Ghanaian Journalist Halifax Ansah-Addo

Friday, 10 December 2010

Why Prez Mills Hands Are Black

By Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide: Wednesday, December 8, 2010.

Specialist doctors attending to the health of President Atta Mills are reported to have expressed worry over his darkened palms which were caused by some medication they recommended to him.

A deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, has explained that the doctors did not know that the colour of the President's palms would transform as a result of the medication and they have expressed worry over the matter.

The President's palms, in recent times, have become black, heightening speculations about his state of health.

Though, Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa would not tell which medication the President has been put on and which ailment he was being treated for, he said the 'medication' was given to him by his doctors.

"I have seen it and when I inquired about it, he explained to me that he took a medication and he reacted that negatively.

"His doctor was quite worried but he told him it doesn't matter. Some people take some medication and the reaction worsens their cases and they are sometimes hospitalized, but this was quite a minimal reaction.

"The doctors did not know that he would react that way to the medication but what is important is that it has not affected his movements, body system and his thought process.He is presently in Abuja with his colleague heads of state discussing the Ivorian crisis and how there can be some lasting solution.Over the weekend, he was even at the Farmers' Day celebration so everything is going on well with him," Okudzeto-Ablakwa told Fiifi Banson, host of Peace FM's 'Ekwanso Brebre' on Peace Fm on Tuesday.

"The president is well, as he has always said it is the good Lord who grants us good health but he is very strong and stable.He has been given a clean bill of health by all the doctors who have looked at him and he is going about his normal duties.

"It will amaze you he still wakes up at 4:30am every day and he does exercise and he is a very fit man. I can assure you he is still the good sportsman we have always known.

'The president's palms are black because he reacted to some medication that he takes and if you talk to doctors, they will confirm to you that we all react in different forms depending on what medication you take.

"We can assure the good people of this country that there is nothing serious that is affecting the president, and it is just the little reaction which has even reduced compared to two weeks ago. Doctors have assured him that they didn't know he will react that way to the medication," he added.

The issue of the President's darkened palms has become topical in many circles and several speculations made about what might have caused it.

It was noticed during the visit of Equatorial Guinea's President's to Ghana a couple of months ago.

By Halifax Ansah-Addo

NDC Boss In Motorbikes Scandal

By Halifax Ansah-Addo

Daily Guide of Monday November 29, 2010.

The Daily Guide newspaper has discovered that the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) is allegedly releasing confiscated motorbikes and cars to some constituency chairmen of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for distribution to selected party members and foot-soldiers.

While one of such NDC chairmen is in trouble for having received six of such motorbikes but keep them as hispersonal property, Daily Guide has seen a couple of documents in which government has allegedly written to the CEPS Commissioner that some more motorbikes should be released for NDC party work.

The NDC Chairman for Dome Kwabenya constituency, Alhaji Abdul Basit Mohammed, who was recently given six of such motorbikes purposely for party work, is currently being chased by his party members after reports went round that he had sold all six bikes and pocketed the money.

When Daily Guide contacted Alhaji Basit Mohammed, he confessed that it was the Municipal Chief Executive of the Ga East Municipal Assembly, John Quao Sackey, who gave him a letter to be delivered to the CEPS Commissioner so six motorbikes would be released to him for party work.

Alhaji Basit explained however that he did not give the bikes to the party because he had imported some six motorbikes but they got sized by CEPS officials so the Municipal Chief Executive forged the said letter for him so he could use it to get back his seized bikes.
The chairman said it was the same imported bikes that were confiscated that were eventually released to him so there was no sense in releasing them to the party. He promised to provide some documents to show that indeed he had imported some six motorbikes but they got confiscated by CEPS officials.

The NDC chairman conceded that though the wording of the letter said the bikes were to be used for party work, that information as only put there by John Quao Sackey to help him clear his seized bikes.
The letter that was addressed to the CEPS Commissioner was written on the official letterhead to the Ga East Municipal Assembly and signed by its Chief Executive on January 12, 2010.

It reads: “Request for the allocation of motorbikes. The Dome Kwabenya Constituency is a new constituency and therefore lacks facilities to enable it achieve growth and developmental programmes successfully. “Our main hindrance is transportation. We shall be grateful if you can allocate us with six (6) of the confiscated motorbikes for use in the constituency. “Alhaji Abdul Basit Mohammed is the Chairman of eh constituency and responsible for social affairs in the Constituency who will use the bikes for the benefit of the constituency.

“We have also discussed this with the Chairman of the Council of State Professor Kofi Awoonor. We count on your co-operation.”
Though Alhaji Basit Mohammed is insisting the letter was only forged to help him clear his personal bikes, Daily Guide’s checks for CEPS show that such an arrangement would have been criminal.
“When you import motorbikes, there is an amount of money you pay on it and it is higher than what you pay when seized bikes are being sold to you on allocation. What you are saying means that the person used the forged letter to invade tax on his seized bikes and that is equally criminal on his part just as whoever forged the letter for him,” CEPS sources explained.

Further checks from the Council of State revealed that Prof. Kofi Awoonor was not even aware his name was being used to clear confiscated motorbikes for selected chairmen of the NDC.

Muntaka Probe Letter- The Facts

By Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide of Friday Nov. 26, 2010

Spokespersons of the Mills Government yesterday hopped from one radio station to other denying a DAILY GUIDE report that President John Evans Atta Mills has ordered fresh investigation into the controversial $20,000 Alhaji Muhammed Muntaka Mubarak is alleged to have pocketed when he was Minister for Youth and Sports.

Alhaji Muntaka himself also told the media that the DAILY GUIDE report was an old investigation and not a fresh one.

However, DAILY GUIDE's checks revealed that indeed, the Civil Service Council, acting on the directive of President Mills, has opened fresh investigations into the matter and what the spokespersons of government and Alhaji Muntaka told the media yesterday was not the truth.

While Alhaji Muntaka claimed the DAILY GUIDE story was a rehash of an old investigations, the paper can confirm that he was not speaking the truth because barely a week ago, precisely on Wednesday October 17, 2010, the Civil Service Council sent out official information that they had been directed to constitute a fact-finding committee for the purpose of uncovering the mystery surrounding the 'missing' $20,000.

Indeed, the very first person the committee would meet with over the matter was Alhaji Abdulai Yakubu and that meeting was scheduled for Tuesday November 23, 2010. Alhaji Muntaka himself has been ordered to appear before the committee on Wednesday December 8, 2010 at exactly 11:30 am.

The Civil Service Council has also ordered all officers who worked at the Sports Ministry and had any dealings with finances during the period Alhaji Muntaka was there to appear before the newly-constituted fact-finding committee.

The invited officers include Alhaji Muntaka himself, Rashid Pelpuo; Deputy Majority Leader of Parliament and a former Minister of Sports,Â Prosper Apasu; the Chief Accountant, Shelter James Ocloo; Internal Auditor, Albert Ampong, Adim Odoom, Ebenezer Lomotey, Charles Aryeh,Â and Clement Aku.

The letter inviting the above persons was signed by the Secretary of the Civil Service Council, Noah Tumfo, on behalf on the Chairman of the Civil Service Council, Dr Robert Dodoo.

DAILY GUIDE has also gathered that the committee is chaired by Dr. Robert Dodoo; Milly Quansah, Justice E.D.K. Adjabeng ; all members of the Council and W.K Kemevor; the Acting Head of Civil Service.

Messrs Albert Ampong and Adim Odoom, who were then respectively Chief Director and Principal Accountant at the Sports Ministry, have already explained and insisted that the $20,000 was given to Alhaji Muntaka, aside other huge amounts of money that unlawfully went to him.

This new order for an investigation comes as a surprise because the missing money had already been investigated by National Security on the orders of the Presidency and detailed reports submitted to President Mills who asked Muntaka to resign. President Mills also asked for the interdiction of the two officers, Albert Ampong and Adim Odoom.

Whether by coincidence or by someone's machinations, this latest order for another investigations into the matter comes just after government was ordered by the courts to re-instate Messrs Albert Ampong and Adim Odoom to their original positions, after they were wrongly interdicted and given half of their salary for months.

By Halifax Ansah-Addo

dailyguideghana.com

The Health Minister, Dr. Benjamin Kumbuor, has made known his lack of faith in the ability of the Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to run a one-time premium payment for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The disclosure comes at a time Sylvester Mensah, Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has confirmed reports that the NHIS stands the danger of folding up as there would be no more funds to run the scheme by the year 2013 if government does not find ways of generating more revenue for it.

Dr. Kumbuor, speaking during his Ministry’s turn at the ‘Meet the Press’ series, said he was compelled to say that the one-time premium was workable because it was a government policy and since he was a part of government, he had to support the issue.

Dr. Kumbuor noted, “It would work…I have raised both hands and legs to show you that it would work and I am saying this because they are playing a drum and I am only dancing to it; when they stop playing the drum and I am still dancing, someone should tap me and say they have stopped playing the drum.”

The Health Minister then explained that despite his original position, government had explained that the amount of money currently being collected as premium constituted a paltry three and a half percent of the NHIS budget, thus its contribution was insignificant.

But DAILY GUIDE can confirm that the health scheme is crumbling and the NHIA, its administrator, has tried in vain to get government to accept the true state of affairs and do something about it.

Sources at the Seat of Government told DAILY GUIDE that on Monday, November 14, the Vice President chaired a Cabinet meeting at the Castle and one of the issues that came up was how to generate additional revenue to sustain the NHIA but the Health Minister appeared rather unconcerned about the subject.

“There were a couple of suggestions on board and what the NHIA suggested was that we raised the NHIS levy from 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent but the sector Minister was not ready to push that proposal so it was not included in the budget and this raised a lot of tempers but every Minister has his Ministry and no one could speak for NHIA when the Health Minister was not the least concerned,” the Castle source noted.

As the situation stands now, the one-time premium payment as promised by the Evans Atta Mills government would remain a mirage as the NHIS itself would have no choice but to fold up by 2013 due to lack of funds.

Before the budget was read, confidential documents sighted by DAILY GUIDE revealed that the NHIA Board of Directors had met over dangers being faced by the scheme, and forwarded to Cabinet a couple of recommendations on how to sustain the facility, with the most plausible suggestion being to increase the 2.5 percent NHIS levies to 3.5 percent from January 2011.

The said Board Member explained further, “As you can see, year by year our expenditure keeps escalating, given that more people subscribe to the scheme and the cost of medication has gone up, but our revenue is not expanding and we cannot sustain the trend…in 2004 we had just about 1.3 million subscribers but currently we are a little over 17 million and we may have to fold up by 2013 unless something is done about the situation.

“We need to take a tough decision to sustain the scheme and as we continue to block leaks in the system and let the law deal with those found to have involved in financial misconduct and our clinical audits have been able to recoup something close to GH¢15 billion that would have gone waste.”

It is not certain whether government deliberately wants to collapse the scheme and blame it on the past administration, or whether the NDC’s own internal wrangling is having an adverse toll on the future of the NHIS.

What is certain is that the 17 million plus Ghanaians registered with the NHIS would have to return to the ‘cash and carry’ era by the year 2013 because the NDC government would have no funds to run the scheme.

SCIZO Hits Big

A News-One Story (Wed. Oct.20, 2010)

It is true that hip life artiste Scizo does not have albums upon albums to his credit but the fact is he has created a lot of impact on the music scene with the release of the ‘1 Stone’ track, on which he featured Kwabena-Kwabena.
Music lovers have since then been longing for Scizo and watching out for his next big hit. So far, he has partially satisfied his fans with his ‘once in a while stage performances’ as well as the showing of his music videos on MTV Base and Channel O.
Just last week, his music videos got nominated in two categories for the second edition of the 4syte Music Video awards scheduled for November 20 this year.
Scizo, whose real name is Joseph Kwame Sogli, has finally bounced back with the release of ‘Make Me Feel You’, a dancehall track featuring Stone Boy. The song which is raising eyebrows in town is one that would make any Ghanaian proud.
From lyrics, rhythm, tempo, to sound, ‘Make Me Feel You’ is an irresistible dancehall track that promises to be a big hit for Scizo.
The sample album of ‘Make Me Feel You’ has other songs such as ‘Rain Rain’ and ‘I Dey For You’. Interestingly, he has already done the video for both songs and placed them on YouTube.
NEWS-ONE caught up with him for a brief talk and he had this to say:
“You can say it is a Christmas package for Ghanaians and tourists who visit the country. I released this on Faa S33 label and we are planning to do put up a show at the Alliance Française by November before I do a mini tour with the tracks.
“In life you can only do what God permits you and I have learnt to do one thing at a time and rely mostly on God. I have done the tracks and the videos now hoping that by March next year, the full album would be out for my fans,” Scizo disclosed.
NEWS-ONE delved a bit into the life of Scizo (pronounced as si-zo) and discovered he is not married, still single and holds strong Christian principles. He writes his own lyrics and flows well in English, Ga, Ewe and Asanti-Twi.
He had his basic education at St. Paul’s School at La before moving to St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School. He also took a couple of professional courses and is currently taking lessons in sound engineering.

Youth Council Rejects ‘Gay Boy’

By Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide of Monday, 20 September 2010

The management of the National Youth Council (NYC) says it cannot continue to tolerate the unruly behavior of Prince-Derrick Adjei, the alleged gay appointed by President Atta Mills as the deputy Co-ordinator of the National Youth Council.

The council has complained that “Prince-Derrick Adjei has undermined a professional culture that has evolved out of over thirty-five years of youth professional work to the detriment and disappointment of hardworking, dedicated workers and staff who have seen the National Youth Council through thick and thin to this day.”

The NYC’s declaration of no-confidence in Mr. Adjei comes at a time Civil Society and some members of Parliament have called for his immediate removal from office, following his continuous insulting nature, irresponsible statements and bad example to the youth he is supposed to lead.

The President has snubbed all the concerns raised and rather continued to reward the man.

The NYC, in a news statement released last Friday and signed by Sarah Obeng, said “comments and behavior of Prince-Derrick Adjei put the image and credibility of the council into public scrutiny as to what values and principles underline the mandate of the Youth Council.

“In distancing itself from Prince-Derrick Adjei’s effusions, management views his demeanor uncharacteristic of a professional youth development worker because before his appointment into the National Youth Council, staff had maintained for themselves a high sense of professional ethics and chalked professional integrity among youth development practitioners globally.”

It continued: “Management will want to assure the public, especially those who have been hurt by Prince-Derrick Adjei’s outburst, that the National Youth Council will not countenance such unruly behavior in its fold.”

According to the statement, Prince-Derrick Adjei has not behaved like the deputy National Co-ordinator of a “statutory youth development agency charged with the onerous responsibility to nurture the empowerment of the Ghanaian youth for honesty and integrity, self reliance and leadership, respect for authority and recognition of positive cultural values for excellence and humility, patriotism, and productive citizenship.”

Adjei has recently gained notoriety for talking loose and making wild allegations that cannot be substantiated.

In his response to an allegation that he is ‘a notorious homosexual’ who frequents bars and nightclubs of Accra, fishing for men to initiate into homosexuality, he lashed out, wildly claiming he knew several homosexuals, bisexuals and pedophiles even in Parliament and that he would publish their names last Wednesday September 15, 2010.

Derrick, on Wednesday, did not produce his list of gay MPs but rather levelled homosexual allegations against a number of journalists and political activists who took him on and dared him to produce his list of gay MPs.

ALARM BLOW Over Ministers’ ‘Chop Chop’

By Halifax Ansah-Addo
Daily Guide of Sept. 28, 2010

Reports reaching DAILY GUIDE indicate that the Information Ministry has suddenly become an avenue for siphoning public funds into pockets of appointees of the Mills administration, with the Minister, John Tia Akologo, being fingered as one of the appointees.
John Tia, who recently jumped to the defence of Stanislav Xoese Dogbe, a Presidential Aide over the GH¢169,000.00 hampers’ scandal even though he was not the Minister at the time when the money was spent, is said to be plundering the account of the ministry with his unrestrained profligacy.
Sources at the Ministry of Information have hinted that President Atta Mills caused the dismissal of Nee Agiri Barnor also known as Mije Barnor as Acting Director of the Information Services Department (ISD), mainly on suspicion that he was a whistle-blower who would not justify corruption by calling it an ‘indiscretion’.
The President’s aim is to ostensibly conceal corruption at the Ministry including the GH¢169,000.00 hampers’ scandal, sources swore to DAILY GUIDE over the weekend.
Days after government sacked Nee Agiri, workers within the ISD have told the media there was collective looting of the taxpayer’s money by the Information Minister, John Tia and his two deputies.
Yesterday, a group within the ISD accused Mr. Tia and his two deputies, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa and James Agyenim Boateng of unbridled corruption.
The ISD workers, in a press statement, alleged that John Tia picks between GH¢2,000 and GH¢5,000 Ghana cedis from the coffers of the Ministry anytime he travelled outside Accra, according to a Citi FM report.
The group referred to the Minister and his deputies as “greedy, corrupt and selfish”, and alleged that funds meant for the ISD had been deliberately locked up in the Ministry’s coffers.
It claimed only GH¢45,000 of a budget of GH¢340,000 allocated to the ISD was released in 2009.
The concerned staff also alleged that a budget of GH¢145,000 released for public education on the H1N1 influenza was diverted.
They claimed Mije Barnor was sacked because of fears that the widespread corruption at the Ministry could be exposed after Mr. Dogbe was caught pants down with the ¢1.6 billion he was said to have spent on buying hampers for journalists.
John Tia has however denied the allegations and asked his accusers to provide evidence of the alleged corruption.
He told Citi FM yesterday that it was rather the sacked ISD boss who wanted to corrupt him.
However, the Information Minister said he failed to report the matter to the police, but warned him not to try it again.
According to John Tia, since it was a mere intention, he did not find it necessary to report to the police, but rather asked Nee Agiri to go home and sin no more.
Sources from the ISD have told DAILY GUIDE that Agiri Barnor was overly principled on instilling accountability and productivity and was therefore seen as a thorn in the flesh of some bad nuts in the Ministry. This paper was reliably informed that a plush party was thrown to celebrate his dismissal in the home of one of the stooges ‘used’ to plot his dismissal.
The sources said barely 24 hours after his announced expulsion, his official vehicle and office were taken over by a retired officer who was one of the ‘coup makers’.
President Mills’s golden boy - Stanislav Dogbe - cannot account for a cash of GH¢169,000.00 (¢1.69 billion) he admits to have personally received from the Principal Accountant of the Ministry of Information on December 21st, 2009 (three days to Christmas) to “enable me to carry out public education on the 2010 annual budget.” The budget had been read on November 18, 2009, over a month by the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor.
This is the third time within a period of two years that the President Mills has publicly victimized public servants suspected either rightly or wrongly to have raised an alarm over government appointees involved in alleged corrupt practices and cannot account for the taxpayer’s money.
Our sources at the Presidency say Tourism Minister Zita Okaikoi has become the target of the powers that be at the seat of government, after she refused to defend Mr. Dogbe on several radio stations, though she was the Minister for Information when the said money was signed for and collected in a ‘Ghana Must Go’ travelling bag.
It would be recalled that the Mills Government caused the interdiction of a former Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Albert Anthony Ampong and Adim Odoom, a Principal Accountant of the same Ministry, after they exposed alleged corrupt practices by the then Sports Minister, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak.
After DAILY GUIDE broke the story that Mr. Dogbe had collected the cash of GH¢169,000 meant to educate the public on the national budget but used an undisclosed part of the money to buy Christmas hampers for some unnamed journalists, a number of pro-government media houses accused Agiri Barnor of being the source of the story.
Interestingly, President Mills was quick to sack Mr. Barnor but he is still rewarding Mr. Dogbe by keeping him as a special aide, though the latter has fumbled in explaining what he used the money for, prompting widespread calls for his dismissal.
A clear instance was when Mr. Dogbe claimed he had given part of the GH¢169,000 cash to the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ), only for the association’s president, Lloyd Evans to openly come out that his association had never received any money from Mr. Dogbe for any reason at any given period.