NEW VOTERS’ REGISTER CONFUSION: A BELLWETHER TO CIVIL UNREST IN GHANA

Conflict is something that no one has to dream of. The effects of it are devastating and shattering. Its ramifications enormous and worrisome: loss of human life and property, displacement of people, the destruction of the environment, just to name a few.  

According to the Economist Magazine, more than 100,000 people died worldwide in 2016 as a result of armed conflicts.

In many conflict zones children account for the majority of the casualties. Most die not from the weapons themselves, but from preventable diseases that aren’t prevented or treated because the health systems and infrastructure have been destroyed.

More than 2.7 million children died in D.R. Congo as a result of the conflict there.

Even after a war, post traumatic stress disorder is one of the most common and serious  psychological conditions diagnosed amongst post-war victims:  the wounded, the tortured, the raped, the maimed, the beaten, or the shocked person experiencing or witnessing the worst horrors that human beings can perpetrate.

During the war in Sierra Leone for example, a young man  from that country escaped the atrocities that went on in his country, and found his way in Ghana, but not without a problem. He was maimed.

His story was sad – a group of men had approached him and his brother in his country during the war, and asked them to choose between a long sleeve and a short sleeve. The young man thought they were going to be given shirts as gifts, and opted for a long sleeve. His brother chose short sleeve. The men cut his hand from his wrist, and severed his brother’s from the elbow; then, they understood what was meant by long and short sleeves.

Given the  consequences of conflicts, it is exceedingly apt for me to say that improper handling of the electoral register brouhaha could cost thousands of human lives and an ocean of human suffering. Unfortunately, the unnecessary intransigent posture of the EC is not helping matters. The EC has become like a bad coin; always popping up for the unpleasant reasons.

The action of government regarding issues of the Electoral Commission could be likened to a football match. In the course of the match, the Match Commissioner (GoG) changes the referee (Charlotte Osei) the spectators (the electorate) protested but it  didn’t listen. Few minutes later, it changed the linesmen (Charlotte Osei’s deputies), the spectators (the electorate) objected, but it wouldn’t care. Close to the end of the match, the Match Commissioner (GoG) through the EC wants to change the ball (Voters’ Register) and the spectators (the electorate) are angry.

The above is a perfect analogy of the situation in Ghana today. The idea of a new voters’ register is pathetically unpopular, and I will prove it.

On May 20, 2020, the Ghanaweb news portal conducted a poll on whether the EC should go ahead with a new voters’ register; the result was alarming. Out of a total of 69,526 votes, 17,802 representing 25.60% voted YES. While a whopping 51,239 representing 73.70% voted NO. 485 votes representing 0.70% were indifferent. The kind of comments that went with the YES votes are very disturbing; a clear indication that the patience of Ghanaians is wearing thin, and our country is on the precipice of explosion.

Even more bizarre is the fact that the EC refused to honour the invitation of the National House of Chiefs to throw more light on the December 7, elections and the intended new voters’ register.

A Ghanaweb article dated March 14, 2020, reported that the National House of Chiefs planned to meet the EC to provide them updates on its preparedness for the December 7 polls as well as provide the necessary justification for its insistence to compile a new register barely 9 months to the polls, but the EC shockingly had the effrontery to snub the revered traditional rulers.

This is what the President of the House said, “With the requests, we made to them on the 5th February, 2020, they said they didn’t have any time to meet us, so our Standing Committee requested a registrar to go to them so that they will come early in this month, so we can assemble to meet them, as of today, we have not heard from them.”

One worry stands out, and I don’t want to use the word arrogant to describe the actions of the EC. Discourteous, maybe. Shameless.

I’m much frightened to think that the silence of our great chiefs since the incident is not a good signal. All. Is. Not. Well. They must have been traumatised by this disrespectful behaviour of the EC.

The conduct of the EC especially its boss, is sending the annoyance of the people of Ghana toward anger. And I would like to implore religious leaders, civil society groups, traditional rulers and well- meaning citizens of our beloved country to speak up for the EC to change its ways. Anything other than this could have an obliterative outcome on our country.

Dr. Ayaarim Nawum Baa

NIA’S KEN ATTAFUAH’S CREDIBILITY AND TRUST FAST DWINDLING.

Prof. Ken Attafuah should stop talking and granting unnecessary media interviews in order to save his remaining integrity.

The more he talks, the more he reveals and confirms their perceived hidden agenda and collusion with the Electoral Commission.

In fact, some of the utterances of Prof. Attafuah sound vexatious and disrespectful to Ghanaians. For example, Prof. Attafuah said to Godfred Akoto Boafo on Citi Fm’ Face to Face program that all the close to 30million Ghanaians did not understand the President’s directives regarding the Lockdown with respect to Public gathering. Prof. Attafuah, as a Law Professor is telling us  the directives restricting public gathering was limited only to Funerals where not more than 25 persons should gather for a funeral.  Am not a Lawyer but I think the President’s directives were very clear and precise to all Ghanaians. Prof. Attafuah cannot confuse us as though we were in the Courtroom.

And this is NIA’s justification for them continuing the registration in the Eastern Region when all well meaning and reasonable Ghanaians  said it was wrong doing so.

The question is, do people stand in long queues at drinking spots to buy drinks before drinking spots were directed to cease operations? The long queues witnessed at all the NIA registration centers across the country where people queued from dawn to dusk is nowhere comparable to what happened in some churches but churches have been stopped from operating.

As a Professor of Law, Ken Attafuah should know that his attitude towards the President’s directives was unprofessional and indefensible. If ordinary Ghanaians will respect the President’s directives, how come a Law Professor, heading a State institution will tell his employees to disrespect a Legislative Instrument that the Parliament of Ghana has granted the President to execute. It’s a bad example.

Again, Prof. Attafuah tells Godfred Akoto Boafo that the NIA board had already taken a decision to stop the Eastern Region registration before some members of the public went to Court to stop them. How can we believe this story from the Professor? If we consider it truthful, why then did the Deputy Attorney General go to Court praying the Court to allow the NIA to continue the registration? Or Prof. thinks Godfred Akoto is one of his security men in his home who will believe that story? Well, Ghanaians don’t believe that story.

Furthermore, Prof Attafuah says he does not understand why people have said even the Banks are not accepting the cards. And that there has been a Law in the country since 2012 that until all Ghanaians have received their cards, the NIA cannot insist on it’s general application. This sounds absurd and does not make sense. I say so because if NIA claims it has issued over 7 million cards, how can you hold on to such cards until all Ghanaians have received theirs? Most teenagers between 17 and 19 years do not have any form of ID. The Prof. is telling us that these people should wait until all Ghanaians get their cards before the NIA will validate the cards for usage. How? And if this is really a Law, then it’s bogus Law.

Now, the most most ridiculous one I picked from the Prof. on Citi TV was when he said if not for the COVID-19 , NIA was to finish all the regions and move their equipment and personnel abroad to register Ghanaians living abroad.  My 14 year old daughter who was also watching the  program said, “daddy, won’t they register us before going abroad to register people”?  Her next question was, ” daddy, can you use a Ghana ID in America?”  My daughter is a US citizen and when she asked me the question, I realized how  nonsensical the Professor’s assertion was.

So NIA will move equipment and personnel  to USA, UK, UKRAINE, GREENLAND, ZAMBIA NEW ZEALAND , CANADA, PAKISTAN, BRAZIL, SOUTH AFRICA, HAITI, etc to issue cards to Ghanaians?

When people have decided to leave this country on their own volition to seek greener pastures abroad, the Law Professor wants to tell us he will use resident Ghanaian tax payers’ money to go abroad to register Ghanaians. Hmmmm….. Like my daughter asked, will the Ghana National ID be recognized for any transactions abroad?

Professor Ken Attafuah, please save your credibility. Don’t allow yourself to be used for politically motivated  agenda that tarnishes your reputation.

Truly Yours

Concerned Citizen

Kwaku Boateng.

NADAA virus worse than Covid-19

It is often said that leaders lead, but have you ever pondered for a moment on where some leaders will lead us to? Ghana has seen many types and shades of leadership from right from independence till date and each type or shade of leader leaves a vivid impression that becomes deeply etched in our minds for generations.

He started his quest for political leadership of this country by knocking at the corridors of political power from 1996, 2008, 2012 and finally succeeded in 2016. Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo, a name when abbreviated gives you the acronym NADAA which is a word in Akan Twi language when pronounced literally signifies and connotes deception (ndaa-daa!).

NADAA was packaged by his spin doctors and placated as a man of integrity who was true to his words, a freedom fighter, a human rights advocate and above all a lawyer par excellence. On the political electioneering campaign trail NADAA often re-echoed and espoused all these manufactured attributes and false accolades where numerous memorable sound-bytes abound of NADAA making several juicy mouthwatering breathtaking political promises that are deeply etched in the minds of many Ghanaians especially during the run-up to the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Promises such as “free SHS”, “one district one factory”, “one village one dam”, “one million dollars annual pledge to every constituency”, “NPP will never run a family and friends government”, “NPP will operate a lean small-sized government were among some of the notable NADAA promises and pledges. NADAA literally promised that upon assumption of office by an NPP government led by him, their collective competence and experience would help quickly turnaround the fortunes of Ghana overnight are some of the NADAA pledges that readily come to mind.

A number of right-thinking Ghanaians questioned the capability (competency) of an NPP-Government to deliver (honor) and fulfill their numerous election campaign and Manifesto promises under a sacred “social contract” pact with Ghanaians” when voted to power and the mantle of political leadership of the country transferred to them. Sadly, the voices of reason of right-thinking Ghanaians were completely drowned out by vociferous jeers from NPP supporters and sympathizers that accompanied the sweet, juicy gargantuan promises made by NADAA and NPP on the 2016 election campaign trail.

When the mantle of political leadership and political power fell upon NADAA, his own criticisms and tagging of the John Mahama administration and NDC as being incompetent quickly began to haunt him, and redounded (backfired) as the manifestation of NADAA and NPP incompetence quickly showed up from the first day in office.

The hallmarks of NADAA and NPP incompetence literally showed up right from his presidential inauguration speech where his speechwriters blatantly and unashamedly copiously copied, and in an amateurish manner did “cut and paste” splicing and in verbatim, ditto-ditto style recitals of famous quotes and assertions cited in what was essentially a plagiarized inauguration speech without duly citing or mentioning names of the original sources of the quotations.

The fact that the words spoken by NADAA at the presidential inauguration were not his own shed light on the type of leader Ghana was going to have as NADAA exposed himself to be fake and this quickly shred the aura and image painted by his spin doctors. The plagiarism notwithstanding NADAA’s profound statement in the inauguration speech where he admonishes that “we should be citizens and not spectators became” became a defining measuring rod to evaluate and measure NADAA leadership against other political leaders of Ghana.

From 2017 till date, the Akuffo administration has portrayed nothing but their true colors and the Akan Twi rendition of the name NADAA (ndaa-daa!). Promises to build 350 Senior High Schools within 18 months of assumption of office from scratch are nowhere to be found. The unprecedent elephant-size government coupled with the army of presidential staffers and duplicitous ministries and ministerial appointments exposes NADAA and NPP for deception when juxtaposed against their criticism of the alleged large size of the Mahama-NDC government. Then the issue of family and friends, nepotism and cronyism has been taken to hitherto unprecedent levels by NADAA-NPP with the literal appointment of many of his Akim Kyebi and Akwapim Akropong relatives and townsfolk, and business associates and cronies from his law firm and businesses associated with those of his cousin Ken Ofori-Atta.

One of NADAA’s promise “one village one dam” was a identified as a dug-out that became a venue for the NDC to hold a press conference. Factories that were never built or incepted under the “one district one factory” policy under stimulus package from government such as pre-existing factories like Unijay suddenly had billboard signage that read one district one factory comfortably replaced the promise of building one new factory in every district. One million dollar to a constituency channeled through the Special Development Initiative ministry turned out to be the construction of some toilet facilities just to serve the purpose of hoodwinking the voting populace as they claimed that the toilet facilities were ultra-modern.

As the country and the world at large battles with the Covid-19 virus pandemic, the NADAA virus continues to wreak havoc as monies meant to cater for the vulnerable in these times of the global Covid-19 pandemic remain unaccounted for. A government that criticized the previous regime of running to the IMF was the first to run to them (IMF) when Covid-19 struck, simply because apart from the stabilization fund left by (inherited from) the Mahama government, there was virtually no money in the national kitty to fall on. As a result of NADAA Ghana lost a golden opportunity to have the US invest in the energy sector.

The NADAA virus is deadly as it has brought untold hardship to many while NADAA himself continues to make fresh promises he knows very well that he does not intend to honor or fulfil.

End of Part 1

Ogya Nnipa, Accra

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 IMANI Q&A: VACCINATING THE NATION AGAINST ELECTORAL COMMISSION’S PROPAGANDA

Policy Think Tank, IMANI Africa which has been at the forefront of the ongoing campaign to expose the agenda by the Electoral Commission has provided a quick reference facts on critical issues procurement and technical, that concerned Ghanaians must fight to prevent chos.

IMANI in its publication reminds the public that the agenda was hatched as early as 2017. Besides the removal of former EC boss, Charllote Osei, an orchestration well planned to include other Commissioners, EC was doing same, terminated the old contractor, STL, four months into office. EC Chair, jean Mensah then paid new consultants to take over the system. That is what she has used to run a range of elections so far including the referendum. T

IMANI Questions the Electoral Commission’s (EC) decision to throw away 7,500 ultra-expensive laptops and accessories plus 72,000 expensive hand-held gadgets, bought and maintained with tens of millions of our hard-earned money, haven’t gone away.

A pall of uncertainty now hangs over the timeline to the elections, with its strict sequence of activities: registration, exhibition, adjudication, and compilation before distribution of the register to the political parties for their review. Coronavirus, rather than displacing this EC new biometric register matter from our priority list, has in fact reinforced the urgency with which we must handle this situation.

Question: The EC says the existing system isn’t in a good state for the general elections. They are the ones close to the situation. Shouldn’t we just give them the benefit of the doubt?

Answer: The EC provided a very specific reason why the system is not fit for purpose. Here is it in their own words: “The BVR kits are more than 7 years old and End-Of-Life (EOL) and can hardly be supported.“ They described all the different parts of the complex network of systems making up their technology platform in a similar way (See: https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/election-2020-new-voters-register-newbiometric-voter-management-system-coming-electoral-commission.html). IMANI has carefully probed this very claim and found it to be untrue. What is shocking is that, to date, no media house has been brave enough to take the EC on for this totally false claim. The evidence of the EC’s mendacity has been provided on multiple occasions and shall be reproduced here too.

Question: STL may have padded their quotations and may have been milking Ghana as many have accused them over the years, but that does not still mean that the biometric system is not obsolete.

Answer: We will repeat once more for emphasis: the EC’s system is a “network of multiple equipment and software”. It is akin to a banking system (core software, ATMs, POSs, teller desktops etc) or a television production system (cameras, mixers, microphones, editing suites etc.). Different parts of the system tend to be overhauled at different paces. The system as a whole DOES NOT DATE FROM 2011. That claim was a blatant untruth. The country has spent over $60 million at least buying new equipment, software and licenses to upgrade, maintain, refresh and keep it up to date. Some of this equipment was even delivered after the present EC bosses came to office. According to a very connected journalist, this new cadre of EC bosses have taken delivery of as many as 150 of these very expensive devices.

The EC’s projected cost for refurbishing the system, which it says it got from STL, $74 million is wholly flawed because it is based on assumption of having to replace every single equipment and that STL shall intermediate the purchases. Since that is not necessary, and only a portion of the system needs replacement, the real cost of preserving the existing system for this electoral cycle is “only” $15 million, and not $74 million. This would mean 2000 more BVRs, 5000 more BVDs, data centre, and auxiliary service. On the other hand, the EC’s claims that buying a brand-new technology platform will only cost $56 million has been exposed to be untrue by the outcome of its just ended sham tender, which produced $72 million as the winning bid. The EC’s allies claim that renegotiation shall bring this amount to close to $60 million.

Question: Well, this is rather surprising. Which official documents are you relying upon to make these conclusions?

Answer: Page 18 of the Ministry of Finance’s 2019 Program Based Budget analysis of the EC. Page 12 of the 2017 version of that same document. Pages 8 and 9 of the 2019 report of the Special Budget Committee, a parliamentary oversight body that reviews the EC’s spending, and page 17 of the 2020 version of that same committee’s report. Pages 145, 146 and 153 of the Audit Service March 2019 report to Parliament covering the EC and other major institutions. Triangulating all these various sources lead to plain and incontrovertible verbs that the EC’s claim of the system dating from 2011 is a COMPLETE UNTRUTH.

How do you give the benefit of the doubt to an organisation insistent on denying the public the truth?

 Question: What about the claims that the EC mentioned to parliamentary committees several times that the biometric system was obsolete and that even the just exited Chair of the commission signed some contracts which have not been honoured?

Answer:  Yes, in 2018, the EC appeared before the relevant Parliamentary Committee and insisted that it needs additional BVRs. But note carefully: it confirmed on pages 8 and 9 of the resultant parliamentary (Special Budget Committee) report that all 7500 BVRs in its portfolio have been refurbished but that it still needs an additional 5000. In addition, it wanted to procure 5000 BVDs. This was clearly in view of the expansion of the number of polling stations and the need to maintain an excess margin in respect of the “Two BVDs per Polling Station” policy. Hence as late as 2018, according to the parliamentary record, the EC very much intended to keep the existing equipment. They just wanted to buy more items. In fact, in 2019, when they returned to the committee, they assured the members that the biometric system in its current state was fit to manage the upcoming elections. The only part of the EC’s system that it has been consistent in calling for a replacement is the datacentre. The contract for that component has already been awarded.

Question:  Could it be that the recent EC is just distrustful of any system left behind by the previous administration and wants something she can be fully confident in as the procurer?

Answer: Please understand that the EC terminated the contract of the old contractor, STL, four months into office. She then paid new consultants to take over the system. That is what she has used to run a range of elections so far including the referendum. There is no validity to any such paranoia about an unreliable legacy system. Mere sentiment cannot be used to throw away a system valued at well over $60 million in order to spend $150 million buying a new one and collecting fresh data. $150 million is 85% the total value of recent annual allocations to the Road Fund, 70% of the value of the GET Fund, and 50% of the value of the National Health Fund. We are talking about money that can have massive impact on health, education and infrastructure.

Question:  The argument has been made that Thales prevailed in an open and fair process and that none of the other bidders, Smartmatic or Idemia, was graded on a scheme not applicable to the others.

Answer: On 18th December, the EC management tried to force the original tender evaluation panel to eliminate Smartmatic and Idemia by way of a memo providing comments to the committee’s draft report. When that failed, they dissolved the committee. The new committee then found a way to eliminate Idemia on January 13th 2020 on technical grounds thus ensuring that Idemia never proceeded to the financial evaluation round.

Question: Your comments have been interpreted as being in favour of some of the vendors that lost out, perhaps Idemia and Smartmatics.

Answer: Those inferences are plainly ridiculous. IMANI begun its opposition to the procurement of a new system in December when all these companies were busily bidding to win the contract. How can IMANI then be working for some of the companies, when our actions have been to deny them any money in the first place? Let’s repeat: the procurement issues are related to the risk factors. If the EC is mismanaging the procurement, it is also mismanaging the elections. If the EC is trying to rig a tender, then its motives for pushing for a brand new system becomes suspect.

Q: So why doesn’t IMANI go to court? A: There are public agencies resourced from our national purse to enforce the law and avert wrongdoing. CHRAJ, EOCO, CID, Attorney General’s Department, Auditor General etc. etc. The law and order dimensions of this matter must be directed to them, and we are happy to join the media and other CSOs make the case why they should act fast.

We do not have the resources to be junketing from law court to law court forcing public institutions to do the right thing. But we can educate the public and media and hopefully increase the pressure for the institutions set up and funded to do that work to sit up and act.

5.           

Nana Addo’s Lies Provokes International Embarrassment

by Kweku Armstrong

Last week, Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo became yet again a subject for public ridicule when French News Agency, AFP exposed blatant falsehood, calculated to mislead Ghanaians, concerned about perceived cooked COVID-19 figures and mismanagement of over $1.5billion secured to help fight the pandemic.

Social media was awash with public outrage. Nana Akufo Addo in his elements claimed in one of his addresses on the coronavirus outbreak that Ghana had administered more COVID-19 tests per million people than any other country in Africa.

Prior to the My 10 nationwide broadcast, virologists and other medical experts had flagged the manner in which government and the Ghana Health Service were manipulating figures. However, President Nana Akufo Addo, taking the public for granted as usual, emphasized in his televised broadcast about the novel coronavirus pandemic, which was also widely viewed on Facebook, that Ghana comes behind South Africa and at least two other African countries”.

Surprised at the claim, AFP the French News Agency compared available data from Ghana to that of five other countries

Experts of the AFP publication read.. “Nigeria, the most populous African nation; South Africa, which has administered the highest number of tests overall according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; and Mauritius, Botswana and Djibouti, because while much smaller in population, these countries have conducted relatively high numbers of tests”

Captioned ..”Ghana leader falsely claims his country fronts Africa’s COVID-19 testing’, the publication. AFP which backed the publication with evidence said when the false claim was made, Ghana had conducted 5,300 tests for every million inhabitants — higher than Nigeria’s 135 tests per million but below South Africa (5,808 per million), Djibouti (15,713 per million), and Mauritius (57,931 per million).  The paper said it contacted the Ghanaian Presidency for comment but there was no response.

 Embarrassed by the development, though not strange to political conscious Ghanaians, many took to twitter to express their anger.

•             Eugene O’Brein @eclocks23 also wrote………..”The embarrassment has gone very far. . If u keep embarrassing urself in Ghana and no one calls u to order, this is what happens. . . INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SHAME.

•             Prince Henry@tabi_henry tweeted: “It takes a trustworthy person to lead a nation and not a lair, good governance has nothing to do with oversized appointees, insults, looting and sharing to enrich themselves, family and friends , unnecessarily borrowings, drama and so on and so forth  #KickNanaOut #GO4JM2020

•             Edwin Koge@edwinsarkoge also tweeted ..” A country in crisis with a dishonest president? #KickNanaOut

•             ComeBackJM@ElvisKwakuAtta …..”Which data and science has Nana Addo been referring to?”#KickNanaOut

•             Another wrote ……..Someone should tell President Akufo Addo @NAkufoAddo we are still waiting for the 350 SHS and 94 hospital’s he promised because he has just 7 months in office to hand over power

The President and his governing NPP, which many have realize, lied their way to power seem influenced by public perception that Ghanaians are gullible and not reality today that technology and fact checking will expose them.

Last month, the President was again a subject for public ridicule. This was when he confidently said … “I have ordered the Finance Minister to make available $100m” to fight the virus, when the country had not yet recorded a single case by then’.

He raised hopes especially after serious concerns raised by the World Health Organization. It later turned out that the $100 was not readily available, contrary to the president’s speech.

On Tuesday, March 17th, at the behest of Parliament, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who appeared before the House to brief MPs on the source of the said funds said he was now going to solicit it from the IMF and the World Bank.

President Nana Akufo Addo who is under pressure to fulfill juicy promises and deception that won him the 2020 elections hasn’t learnt lessons from the backlash after he was caught for Plagiarism in his inaugural speech.

Generally accepted for good delivery of speeches, he uses that skill to outwit unsuspecting people.

He is on record to have claimed severally that he cleared NHIS debts, paid contractors, told Ghanaians home and abroad untruths about his dried up shoddy One village One dam projects  and other initiatives including claims of achievements comparatively better than any government since 1957.

In commemoration of his one year in office, President Akufo Addo said at a media encounter with Editors that all debts in the road sector bequeathed him by former President Mahama was being paid…

“I am paying them. In 2017, nearly GH¢1 billion (GOG – GH¢300,400,156.75; Road Fund- GH¢664,091,476.88) of the GH¢1.6 billion owed road contractors was cleared. In January this year, we have disbursed GH¢125 million out of the remainder of GH¢600 million to the contractors.”

But it will later become clear that it was mere lip service.

Fast forward, Tuesday, 3 December 2019. After close to two years of repeated lies, President Akufo-Addo told market women and traders at Okaishie..”We have started paying contractors, Some of your husbands who are involved have been paid, so, if they have not made you aware, kindly tell them that I say they have been paid”.

This was after the President said GHS2.2 billion has been released through the Ministry of Finance for onward payment of debts owed road contractors.

But a week later, December 10, 2019, the contractors denied receipt and said many had not been paid for over five years

“The situation is unbearable now, nobody believes us again. Because the president is claiming to have paid all contractors, everyone we owe is coming for their monies. But the President knows very well that he hasn’t paid all of us so why is he doing that to us,” one of the unpaid contractors Kwadwo Asomaning told Accra based StarrFm

Former Roads minister Alhaji Innusah Fuseini who joined the debate accused the president is “deceiving” Ghanaians after cancelling most road contracts after assuming office.

“In 2016 John Mahama travelled the length and breadth of this country, did you record people carrying placards complaining… NPP came into office and stopped all the works. You can’t continue deceiving the people all the time,” Alhaji Fuseini stated.

In April 2018, President Akufo Addo in his keynote speech at the London School of Economics’ Africa Summit claimed his government had cleared Gh¢1 billion out of Gh¢1.2 billion NHIS inherited debt. Again he repeated this in his 3rd State of the Nation Address.

But these have turned out to be false.

In April 2018, President of the Medical Superintendent group, Dr. Joseph Tambil exposed the President.

 “This is not the first announcement that we have heard; we keep on hearing things like that, we have cleared the arrears, we have cleared the debt. There are four months of arrears that are outstanding for 2016 and for 2017 the second half of the year nothing has been paid. So from June to July nothing has been paid for that for 2017. And for the current year 2018 not a pesewa has been paid from January to March,” He argued

In December 2018, Health Insurance Service Providers Association of Ghana (HISPAG) said Ghana could return to ‘cash and carry’ if NHIS arrears are not cleared.

National Communications Director of the Association, Joseph Christian Amoah, said President Akufo-Addo’s claim that the NHIS is gaining the confidence it lost under the past administration has worsened their relationship with debtors.

In December 2019, Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, Kwbena Mintah Akandor challenged the President’s claim insisting the National Health Insurance Scheme had   run out of funds  to operate.

That has been corroborated by the Health Minister Dr Kweku Agyemang Manu. Speaking on Joy News TV’s PM Express, in January this year, the Minister said ……….“Close to December, I was telling the President that if what he, me and the Finance Minister had sat down to agree on, if we could get funds to move, by close of the year, service providers would not complain about arrears at all.

He added ………….“Unfortunately, the Finance Ministry has got challenges all the time. We couldn’t get what we were supposed to be given, so we were halted somewhat. That is what has gotten my enthusiasm down a bit,”

Again 0n February 17th, this year (2020) the Association of Private Healthcare Providers issued a statement threatening to withdraw services over nonpayment of NHIS debt.

The Chamber of Pharmacy affected by the delay also threatened to cut supply of medicine and other consumables to hospitals, clinics and maternity homes nationwide.

It will be recalled that, in February this year and contrary to claims that contractors are happy because arrears were cleared, one of the aggrieved contractors, Big Aidoo seized vehicles belonging to the Ghana Highways Authority to be auctioned to recover money owed him.

The action, sanctioned by a High Court, according to the contractor was because of government’s failure to pay him to defray loans raised from Best Point Savings and Loans company.

Stay tuned

  •  

OPEN LETTER TO PROFESSOR KENNETH AGYEMAN ATTAFUAH

Dear Prof Attafuah

I am compelled to use this medium to speak to you and to your conscience and thus help you realign your moral compass to be in alignment with your Christian faith, professional ethos as a lawyer and criminologist of international repute, and acknowledge your standing as an educator (lecturer who imparts knowledge especially to the youth and future leaders), and try to help you reflect on the legacy you wish to be remembered for one day when you answer to your eternal home-call, by your family and relations from the Asante Akim traditional area, by your friends, by your former school mates and alumni of the various schools and universities you attended, and former work colleagues both here in in Ghana and Canada.

Prof before I get to the substantive issue and reason for my writing this open letter to you, I want you to know firstly that I am ordinary Ghanaian citizen of Akan (Ashanti) extraction, and I am over 75 years old. I have been around since Ghana’s independence and have witnessed and experienced all political regimes from the first to current fourth Republic and the military juntas that were sandwiched in between.

In terms of my partisan affiliation I tend to defy the typical Ashanti partisan stereotype and see myself firstly as a Ghanaian. I make no secret of my disdain for the vile brand of rogue politics practiced by the Busia-Danquah-Dombo political tradition which now operates as NPP throughout Ghana’s contemporary political history.

My reasons for proclaiming the “vile brand of NPP politics” is informed primarily by the political activities of the Akim Kyebi faction (widely known in political circles as “Akim Mafia”) especially those of the Ofori-Atta and JB Danquah lineage, and their proxies, assigns and allies. The Ashanti faction of NPP holds the cards for the future of the Busia-Danquah-Dombo political tradition largely on account of the positive legacies of John Agyekum Kufuor (JAK) to help the erase unpleasant memories, divisiveness and vindictive politics of the Akim factions whose dark legacies are a stain on NPP.

I enumerate below some of the dark legacies of the Busia-Danquah-Dombo political tradition:

  1. Subversive acts perpetrated right from the dawn of independence, sponsored by thugs recruited by JB Danquah and his close confidants at the time.
  2. Acts of insurrection including indiscriminate bomb and grenade throwing ostensibly aimed at supporters of CPP who were nonetheless ordinary citizens exercising their suffrage rights at the time
  3. Acts of terrorism and pioneers in using “suicide bombing” (Kulungugu bombing incident) which incident occurred long before Jihadists like Taliban, Al-Shabab resorted to suicide bombing
  4. Contract murder and numerous assassinations incidents such as the killing of Salifu Dargarti at the Flag Staff House during the first Republic. During the current fourth Republic we are witnesses to the gory murder of JB Danquah Adu (former MP of Abuakwa North Constituency) and startling remarks and utterances by Danial Asiedu, JB Danquah Adu’s suspected murder. We also witnessed the gory “acid bath” murder of Alhaji Adams Mahama (former Upper East Regional Chairman of NPP). Many who remember the Kumasi matemeho savage attacks, and also the ritual murder of Nana Akyea Mensah (Odikro of Akim Apedwa in 1943 shortly after the death of Nana Sir Ofori Atta 1) may appreciate the likely perpetrators of such acts.
  5. Other subversive acts during the fourth Republic ostensibly with the tacit oversight support of Nana Addo include recruitment of mercenaries from South Africa to train armed pro-NPP militia groups like Invisible Forces, Delta Forces etc. who were responsible for acts of violence and skirmishes at NPP Asylum Down Headquarters (2015, 2016), the attack at the Kumasi High Court in 2017 to release some of their members under trial at the Kumasi High Court. Sadly, many of the miscreants from Delta Forces and Invisible Forces have been integrated into the Ghana Security Services where they effectively serve as NPP Regime Forces operating under the dual command of Nana Addo Constitutional Commander-in-Chief of Republic of Ghana, and Nana Addo the Warlord of “All die be die fame” and “Ye be kyere bi-bi kakra”.
  6. The Ayawaso West Wugon (AWW) by-election violence was a dress rehearsal of what Ghanaian’s are likely to expect should they repeat the “cardinal sin” of the 2012 elections by rejecting a second term for Nana Addo. A second “supreme court election petition” is also off the cards as it will cast NPP in bad light even though Nana Addo is busy packing the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Courts with Judges sympathetic to NPP as a preemptive strategy to subvert the “rule of law” 

Prof as a citizen of Ghana it is your constitutional right and fundamental human right to associate with any political party of your choice so I do not begrudge you for being a member of NPP. However, as an Ashanti tribesman I would have preferred you aligned yourself to JAK (who will go down as the best NPP president). Considering the fate that befell notable Ashanti’s in NPP like Kwame Pianim, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobbey, Kwabena Agyei-Agyapong under the leadership of Nana Addo, I hope your post statutory retirement contract extended by Nana Addo is not the reason that you may act as a hireling to misbehave.

Prof for your information together with some law-abiding citizens we have compiled a dossier of veritable facts, authentic evidence including information in the public domain and information otherwise hidden from the public. The dossiers we have compiled are dossiers on the true identity and modus operandi of Busia-Danquah-Dombo political tradition. We have also gathered information associated with AWW. Our intention is to use the information and evidence to haul some personalities before the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague (ICC) should Ghana experience a repeat of the AWW incident during the December 2020 presidential elections.

Prof it is obvious that your collaboration with Jean Mensah where the Electoral Commission and National Identification Authority are acting in concert to disfranchise voters ahead of 2020 elections is a recipe for potential disaster. Please note that majority of citizens have lost confidence in our judiciary so we shall not seek recourse to the Supreme Court of Ghana to adjudicate on matters likely to arise should Nana Addo and NPP proceed on the trajectory they are pursuing. We are confident that the ICC does not have NPP activists cloaked as Supreme Court Justices and so the evidence we have gathered meets the criteria to haul notable persons before the ICC to face trial if any lives are lost and we experience political unrest during the December elections.

Prof were you and Dr Mahmudu Bawumia were students at Simon Fraser University (Canada) at the same time? Did the university offer courses that helped one to acquire proficiency skills in lying and peddling falsehoods?

Prof stay safe, stay strong and do the right thing

Archimedes Owusu-Ababio

(Citizen of Ghana)

In politics and in life ignorance is not a virtue – Barrack Hussein Obama (Former President of USA) 

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