former Deputy British High Commissioner wrote an article on his blog suggesting that the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration entered into contract deals with conmen, and urged the ruling NDC government to abrogate all such contracts. He alleged that a British company called Zakhem International Limited entered into a contract with the NPP government to build the Kpone Power Project for the Volta River Authority (VRA). According to him, VRA bought turbines from the manufacturer, Alsthom for $70 million and then paid the American company Zakhem $80 million upfront to install them and provide ancillary equipment. Currently, the turbines are said to be badly damaged due to neglect. Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Thursday, Mr Baako claimed that the current government is aware of what the $80 million was used for and that the VRA has documents to that effect. He noted that if the government decides to invite Mr Murray to assist in investigating issues it (the government) already has insight into, then the government would be wasting the tax payer’s money. On his part, Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia, who was a co-panelist on the programme noted that it would be in the best interest of companies whose names have been mentioned by Mr Murray in his allegations should the government decide to investigate the matter. He said investigations may clear those companies of any wrong doing or otherwise. By: Dorcas Efe Mensah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana