Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu

Trinidad & Tobago firms show interest in Ghana (PAGE 3, JAN 29, 2011)

2011-01-31T04:11:00.000-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

Companies in Trinidad & Tobago have expressed interest in the establishment of gas-fed industries near the gas plant in the Jomoro District in the Western Region.
The latest company to express interest is Caribbean Atlantic Financial Holdings, which has expressed its readiness to establish a multi-billion dollar gas-fed industrial estate and energy city project.
Others include Trinidad and Tobago National Gas Company, Phoenix Park Gas Processors and Point Lisas Industrial Estate.
The districts which have caught the attention of the investors are Axim, Ellembelle and Jomoro.
As a result, the chiefs and people of the selected districts have given their blessing and are currently on a six-day trip to Trinidad & Tobago as part of a partnership arrangement between Nzemaland and the Caribbean Atlantic Financial Holdings.
At the moment, 2,000 acres of land banks have been earmarked for the projects.
The leader of the delegation, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the Deputy Minister of Energy, who spoke to the Daily Graphic from Port of Spain, said the team also visited the $3 billion Point Lisas Industrial Estate, which houses the world’s biggest ammonia plant.
The facility also hosts a total of 103 industries connected to gas feedstock comprising a mix of world-class methanol, ammonia and urea plants, three steel plants, a power plant and service companies.
The Chief Executive of the estate, Mr Nigel Salina, told the delegation that the group was seeking to replicate the Point Lisas Industrial Estate in Ghana but on a larger scale.
He said they had resolved to replicate the gas industry in Ghana, since records indicated that the country had more gas associated with the oil than his country.
The delegation also met Mr Andrew Macintosh, the President of the National Gas Company, and Mr Eugene Tieh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Phoenix Park Gas Processors, and other companies that are interested in the Ghana gas project.
For his part, Mr Buah said the focus of the government was to ensure that the gas coming from the jubilee and other fields in the country was harnessed for the benefit of the people of Ghana.
He said the President was of the strong belief that the gas deposit in the country held another avenue for opening doors to the gas industry.

HEAVY DUTY TRUCKS BANNED... After 6p.m. country-wide (LEAD STORY, JAN 29, 2011)

2011-01-31T04:08:00.000-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

THE Police Administration has banned the movement of heavy duty trucks country-wide after 6 p.m. as part of measures to curb the carnage on the country’s roads.
After 6 p.m., all checkpoints across the country are supposed to order every heavy duty truck to park and display triangles and reflectors till 6 a.m. the following day.
These were contained in a directive from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Paul Tawiah Quaye, to all Regional Police Commanders in the country.
The directive said the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service, in collaboration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), was also to conduct a thorough examination of all trucks and offenders should be prosecuted.
It said all long heavy duty and cargo trucks were supposed to park before 6 p.m. in an acceptable manner and completely off the road with enough reflectors to warn other road users.
Regional commanders across the country, it said, were to ensure strict enforcement of the directive, adding that offenders should be dealt with in accordance with the law.
It also directed regional commands to come up with special operations on Fridays to ensure that the roads were free from careless parking and driving.
The Western Regional Police Commander, Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, told the Daily Graphic that the directive indicated that there were various rest spots on the highways and that drivers should be mindful of the time to ensure that they pull over to these places before 6 p.m. and park safely till the following day.
He said the enforcement of the directive in the region started yesterday.
“Today we pulled over 200 vehicles before 6 p.m. and ensured that they parked safely,” he said.
Alhaji Mahama noted that most of the drivers who were stopped looked tired.

Sea erosion threatens Essipon-Sekondi highway (BACK PAGE, JAN 29,2011)

2011-01-31T04:06:00.000-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

THE Essipon-Sekondi highway, one of the busy roads in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis, is being threatened by sea erosion.
Experts say if nothing is done immediately the road could cave in because of the heavy traffic it carries.
Strong tidal waves at Ngyeresia have cut off parts of the road and currently the distance between the road and the sea cliff, measured last Thursday by a civil engineer is less than a metre.
Strangely, motorists, mainly fully loaded timber and quarry trucks, have not noticed the danger and keep plying the road.
Other heavy mining and oil drilling equipment is also transported on this road to and from Takoradi and Home Port of the Western Naval Command.
A private civil engineer who pleaded anonymity after taking the Daily Graphic round the danger spots indicated that if nothing was done immediately it could lead to a serious fatality, since the dangerous cliff is on the blind side of the motoring public.
The current traffic on the road, he said, was too much and was not factored into the initial design of the road and expressed the hope that the authorities would not wait for any disaster before moving to save the situation.
Indications picked by the Daily Graphic were that even though the maintenance of that road falls under the Ministry of Roads and Highways, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing has to first construct a sea defence wall before any meaningful work could be done.
At the moment, one of the best solutions, the experts said, was to close the road to traffic, which would mean residents from Shama, Ituma, Inchaban and Essipon, would have to detour through Ketan or Kojokrom before entering Sekondi/Takoradi.

Trinidad & Tobago pledges support to gas industry (PAGE 51, JAN 31, 2011)

2011-01-31T03:08:00.002-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey
Aklorbortu, Takoradi

Trinidad & Tobago has pledged her maximum co-operation to ensure that Ghana’s natural gas from the Jubilee Field is well harnessed.
This is to help Ghana to derive full benefit from the gas, which could lead to the production of fertiliser, ammonia, urea and methanol.
The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs Kamla Persad Bissessar, gave the assurance when a team of chiefs from the coastal paramountcies of the Western Region, led by the Deputy Energy Minister and member of the National Gas Commercialisation Task Force, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, visited that country on an investment drive.
Mrs Bissessar said her government had approved in principle to co-operate with Ghana on the exploitation of the country’s natural gas.
She said the Caribbean nation depended 100 per cent on natural gas for its entire energy needs of some 1,500 megawatts.
“We now have the expertise and knowledge and Ghana has acknowledged that. We hope that Ghana will approve of our proposal to make this expertise available to her,” she said.
Mrs Bissessar said the move was much in tune with her country’s vision of greater south-south co-operation among members of the Commonwealth, which included Ghana and several African and Caribbean nations.
She said co-operation between Ghana and her country was the first time her country had had the opportunity to go out of the island to share its experience and expertise for the benefit of another producer country.
She expressed the hope that the partnership would be of immense mutual benefit to the the peoples of the two countries.
The leader of the delegation, Mr Buah, said the Ghana Government was excited about the partnership with Trinidad & Tobago and that the nation was open to business.
He said it was the determination of President John Evans Atta Mills’s administration to ensure that the hydrocarbon discovery and production in Ghana brings benefits to Ghanaians.
Mr Buah said the government would ensure greater accountability and transparency, and protect the interest of Ghana to ensure that the country adoptsthe best standards in the oil and gas industry.
For his part, Awulae Attibrukusu III, the Vice-President of the National House of Chiefs and board member of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, lauded the growing co-operation between the two countries.
Other members of the delegation were paramount chiefs of Western Nzema, Awulae Annor Agyaye and Awulae Amihere Kpainyinli, Mrs Catherine Afeku, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Evalue Gwira, the chief executives of Jomoro and Ellembele districts and Nzema East Municipality.

BOY, 13, GUNS DOWN LUNATIC (1C, JAN 31, 2011

2011-01-31T03:08:00.001-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey
Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A 13-year-old primary schoolboy shocked residents of Enhuutem-Eniehu, near Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western Region, last Friday when he shot and killed a man believed to be mentally unstable.
The boy, Amos Okrah, was said to have used his father’s shotgun to commit the offence.
The gunshot woke the community up at about 12:30 a.m. last Friday, but residents were confined to their rooms, assuming that armed robbers had attacked the village.
Those who later mustered courage and came out of their rooms, were horrified to see the deceased, Victor Amankwah, lying lifeless in a pool of blood.
The incident occurred in the absence of the boy’s father, who was said to have travelled to the Brong Ahafo Region to attend to some family issues, leaving Okrah and his siblings behind and with the gun in the room.
According to the police, the only explanation the little boy could give was that the deceased entered their compound about 12:30 a.m., using the machete he was wielding to hit an empty aluminium pot left outside.
“I came out several times to ask him to stop but he would not mind me. Then I went for the gun and shot him,” Little Amos told the police.
According to him, his father had travelled and the deceased was disturbing him and his siblings by using the machete to hit the empty pot.
The body of the deceased has been deposited at the Sefwi-Wiawso Government Hospital, while Amos has been taken into custody.
The police said the boy’s father had been contacted to report immediately to help in investigations.
It would be recalled that last December a similar incident occurred at Magagia Camp, also near Sefwi-Wiawso, when a four-year-old boy shot his seven-year-old sister when he was playing with his father’s shotgun.

MORE GAS TO FLOW... As multi-billion Jubilee Gas Project begins (LEAD STORY, JAN 31, 2011)

2011-01-31T03:07:00.000-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

WORK has begun on the multi-billion dollar Jubilee Gas Project to harness the country’s natural gas deposits with the laying of flow lines to pipe the gas from the Jubilee Field to the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
Technip, the company which did the subsea installation for oil production for the Jubilee partners, has been contracted by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to engineer, weld and install a 14-kilometre rigid steel flow line under Phase I of the project for onward extension to the shore.
Under the current phase, the flow lines will be connected to the gas export riser linked to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah for onward transportation to the shore.
Officials say the flow lines will constitute the deep-water section of a pipeline which will be used to pipe natural gas from the Jubilee Field to the onshore processing plant.
At the moment the move by the country to harness its natural gas has attracted the attention of power producers and other companies that are interested in the production of fertiliser, ammonia, urea and methanol using natural gas.
Technip has successfully completed the fabrication and spooling of the 14 kilometres of 12,75-inch flow lines on board the laying vessel, Apache II, at the Technip Spool Base in Alabama, USA, and the vessel is expected to arrive in Ghana next Thursday.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Ghana Country Manager for Technip, Mr Stephane Sole, said the company did not engage only its own expertise but also involved some officials of GNPC in the process of designing and welding the flow lines, as well as the procurement and engineering staff at its Paris office during the preparation phase.
He said the move was to afford Technip the opportunity to transfer its skills and knowledge to Ghana through the GNPC, a policy which was in line with its resolve not only to work for the country but also enhance the skills of Ghanaians, whom he described as curious and highly trainable.
Mr Sole said the onshore operations would be run from the Sekondi Naval Base which had supported Technip since its arrival in the country.
The Apache II, he said, was fully loaded with the flow lines and would start work immediately it arrived, as the initial preparations had been concluded.
He said the offshore operations would integrate workers from the GNPC to attend to the operations offshore, saying, “Within our onshore team to support the offshore operations there will also be the involvement of the GNPC team during the whole project, from engineering to installation.”
Mr Sole said there had been meetings with lead operators of the Jubilee Field partners, including the GNPC, and they had been very co-operative.
“From the beginning of the project, the permanent and effective communication among the GNPC, Tullow Oil and the partners and Technip will be one of the key factors for the success of these operations,” he said.

Waste oil pollutes Axim coastline (Back Page Jan 28)

2011-01-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Axim

A LONG stretch of the coastline at Axim in the Western Region has been inundated with heavy oil spillage, known as tar balls, as a result of the increase in vessel traffic in the country’s waters.
The substance is not the country’s sweet crude currently being produced offshore at the Jubilee Fields but heavy waste oil from vessels that supposedly visit the country’s ports for commercial or supply services.
At the moment, the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) is yet to identify the particular vessels that continuously discharge the waste oil into the country’s waters.
The inhabitants of three communities in the Axim municipality — Amanfukumam, Akyinim and Brawire — who are mainly fishermen cannot use their beaches as a result of the situation.
However, the Western Regional Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Gershon Sogbey, and a team from the Eco Brigade have moved in to clean portions of the beach to enable the fishermen and the community to use it.
Mr Sogbey told the Daily Graphic that the team had managed to clean most of the affected areas, especially the place the fisher folk could use for their trade.
He said his outfit was very vigilant and proactive and would ensure that the affected areas were cleared in order not to affect the activities of fishermen.
When contacted, officials of the Environmental Protection Agency said they had visited the area and taken samples of the substance for examination.

Fishermen angry with aspects of new Fisheries Law (Back Page Jan 28, 2011

2011-01-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey
Aklorbortu, Sekondi

THE Canoe Owners Association (COA) has urged the government to review the provision in the Fisheries Act which criminalises the use of light for fishing.
It said the government should approve the use of light as a new technology for fishing, instead of criminalising it as a practice which depleted fingerlings.
At a press conference at the Albert Bosumtwi-Sam Fishing Harbour in Sekondi, the Secretary of COA, Mr Joe Eshun, said the clampdown on fishermen who use light to fish was collapsing the businesses of small-scale fishermen.
“To us, what is destroying the sea is actually the pair and single trawlers which sweep the sea bed with their nets and select what they want and trade the rest at sea,” he said.
Mr Eshun said using light for fishing did not involve the application of chemicals or use of any prohibited fishing methods that could endanger the country’s fish stock.
“If possible, the authorities should set a time for us to use the light and after that period we stop. At the moment, we are in debt to individual lenders, as well as the banks,” he said.
He added that there were many acts of illegal fishing in the country but the law enforcement agencies only focused on the use of light for fishing.
When contacted, the Western Regional Director of the National Fisheries Commission, Mr Alex Sabah, said he had received the complaint of the fishing community and indicated that his outfit was doing everything possible to ensure that their interest was protected.
He said the government outlawed the use of light for fishing in order to prevent fishermen from destroying fingerlings and allow them to reproduce.

ANOTHER CASUALTY IN TAKORADI ACCIDENT (1C, JAN 28, 2011)

2011-01-28T07:44:00.000-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

THE last of the children who were involved in the accident at Kwesimintsim in the Western Region which claimed five lives has died at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital after weeks of efforts to save her life.
Eleven-year-old Melissa Donkor took her final breath yesterday after two weeks of fighting to stay alive.
She was said to have sustained a deep laceration and multiple fracture of her pelvic bone and could not make it after two weeks on admission at Korle-Bu.
The hope of her family that their child would rejoin them was dashed, as Melissa, whose brother and others died on the spot, while her sister and other schoolmates sustained various degrees of injury, passed on in the early hours of yesterday.
When she was on admission at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis, Melissa did not respond well to treatment but was said to have shown positive signs of recovery, for which reason she was airlifted to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for further treatment.
The team of doctors who had worked around the clock to ensure that she survived expressed regret that she could not pull through and consoled Melissa’s family for their loss.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, who had earlier visited the children in the hospital, was distressed by the news of the girl’s death.
He said he was about to hold a meeting with the school authorities when the news of Melissa’s death came to him.
He expressed his deepest condolence to the family of the deceased and the other bereaved families, saying, “It was my hope and prayer that Little Melissa would get well and rejoin her family and the nation but she sadly passed on.”
The accident in question, which happened two weeks ago, had the driver of an articulated truck run over and kill four schoolchildren and a woman at a zebra crossing at Kwesimintsim.
The driver then bolted, but he later surrendered to the Kumasi Police before he was transferred to Takoradi.
Meanwhile, the driver is still in custody and will reappear in court on February 2, 2011.

US NAVAL RESERVES HONOURS GHANAIAN NAVAL OFFICER (PAGE 23, JAN 27, 2011)

2011-01-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

A GHANAIAN Naval Officer who served on the just ended African Partnership Station (APS) of the United State of Africa Command, (AFRICOM) has been honoured by United States Naval Reserves (USNR) on behalf of the US Government.
The Commanding Officer of the Ghana Navy Basic Training and Leadership Skills School, Lt. Comdr. Samuel Ayelazono, was awarded Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal by Rear Admiral Robert Wray of USNR during his visit to the Eastern Naval Command, Tema for his dedication to duty.
The citation reads, “Meritorious service while serving as the Ghanaian member of the Africa Partnership Station (APS) USS Gunston Hall (LSD44) Staff”.
He said the officer demonstrated exemplary professionalism and attention to detail he co-ordinated all APS maritime activities in the Gulf of Guinea for 200 personnel from four African countries and ships of three navies, enhancing regional partnerships and proficiencies of maritime professionals.
“During the Haitian Earthquake Relief Operations, he crafted a patent tracking system, rendered urgent medical assistance, and helped with humanitarian aid distribution,” he said.
He said Lt. Comdr. Ayelazono’s exceptional professionalism, personal initiative and complete dedication to duty were in line with the highest traditions of the naval service.
Rear Admiral Wray and his four member delegation were later taken round by the Commanding Officer of the Base, Commander Kwafo, to tour the ships ‘Anzone’ and ‘Sebo’ at the Tema Port.
Interacting with the naval officers at the Wardroom, Rear Admiral Wray commended them for working hand in hand with the Americans. He urged them to go the extra mile to continue with the good works, to ensure that their partnership endured.
He said his visit to Ghana was not only to strengthen the existing ties between the US and Ghana but also to afford him a firsthand knowledge of how the Ghana Navy was co-ordinating with the African Partnership Station Programme (APS).

SANITY RETURNS TO STREETS OF TWIN-CITY (PAGE 23, JAN 27, 2011)

2011-01-26T08:53:00.000-08:00

Streets in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis have seen less congestion after a private company introduced the park and pay system in the city.
The system situation has eliminated the situation where visitors to the metropolis, shoppers and customers, as well as staff of corporate bodies with vehicles parked on the both sides of the streets.
At present, all the streets in the central business district have been marked and vehicle owners who park on these streets have to pay GH¢0.50p every hour.
According to the Chief Executive of Gold Street Real Estate, Mr Kakraba Amppeh, the focus and the agreement reached with the metropolitan assembly and sub-metros was to create the consciousness that would make vehicle owners park in an acceptable manner.
At the moment, Mr Amppeh said young men and women had been employed to sell tickets to people who parked at the designated places in the metropolis while wrongly parked vehicles were usually clamped.
The company, he said, was researching and assessing the needs of companies and their employees who operate from the central business district and had designed special stickers for them.
“With that, the vehicle owner is at liberty to purchase a sticker for a month, two months, quarterly, half-a-year or a whole year to save the vehicle owners the problems of paying 50p every hour,” he said.
Mr Kakraba said there were also designated places in the metropolis where vehicles of shop owners, white-colour workers and other people with businesses in the CBD could park the whole day.
He said the situation in the metropolis if not managed on time could degenerate into more chaotic congestion which would not only create slow movement but also reduce productivity.
He said while moves were being made to ensure that there are expansion in social infrastructure, there was the need to manage the current space until the perfect environment was created.
“At the moment, the streets within the railways quarters are been studied for the creation of one way, while the other is marked for parking,” he said.
Asked if there are any difficulties, he said the only problem had to do with co-operation by members of the general public and added, “That was the initial problem but the public have come to understand and appreciate the need to park-and-ride or park well at a fee”.
He appealed to members of the general public to demand their ticket after parking and paying, saying “the vehicle owners should note that ticket lasts for just an hour and they will be charged extra after another hour”.
He, however, cautioned corporate bodies that if they had paid for a month, quarterly and yearly, then they had the exclusive right to designated places as some companies had posted notice of no parking in front of their offices.
He also said the sticker did not guarantee indiscriminate parking and “if your car is parked at unapproved place, it would be clamped”.
He said even though the focus was not on money, it was important to let vehicle owners also pay for the use of the designated places to ensure that the assembly generated more revenue for development projects.

BOILING BITUMEN CLAIMS LIFE OF DEALER (1C, JAN 26, 2011)

2011-01-26T07:28:00.001-08:00

RESIDENTS of Lagos Town in the Sekondi/Takoradi twin-city were witnesses to a horrifying spectacle last Sunday afternoon when a 51-year-old bitumen dealer fell into boiling bitumen.
The man, George Charles Paapa, died shortly after he had been rushed to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.
He was said to have gone to a yard at Tadisco Down where he usually melted the material before supplying it to customers the following day.
The police said after melting the bitumen, the deceased was in the process of pouring it into containers when he fell over into the boiling bitumen.
According to the police, at the time of the incident, the owner of the yard had gone to church and the deceased was the only person there.
But he was later rescued and rushed to the hospital where he died a few hours later.
According to the police, the deceased sustained serious injuries and vomited blood after the accident.
The body of the deceased has since been deposited at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital morgue awaiting autopsy, while the police continue with investigations into the matter.

CHAINSAW OPERATOR KILLED BY FALLING TREE (PAGE 3, JAN 25, 2011)

2011-01-25T07:26:00.000-08:00

A chainsaw operator met his death at Prestea in the Prestea-Huni-Valley District of the Western Region when the branches of a tree he was felling, fell on him, killing him instantly.
The police said the chainsaw operator, Kingsley Ave, 31, had been contracted to clear a piece of land for farming purposes when the accident occurred.
According to the police, Ave was a chainsaw operator and he had been asked to clear a piece of land for farming purposes at Dwiregum, a community near Prestea.
After clearing the bush, the owner of the land asked him to fell the trees which had occupied portions of the land meant for farming.
The police said in the process, Ave cut the first tree which fell on another tree near it.
That, according to the police, brought the cut tree down with speed, hitting Ave on the chest and killing him instantly.
The body of the deceased has since been examined and released to the family for burial.

TRAGIC END OF ILLEGAL MINER (1C JAN 25, 2011)

2011-01-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

A galamsey operator lost his life over the weekend when he fell into one of the numerous abandoned mining pits at Tokoto, a community near Wassa Akropong in the Wassa Amenfi East District of the Western Region.
The police said the deceased, Kwame George, 48, was said to have lost balance and fell into the pit. His cries for help had not been heard by his colleagues.
According to his colleagues, the pit was full of sharp rocks.
When his colleagues noticed his absence and went in search of him, he was already dead.
According to the police, the deceased had gone prospecting for gold and after the day’s business about 5 p.m., he had gone to a pond to wash himself.
They said his cries for help did not get to his colleagues, since the pit was a distance from where they had been prospecting and, therefore, he could not get help on time.
His colleagues, the police said, noticed his absence because his tools had not been fully packed. That was when they decided to look for him, only to realise that his clothes were at the edge of the pit.
A search conducted later indicated that George had died in the pit.
The incident was then reported to the police and the body has been deposited at the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital mortuary.

DRIVERS NEED MORE EDUCATION ON ROAD SAFETY (PAGE 23, JAN 24, 2011)

2011-01-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

A cross section of the public in Sekondi/Takoradi is asking the Western Regional Road Safety Commission to re-orient drivers in the metropolis to make the roads safer to avert future accidents.
Refering to the accident which claimed the lives of four schoolchildren and a woman last week they were of the view that many road signs in the metropolis were either removed or faded, therefore, drivers or motorist thought they have the road to themselves without observing traffic regulations.
According to them, at most pedestrain crossings it is difficult to get the attention of motorists since there were no signs to prompt them of the potential halt ahead.
On a drive through the metropolis, the Daily Graphic observed that many of the road signs had faded and the zebra crossing which is supposed to be reflective were not in place.
One could only see the two ends of zebra stripes.
The Regional Police Command had actually deployed its personnel to various crossings but that was not enough since the police were needed for other duties.

MILLS ASSURES OF FULL PROTECTION FOR COUNTRY'S MARITIME DOMAIN (SPREAD, JAN 24, 2011)

2011-01-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

President John Evans Atta Mills has assured the nation that the fight against illegalities in the maritime domain will not be concentrated around the recently found oil off west Cape Three Points in the Western Region but will cover all illegalities offshore.
He said criminals who were involved in all manner of activities which cost the country millions of cedis should not think that the country’s attention would be shifted to the oil fields for them to have relief to continue their nefarious activities offshore.
He acknowledged that the “the new resource has changed our maritime security landscape considerably. We are already grappling with illegal fishing activities, smuggling and trafficking of narcotics which cost the country several millions of dollars a year”.
The President said this in a speech read on his behalf at a ceremony to inaugurate a new vessel, the GNS Stephen Otu, at the home port of the Western Naval Command.
The vessel has a length of 33.1 metres, breadth of 6.92 metres and draft of 2.38 metres, with a speed of 35 knots, making it versatile for many tasks.
President Mills said with the oil find, “new challenges such as the risk of spillage, increase in shipping off our coast and the possibility of accidents cannot be ruled out, while criminal activities at sea are likely to increase”.
He advised miscreants in society who were bent on derailing the efforts by the government to make Ghana an icon of stability, peace and transparency in the sub-region to stop their activities before the law caught up with them.
He said since the oil resource was very crucial to the country’s development agenda, there was the need for measures to safeguard it by resourcing the Ghana Navy.
President Mills said the time had come for the Navy to be equipped and gave the assurance that by the end of this year two new crafts of 600 metres would be delivered to the Ghana Navy for commissioning into service next year.
He assured the Navy of the government’s support to re-equip it to deliver and commended the personnel for excellent work in the face of limited resources.
For his part, the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Matthew Quarshie, said the procurement of the vessel was timely, adding that it was the dream of the Ghana Navy to stay at sea to perform its functions.
The Korean Envoy to Ghana, Mr Lee Sang-hak, said the friendship between the two countries would work for the benefit of the two.
He said the vessel was one of the best in the fleet of the Korean Navy and gave its original name as “Kamzori”, meaning See Evil, and expressed the hope that it would support Ghana to fight maritime crime.

WR SECURITY DENIES INFLUX OF REFUGEES (SPREAD, JAN 24, 2011)

2011-01-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

The Western Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has denied reports of the influx of refugees from Cote d’Ivoire into the country through Elubo, Jewi-Wharf, New Town and other entry points in the region.
It said since the crisis began in that country, the region had not recorded even a single person as a refugee and that places prepared for that possibility in the Ellembele District were still unoccupied.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Western Regional Minister and Chairman of the REGSEC, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, said those reported as refugees were actually seasonal fishermen and their families who were returning home after their fishing expedition.
He said it was important not to confuse Ghanaian fishermen returning home with refugees seeking asylum as a result of the conflict in their home country.
“The REGSEC is in touch with the relevant institutions and has mounted surveillance at the various entry points but no refugee has been recorded,” he said.
He said trading between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire had resumed in a very peaceful manner and there was no sign of the influx of refugees.
Mr Aidoo said the people of Cote d’Ivoire and the Western Region, especially those living close to the border, were blood relations and the people from the other side of the border should not, therefore, be mistaken for refugees.
When the Daily Graphic got to the three most prominent entry points in the Jomoro District, namely, New Town, Jewi-Wharf and Elubo, traders were doing brisk business.
The people were surprised about the news of the influx of refugees into Ghana, explaining that the situation in their country did not warrant such an action.
When contacted, the District Police Commander, DSP John F. Dzineku, told the Daily Graphic that there had not been any record of refugees.
Other security agencies at the border corroborated the claim that there was no rush of refugees into the country, noting that trading between the two countries had rather resumed.

OIL, GAS CONFERENCE HELD IN TAKORADI (PAGE 19, JAN 21, 2011)

2011-01-21T03:48:00.000-08:00

A three-day oil and gas conference opened in Takoradi yesterday, with a call on civil society, the media and traditional rulers across the country to take special interest in issues on the operations of the oil industry.
The conference, the first since Ghana officially started drilling oil, is aimed at creating a better understanding of the operations of the new oil and gas industry in the country.
It is being sponsored by Tullow Oil.
The Public Affairs Director at Tullow Ghana, Mr Tony Aubbyn, said as the country moved from oil exploration to production and export, it was important that participants in the conference, who serve as links with the public, had a clear understanding of the operations of the new industry.
That would ensure that all stakeholders felt a part of the industry and contributed to educate the public on its benefits to the socio-economic development of the country.
He said the way forward for a successful oil industry in the country was through proper communication, in which stakeholders were taken through the operations of the major operators to enable them to ask the necessary questions that truly reflected the thoughts of the people in their communities.
The public affairs director said Tullow was committed to operating with the support of the people, for which reason it would continue to dialogue with the people and share information to ensure that the operations of the industry were properly understood.
Mr Aubbyn expressed the hope that at the end of the conference, participants would be equipped to understand the industry and help relay it to members of the larger community.
For his part, the Member of Parliament for Takoradi, Mr Kobby Okyere-Darko Mensah, said it was important that the public who were the real owners of the resource understood the operations of the industry.
He said there was much expectation and so if the people were made to understand the real issues, it would help manage some of that expectation.
A resource person, Mr Ian Philip, an industry expert from the Robert Gorden University, took participants through technical introduction on the upstream and downstream aspects of the oil industry.
He also took them through the risks and benefits associated with the industry.

TAKORADI ACCIDENT VICTIM IDENTIFIED (PAGE 3, JAN 21, 2011)

2011-01-21T03:37:00.000-08:00

THE police have identified the woman who was killed when an articulated truck ran over and killed four schoolchildren and a woman at a zebra crossing at Kwesimintsim in Takoradi.
The body of the woman, identified as Madam Perpetual Oppong, 55, has since been released to her family for burial.
She had gone to her grandchildren’s school to pick up her two grandchildren who survived the accident.
Family members said Madam Oppong was a very dedicated grandmother who always went to pick up her grandchildren after school.
They commended the branch manager of the company whose truck ran over the children for helping to apprehend the driver of the vehicle and the financial support they got.
Some of the children who were caught up in the accident are said to be doing well after being discharged from hospital, while others are still undergoing reviews.
One of them, 12-year-old Melisa Donkor, whose injuries were serious, has been flown to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra for further medical attention.
The District Police Commander, DSP Ayamga Akologo, said the driver of the accident vehicle had been processed for court on provisional charges of careless and inconsiderate driving.
“But the docket has since been presented to the Attorney-General’s Department for advice and the suspect is supposed to be back in court on February 2, 2011,” he said.
He called on drivers to be mindful of the implications of not being meticulous on the road.
The four children who died in the accident were buried on Tuesday and Wednesday.

ELEVEN ELLEMBELLE C'NITIES CONNECTED TO NATIONAL GRID (BACK PAGE, JAN 19, 2011)

2011-01-19T07:27:00.000-08:00

Eleven communities in the Ellembelle Constituency, in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region have been connected to the national grid under the Self-Help Electrification Project (SHEP).
The beneficiary communities are Salman, Awiaso, Sendu, Aiyinase-Nyamebeyere, Kanokware, Atababo, Ekokonu, Fiasoro, Aluku, Asasetre-Nyamebekyere and Adubrim.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Mr Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, initiated the programme.
The MP said the extension of electricity to the communities would have a multiplier effect on the communities socially and economically and urged the beneficiary communities to use the electricity wisely.
He said apart from using it to operate small-scale-businesses, it would also facilitate learning and teaching in schools and thereby help raise the standard of education.
The MP, who is also a Deputy Minister for Energy, promised to collaborate with the district health directorate to provide Community Health Improvement Programme (CHIP) Compounds in some communities.
The MP said the government meant it, when it said it would create the needed environment for every Ghanaian to realise his or her potential.
At Adubrim, the MP was carried in a palanquin amidst songs of praises from the outskirts of the town to the ceremonial grounds.
For his part, the acting Manager of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mr Anthony Asan, called on the people to monitor the project and report faults to its offices for early rectification.
He said the district officers of the ECG would visit the communities to educate them on electricity usage and called on them to manage the electricity wisely in order not to create problems for themselves.
The chief of the Adubrim community, Nana Assua Miea III, commended the MP for always being in touch with his people and his ability to lobby for development and his personal contribution to that effect.
On behalf of the beneficiary communities the Adubrimhene expressed their gratitude to the government and the MP for the projects.
The District Chief Executive for Ellembelle, Mr Daniel K. Eshun, called on the beneficiary communities to remain united and promote the development of their various localities.
He said it was to improve the state of their roads that the assembly had procured a grader to reshape them temporarily until the government got the resources to reconstruct them.
Mr Eshun prevailed upon the communities to rekindle their communal spirit and initiate projects for the assembly to support them.
He also appealed to parents to ensure that their children used the light to study instead of watching television.

SWIFT, TOUGH VESSEL FOR NAVY...To protect oil activities (1B, JAN 19, 2011)

2011-01-19T06:36:00.000-08:00

The Ghana Navy has taken delivery of a naval vessel to protect the nation’s territorial waters and offshore oil activities.
Delivered under an agreement between the Ghanaian and the Korean governments, the quick attack armoured vessel has a cabin capacity for a 28-member crew and is equipped to distil sea water into fresh water.
According to a source at the Western Naval Command, the vessel is expected to be named after one of the former top commanders of the Ghana Armed Forces.
It said the vessel had greater speed than any of the vessels currently under the command of the Ghana Navy and would help the Navy to increase its presence in the maritime domain, especially protecting the Jubilee Fields from intrusion by fishermen and pirates.
It said currently new vessels with designs to meet the country’s security needs were under construction in Korea and China and would soon be delivered to augment the fleet of the Ghana Navy.
It said the vessel had undergone its first maintenance at the home port of the Western Naval Command and was awaiting its official inauguration by President J.E.A. Mills.
The source added that Ghana’s coastline would be patrolled to ensure that the country’s fish stock was protected to make the issue of pair-trawling a thing of the past.
It noted that there were plans for the establishment of a military unit in the Jomoro District of the Western Region to serve as a base for the Navy, the Ghana Air Force and the Ghana Police Service.
At the moment, most of the vessels of the Ghana Navy are old and this has brought much pressure on the military budget in terms of maintenance and running cost.
The source lauded the arrival of the new vessel and said it would effectively play the role of defender, in collaboration with other vessels such as the GNS Achimota, the GNS Yogaga, the GNS Anzoni, the GNS Dzata, the GNS Hanson, the GNS Bonsu, among others.

MEDEAMA BEAT RTU 2-1 (BACK PAGE, JAN 17, 2011)

2011-01-17T04:37:00.001-08:00

Medeama Sporting Club yesterday beat visiting RTU 2-1 in their Premiership tie at the Sekondi Stadium.
Striker Louis Agyeman shot Medeama ahead as early as the fourth minute to throw the home fans into a frenzy.
However, Samuel Atia levelled up for RTU in the 35th minute to throw the game wide open.
But the homesters, who were bent on seeking revenge doubled their efforts after recess, leading to the fetching of the match winner by enterprising Emmanuel Dogbe after 52 minutes.
Tempers began to flare in the 75th minute, and that resulted in a red card being flashed on RTU’s Toufik Alolo for a verbal assault on Akatsi-based referee Samuel Suka.
It was Medeama’s turn to have their strength reduced five minutes later when Otuo Acheampong was marched off for an early shower following a savage tackle on an opponent.

200 PERCENT PENALTY ON SMUGGLED RICE (1B, JAN 17, 2011)

2011-01-17T04:14:00.000-08:00

THE Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has slapped a 200 per cent penalty on smuggled rice brought into the country by rice importers through Elubo in the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
This followed the arrest of three truck drivers who were carrying among them 1,539 bags of rice but declared only 400 bags and, therefore, paid only GH¢5,449.23 as duty, instead of about GH¢40,000.
The brands included low grade 50kg of Uncle Sam, Lion and Papillion brands of rice, with accompanying documents examined and passed by officials of the Customs Division of GRA at the Elubo Border.
No duty was, therefore, paid on the extra 1,139 bags of high grade rice, mostly 25kg, which had been concealed among the low grade ones.
The illegal act was uncovered after a re-examination of the trucks at the Police Reserve Park in Takoradi last Saturday. The quantity of rice shot up from 400 bags to a whopping 1,539 bags of high grade Uncle Sam rice.
The re-examination of the smuggled rice, carried out by the Anti-Revenue Leakage Unit of the GRA and National Security officials in the Western Region, in the presence of the police, was on the orders of the Head of the GRA, Mr George Blankson.
Ghana currently loses about GH¢200,000 a week through smuggling, which is usually carried out through the Elubo and other entry points.
On the GC-Net document shown to the Daily Graphic, the first truck, with the registration number WR 1525 P, had declared that it was carrying 400 bags of low grade broken rice but it was later discovered to be carrying 855 bags of high grade rice sandwiched with the low grade ones.
The second and third trucks, with the registration numbers AS 3371 Y and AS 8857 V, respectively, which were said to be sharing the 400 bags with the first truck, were seen to be carrying 500 bags and 184 bags, respectively, using the same method.
Explaining the modus operandi of the smugglers to the Daily Graphic, a member of the team from Accra, Mr T.O. Mills, said the smugglers packed the high grade rice into the trucks and used the low grade 50-kg bags to cover it.
That aside, he said, they also used onion bags and other low duty commodities imported through the border to smuggle in the high grade rice in order to evade tax.
The smugglers, according to Mr Mills, issued out Value Added Tax (VAT) invoices on the sale of the smuggled rice.
“This they show at the barriers, making it look as if they bought the rice in the country and, therefore, should not attract any import duty,” he said.
The smugglers, according to the officials of the Anti-Revenue Leakage Unit who carried out the exercise, attempted to bribe them (the officials), for which reason they would also be prosecuted on charges of bribery.

FISHERMEN THREATHEN OIL BASE (1C, JAN 15, 2011)

2011-01-17T03:33:00.001-08:00

FISHERMEN in the Western Region continue to fish around the restricted areas of the Jubilee Field located about 75 nautical miles into the sea, a development which poses danger to vital oil installations.
The fishermen, some of whom are said to have come from Cote d’Ivoire, operate very close to the turret, where the production platform, the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, is hooked to the seabed and near 17 oil wells on the Jubilee Field.
The Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has declared five nautical miles radius of the Jubilee Field a no-go area and, therefore, asked fishermen not to fish in that area, but they have ignored the directive.
The Commanding Officer of the Western Naval Command, Commodore Steve Appiah, and sources close to the Jubilee partners who confirmed the intrusion of the restricted area by fishermen urged the fishermen to respect the directive of the GMA.
The fear of the Jubilee partners is that if the nets of the fishermen get entangled on the oil production lines, it will cost the nation and the Jubilee partners millions of cedis.
Last Wednesday, 49 fishermen, including some Chinese, were rounded up in a special operation by the Western Naval Command for allegedly engaging in illegal fishing in restricted areas along the coast.
In December last year, President John Evans Atta Mills symbolically pressed the knob on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to officially signify the beginning of oil drilling at the Jubilee Field.
The first phase of the Jubilee project was successfully completed at the cost of $3.35 billion.

Crushing of 4 kids in Takoradi...KILLER DRIVER OWNS UP (LEAD STORY, JAN 15, 2011)

2011-01-17T03:32:00.000-08:00

THE driver of the articulated truck which ran over and killed four children and a woman at a zebra crossing at Kwesimintsim last Thursday has surrendered to the police.
Police sources told the Daily Graphic that the driver, Mohammed Abass, 30, initially fled to Kumasi after the accident and reported himself to the police in Kumasi yesterday, from where he was transferred to Takoradi.
Earlier, the owner of the articulated truck had assured the police that he would do everything possible to ensure that the driver of the truck was arrested.
The District Commander of Police in charge of the area, DSP Ayamga Akologo, told the Daily Graphic that the vehicle owner reported himself to the police when he heard of the accident and had been very co-operative.
He said the vehicle owner had provided the cell-phone number of the driver and had persisted in calling him on the phone until he finally responded and agreed to report to the police.
One of the children who survived the accident is still in critical condition but three others are said to be responding to treatment at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital.
A team of doctors, led by the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Paul Ntodi, which is attending to Little Melisa Donkor, is, however, hopeful that she will come out of her critical condition.
The doctors said other schoolchildren who were involved in the accident but did not sustain any serious injuries had been treated and discharged.
DSP Akologo said the woman whose Honda Accord car was run over by the truck was doing well but was traumatised.
As of now, the identity of the woman who died with the four children is yet to be established by the police.
Meanwhile, the Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, has visited the children at the hospital and made donations to them.
The minister used the occasion to urge motorists to be cautious on the roads.

BOY, 15, TAKEN FOR GAME (MIRROR, LEAD STORY, JAN 15, 2011)

2011-01-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A 15-YEAR-OLD JSS school dropout was last Monday mistaken for a game and shot dead by a farmer at Wansampo near Akontombrah in the Sefwi-Wiawso District in the Western Region.
Kwabena Asiamo was said to have climbed a tree in the bush to pluck some fruits.
The police said the suspect, John Kofi Yeboah, 52, was on his way to the farm with his gun when he saw movements on the tree.
After shooting at his target and thinking that he had got himself meat for the evening meal, Yeboah was said to have climbed the tree to retrieve the carcass only to realise that he had killed a human being.
He became alarmed and started shouting for help, leaving behind the gun he used to commit the crime.
Asked what the boy was doing in the bush, the police explained that the boy was a school dropout and was in the bush to pluck some fruits.
The body has since been deposited at the Sefwi-Wiawso Government Hospital Morgue for autopsy.
The single barrel gun with a spent shell has been retrieved from the crime scene and the suspect is currently in police custody helping in their investigation.

EP CHURCH TO BUILD SCHOOL COMPLEX IN TWIN-CITY (PAGE 23, JAN 13, 2011)

2011-01-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

THE Sekondi/Takoradi headquarters of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is constructing a multi-purpose school complex to support the educational drive in the twin-city
The project, which will cost GHc650,000, will provide good ambience for education and will serve Fijai, Nkontompo, the Nurses quarters, Cocoa Villa, residents of Effiakuama and other communities in the twin-city.
The sod-cutting ceremony was performed by the former moderator of the E.P. Church, Very Reverend Dr Livingstone K. Boamah.
For his part, the District Pastor, Rev. Emmanuel K. Amegbletor, said the main source of funding would come from the church in the twin-city and from external sources in religion and education.
He said the church would also source funding from corporate bodies with a shared vision and mission of ensuring good quality education in the country.
Rev. Amegbletor said education which formed the foundation for development of every country should not be left solely on the shoulders of the government alone.
“It is therefore important for us to see the provision of education infrastructure in our communities as a challenge to support the state in that direction,” he said.
He said the facility when completed would not only serve as an educational facility but also a place to instil good moral and religious values in the children to shape their talents and enable them to become responsible citizens in future.
“ Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis have to take these bold steps to stick our heads out for the construction of the Basic Education complex for the metropolis,” he said.
He said with the discovery of oil and gas, there would be more demand for increased educational facilities, and that was why the church had moved in to support in this endeavour.
The district pastor expressed the hope that the completion of the project would lessen the pressure on the government for more educational facilities at the basic level.

3 COPS INTERDICTED (PAGE 3, JAN 12, 2011)

2011-01-12T06:43:00.000-08:00

THREE policemen who allegedly subjected a rape suspect in their custody to severe beating, resulting in his death, have been interdicted.
After the suspect’s death, the three policemen were said to have attempted to conceal the incident by not reporting it to their district and regional command until an informant reported it to the command.
The three policemen, all stationed at Elubo, were named as Inspector J.E.K. Mensah, Corporal Yamba Bawa and Constable Ebenezer Kujo. They have since been interdicted and detained, pending further investigations.
The police said when the case of rape was brought against the deceased, Manye Nyanzu, 28, a teacher, he admitted having been at the bar where he was alleged to have attempted to sexually harass the operator of the drinking bar but declined further comment.
The three policemen were said not to be satisfied with the “no comment” Manye Nyanzu had written on his statement form and, therefore, subjected him to a barrage of slaps and other forms of torture in their quest to compel him to speak.
According to the police, Manye Nyanzu looked weak after the maltreatment he had suffered and when he was sent to cells, he started complaining of pains and other forms of weakness.
The police said for fear of trouble, the three policemen took him to a nearby clinic, where he was given only pain killers, after which he was returned to cells, where he died on January 1, 2011.
After his death, the policemen were said to have concealed the information and refused to report it to their district and regional authorities until an informant called the Western Regional Police Commander to inform him about the incident.
The police further explained that Manye Nyanzu was said to have gone to a drinking bar at Kojokrom near Elubo and got himself drunk.
According to the police, in his state of drunkenness, he pounced on the woman selling the alcohol and started harassing her sexually. It was then that her husband appeared on the scene and rescued her.
To avoid embarrassment, Manye Nyanzu and the rape victim’s husband agreed on a settlement, but days after the agreement, Manye Nyanzu failed to honour his side of the bargain and the case was reported to the police, which led to his arrest.
The police said when Manye Nyanzu reached the police station at Elubo, the three policemen subjected him to severe beatings to compel him to confess, which he refused.
When contacted, the Western Regional Police Commander, Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, confirmed the interdiction and the death case and said the police were investigating the matter.
He assured the family of the deceased that the police would fully investigate the incident and ensure that justice was done.

THREE TRUCKS WITH UNCUSTOMED RICE IMPOUNDED (BACK PAGE, JAN 11, 2011)

2011-01-11T07:20:00.001-08:00

MORE than 1,200 bags of rice smuggled through unapproved entry points along Ghana’s western corridor have been intercepted at Esiama in the Western Region.
The offence, which was allegedly committed by some local importers, with the connivance of some officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), was uncovered by a joint team of the National Security and the GRA.
A member of the team told the Daily Graphic that after the goods had been seized, the Secretary of the Head Load Importers Association at Elubo, Mr Kwadwo Solomon, offered the team a GH¢2,500 bribe but the leader declined and ordered the arrest of the smugglers.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic after the arrest, an official of the GRA, Mr E.O. Mills, said two of the three trucks had been moved to the Western Regional Police Command, awaiting officials of the GRA in Accra to re-examine the goods for further action.
He said the quantity declared on customs documents covering the consignment was 400 bags, when the actual quantity was more than 1,200 bags.
The goods were jointly examined and signed by customs officials whose names were indicated on the documents as N. Quayson, Augustine Appiah, P.K. Kumapley and one Mr Asiedu.
He explained that the original document indicating that the truck, with registration number WR 1525 P, was carrying 400 bags and attached, was given to another truck, with the registration number AS 3371 Y, with a different consignment.
He said a third truck, also carrying close to 350 bags, had no document at all.
Mr Mills said for some time now revenue from the Elubo entry point kept dwindling and as a result the GRA decided to carry out an investigation, only to discover that importers were engaged in massive smuggling, with the connivance of customs officials who were supposed to be checking them.

SEAWELD ORGANISES PARTY FOR INMATES OF ITS CARE HOME AT APREMDO (PAGE 18, JAN 8, 2011)

2011-01-10T09:55:00.000-08:00

Seaweld Engineering Ghana, an on and offshore oil service provider, organised Christmas party for inmates of its care home at Apremdo in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis.
The inmates were served with hot meals and drinks by the officials of the company and care-givers at the home as they danced with them.
For his part, the Deputy Chief Operations officer, Mr Michael Avorkliyah, said the company was moved to build the facility for the homeless since it started its operations.
He said it was the focus of the company to ensure that the needs of the community it operated in were met and the party was just to put a smile on the faces of the less privileged.
Mr Avokliyah said since the company built the facility, many of the inmates had found a home at the place and some had even been registered in schools while those interested in learning a trade had been sponsored accordingly.
The deputy chief of operations said some of the homeless girls picked on the street were pregnant or had babies and were sleeping in the open.
“We, as a company, think that this is the area to focus on instead of the privileged ones. Our company has actually taken responsibility to ensure the well-being of these people just to make them feel good and smile again,” he said.
Others, he said, were not in position to do anything on their own and had been added to those in the home and the company was taking full responsibility for their upkeep and medication, with the support from the Regional Directorate of Health.
The trained Psychiatric Nurse, Madam Gladys Frimponmah, who is offering voluntary service to the home, thanked the company for the support and called for support from other companies to ensure that the inmates were made to feel part of society.

TWIN-CITY OVERWHELMED BY PROSTITUTION, HIGH RENT & CRIME (PAGE 18, JAN 8, 2011)

2011-01-10T09:50:00.002-08:00

WHILE Ghanaians celebrate the country’s first oil, residents in Sekondi/Takoradi now christened “Oil-City” (OC) are getting overwhelmed by vices such as prostitution, pilfering and high cost of living as a result of the oil find.
Residents say the oil find has made the twin-city, hitherto, a calm place, now a very expensive city and crime-prone.
Prostitution which used to be limited to certain parts of the metropolis and in the heavy-duty truck terminals, have now spread in a more sophisticated manner to other parts of the city.
Others travel from neighbouring countries to the metropolis to practice prostitution.
At brothels in the metropolis, these young ladies enter and change their dresses into more provocative ones.
The owners of these facilities said they had problems with the activities of the prostitutes, but it was actually a good business for them since the expatriates and some members of the community loved to visit because of those young ladies.
In the recent past, the hotel owners had to drive some of the young ladies away because apart from their embarrassing posture, they were also stealing from their clients.
On the other hand, snatching of bags using the motorbike, car break-ins, attacking people in isolated areas have become rampant in the metropolis.
As a result, uniform and plain-clothed police officers have been deplored all over the metropolis to arrest such people.
Customers who use their ATMs in the night are attacked with knifes and their money collected from them. People can no longer walk freely, at the weekend.
The Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, said even though most of these cases were not reported to the police, they, through their intelligence machinery picked those signals.
He said with the clamour for limited jobs in the oil industry across the country and movement of the people to the region accounted for that situation.
The commander said request for jobs had also given birth to fake employment agents in Takoradi with some posing as agents for Kosmos Energy, Tullow Oil Ghana and other oil firms.
The police said they had received several complaints from oil companies and oil-related service providers of people using their logos to design employment and training forms and selling them to unsuspecting members of the public.
The Regional Police Command has, however, warned prospective job seekers in the oil sector to beware of these fake agents.
It said a suspect arrested had designed a letterhead and employment forms with the name Opet Oil Company, which he sold for GH¢20.00 and collected an agency fee of GH¢700.00 from his victims.
Another aspect is the introducton of gambling and heavy smoking at most bars.
Rent and Rent Control
Rent for residential facilities have also increased more than 800 per cent in some places. A four bedroom house in Takoradi, which used to go for about GH¢200 a month, is currently been rented for $700.00 and the rents are non negotiable.
Owning a property in the Western Region, especially in the Twin-City of Sekondi/Takoradi is a lucrative venture. In some areas, people have even demolished their toilets and developed the space into a sleeping place.
Landlords of such houses then tell the tenants to make use of the public toilet in the community.
The rent control office said, it had lost count of the number of cases pending before it as landlords were seriously trying to eject their tenants.
It said some of the landlords do not even serve eviction notices to the existing tenants before forcing them out of the houses.
These residential facilities are then converted into offices for financial institutions or a company trying to provide one service or the other to the oil fields.
“These conversions are not necessarily for the oil companies but rather oil- related businesses such as the banks or other services,” it said.
Others try to increase the rent and where the existing tenants are not able to pay, they are asked to move out.
At the moment, people who hitherto would not rent their apartment, are giving them out to make some money.
As for the people who live in the central business district, the landlords there are ejecting them and converting their homes into offices.
The vibrant nature of the twin-city has bounced back as there has been extension in nightlife activities leading to increase in entertainment spots in the metropolis.
Gone are the days when entertainment was limited to highlife at Harbour View and the then Atlantic Hotel.
Weekend in the twin-city starts from Friday night with constant Western Region styled live band music which see most of these expatriates dancing to the rhythms in their own way.
That aside, there are restaurants which provide both local and international dishes. Most of these food joints and restaurants are operated by local people.
There is also a serious development of beach hotels and resorts which receive visitors from all parts of the metropolis- Casablanca to Last Hour beach in Takoradi.
Interestingly, these entertainment spots receive only few expatriates since jobs in the oil and gas industry, especially offshore, is an energy-consuming venture.
Therefore, most of the expatriates, who return from the rigs, either fly out in a day or two or immediately. But the locals are seen mostly at the bars discussing their experiences on various rigs offshore.

TOO MUCH RELIGIOUS INDISCIPLINE IN SEKONDI-TAKORADI (PAGE 18, JAN 8, 2011)

2011-01-10T09:50:00.001-08:00

Religious indiscipline on the part of members of some churches in the twin-city has become a source of worry to the public and the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit of the Ghana Police Service.
Members of these churches who own vehicles park them on both sides of the streets during church services thereby making it difficult for other motorists to drive freely.
Other churches with parking areas would halt traffic until all their members join the main road, therefore, creating long traffic on the major roads in the metropolis.
Interestingly, those without their own means of transport, after church, stand anywhere to stop vehicles even when bus stops are just a walking distance from the church premises.
On the Sekondi/Takoradi high street, which is one of the busy roads, easy to access the regional hospital at Effia Nkwanta, ambulance and fire services in case of emergency is actually difficult on Sundays and on other days when these churches hold crusades.
At the Central Gospel Church, behind the Ajumakoma Printing Press in Takoradi, members of the church normally use the front of the building to park their cars, which is perfect.
There is actually no problem when they are entering their parking area, but confusion starts after church service.
The church’s self-appointed traffic wardens halt traffic at will for their members to join the main road, resulting in traffic jams from the entrance of their church premises to the Paa Grant Roundabout.
And then those travelling from Sekondi and New Site have to also join the long traffic jam from the entrance of the church premises to the Takoradi Polytechnic traffic light and beyond.
The interesting part of the situation is that instead of employing the services of the police or having its wardens trained on how to control traffic, the church rather gives more attention to their members.
Interestingly, while the traffic wardens ignore the right of other road users and allow their members to join the main road at will, those without vehicles also stand on the walkways to stop taxis.
That aside, these church members go to the extent of negotiating the fares before boarding the taxi, a situation that does not augur well for safety on the road.
From the Central Gospel, there is another church next to Ahenfie Hotel, where car owners of this church actually park on the street, reducing the size of the road from the Barclays traffic light and the business centre.
Members of the Catholic Church in the same area also refuse to go to the bus-stops nearby but instead stand by the gate to stop taxis to their destinations.
From there, there is also a church opposite the Central Police Station; they park on both sides of the road, therefore reducing the size of the street for vehicles and other road users to use thus creating confusion among motorists and pedestrians.
When contacted, the Takoradi Police District Commander, DSP Dela Dzansi, said the police had noticed that with much concern.
He said the activities of these churches make the roads very unsafe and therefore the police would write to them and also discuss possible solutions to the problem.

HUNTING EXPEDITION TURNS TRAGIC (PAGE 3, JAN 6, 2011)

2011-01-06T09:15:00.000-08:00

A HUNTING expedition a day into the new year turned tragic at Sefwi-Dwenase-Kokokrom when a hunter mistook another hunter for game and shot at him.
According to the police, after the incident, the hunter, Thomas Danoba, rushed the wounded man to the Sefwi-Wiawso Government Hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The deceased was identified as Moses Midogo, 32, a resident of Kokokrom. His body has since been deposited at the Sefwi-Wiawso Government Hospital morgue for autopsy.
The police said Danoba had indicated in his statement that about 11.30 p.m. last Sunday, after he had vigorously searched the bush for game, he saw an object which he thought was an animal and shot at it.
He was reported to have told the police that he did not see that it was a human being, but that all he saw, with the help of his hunting light, was an object which he shot at.
According to the police, Danoba said he later moved to the scene to pick the supposed game he had fired at, only to realise that it was a human being.
He told the police that he was left with no option but report himself to the police and explain to them what had happened during the expedition.
The Western Regional Police, which confirmed the incident, said Danoba had since been remanded in police custody to help in investigations.
The gun Danoba used and that of the deceased, as well as other hunting equipment, have been retrieved by the police.

FARMER SHOT DEAD ON XMAS DAY (BACK PAGE, JAN 3, 2011)

2011-01-03T07:48:00.001-08:00

A 72-YEAR-OLD farmer was shot dead at Mpataba in the Jomoro District of the Western Region on Christmas day.
Police sources said the incident could be linked to a raging dispute over a piece of farmland.
Nyangah Abangah died on his way home from farm in the company of his wife at about 9:30 p.m.
The assailant shot the legs of Nyangah’s 62-year-old wife, Abena Abangah, and robbed the couple of the money they had from the sale of cocoa.
The police said Nyangah and his wife were returning from the farm after the sale of some cocoa to join the rest of their family for the Christmas celebration when they were attacked by the suspect, identified as John Mensah, aka Mmofra-Mmofra.
The body of the deceased has since been deposited at the Axim Government Hospital morgue, while his wife is currently on admission at the St Martin de Porres Hospital at Ekwei in the Ellembele District of the Western Region.
John Mensah has since been arrested, together with two other suspects, Amo Kablan and Ndaah Ackah, and placed in police custody to help in investigations.
According to the Half-Assini District Police Commander, DSP John F. Dzineku, the deceased and one of the suspects, Ndah Ackah, had a long-standing dispute over a farmland.

GOVT TO PROVIDE LAPTOPS TO TEACHERS (PAGE 13, JAN 3, 2011)

2011-01-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

The government will this year enhance teaching and learning in junior and senior high schools by providing the tutors with laptops, internet and projectors to teach their students.
For a start, about 2,000 junior high schools across the country would be supplied five laptops with projectors each to facilitate multi-media teaching/learning as it continues its quest to increase physical infrastructure.
About 250 senior high schools (SHS) will also be provided with internet facility to enhance teaching and research in the selected schools.
A Deputy Minister of Education, Mrs Elizabeth Amoah-Tetteh, who announced this in the Western Region said the ministry was also at an advanced stage of negotiating funding to equip all JSS and SHS with the state-of-the-art Information Communications Technology.
“Further, about 500 JHS will benefit from the community learning centers project which will provide such facilities for use by a cluster of other schools within walking distances,” she said.
The Deputy Minister said the ministry was in collaboration with USAID, MTN and Intel Corporation to support the provision of Internet facility for schools this year which she said had become necessary.
Mrs Amoah-Tetteh said improving teaching and learning was very important to the government and with the introduction of ICT centers in schools and communities across the country, “what is left for us to do as a people and a nation is to master the use of computers.”
“We must know that all these ICT facilities will not bring us all the development we so desire until its effective use which lies in the judicious use of the facilities in the active learning process,” he said.

E-LEARNING CENTRE FOR AIYINASE COMMUNITIES (PAGE 11, JAN 3, 2011)

2011-01-03T07:07:00.000-08:00

A FIFTY-FIVE THOUSAND-CEDI electronic-learning centre with internet facility has been provided for Atuabo and Aiyinase communities in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region.
The project was financed by the Member of Parliament for Ellembelle, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, through his share of the common fund with support from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
The centre is fitted with HP computers and servers, multi-media children’s computers for beginners, wireless networking system and a wide range of multi-media educational software, which covers children from nursery through primary to second-cycle.
The facilities also include: a digital library comprising Encarta Encyclopedia and digital dictionaries as well as digital photocopiers and standby generator with an instructor, who would monitor the activities of the children at the centre.
Mr Buah said although Information and Communication Technology (ICT) had become one of the core subjects in schools in Ghana, children in the rural areas did not have access to the facilities to enhance their learning.
He said his resolve was to focus on education and health to ensure that the development gap between children in his rural area and their counterparts in towns and cities were bridged.
Mr Buah said long before he assumed office, he had a vision to create an enabling environment for children which encouraged him to solicit funds from Nzemas in London for the establishment of the computer centre at Aiyinase.
“Another project we are working on is to open another centre at Asaretre as well as a million dollar ICT centre at Esiama with support from the MTN and World Bank,” he said.
The MP, who is also the deputy minister of Energy said, “I hope with the facility, the online registration and checking of results and other issues of examination that will require the use of the Internet will not be a problem for pupils and students from the area again.”
“I feel sad to see my little brothers travelling because they want to have a photocopy of lecture notes, or access to the Internet in other towns,” he said.
The Deputy Minister in charge of tertiary education, Mrs Elizabeth Amoah-Tetteh, said there were renewed efforts by the government regarding the promotion of ICT as tutors in 38 colleges of education had been trained in that direction.
She said all 26 technical institutes and training collages were also equipped with ICT equipment with Internet access last year.
“Over 50 basic school teachers have been trained and 200 schools from all regions and pre-tertiary levels had undergone a train-the-trainer workshop to equip them to deliver,” she said.
The deputy minister later inaugurates and named the centre after a prominent mother of Atuabo community, Madam Anoma-Eba, who was described as a community leader who devoted her life to save lives and feed the hungry.

BOY, 4, KILLA ELDER SISTER WITH GUN (BACK PAGE, DEC 28, 2010)

2010-12-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

Sefwi Magajia Camp, a small community in the Sefwi-Wiawso District in the Western Region, was thrown into a state of mourning on Christmas eve when a four-year-old boy used his father’s shot-gun to shoot and kill his elder sister.
Eric Adukpo, 31, the father of the two minors, who is yet to come to terms with the death of his daughter, Mariama Adukpo, seven, has been arrested by the police for negligence and exposing the children to harm.
The incident occurred when the father had gone out to buy gentian violet from a chemical shop to treat the sores of Kelvin Adukpo, 4, while the mother had gone to the farm to pluck some pepper to prepare food for the family.
Kelvin, affectionately called Bouteflika, and Mariama were playing in the house and shortly after their parents had left home, he went for his father’s single-barrelled shot-gun, pointed it at his sister’s direction and pulled the trigger killing Mariama instantly.
According the Sefwi-Wiawao Police Divisional Commander, ACP Charles Oduro Botchwey, Mr Adukpo said he did not anticipate that his son could reach the loaded gun to cause any havoc.
He told the police he was shocked when he got home only to see his little daughter lifeless in a pool of blood with the gun lying by her side and Kelvin speechless.
“My son sustained some burns the previous day and I decided to get the gentian violet while their mother went to get some fresh pepper for food for the occasion (Christmas),” he told the police.
ACP Botchwey said the gun was loaded and placed in the room before the parents left the house.
He said it was not proper to leave two minors in the house with the weapon considering the curious behaviours of children.
The Divisional Commander said Mr Adukpo had since been granted bail because of his agony, adding that he was to report to the police on regular basis to assist in investigations.

STAY CLEAR OF GALAMSEY...National security warns foreigners (BACK PAGE, DEC 28, 2010)

2010-12-28T07:02:00.000-08:00

THE National Security Council will from next year get tough with foreigners engaged in galamsey operation in the Western Region and other parts of the country.
The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Aryeety, who said this during a tour of the Western Region, observed that galamsey activities tended to pollute water bodies and the environment, thereby endangering the lives of the people.
She warned foreigners not to take the country’s hospitality for granted and flout the laws of the country which prohibited them from engaging in small-scale mining.
Ms Aryeetey said following visits by officials of her ministry to the areas where foreigners were engaging in illegal mining activities with the connivance of some community members, the ministry had submitted a report to the National Security Council.
She said a national security committee, formed to deal with illegal mining by foreigners and other issues of environmental degradation, had been strategising on how to tackle the problem.
Ms Aryeetey said the recent arrest of some foreigners flouting the laws of the country by the Ghana Immigration Service was a clear indication that those engaged in illegal mining would be flushed out by the security.
“One thing foreigners need to know is that we cannot go to their country and act contrary to their laws; therefore, we will not allow our laws to be flouted,” she said.
She said if foreigners had to engage in illegal activities at the expense of the environment and communities, they must be stopped.
Ms Aryeetey said the ministry and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as an independent observer, would not operate from their offices, but move to the ground to ensure that the country’s laws were adhered to.
The minister later toured the resettlement and the plant site of the Adamus Resources Limited, operators of Nzema Gold Mines.

GOOD SAMARITAN CUT SHORT LIFE OF MAN (BACK PAGE, DEC 27, 2010)

2010-12-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

An attempt by a Good Samaritan to break-up a fight between a couple in Debiso in the Sefwi Wiawso District of the Western Region turned tragic when he allegedly hit the husband to death with a stick.
The man, Kofi Moses, 37, who could not withstand Eric Derry, the husband pounding his wife, decided to separate them but to no avail.
He, therefore, hit the victim with a stick with the intention of saving the life of the woman.
The police said Derry retaliated by inflicting cutlass wounds on Moses but surprisingly Derry, fell to the ground unconscious and was rushed to the hospital for treatment but was pronounced dead.
Moses was arrested on a provisional charge of murder and placed in police custody pending investigations.
Meanwhile, the body of the deceased has since been deposited at the Enchi Government Hospital mortuary for autopsy.

FIGHT OVER CHOP MONEY...Leads to baby's death (MIRROR, LEAD STORY, DEC 24, 2010)

2010-12-23T04:31:00.000-08:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A DISPUTE over money for the up-keep of a child turned tragic when the three-month-old baby fell from the back of its mother and died instantly in a squabble between husband and wife.
The incident happened at the Kwesimintsim in Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis.
Confirming the incident, the Western Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Police Service, Ms Olivia Adiku, said the mother of the baby, Margaret Mensah, who lived elsewhere, went to her husband's house to receive money for the child's up-keep only to meet her husband, Daniel Acquainoo, in the company of another woman.
Margaret did not take kindly to the presence of the one she suspected to be her husband’s concubine and this resulted in some verbal exchanges between husband and wife.
The exchanges degenerated into fisticuffs while the child was tied to the mother's back.
The PRO said in the midst of the punches, Margaret's cloth got loose and the baby crashed to the ground.
She said after the feuding parties realised that the baby was unconscious, they jointly rushed him to the Kwesimintsim Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A tearful Margaret then rushed to the Kwesimintsim Police to report the case, leading to the arrest of her husband and another person who the mother claimed was a witness to the incident.
The mother was also detained but was later granted bail, while investigations continue.
Meanwhile, the body of the baby has been deposited at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital morgue awaiting autopsy.

WOMAN, 88, IN RAPE ORDEAL (PAGE 3, DEC 20, 2010)

2010-12-20T03:07:00.000-08:00

AN 88-year-old woman was rushed to the Essikado Government Hospital in coma last Friday after she had allegedly been raped by a 52-year-old man at Egyiresia, in Secondi.
Police sources told the Daily Graphic that the woman had been raped at Egyiresia, where she lived with her daughter, a kenkey seller.
They said Joseph Amoah, the suspect, had gone to the woman’s house, ostensibly to buy kenkey, but took advantage of the absence of the old woman’s daughter to rape the woman until she fell unconscious.
They said upon realising that the woman had become unconscious, Amoah “was hurriedly dressing up to flee when the woman’s daughter appeared on the scene and called for help”. But Amoah managed to escape from the scene.
The sources said the woman was rushed to the hospital, where she regained consciousness, and Amoah was later arrested and placed in police custody.

CHINESE KILLS CHINESE OVER GH$400 (1C, DEC 18, 2010)

2010-12-20T02:38:00.001-08:00

A DISPUTE between two Chinese galamsey operators at Wassa Akropong in the Western Region over GH¢400 degenerated into violence which claimed the life of one of them.
The deceased, Liu Xin Ping, 32, was allegedly stabbed in the chest by Chen Jing Guo, 44, an excavator operator, when Ping went to Guo’s residence to collect part of the money he had paid for excavator services which had not been fully accomplished.
The deceased was said to have rented an excavator from Guo and his wife, Lucy Chen, 33, for his galamsey operations and paid GH¢600 for the service.
Briefing the Daily Graphic on the incident, the Tarkwa Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Kwadwo Antwi-Tabi, said the excavator got stuck in the mud and, therefore, could not accomplish the service for which it had been hired.
He said Ping, accompanied by two others identified as Tan Hai Bing and Liu Xiao-Zhong, called on Guo at his residence at 11 p.m. to collect GH¢400 out of the GH¢600 he had paid for use of the excavator, since the task could not be completed.
After explaining his mission to Guo and his wife, Lucy, to whom the money had allegedly been paid, she denied ever collecting any money.
An argument, therefore, ensued between the couple, on one side, and the deceased and his friends, on the other.
In the midst of the commotion, Lucy is alleged to have pulled a registered pump-action gun and threatened to shoot Ping and his friends if they dared her.
In reaction, the three friends quickly reached into their car to pick a gun to counter Lucy’s aggression.
Chief Supt Antwi-Tabi said before they returned, Lucy had locked the door but her husband allegedly used a knife to stab the victim on the left side of his chest, killing him instantly.
The incident, which attracted a large crowd, was reported to the police by Lucy and the couple, along with Liu Xiao-Zhong and Tan Hai Bin, were subsequently arrested.

OIL NOW FLOWS AT JUBILEE FIELDS (MIRROR, PAGE 34, DEC 18, 2010)

2010-12-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

From Timothy Gobah/Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

President John Evans Atta Mills has reaffirmed his commitment to transparency and prudent management of the oil revenue to benefit all Ghanaians.
“This is a God-given natural resource belonging to all Ghanaians, including the generations unborn, and as I have always said and will continue to say, the oil revenue will be used for the benefit of all and not for the benefit of only a few persons,” he stressed.
President Mills said this when he symbolically pressed the knob on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to officially signify the beginning of oil drilling at the Jubilee Field.
The Jubilee Field, which started with the Deepwater Tano and West Cape Three Point licences, was discovered via the Mahogany-1 and Hyedua-1 exploration wells in June and August, 2007.
With the inauguration, the country had joined the large community of oil-producing countries, adding, “We must all glorify in what we have been able to achieve as a people.”
He said the search for oil began years ago, with successive governments playing significant roles, pointing out that under former President Rawlings, oil exploration was greatly intensified, with the requisite infrastructure established.
“President Rawlings laid a massive foundation for what we are witnessing today,” he said, and acknowledged President Kufuor’s regime under whom oil was discovered in commercial quantities.
The two former Presidents graced the occassion.
He said the oil and gas would be used to ensure the transformation of the national economy to a prosperous industrial nation.
He said there would be the establishment of petro-chemical industries, fertiliser and steel industries in the Western Region.
President Mills said his administration would create jobs to ensure a robust economy and further assured the Jubilee partners of a stable environment to operate.
He, however, charged the oil companies and the investor community to respect the country’s laws, rules and regulations and the need to uphold the law which allowed a percentage of Ghanaians to be employed in the oil industry.
He commended the Jubilee partners, which include Tullow PLC, Anadarko Petroleum, Kosmos Energy, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Sabre Oil and Gas and the E.O. Group, for working hard to ensure the realisation of the dream of Ghana becoming an oil-producing nation.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, said it was obvious that specific employment opportunities would be created in the oil sector.
He said the discovery had created a regional identity, distinguishing the Western Region from others, while the region had become a convergence point for investors.
The Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Agyei, acknowledged successive governments for keeping the dream of adding oil production to the country’s other God-given natural resources.
The President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Attibrukusu III, reminded Ghanaians that the oil did not have the magic to change the country, adding that it was the prudent management of its revenue that would ensure that the benefit was felt by all.

CULTURE GREETS FIRST OIL (SPREAD, DEC 16, 2010)

2010-12-16T07:46:00.001-08:00

AFTER more than 50 years of prospecting for oil, Ghana’s quest to become an oil-producing country came alive with the launch of the first oil at a colourful durbar of the chiefs and people of the Western Region yesterday.
The event, which brought together the country’s two former Presidents, J.J. Rawlings and J.A. Kufuor, to an official function for the first time in many months, depicted the rich culture and traditions of the people in all the 10 regions.
When they arrived at the durbar grounds, the two former Presidents went round to exchange greetings with the chiefs and people, amid cheers from the crowd. Their presence underlined the beauty of unity in national discourse.
Early in the morning, captains of industry and people from all walks of life had thronged the Takoradi Airport Base of the Ghana Air Force to participate in the historic occasion.
Thunderous applause greeted President John Evans Atta Mills and his entourage when they arrived at the base for the ceremony. Shortly after the exchange of greetings, the President was flown in a helicopter to the oil platform located about 65 nautical miles on the sea where he symbolically pressed the knob to officially declare the beginning of Ghana’s production of commercial oil.
On his return, the President was welcomed to the durbar grounds, which was decorated in national colours, with dancing and music by an array of entertainment groups, including the Ghana Dance Ensemble, the Noyam Dance and the Air Force Band.
The august audience which witnessed the occasion included Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, a former First Lady, representatives of political parties, ministers of state, the clergy, members of the Diplomatic community, top officials of the Jubilee partners, Members of Parliament and academia.
The “Ghanaianess” of the historic programme was also enriched with the presence of traditional rulers from all the various paramountcies across the Western Region dressed in their colourful regalia.
The programme, which was held offshore and onshore simultaneously, was watched on a giant screen mounted at the durbar grounds.
In a related development, Rose Hayford Darko reports from Tema that the offices of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) were decorated with the colours of the national flag to announce the celebration of the country's commercial production of oil.
The workers of the corporation mounted huge speakers and a big television screen to enable the public to witness the national event performed by President Mills to symbolise the commercial production of oil.
The workers said they were happy to be part of the historic occasion.
In an interview, two petroleum engineers at the GNPC, Mr Eugene Amissah and Mr Albert London-Nyewan, indicated that Ghana was blessed to have the oil which they described as one of the best in the world.
Mr Amissah said the future was bright, noting, “This is just the beginning and with our training, we should be able to take over and work hard for the future.”
The Principal Human Resource and Administrative Officer of the GNPC, Mr Edward Appiah-Brafoh, said the oil field would have only 120 direct employees but the industry would create indirect jobs in the hospitality industry and the security sector.
He stated that the GNPC would ensure that Ghana achieved maximum result from the oil flow and called on Ghanaians to manage their expectations, since the oil find was only a catalyst for development.

Momentours day for Ghana...OIL FLOWS (LEAD STORY, DEC 16, 2010)

2010-12-16T07:36:00.000-08:00

Story: Timothy Gobah & Moses Aklorbortu, Takoradi

HISTORY was made at 10:15 a.m. yesterday when the President, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, symbolically turned the wheel on the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah to officially signify the beginning of oil production on a commercial scale at the Jubilee Field.
The Jubilee Field, which started with the Deepwater Tano and West Cape Three Points licences, was discovered via the Mahogany-1 and Hyedua-1 exploration wells in June and August, 2007.
The two wells were drilled five kilometres apart and intercepted a large continuous accumulation of light sweet crude in excellent quantities stacked in reservoir sandstone with net oil pays.
Addressing a colourful durbar to mark the historical event, the President reaffirmed his commitment to transparency and prudent management of the oil revenue to benefit all Ghanaians.
“This is a God-given natural resource belonging to all Ghanaians, including the generations unborn, and as I have always said and will continue to say, the oil revenue will be used for the benefit of all and not for the benefit of only a few persons,” he stressed.
President Mills said with the inauguration, the country had joined the large community of oil-producing countries, adding, “We must all glorify in what we have been able to achieve as a people.”
“It has not been an easy journey; there have been ups and downs, but, today, we thank God Almighty for making it possible for Ghana to officially pour out its first oil”, he said.
He said the search for oil began years ago, with successive governments playing significant roles, pointing out that under former President Rawlings, oil exploration was greatly intensified, with the requisite infrastructure established.
“President Rawlings laid a massive foundation for what we are witnessing today,” he said, and acknowledged
President Kufuor’s regime under whom oil was discovered in commercial quantities.
He said the oil and gas would be used to ensure the transformation of the national economy to a prosperous industrial nation.
He reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that every cent of the oil revenue would be used for the benefit of all Ghanaians and not for only a few persons.
He said there would be the establishment of petro-chemical industries, fertiliser and steel industries in the Western Region.
President Mills said his administration would create jobs to ensure a robust economy and further assured the Jubilee partners of a stable environment to operate.
He, however, charged the oil companies and the investor community to respect the country’s laws, rules and regulations and the need to uphold the law which allowed a percentage of Ghanaians to be employed in the oil industry.
He commended the Jubilee partners, which include Tullow PLC, Anadarko Petroleum, Kosmos Energy, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Sabre Oil and Gas and the E.O. Group, for working hard to ensure the realisation of the dream of Ghana becoming an oil-producing nation.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, said it was obvious that specific employment opportunities would be created in the oil sector.
He said the discovery had created a regional identity, distinguishing the Western Region from others, while the region had become a convergence point for investors.
“It is, however, important to reflect on the fact that in the midst of our anxiety for investment from the industry, we should beware of the challenges as well,” he said.
The Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Agyei, acknowledged successive governments for keeping the dream of adding oil production to the country’s other God-given natural resources.
He commended former Presidents Rawlings and Kufuor, for keeping the dream alive.
The President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Attibrukusu III, reminded Ghanaians that the oil did not have the magic to change the country, adding that it was the prudent management of its revenue that would ensure that the benefit was felt by all.

PURCHASING CLERK DIES AFTER SEXUAL BOUT (MIRROR, PAGE 34, DEC 11, 2010)

2010-12-10T05:36:00.000-08:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A 60-year-old purchasing clerk at Sefwi-Antobia in the Sefwi-Wiawso District of the Western Region is reported to have died after sleeping with his 20-year-old fiancé.
The deceased, Joe K. Adjei, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Sefwi-Wiawso Government Hospital, where he was rushed after his lover mustered courage and called for help.
The woman then reported the incident to the police and is now assisting with police investigations.
According to the police, the deceased visited the lady in the evening of November 30, 2010 and the incident occurred in the early hours of December 1, 2010.
The young lady was said to have told the police that the deceased was her fiancé and they had agreed to marry soon.
She said at about 5 a.m. on the fateful day, the deceased, after sleeping with her, started complaining about pains in his heart but before she could convey him to the hospital it was too late.
When contacted, the Sefwi-Wiawso Divisional Police Commander, ACP Charles Oduro Botchwey, said the lady was, therefore, arrested to help in their investigations but her claim of heart attack was confirmed by the deceased’s family.
He said the family confirmed that the deceased had a history of heart problems and they were also aware of the relationship between the young lady and the deceased.
The police said after initial investigation, the body of Adjei had been released to the family for burial.

ICT CENTRE FOR 4BN BASIC SCHOOL (PAGE 11, DEC 8, 2010)

2010-12-10T04:09:00.001-08:00

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of the Fourth Infantry Battalion (4BN) Basic School in Kumasi has commenced construction work on a GH¢55,000 Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centre for the school.
Major Budi Kumi, the Second-In-Command of 4BN on behalf of the Commanding Officer, performed a sod- cutting ceremony to signify commencement of construction work on the project which also includes a library and staff common room.
The ICT centre is to afford the basic school pupils the comfort and opportunity to use computers in the learning of ICT at first hand.
The Chairman of the PTA, Mr George M. K. Aduboffour, said the association had received support from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) in the form of roofing sheets towards the ICT project and expressed the hope that more support would come from various organisations towards the project.
According to the Headmistress of the school, Mrs Augustina Boakye Yiadom, the school obtained 95.7 per cent in the 2010 B.E.C.E. results and said with maximum support, the school would obtain 100 per cent in 2011.
Also at the sod-cutting ceremony were Lt. Regina O. Sewornu, 4th Garrison Education Officer, parents, staff and pupils of the 4BN Basic School.

VRA ASSURES CONSUMERS OF CHEAPER POWER (BACK PAGE, DEC 8, 2010)

2010-12-10T03:57:00.000-08:00

THE Volta River Authority (VRA) has assured the general public of increased power generation through cheaper means with the use of natural gas from the country’s oil fields, Nigeria and independent power producers (IPPs).
It said the interest expressed by IPPs would ensure that the set national target for power generation was achieved.
The Chief Executive of the VRA, Mr Kweku Andoh Awotwi, made this known at a durbar at Aboadze to climax activities marking the 10th anniversary of the Takoradi International Company (TICO).
He said the government was aware that the power sector could only grow with the participation of non-governmental agencies after a successful power sector reform which started in the mid-1990s.
He said currently, the VRA and IPPs were seriously working to relocate nearer to where the multi-million dollar dry gas plant is to be sited by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
Mr Awotwi said there was no doubt that the flow would come with huge opportunities, as well as challenges which would be well-worked out to ensure that the success story of TICO was replicated.
He said the influx of investors into the energy sector would mean the extension of pipelines and storage plants, an expansion in port facilities and factories and positive ripple effects on other sectors of the regional and national economy.
The General Manager of TICO, Nana Osafo Agyei, said the company was committed to safe operations to support the country’s energy needs.
In a related development, 200 students from the Shama District and other parts of the Western Region have been handed scholarships worth GH¢450,000 by TICO.
The scholarship scheme, named Kramer Scholarship, catered for the beneficiaries, made up of 45 per cent females and 55 per cent males, in the basic, junior and senior high schools and tertiary students from the region.
Speaking at the presentation of the awards, Nana Osafo Agyei said apart from ensuring quality education, there was also the need to ensure that children were not left out of the classroom due to lack of funding.
The beneficiaries thanked TICO for the support and pledged to work hard to justify the need for continuous support from the company.

ALL STARS HOLD KESSBEN (BACK PAGE, DEC 6, 2010)

2010-12-06T03:24:00.000-08:00

Angry Kessben FC fans revolted after their club’s 2-2 draw with visiting All Stars at Sekondi yesterday, requiring police intervention to disperse the crowd and restore calm.
The fans started charging onto the field in apparent protest of an 88th minute penalty appeal ignored by referee Yaw Ametepe after Kessben striker, Hans Coffie, was brought down in the opponents box.
Emmanuel Dogbe shot Kessben FC ahead as early as the seventh minute, but Frank Sarfo Gyamfi levelled up for All Stars five minutes later.
The homesters mounted intense pressure on All Stars afterwards with Coffie leading the onslaught but failed to convert their chances till the break.
All Stars’ Fatau Mohammed made it 2-1 in the 50th minute and held on to the lead until the 89th minute when Coffie pulled even for Kessben.
Kessben blew a great chance to carry the day when referee Ametepe awarded an indirect freekick against goalkeeper Robert Dabuo after 86 minutes.

PROF ADEI OPTS FOR COLLATERAL (1B, DEC 6, 2010)

2010-12-06T03:06:00.001-08:00

THE former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei, has added his voice to the ongoing debate on whether to collateralise the oil revenue or not and said it was in the national interest to make such a move for national development.
He, however, indicated that the move should be backed by a comprehensive, non-partisan national development agenda and the process made more transparent.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at Aboadze on the debate on whether the oil revenue should be collateralised or not, Prof. Adei said, “There is nothing wrong with that, since we have been into collateralisation all these years.”
To ensure transparency and national cohesion, he explained, there should be in place, as a matter of urgency, a 20-member team made up of representatives from all the political parties, academia and interest groups who would agree to a 10-year sustainable national development agenda and a proposal made to Parliament for debate and approval.
He said the proposed non-partisan group did not need any huge funding or support from external sources to function but rather a simple method to collect ideas and the issues debated and agreed upon by all for the way forward.
The debate, he advised, should not centre on the call by Vice-President John Mahama for collateralisation but rather the need for the formation of a long-term, non-partisan development plan which must be followed by successive regimes, irrespective of which government was in power, since all interest groups made inputs into that agenda.
Prof Adei said when that was done, “we will know our flow of income, when to pay back and the funds directed to what they were meant for, since no government will come and change it to serve its interest”.
He stressed that there was no problem with collateralisation, adding that it had been the practice and the oil was not different.
“What we must not forget is that anytime a country takes a loan, it is backed by collateral. The question, therefore, should be, how is it done? It is the process that should be transparent, not the collateralisation itself,” he emphasised.
He pointed out that the country had, over the years, been collateralising cocoa and other resources.
Touching on the issue of developing the country along non-partisan lines, Prof Adei said the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr P.V. Obeng, had recently made such a proposal which, when thought through, would help this country and position it on the right path for development.

TEENAGER TO ANSWER FOR GIRLFRIEND'S DEATH (MIRROR, NOV 27, 2010, PAGE 34)

2010-12-02T22:42:00.001-08:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A teenager, Anthony Amihere, is helping the police to unravel the cause of the death of his girlfriend at Himan in the Prestea Huni-Valley District of the Western Region.
The girl, Faustina Maame Abena, who is alleged to have run away from school to visit Amihere was said to have complained of stomach ache at about 2 a.m. whilst in bed with her 19-year-old boyfriend.
According to the Regional Public Relations Officer, Ms Olivia Adiku, Amihere rushed her to the Himan Health Centre but was later referred to the Prestea Government Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly on arrival.
The PRO said Amihere then reported to the police the next day and was accompanied to the house where the police retrieved two pairs of school uniform, a pair of sandals, a purse, pants and brazier belonging to the deceased.
Ms Adiku said the body had been deposited at the Government hospital at Tarkwa.
The PRO said the girl was a student of the Komfo Anokye Senior High School in Kumasi and left school last Thursday to visit Amihere at Himan.
She said the 18-year-old girl arrived safely and was welcomed by Amihere into his house, but while in bed the girl complained of stomach ache and was rushed to the health centre.
The PRO said Amihere was currently in police custody to help in investigations.

POLICE INTERCEPS TRUCKLOAD OF WEE (MIRROR, NOV 27, 2010, PAGE 35)

2010-12-02T22:32:00.001-08:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A KIA truck loaded with 158 jumbo size sacks and 31 huge packages of substance suspected to be “wee” covered with tubers of yam and heading towards neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire has been busted at the Samenye Security Check Point in the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
The suspects, Paul Kwao, Wuro Awudu and Opoku Rockson, owners of the consignment, attempted to bribe the duty officer in charge of the check point.
He declined the offer and told them that “in the face of the single spine improved pay and my age as a police officer, I will never dent the image of the service I have worked for all my life, I am sorry; I will arrest you.”
The suspects told the police that they paid their way right from the Brong Ahafo, Central and Western regions until they were busted at the last check point by Chief Inspector Emmanuel A. Kumi who refused to be influenced.
A police source at the check point told The Mirror that when the Kia truck arrived at the barrier, the substance was detected and the leader, Kwao, claimed ownership of the consignment and attempted to bribe the policemen on duty.
Chief Inspector Kumi, who was the most senior at the check point, told the suspects that a good name was better than riches and that he was due for retirement and he could not sacrifice his entitlement in exchange with a few cedis.
The source said the Chief Inspector then ordered the arrest of the truck and the three men and they were escorted to the district headquarters at Half-Assini.
Meanwhile, the Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, has commended Chief Inspector Kumi and said that modern day policing had changed and people who think they could bribe the police should think again.
He said that like-minded people could succeed in bribing some elements in the service but not all of them.

PASSENGER DIES IN TOILET (MIRROR, LEAD STORY, NOV 27, 2010)

2010-12-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

From Moses Dotsey
Aklorbortu, Elubo

What could have passed as a normal stop over for passengers to rest and stretch turned bizarre, when a 60-year-old passenger visited the rest room only to be found dead in the toilet.
Oduro Yaw Edu, who was travelling on the bus from Abidjan to Kumasi, attended to nature’s call when the bus stopped at Elubo last Tuesday at about 2:10 p.m., but when he failed to join the bus after the expiry of the rest period, a search party made up of some passengers and the driver found him seated on the toilet, motionless.
According to the Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Ms Olivia Adiku, the driver, Mr N. Kweku Salifu, reported the incident to the police.
Ms Adiku said the body had been deposited at the government hospital at Half Assini.
The driver told the police that the bus stopped at Elubo for the passengers to rest but it was found later on that one of the passengers was missing.
Ms Adiku said the police were doing everything possible to ensure that the family of the deceased was contacted to establish his identity.
She appealed to the people who might be expecting a family member on that bus to contact the police administration in the Western Region for identification.

VEEP LAUNCHES 5-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN (SPREAD, DEC 2, 2010)

2010-12-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

A five-year National Strategic Plan to reduce all new HIV infections by half and virtually eliminate mother-to-child transmission of the virus was launched in Takoradi yesterday.
The new strategy, which takes into account the unique challenges that the country faces in addressing the epidemic, is also intended to sustain and scale up treatment for people living with HIV (PLHIV).
The plan, which is also to direct the implementation of national response to HIV and AIDS, was launched at this year’s World HIV/AIDS Day by Vice-President John Dramani Mahama, who expressed the delight that the strategic plan had set ambitious targets aimed at achieving universal access, as well as the targets Four, Five, and Six of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS).
The Vice-President said he was of the strong conviction that the plan would guide the prioritisation and targeting of key population and regions in the country to ensure that HIV services were extended to areas where they were most needed.
Mr Mahama called on Ghanaians to lead healthy lifestyles and pursue behavioural changes on sustained basis to enhance national effort at fighting against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Mr Mahama said a lot of awareness creation had been carried out and what was required now to reduce the rate of infection was for people to change their behaviours.
He challenged the public to be bold and go for the test to know their HIV/AIDS status so that those infected could receive timely medical care.
The Vice President said the fight against the pandemic required a joint action and called on all to join the fight against the spread.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, said the choice of the Western Region was not because of the increase in the prevalence rate in the region but because of the commercial production of oil and its concomitant effect on the behavioural patterns of the people.
Mr Aidoo said the available statistics indicated that the HIV/AIDS situation in the region was worrying and called for appropriate interventions at various workplaces to forestall any possible negative effect on the people.
The Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr Angela El-Adas, urged the assembly members, traditional leaders and all stakeholders to work together to fight against the pandemic.
She expressed concern about the stigma and the discrimination against people living with the pandemic, stressing that “these people also have a right to life and responsibility to live and contribute to the nation’s development”.
As part of the celebration, various NGOs mounted stands to provide counselling and testing services to the public.
Earlier, a float was organised through the principal streets of the twin-city of Sekondi/Takoradi to create awareness.

STMA ASKED TO OFFLOAD FOOTBALL CLUB (PAGE 29, DEC 1, 2010)

2010-12-02T12:12:00.001-08:00

Members of the public have called on the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) to focus on development, instead of sinking money into running a football club, the Metro FC, owned by the assembly.
The residents were of the view that if the assembly was interested in sports development, it should support existing clubs such as Sekondi Eleven Wise, Tarkwa United and Sekondi Hassacas, or first and second-cycle schools in the metropolis.
They said running a football club of more than 30 players and officials would be a drain on the budget of the assembly, arguing that if the authorities were not able to raise money to support the players and run the club, they would dip their hands into the assembly’s funds for the upkeep of the club.
The assembly, they lamented, had to pay the players, feed them, purchase equipment and provide transport for them, all of which entailed a lot of money and a drain on the resources of the assembly.
Some of the people who spoke to the Daily Graphic said the assembly should rather create the favourable environment for the establishment of all kinds of businesses, including the formation of football clubs by people who desired to invest in sports.
They called on the assembly to offload the team to interested persons and focus on areas such as building modern markets, patching potholes and building schools and clinics for the urban poor.
They said even though the formation of the club came with certain benefits, such as unearthing talents and providing employment for the youth, it was too expensive a venture to invest public funds in.
“When the team travels to play competitive games, all the expenses are taken care of by the scanty resources of the assembly,” they said.
Information from an insider in the assembly indicated that it voted a lot of money to support the club in its struggle to qualify for the Premier League but it failed to qualify.
The insider said the projection had been to get sponsorship from corporate bodies but, interestingly, that support eluded the assembly.
“Therefore, we have to support it through internally generated funds, which should not be allowed. If we have budgetary support, there will be no problem, but where we have to support the club by ourselves, it is way outside our mandate,” he said.

TAXI DRIVERS STILL TRANSFER GAS INTO THEIR TANKS AT GAS STATIONS (PAGE 29, DEC 1, 2010)

2010-12-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

AS if selling gas to vehicles in a hazardous manner in the Twin-City is not dangerous enough, most owners of gas stations appear not to care about the activities of taxi drivers within their premises.
Apart from blocking the streets with long queues of vehicles wanting to buy gas meant for domestic use, these taxi drivers transfer the gas from one vehicle to another, using plastic pipes, in the yard where the gas is sold, thereby putting the lives of the public at risk.
Some of the sales points where these activities take place are the gas stations on the Sekondi/Takoradi main road, the gas station near the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) and the one near the Military Base at Apremdo.
When the Daily Graphic visited one of the stations, taxi drivers were seen transferring gas from one vehicle to another, in the full glare of the operators of that station, without any condemnation from them.
According to some of the drivers, should there be any fire outbreak, it would be the taxis that would catch fire, not the station.
As typical of the Ghanaian, the various agencies responsible for the enforcement of the law are waiting until disaster strikes for a committee to be set up to investigate it.
The indiscriminate siting of LPG stations in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis and their mode of operation are not the best.
Some residents called on the government to ensure that vehicles which came into the country designed to use petrol were not converted to use gas.
They also argued that those gas stations which wanted to sell the product to taxi drivers should have separate sales points for taxis and other commercial vehicles.
The use of gas was intensified in 1990s and the product was heavily subsidised by the government in its bid to curtail the rate of deforestation and promote healthier cooking options.
But now LPG has become the main fuel for commercial vehicles.

POLICE INCREASE PATROL IN TWIN-CITY (PAGE 29, DEC 1, 2010)

2010-12-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

THE police in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) have increased their day and night patrols to combat petty crimes and also be in readiness for the Christmas festivities next month and beyond.
At the moment, there is police presence in every part of the metropolis and also at various pedestrian crossings to ensure public safety.
Now night patrols are no longer limited to highways but extended to the communities and residential areas.
At various traffic intersections, the police are always at hand to control traffic when the lights go out.
Among the officers deployed is the Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, who, from time to time, is seen at traffic intersections directing traffic.
The Western Region and its capital have attracted the attention of the corporate world, which has led to an increase in business, for which reason it became necessary for the police to change strategies to meet the changing trends.
DCOP Mahama said by way of equipping the police, the Police Administration had allocated three armoured 4X4 vehicles to the region, adding that two of the vehicles had been deployed to the difficult areas in the region and one stationed in the troubled spot at Anaji in the metropolis.
He said what the public should understand was that policing was no longer the sole responsibility of the Police Service but a shared one.
“Under the democratic policing agenda, there is the need for public participation in crime combat by volunteering information to the police for quick action,” he said.
He said criminals lived in the communities, adding, “We drink and chat with them but deep down some of us know what they do which causes great discomfort to other members of society.”
The regional commander appealed to the public to volunteer information on criminals to the police, noting, “I want to assure the public that the police are friendlier than before; they are your brothers and sisters and so approach them with open hearts.”
When the Daily Graphic visited the various police stations in the metropolis, information picked was that petty crime had gone down, as the police were all over the areas where, under normal circumstances, they would not be.
Some members of the public the Daily Graphic spoke to said they had gained some form of confidence in the police due to the fact that at any given time a policeman was around, a development which had helped avert crime.
“Their uniforms alone are a deterrent to people who wish to commit one crime or another,” they said.
They commended the regional police command for the insightful measures to prevent criminals from visiting pain on the public.

PETTY TRADERS TAKE OVER PAVEMENTS IN TAKORADI (PAGE 29, DEC 1, 2010)

2010-12-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

Petty traders using containers converted into kiosks have taken over pavements in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis.
The same situation which led to massive decongestion in the metropolis in 2007-2008 has now assumed an alarming proportion, making driving and the movement of pedestrians very difficult.
From the Ahenfie Hotel towards the Railways quarters, there is no pavement as petty traders have taken over, while from the National Investment Bank traffic light towards the Market Circle, it is trading galore on both sides of the road.
From the Sekondi Taxi Rank towards the Presby Church, there is serious trading on both sides, and the same could be said of the Collins Avenue and other parts of the metropolis where serious business takes place.
Another aspect that makes the situation very nasty is that many concrete slabs used to cover the drains are broken and are yet to attract the attention of the metro authorities or the responsible unit of the assembly.
Where there are metal covers, some have been stolen, while the rest have become rusty and are a potential danger to pedestrians.
That aside, the new phenomenon is that, hawkers have devised a new way of marketing their wares by displaying them on “metal trucks” normally used in carrying loads which they push round the market to attract customers
When the new metropolitan chief executive was appointed, he took the initiative to clear the central business district of traders, but a year down the line the number of traders had increased.
According to those selling on the pavements, the metro officers compelled them to pay official tolls and, therefore, they had every right to be where they were.
In some parts of the metropolis, hawkers even put their seats on the streets while they display their wares on the pavement.
The Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), during the 2007-2008 decongestion, spent an unspecified amount of money pulling down all unauthorised structures sited all over the metropolis.
The “metal trucks” serving as mobile marketing facilities were seized and there was order as pedestrians could move freely without sharing the street dangerously with vehicles.
In 2009, after the declaration of war on filth by the President of the Republic, the military, the police, prison officers and prisoners joined the metropolitan assembly to carry out a clean-up exercise.
But the STMA has failed to maintain the exercise and the city, experiencing increasing number of visitors and the relocation of businesses has become more congested than before.

BONYERE YOUTH KICK AGAINST GAS PLANT (BACK PAGE, NOV 30, 2010)

2010-12-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

RESIDENTS of Bonyere in the Jomoro District in the Western Region have mobilised to resist the siting of a gas plant in the area for the production of gas from the Jubilee Oil Fields.
The youth, who claim they have not been consulted over the location of the project, also expressed concern that the siting of the gas plant in the town would lead to the destruction of economic trees on their farmlands and subsequently the loss of their livelihood.
It took the intervention of the Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Alhaji Hamidu Mohammed, to restrain the youth.
They accused officials of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the Volta River Authority (VRA), who are undertaking the project, to have started surveying the land for the gas plant without consultation with the generality of the people, sparking the agitation against the project.
To weather the storm, the regional commander engaged the two parties at a meeting at which officials of the GNPC and the VRA agreed to engage the people and brief them about the essence and prospects of the gas project, while the youth also accepted to “lay down their arms”.
Addressing members of the National Peace Council (NPC) at Elmina in the Central Region, DCOP Hamidu stressed the need to promote peace among stakeholders in the extractive industry.
The encounter was sponsored by the UNDP and attended by some members of the NPC, including Oseadeeyo Akumfi Ameyaw IV, the Omanhene of Techiman Traditional Area; Bishop Francis Lodonu, the Catholic Archbishop of Ho; Mrs Georgina Baiden, a retired educationist; Professor Irene Odotei, a former Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana; Sheikh Mahmoud Gedel, a representative of the Chief Imam, and Professor Kofi Agyekum, a senior lecturer at the Linguistics Department, University of Ghana.
DCOP Alhaji Hamidu acknowledged that the production of oil in the Western Region would pose some security challenges but stressed the need for all parties to work towards ensuring peace.
He expressed concern about the involvement of people in authority, including politicians and chiefs, in the galamsey business, saying such attitude made the fight against illegal mining very difficult.
A resource person and former Chief Director of the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Edwin Barnes, stressed the need for collaboration between police and immigration officers to monitor and bring to justice foreigners who did not use their work permits for purposes for which they were granted.
Another resource person and senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Dr Kumi Ansa-Koi, observed that there were serious shortcomings in the regulatory framework for the mining sector, pointing out that the discovery of oil could worsen the already bad situation.
He, therefore, stressed the need for the nation to learn from history and manage the oil sector very carefully in order to avoid the pitfalls in the mining sector and in other oil economies across the world.
In a contribution, an official of WACAM, an environmental and human rights non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in mining communities, Mrs Hannah Koranteng, said there were serious environmental concerns in oil production that needed to be addressed.
She recalled that within two weeks in August, this year, four dead whales were washed ashore at Jomoro, a situation she described as very serious because it was rare to even find one dead whale being washed ashore in a year.
The Research Officer of the NPC, Mr Emmanuel Sowatey, said the workshop formed part of initiatives by the NPC to promote and facilitate a dialogue process between mining companies and their host communities with a view to ensuring lasting peace.

Test-run at Jubilee field...OIL POURS...Between 20,000 and 80,000 barrels per day (LEAD STORY, NOV 29, 2010)

2010-12-02T07:10:00.001-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

BETWEEN 20,000 and 80,000 barrels of crude oil are being pumped per day as part of the ongoing test-run of equipment at the Jubilee Field.
The quantity will be increased to 100,000 barrels when mainstream production is attained by the end of the first quarter of 2011.
The Head of Economic Evaluation at the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Kwame Ntow, made this known to the Daily Graphic in Takoradi over the weekend.
He said production would increase gradually over approximately six months to a plateau level of 120,000 barrels per day.
Mr Ntow said the first phase of the Jubilee project had been successfully completed for production off the coast of the country at the cost of $3.35 billion.
The cost excludes that for the production platform, the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, which is currently on lease at $393,000 a day, with an open option to partners for outright purchase after two years.
The FPSO, which is currently receiving the gradual flow of the oil, is operated by MODEC, which caters for its maintenance and other activities.
Mr Ntow said there had been some savings on the cost of development and production after the GNPC had pushed for the utilisation of the project, since the blocks were located in the same area.
He said it would have been more expensive if the players had unilaterally been allowed to develop their own fields.
An official source at Tullow, the lead operators of the project, told the Daily Graphic that in-country infrastructure work in Accra and Takoradi was essentially complete for both the project installation and subsequent production.
It said the major sub-sea equipment installation was also completed, including the laying of all flow lines and control umbilicals and the deployment of all sub-sea trees on the Phase I wells for production.
The project is said to be the fastest ever full-scale deep water development and a major collaborative effort between the field partners and contractors, both local and foreign.
It is also said to have set a new industry benchmark for the world to follow.
More than 40 kilometres of sub-sea flow lines have been connected to 17 oil production and water and gas injection wells to the FPSO.
Aside from that, about 28 kilometres of umbilicals will control the wells and ensure optimum production, amidst the use of the latest technology.
The partners include the government of Ghana, through the GNPC, Tullow Ghana, Cosmos Energy, Anadarko, Sabre and the E.O. Group.
In a related development, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has been assured of constant supply of crude from the Jubilee Fields under the domestic supply obligation (DSO) aspect of the contract.
Mr Ntow said TOR would also receive part of a mandatory 18.75 per cent of the crude, made up of five per cent royalty to the State and the State’s share of 13.75 per cent through the GNPC as a member of the partners.
He said TOR's agreement in lifting crude oil from other countries would, however, still hold, noting that the supply from the Jubilee fields would be made available upon request from the refinery at the world market price.

TRADERS IN TAKORADI MARKET OPERATE UNDER HORRIBLE CONDITIONS (PAGE 18, NOV 23, 2010)

2010-11-25T04:39:00.000-08:00

Both traders and hawkers in and around the Takoradi Central Market are operating in a very hazardous condition which poses serious threat to the health of unsuspecting consumers.
This is due to the unauthorised extensions that have been made in the market. The market is so crowded and the gutters are very dirty. Others who did not get space in the market are selling on the huge drains outside.
Interestingly, the Apremudo and Sekondi markets which were supposed to be alternative market places for the metropolis is actually under-utilised by traders.
A visit to the central business area indicated that the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly appears to be focusing on revenue mobilisation without a corresponding effort at providing infrastructure.
The description of the sanitation situation in the market currently is not the best to serve as a trading area for the public to buy foodstuffs for consumption.

BAR OPERATORS DEPLORE COCGA/MUSIGA TACTICS (PAGE 18, NOV 23, 2010)

2010-11-25T04:38:00.002-08:00

Bar operators in the Sekondi/Takoradi have deplored the move by the Western Regional Musician Union of Ghana to collect what it terms Copyright Licence Fees for playing their music at their bars.
The bar operators said there was no prior notice about the intended fee which has been fixed at GH¢500.00 and that they do not make profit to that effect even in a year round operation.
It said initially a letter was sent to the operators which stated that, “The interim Copyright Management Team (ICMT) is a body set up by Honourable Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in accordance with the Copy Right (Amendment) Act, (2009) Act 788 to manage the affairs of COSGA.”
Then the next day, COSGA members stormed their premises with police to enforce the law to pay or have their businesses closed down.
According to some of the operators, the approach adopted by the COSGA/MUSIGA Western Region was not the best.
They said the claim by COSGA/MUSIGA was good and they would be ready to contribute to the development of music in the country but, “it was wrong for COSGA/ MUSIGA to invade our premises with police to close our businesses down.”
One of the operators, Esther Hagan, called on the COSGA/MUSIGA Western Region to educate the people so that a compromise could be reached but not to employ what she described as dictatorial tactics to achieve their target.
She said from the letter that was given to them, requesting the payment of copyright licence fees, part of it stated that “The ICMT hereby requested you to settle your bill immediately.”
Ms Hagan said, unfortunately, there had not been any meeting to agree on anything only to give them letters and the next day .
When contacted, the Chairperson of the Western COSGA, Rev Lititia Anim-Wiredu, said they had taken into account the concerns of the bar operators and would pass the message on to Accra.
At the moment, the operations have been suspended.

SEKONDI POLICE ARREST FOUR ROBBERS (PAGE 18, NOV 23, 2010)

2010-11-25T04:38:00.001-08:00

The Sekondi Police have arrested four suspected armed robbers, who robbed passenger buses and shot one passenger dead at Yawbrea-Nkwanta in the Aowin Suaman District of the Western Region.
They were arrested within 24 hours after the robbery.
The robbery took place in the early hours of November 1 and 7, 2010, and according to the leader, in each operation, they had GH¢1,400.00 as their share of the booty.
The leader of the group said to be an ex-convict confessed to the police that they were responsible for the two robberies.
Their names were given as Ebenezer Anima Bulu aka. Nolie 36; Kwesi Amo, Philip Buabeng, aka Allo, 23 who is the leader, and Shaibu Mumuni, aka Wahabu, 25.
According to the Western Regional Police Commander, DCOP Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, the robbers attacked and killed one passenger aboard a Ford Bus with registration number AS 3655-10 heading towards Kumasi from Enchi.
He said the robbers used a 207 Benz Bus to block the road and robbed the passengers of the buses of all their money and mobile phones
The Regional Commander said, Buabeng told the investigators that they were responsible for the first and second robbery and they shared the booty and had GH¢1,400 from each operation.
The commander said it was sad that the passenger had to die after he had unmasked one of the robbers and held him until he was hit by another robber who shot him in the process.
He said while the deceased was holding the robber, he fired more than 47 bullets before the magazine fell off the gun but it was later fixed by the robber leading to the killing of the passenger.
He said after killing the passenger they were not able to rob the remaining passengers as “the four then took to their heels and run into the bush, but police intelligence with the support of the public led to their arrest within 24hours,” he said.
He explained that when Buabeng was arrested, he mentioned the names of the remaining three leading to their arrest.
Currently, the police are trying to recover the locally manufactured gun and the AK47 that was used in killing one of the passengers.
Alhaji Hamidu said their problem used to be logistics, but at the moment, the Inspector General of Police had allocated armoured vehicles that would be deployed to the danger zones to ensure that the region was made a no go area for armed robbery.

DON'T CONVERT JUBILEE PARK INTO CAR PARK (PAGE 18, NOV 23, 2010)

2010-11-25T04:37:00.000-08:00

RESIDENTS in the Twin-City of Sekondi/Takoradi have expressed concern about the decision of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) to convert part of the Jubilee Park into public car park.
They are of the view that the Jubilee Park which was constructed at over GH¢450,000 for national and public ceremonies would eventually be converted into a car park.
The STMA recently announced that it would convert part of the park into a car park in its bid to clear the metropolis of congestion.
The residents say converting the Jubilee Park for use by cars would defeat the purpose for building the facility.
Mr Kojo Nti, a resident, argued that like the Independence Square in Accra, the Jubilee Parks in the various regions should not desecrated fo any other purpose.
A search by the Daily Graphic indicated that, as a result of indiscriminate allocation and sale of land acquired by the government during the construction of the Takoradi Harbour, there is very little land left for any meaningful development.
Now that the need for land has become one of the biggest issues in the metropolis due to the discovery of oil in the region, there is an urgent need for the Regional Lands Commission and the chief of Takoradi to coordinate to ensure that some space is allocated for a car park.
Some residents are also questioning the rationale behind the sale of governement residential quarters for private people to convert into private offices and car parks at a time when the metropolitan authorities are having difficulty in finding appropriate space for a public car park.
There has been an increase in the number of corporate bodies and the population in the metropolis.
As a result, private homes in the metropolis have been converted into offices and shops and tenants are been ejected from their rented premises without prior notice.
This is because of the competitive offers coming from the corporate world to convert these buildings into offices, which are so enticing that landlords can not resist.
The tenants or the poor workers in the metropolis would have had some respite if the assembly had gathered some will to eject the tenants at the railways quarters which some companies have expressed interest in the place. Some of these companies have expressed their willingness to build alternative accommodation for the current occupants of these quarters.
At the moment, there are many applications, before the Metropolitan Assembly for the relocation of the people to ensure the construction of modern office includings multi-purpose car parks.
But successive Chief Executive failed to take these laudable initiatives to change the face of the metropolis.
Another issue of concern which is the talk among residents here is the provision of toilet facilities at the Takoradi Central Market. At the moment, there is neither a toilet nor urinal at the market, therefore most women who sell in the market and shops in the central business district have cups or chamber-pots which they use and empty their contents into gutters in front of their shops.
It is the hope of the residents that the assembly would find ways to solve the congestion problem rather than the conversion of the national symbol into a car park.

EPA MUST CHECK SITING OF LPG STATIONS IN TWIN-CITY (PAGE 18, NOV 23, 2010)

2010-11-25T04:35:00.000-08:00

Operators of some liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stations which have found a huge market in private and commercial vehicles have ignored all safety measure thereby exposing the lives of public and the environment to great danger.
One of these gas stations located on the Sekondi/Takoradi main highway is a potential danger to lives and property.
Tropic Gas is located in a welding and fabrication, auto mechanics workshop, whose operations in proximity to the gas station is dangerous.
That aside, next to the this gas station is a Shell Fuel Station and another workshop in close proximity. In case of fire, there will be a disaster, since the petrol station, the houses, a timber company Primewood, a school and hotel around it may not be spared.
When the Daily Graphic visited the station at about 8a.m. on November 16, 2010, there were many commercial and private vehicles and although discharge of gas was ongoing, owners were eager to buy gas, oblivious of the dangers.
There was also a long queue of domestic users with their cylinders waiting to be served. This reporter entered the yard as a normal customer and did not find any fire extinguishers in the immediate vicinity.
While the gas was being discharged, the level of gas escape became a concern to many around, prompting the manager of the Shell filling station to come out of her office to express her displeasure at the activities of the gas station.
When an official was asked if they had fire extinguishers, he replied in the affirmative but was not able to show this reporter any of the extinguishers since they were not positioned as required by EPA.
When contacted, an official of the Western Regional Office of the EPA, Mr George Diawuo said the agreement for issuing permit to the Tropical Gas was based on the condition that, the owner would relocate the welders and other artisans on the land but till date nothing had been done.
It said even the permit for the operating this particular station had expired and yet to renew it, therefore, the place was to cease operation.
Mr Diawuo, said apart from Tropic Gas and Nab Gas many others dotted around the metropolis were operating against the requirements of the EPA.
He said what the EPA was trying to do was to first educate them and then move in to enforce the law.
Officials of the Ghana National Fire Service also deplored the operations of these fuel stations and said the safety practices were far below the required standard and in case of fire the effect would be difficult to contain.

ELUBO RICE IMPORTERS GIVEN GREEN LIGHT (BACK PAGE, NOV 25, 2010)

2010-11-25T03:25:00.001-08:00

Rice importers have now received the green light from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to clear their imported rice, which has been locked up at the Elubo Border Entry Point.
Official correspondence from the Office of the Commissioner General in Accra to customs officials at the Elubo Border endorsed the initial agreement between the rice importers and officials of the GRA to clear the rice at $0.75 per kilogramme instead of $0.97.
A fax message signed by Mr George Bankson, Commissioner General, giving the go-ahead to the Assistant Commissioner at the border to proceed to clear the goods indicated that after clearing the impounded rice, the customs officials at the border post should revert to collecting $0.97 per kilogramme on imported rice.
That was because the $0.75 per kilo being duty charged now on the rice was only a special dispensation from the Customs Division to the rice importers.
For more than a month, truckloads of imported rice have been locked up at the Elubo Border as a result of the inability of the small-scale importers of the commodity to pay the appropriate tariffs imposed by the Customs Division of the GRA.
Some of the importers claimed they had been unable to raise the money because what Customs Division was asking them to pay was higher than what pertained at the Tema Port.
Commenting on the problem in an interview, the Commissioner of the Customs Division of GRA, Mr E.D. Larnyo, said that if the local importers wanted to attract lower tariff valuation, then the importers should consider consolidating their consignment.
“Under the consolidation, they all give their required quantities to one person, who will travel to the suppliers in Cote d’Ivoire or their country of choice and import it and pay the required tariff, which is likely to be lower based on the world market price,” he said.
Mr Larnyo said if the importers adopted the approach where everybody wanted to import rice in smaller quantities, then the Customs Division would be left with no option than to apply retail valuation of $0.97 per kilogramme.
He said they would hold series of education programmes for the importers to understand the system and that all the customs officials wanted was to ensure that the needed tariffs were collected for the state.
Meanwhile, the local importers have expressed their gratitude to GRA and the government and promised to engage customs officials to ensure that lasting solution is found to the impasse.
“We have lost millions in revenue and interest on our loans, so for now we will like to clear what we have here and pay off our loan and then we can take it up from there,” they said.

RICE WAR NOT OVER (1B, NOV 24, 2010)

2010-11-25T02:30:00.001-08:00

TRUCKLOADS of imported rice are still locked up at the Elubo Border, a week after the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) slashed the duty on the commodity from $0.97 per kilogramme to $0.75.
The tariff reduction was to pave the way for small-scale rice importers to clear thousands of bags of rice locked up at the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire border.
With the directive not yet adhered to by customs officials, several bags of rice which have been heaped at the border for the past four weeks have started going bad due to excessive heat and intermittent rains.
At the time the Daily Graphic got to the border last Monday, more than 138 bags of rice that were emitting an offensive odour were being prepared for destruction.
The GRA, in apparent reaction to complaints over high tariffs by small-scale rice importers, on November 15, 2010 slashed the duty at the Elubo Border from $0.97 per kilogramme of rice to $0.75.
This was as a result of a meeting between officials of the GRA and local importers of rice at Elubo.
Border officials told the Daily Graphic that they had not complied with the directive from the GRA because they had not received any official communication from the Authority.
They said they needed official letters from the Commissioner General of the GRA and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to be able to comply with the directive.
“What happened at the meeting was just verbal. We would need an official fiat for us to go ahead,” one of the officers said.
Some of the importers told the Daily Graphic that they were at the verge of losing their capital.
When contacted, officials at the CEPS Headquarters in Accra said they were waiting for the directive from the Commissioner General before they could allow the goods to be cleared.

MAN'S HAND CHOPPED OFF (PAGE 3, NOV 22, 2010)

2010-11-25T02:05:00.000-08:00

A caretaker at a building site at Mpatado in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis who suspected a man of stealing five iron rods has done the unthinkable by chopping off the suspected thief’s right hand.
Egya Kojo Mensah, the caretaker, later took the victim, Kofi Badu, to the police station.
For carrying out this Sharia-like justice, Egya Mensah has been placed in police custody, while the victim is currently on admission at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital and is said to be responding to treatment.
Apart from his right hand, Badu sustained multiple cuts at his back and chest as a result of the attack on him by Egya Mensah.
Badu told the Daily Graphic on his hospital bed that he had been mistaken for a thief, explaining that he was an auto mechanic and that he had visited his aunt who lived in the area where Egya Mensah is the caretaker of a building.
Egya Mensah told the police that the stealing of iron rods from the site had been going on for some time, for which reason he decided to deal with anybody he caught.
According to the Kwesimintsim District Commander of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police P. Ayamga Akolgo, Egya Mensah said he is the caretaker of a building project at Mpatado, where he had lost many iron rods.
He told the police that immediately he realised that a quantity of iron rods had gone missing, he and another man decided to search the whole area but they did not find the culprit.
The district commander said the suspect and the other man who is currently being sought for by the police later saw Badu in the area and gave him a hot chase.
He said Egya Mensah first slashed Badu’s back and later chopped off his right hand, before taking him to the police station.

RICE HEAP AT ELUBO -- For non-payment of tariffs (LEAD STORY)

2010-11-22T14:44:00.003-08:00

Truck loads of imported rice have been locked up at the Elubo Border for the past four weeks as a result of the inability of the small-scale importers of the commodity to pay the appropriate tariffs imposed by the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).
Some of the importers told the Daily Graphic at the border that they had been unable to raise the money because what CEPS was asking them to pay was higher than what pertained at the Tema Port.
They claimed that CEPS had directed them to pay a unit price of $0.97 per kilogramme for the imported perfumed rice, while broken rice attracted $0.42 per kilogramme.
According to the importers, their counterparts who imported through the Tema Port were made to pay $0.41 per kilo for perfumed rice and $0.39 per kilo for broken rice.
They said as a result of the disparity, some importers had resorted to smuggling, thereby denying the State the much needed revenue.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Chairman of the Association of Small-Scale Importers, Mr Solomon Kojo Kwesi, demanded an explanation from CEPS as to why all importers, whether using Tema or Elubo, would not be given the same rates.
According to a document sighted by the Daily Graphic, smuggling eased significantly before the introduction of the new tariffs and that as of the end of September this year, revenue for the State at the Elubo Border was 67 per cent above the annual target.
From the document, total revenue collected for the State by CEPS from January to September 2010 when the directive was given amounted to more than GH¢4.3 million, compared to GH¢1.4 million which was collected in 2009 when smuggling was at its peak.
There is a chaotic situation at the Elubo entry point, as the importers who entered the country thinking they would pay the same tariffs as applied at the Tema Port could not go back with their goods, since that would amount to re-exporting, which they said they could not afford.
The small-scale importers said the new development was outrageous and uncompetitive, describing it as a deliberate attempt to ruin their businesses.
When contacted, CEPS officials said they were working on the situation and would soon resolve it.

Ghanaian delegation gets inside look at U.S. Africa Command headquarters

2010-11-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

STUTTGART, Germany - A delegation of media representatives from Ghana visited U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) headquarters as part of an orientation program to offer an in-depth look at the command's mission, February 22-26, 2010.

The group consisted of four prominent Ghanaian journalists, an information officer with the Ghanaian Ministry of Information, a public affairs officer from the Ghanaian Navy, and a media specialist from the U.S. Embassy in Accra.

The weeklong visit to the command, in which they met with senior staff members to discuss the command's programs and activities, culminated in interviews with the deputy to the commander for military operations, Vice Admiral Robert Moeller, and the commander of U.S. Africa Command, Gen. William Ward.

Ward told the group he was pleased they were able to visit the command.

"(It is), for us, a command that we want you to know; we don't want you to be wondering about it. We want it to very well understood," Ward said.

The delegation received in-depth briefings on the command, its programs and how it conducts military-to-military activities with Ghana and other African nations.

Ward was also able to clarify misunderstood issues about the command, such as how it works with the militaries in Africa and basing.

"We recognize, we appreciate and we respect the sovereignty of our partner nations," Ward explained. "In no way do we envision directing the navies of Africa, the armies of Africa, the air forces of Africa, the governments of Africa to do anything that they would not do for themselves. We have no design, no intent of telling you what to do, absolutely not."

One journalist, Samuel Appiah Darko, of Ghana's Joy FM radio, indicated that his listeners still wonder "what AFRICOM is all about" and whether it intends to establish bases in Africa.

Since the command was created more than two years ago, it has been widely misrepresented that it would establish American bases in Africa. In that period of time... Ward said, "We have done absolutely nothing that would substantiate that impression, and we're not going to do anything. There is no intention of setting up bases in Africa."

Explaining the Africa Partnership Station (APS) maritime program was a key focus area of the visit. APS, in its third year, focuses on building cooperative partnerships with African nations' maritime services in order to achieve common international goals.

The 2010 program brings together an international team of maritime experts from 21 nations - nine European, 10 African, and one South American -- to offer assistance in addressing maritime safety and security challenges such as unlawful, unregulated and illegal fishing, piracy and illicit trafficking. It is expected that more than 1,700 maritime experts will participate in dozens of workshops seminars and professional exchanges.

Ghana is serving as a main hub for the APS flag ship, the USS Gunston Hall. The Gunston Hall will spend the month of March in Ghana, working with the Ghanaian Navy and neighboring countries' navies on various maritime training and familiarization activities. A Ghanaian officer is embedded on the staff, and when Gunston Hall arrives in Sekondi, Ghana, and will take on trainees and ship riders from navies of neighboring nations.

George Nayken of the Ghana News Agency has covered previous United States ship visits to Ghana. He said he was thankful to the command for hosting the group and for the access they were provided.

He said there has been "a lot of suspicion and fear about the command. But I believe if more public education were to take place, people would not fear the command.

"We need more education on the command," added Nayken, who has covered previous United States ship visits to Ghana. "The U.S. military is not trying to impose itself on Africa."

During the week, the visitors traveled to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to meet Major General Ron Ladnier, U.S. Air Forces Africa and 17th Air Force commander. They also toured American Forces Network-Europe studios in Mannheim, Germany, and met with the European Stars and Stripes staff in Kaiserslautern, Germany. In addition, they met with Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes, U.S. Africa Command's deputy to the commander for civil-military activities.

This summer, Ghana is hosting Exercise Africa Endeavor, U.S. Africa Command's annual communications exercise that focuses on interoperability and information sharing among African partner nations. The goal is to develop command, control, and communication tactics that can be used by the Africa Union in support of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and peacekeeping missions. In 2009, the exercise was held in Gabon, with 25 African nations participating.

"It's been a very good experience ... getting to know things first hand," said Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, a journalist with the Graphics Communications Group, which publishes the largest daily newspaper in Ghana, the Ghana Graphic, during his visit to AFN-Europe.

He said before visiting the command, he didn't know what to believe and indicated there is "so much misinformation out there. We've received the message; the command is not what people say (it is)."

Ghana is the largest African peacekeeping contributor nation to multinational peacekeeping operations, and the sixth-largest among all peacekeeping contributing nations. It is supporting peacekeeping missions in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur, the Central African Republic, Chad, and Cote d'Ivoire.

Ghana is one of eight African nations that participate in the U.S. National Guard's State Partnership Program, in which the Ghanaian military conducts partnership, training and familiarization activities with the North Dakota National Guard. Since this program was inaugurated in 2004 with Ghana, the two nations' militaries have shared well over 70 events together.

Ghana is also home to the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Center, which focuses on conflict prevention and peace studies. U.S. Africa Command has a liaison officer at the center and conducts a logistics seminar there called Partnership for Integrated Logistics Operations and Tactics, or PILOT. It is a joint Canadian government/U.S. Africa Command initiative aimed at building long-term operational logistics planning capacity within the African Union Standby Force.

The delegation members were:
Samuel Appiah Darko - Joy FM
R. Harry Reynolds - New Times Corporation
Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu - Graphic Communications Group
George Nayken - Ghana News Agency
Lieutenant Commander Veronica Arhin, Ghanian Navy
Gordon Deku Zaney - Information Services Department, Ministry of Information
Joyce Okyere Asiedu - US Embassy-Accra Media Specialist

MAN'S HAND CHOPPED OFF (P3.)

2010-11-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Kwesimintsim
A caretaker at a building site at Mpatado in the Sekondi Takoradi metropolis who suspected a man of stealing iron rods has done the unthinkable by chopping off the suspected thief's right hand.
Egya Kojo Mensah, the caretaker, later took the victim, Kofi Badu, to the police station.
For carrying out this Sharia-like justice, Egya Mensah has been placed in police custody, while the victim is currently on admission at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital and is said to be responding to treatment.
Apart from his right hand, Badu sustained multiple cuts at his back and chest as a result of the attack on him by Egya Mensah.
Badu told the Daily Graphic on his hospital bed that he had been mistaken for a thief, explaining that he was an auto mechanic and that he had visited his aunt who lived in the area where Egya Mensah is the caretaker of a building.
Egya Mensah told the police that the stealing of iron rods from the site had been going on for some time, for which reason he decided to deal with anybody he caught.
According to the Kwesimintsim District Commander of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police P. Ayamga Akolgo, Egya Mensah said he is the caretaker of a building project at Mpatado, where he had lost many iron rods.
He told the police that immediately he realised that a quantity of iron rods had gone missing, he and another man decided to search the whole area but they did not find the culprit.
The district commander said the suspect and the other man who is currently being sought for by the police later saw Badu in the area and gave him a hot chase.
He said Egya Mensah first slashed Badu's back and later chopped off his right hand, before taking him to the police station.

JUBILEE PARTNERS FUND TWO HOSPITALS (PAGE 19, NOV 13, 2010)

2010-11-20T00:57:00.000-08:00

TWO health institutions in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis have received a total of GH¢850,000 for the construction of a maternity ward and the completion of an accident and emergency unit.
They are the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital and Essikado Government Hospital.
The funds were provided by the Jubilee Partners, a group of oil and gas companies operating in the Western Region, to support healthcare delivery of the two hospitals, which take care of more than 400 communities in the metropolis and beyond.
Out of the amount, GH¢600,000 will be used for the construction of a seven-ward maternity block for Essikado Hospital.
The Jubilee Patners, led by Tullow Ghana, have decided to provide modern equipment for the Essikado Hospital after the completion of the maternity block, which will comprise four main wards and three side wards.
The remaining GH¢250,000 will be used to complete the accident unit at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, whose construction has stalled because of lack of funds.
The Medical Director of the Effia-Nkwantah Hospital, Dr Paul Ntodi, said the move by the oil companies to help provide facilities at the regional hospital was welcoming to the management.
He said the current state of the emergency unit at the hospital was very bad, particularly because it had a limited space and was not in a position to handle serious emergency cases.
“Therefore, the completion of the project at the new unit will not only help to ease congestion but also create the avenue for the expansion of the current out-patient department,” he said.
At Essikado, the acting Medical Superintendent, Dr N.K. Ametewee, commended Jubilee Partners for the support.
The Head of Public Affairs of Tullow, Dr Tony Aubynn, said the company was committed to the improvement in the lives of the people in its operational areas.
He gave the assurance that the Jubilee Partners would make every effort under their corporate social responsibility to assist the two health institutions.

ARMED ROBBERS KILL PASSENGER ON TARKWA-KUMASI BUS (BACK PAGE, NOV 13, 2010)

2010-11-20T00:42:00.000-08:00

Armed robbers yesterday shot dead a passenger during an attack on a Tarkwa-Kumasi-bound bus.
The robbers struck at Yawbrea-Nkwanta in the Aowin Suaman District of the Western Region and one of the passengers, Asua Mesu, 30, a sand contractor and farmer who attempted to disarm one of the robbers of an AK47 rifle, was shot at close range.
The incident occurred after the armed robbers had allegedly robbed passengers on a 207 Benz bus and used the bus to block the road at Yawbrea-Nkwanta.
According to Mr Bafour Asare, a driver of one of the buses that was attacked, his was the last vehicle to stop at the blockade. He said, “the robbers came to my car and ordered the passengers and I to come out of the vehicle, which we did”.
He said the robbers made him lie on the ground after collecting GH¢400.00 and a mobile phone from him, They then conducted a search on the passengers but got only a few mobile phones and money.
Suspecting that the passengers might have hidden the money on the bus, the robbers moved into the bus to search it. In the process, Mesu jumped on the robber holding the AK47 rifle and struggled with him and just when he (Mesu) was about overpowering the robber, another robber hit his head with a club, sending him sprawling to the ground.
“The magazine containing the ammunition fell from the gun, but the robbers managed to pick and fix it, cocked the gun and shot him in front of the other passengers,” he said.
The driver confirmed that there had been armed robbery attacks on the road recently but his colleagues convinced him that the police were patrolling the road and so it was safe to travel, adding that he least expected the attack because at the time of the incident, it was almost 6 a.m.
Mr Asare said after shooting the passenger, the robbers then aborted their intention to rob more vehicles and fled into the bush.
The Enchi District Police Commander, Mr Isaac Akligbe, who confirmed the incident said the attack was the second in less than 12 days.
He said as a result of that the police in the district had intensified its intelligence gathering and extended its patrol hours in the Enchi area.
Mr Akligbe said the police had patrolled the area throughout the night and returned to base but just when they were preparing some suspects for court, they had a distress call that there had been an attack on a passenger bus.
He assured the public that the police would do everything possible to apprehend the suspects and also ensure more police presence on the road.
He, however, appealed to the public not to struggle with armed robbers because they risk losing their lives when they did so.

OIL TO POUR — FIRST DROP NEXT MONTH (1B, NOV 15, 2010))

2010-11-18T03:35:00.001-08:00

INSTALLATIONS between the seabed and the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform which will lead to the commencement of gradual oil production on the Jubilee Field are about 99 per cent complete.
This makes it certain that Ghana’s first oil will be poured in the first week of next month, as installations have almost been completed, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has given the assurance.
The final installation works, including inauguration and testing, which has to do with the gradual opening of the production valves for full production, are also ongoing.
The company working on the offshore subsea installations, Technip, is confident that work on the subsea installation is within schedule.
The Engineering Manager of the GNPC, Mr F.B . Ackah, who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said there would be gradual production, which would not be up to 120,000 barrels per day, after the subsea installation.
He said there was the need to ensure that the facility was not forced to produce at full capacity immediately but made to carry out gradual opening after current ongoing testing.
The Country Manager of Technip, Mr Stephanie Solé, said the installation would be ready for the commencement of production by the end of November 2010.
At the moment, the company is in the process of putting what it described as finishing touches to what it started since the arrival of the Deep Pioneer, a multi-purpose deepwater support vessel which carried out the subsea installations.
Mr Solé assured Ghanaians that after the completion of the installations, systematic production could start in a very safe manner.
Under Phase I of the Jubilee Project currently ready for production, 17 wells were drilled, out of which nine were for production, two for gas injection wells and six for water injection wells.
Since the arrival of the Deep Pioneer, there has been the installation of seven miles of umbilicals, 42 rigid jumpers (6.25 to 12.75”), 29 miles rigid flow-lines, 19 Christmas trees, 26 PLETs, 91 electrical flying leads, 24 hydraulic flying leads, as well as eight manifolds and two risers bases.
The Phase I of the Jubilee Project has more than 800 million barrels of world-class sweet crude oil and has an upside of 1.5 billion barrels, with accompanying ratio of 1,000 to 1,200 gas-to-oil ratio.

UNIDENTIFIED EXPATRIATE WASHED ASHORE (MIRROR, PAGE 21, NOV 13, 2010)

2010-11-13T02:10:00.000-08:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu,
Half-Assini

The police in the Jomoro District of the Western Region are struggling to determine the nationality of a young expatriate lady whose body was found at the coastline of the district.
The police said because the deceased could not be identified, she would be buried without any ceremony.
The body was washed ashore with almost all her hair off, exposing parts of her skull and parts of the body suspected to have been eaten by fish.
The police said they tried to locate either friends or establish the nationality of the lady but there was no identity card or any clue on her.
They said they went to hotels and guest houses in the area to find out if there was any missing guest or any foreigner who had not returned to their facility but there was no information to that effect.
The police said they were left with no option than to seek a court order for the burial of the deceased at an identifiable location where in future her grave could be identified if they had information on her.
The police are keeping the clothes the lady wore before her death, which could also be a clue to identifying the body if the family should show up one day.
Asked who would be responsible for the burial, the police said they had to take care of any expenses and that for the sake of international diplomacy, the police had to ensure the burial was decent.

UNDERGROUND WATER POLLUTED (PAGE 21, MIRROR, NOV 13, 2010)

2010-11-13T02:07:00.000-08:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Busia Beach

Traces of heavy metals and arsenic substance have been found in underground water and river bodies in the Western Region, putting the lives of residents who depend on them at risk.
The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) which announced this at Busua attributed this to the activities of illegal miners.
The Water Supply Engineer of CWSA, Mr Joseph Jona, said increase in these illegal mining activities in the region did not only threaten the lives of water consumers but also threatened the existing water bodies and underground water.
He said there was the need to ensure that such activities were curbed immediately to safeguard lives and underground water reserves.
Mr Jona said other major challenges facing the CWSA were the delays in payment of bills by offices of ministries, departments and agencies in the districts.
He said the delays made it impossible for them to access ready funds to improve their services.
The supply engineer said as a way forward, they were developing a comprehensive documentary on the water situation in the region, where more than 70 per cent of the population was dependent on their services.
He said the total coverage for the region in terms of water to deprived communities was 44.20 per cent as of the end of December, 2009.
“However water supply coverage on successful completion of ongoing projects by the end of this year is estimated to increase to 56.70 per cent,” he said.
Mr Jona expressed his gratitude to other stakeholders such as World Vision International, Water Aid, R&C, an Italian NGO, Care International, the government through the assemblies and some mining, as well as cocoa companies, and support from the donor community.
The Chairman of the Water Board, Mr Francis Yaw Gyarko, acknowledged the challenges and the dangers posed by the activities of illegal miners in the region.
Members of the board were later conducted round some of the facilities in the Agona West District.

JEALOUSY...Farmer kills girlfriend's ex-husband (LEAD STORY, MIRROR, NOV 13, 2010)

2010-11-13T02:01:00.000-08:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu,
Sefwi-Fuachiekrom

A settler farmer at Sefwi-Fuachiekrom in the Western Region caused a stir in the town when he shot and killed the ex-husband of his girlfriend in the full glare of the girlfriend and his stepdaughter.
After killing his rival, Kwesi Atta-Kwame, 25, a Beninois, and a friend, Theophanous Tawiah, also 25, reported to the police that they had fought with an unknown person and shot him in the process.
According to the Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Chief Inspector Olivia Adiku, who briefed The Mirror, the two men claimed they had seen Ameyaw Atamuda, the deceased, on their farm and a fight had ensued, during which the deceased had pulled a knife which scratched Atta-Kwame.
After investigations, however, the police discovered that the deceased had been killed by the two and his body dumped in a bush near his cocoa farm.
According to Chief Inspector Adiku, investigations also showed that the deceased’s ex-wife and his daughter, who were traumatised by the incident, had since left the town for an unknown destination.
She said before the discovery of the body, the suspects had been asked to lead the police to the scene but they took the investigators to a different location.
She said the body of the deceased was found in a state of decomposition, with multiple gunshot wounds on it.
“We combed everywhere but we could not find the body. The suspects said the deceased had bolted after he had been shot and could not tell if he died or not,” the police said.
According to the police PRO, it was after the discovery of the body that it was realised that Atta-Kwame and his accomplice had actually killed the ex-husband of his girlfriend.
The unregistered shotgun which was used in the act has since been retrieved.
The suspects have been remanded by a court to reappear on December 7, 2010.

HELP IDENTIFY CORPSE OF DROWNED WHITE LADY (PAGE 46, NOV 10, 2010)

2010-11-13T01:00:00.001-08:00

THE police in the Jomoro District have been struggling to establish the identity and nationality of a young white woman whose body was washed ashore at Jomoro in the Western Region, on October 16, this year.
According to the police, the body of the woman, believed to have drowned, was washed ashore with almost all her long hair pulled off and parts of the body eaten by fish.
The police said their efforts to unravel the identity or nationality of the lady had been undermined by the fact that no identity card or anything to provide a clue was found on her.
They said they had enquired from hotels and guest houses in the area whether any guest had gone missing or any foreigner had checked in and not returned to their facility but there was no information to that effect.
The police said they were left with no other option than to secure a court order to bury the body.
They were of the view that the body had been in the water for more than three days and could not be kept any longer.
They said the police would, however, keep the clothes found on the body for further investigations.

COCOA NO GO AREA (1B, NOV 10, 2010)

2010-11-13T00:44:00.001-08:00

THOUSANDS of bags of cocoa and large quantities of foodstuffs are locked up in the northern part of the Western Region following perennial rains that have virtually rendered most of the roads in the area non-usable.
This has heightened fears that cocoa farmers in the area may send their produce to neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire for sale.
At the moment, the Enchi-Elubo road, which is used to transport cocoa and other farm produce from the area to buying centres, is cut off as a result of the rains, while the road from Samreboi through Mumuni-Camp to Prestea is not usable.
The most affected areas include Aowin Suaman, Amenfi West and East, Tikobo, Enchi and Elubo.
Other roads which have timber logs serving as bridges on them have been declared unsafe to be used because the logs are rotten.
On its visit to some of the affected areas, the Daily Graphic found that some of the roads had been completely swept away, leaving trenches in the middle of the roads.
Although the district chief executives in the affected areas managed to rally some support for the roads to be reshaped, the rains would not permit the contractors to undertake any serious work.
Even the roads that were awarded on contract by the Ministry of Roads and Highways could not be completed because of the bad weather.
The District Chief Executives (DCEs) in those cocoa-producing areas have, therefore, called on the sector ministry to intervene to help save the situation.
“The situation is now beyond our control and we need support from the national level,” they said.
Asked if the situation would not spark off the smuggling of cocoa to Cote d’Ivoire, the DCEs said the producer price announced recently by the government had significantly discouraged the practice.
They said the best thing to do now was to ensure that the roads were in good shape to help move the produce to the ports for shipment.

RESIDENTS REMOVE ROAD SIGNS, CULVERTS (PAGE 23, NOV 8, 2010)

2010-11-12T23:54:00.002-08:00

MOST road signs in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis, especially, the central business district have been removed, while markings on the road have been blocked by traders who have displayed their wares on the road.
The shop owners have displayed their goods in front of their shops on the pavements an action which forces pedestrians to walk on the road, which is also risky.
Some shop owners have also erected canopies to cover the road signs, causing road safety problems for motorists.
All the signs on the road in front of Avor Hotel in Takoradi, had been removed while the one alerting motorists of a traffic light ahead has been covered with a canopy in front of a shop. Obviously, the shop owners do not see the importance of these road signs.
Some of the shop owners who spoke to the Daily Graphic said since they paid tax to the assembly, they had to operate their businesses in a manner that would enable them to accrue maximum profit to enable them to pay their taxes.

OIL FIND PRODUCES MIXED RESULTS (PAGE 23, NOV 8, 2010)

2010-11-12T23:54:00.001-08:00

THE oil find could be said to be a blessing for the country.
Residents of the Twin-city of Sekondi/Takoradi, can however talk about some worrying issues when discussing the oil find.
Although the oil find has revitalised the long-lost vibrant economic activities in the metropolis, it has also resulted in increase in the cost of living which they have described as too high above the reach of the ordinary man.
There has been at increase in rents, prices of goods and services, while congestion has been created resulting in pressure on limited social amenities.
The rent of a three or two-bedroom house which used to be about GH¢50 and GH¢60 respectively, now is about GH¢100 with landlords demanding rent advance for three or four years, while other landlords charge rents in dollars.
Apart from utilities such as water, electricity and telephone, the prices of goods and services are determined by traders based on their profit margins.
The price of fish has also gone up. At the Sekondi landing beach, only takes the presence of oil service providers in their T-shirt to trigger the prices for fish.
Kojo K. Nsiah, a security man said he and other tenants were forced out of their house because the area was to be rehabilitated and rented out to an oil company.
“I was forced to separate from my family because I cannot compete, I have to perch with a friend to go to work and my salary is not more than GH¢90.00 so raising money to pay rent is a problem,” he lamented.
A drive through the metropolis indicate that most roads in the city are full of heavy duty trucks of oil companies, which are carting pipes and other logistics to the Navy Port at Sekondi or Takoradi Port.
One can count about eight different companies and other oil service providers located from the Paa Grant road to Nkrumah Roundabout.
There are other similar companies at the Shipper’s Authority Roundabout leading to the Takoradi Port.
City authorities seem to be overwhelmed by the situation and have not been able to come out with a solution to the problem of congestion.
Some residents have therefore appealed to the metropolitan assembly and the city authorities through its town and country planning unit to work effectively to ensure sanity on the roads and other commercial areas in the Twin-city.
They said that was necessary to ensure a conducive atmosphere in the central business district for other commercial activities.

POLICE IMPOUND 250 RICKETY VEHICLES (PAGE 23, NOV 8, 2010)

2010-11-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

THE Western Regional Police Command has impounded more than 250 rickety vehicles with expired road worthiness and insurance certificates.
Some of the vehicles were impounded for fixing improvised seats, cracked windscreen, weak carriers on top of their vehicles and overloading. Others also had worn-out tyres
The operation was led by the Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Alhaji Hamidu Mahama. He expressed shock at the state of some of the vehicles and said it was important for vehicle owners and drivers to note that maintenance was very important in the transport business.
“From what we are seeing here, it appears that the people are only interested in how much money they make at the end of the day instead of the lives of innocent passengers,” he said.
Alhaji Hamidu said “This is what happens when the safety of the people is neglected to satisfy their profit motives.”
He said the police would continue with the exercise to ensure that the vehicle owners did the right thing by taking the rickety vehicles off the road to avert loss of lives.
“The vehicle owners should not see the exercise by the police as a bother but rather a proactive measure to ensure that life and property were protected” the commander said.
He said it was important for drivers to note that the lives of passengers and pedestrians were critical, hence the need to protect human lives.
He said the police would ensure that the exercise was carried out in all commands and divisions and districts of the police.

4 GHANA POST OFFICIALS IN FAKE DEAL (PAGE 23, NOV 8, 2010)

2010-11-12T23:52:00.000-08:00

THREE out of four officials of the Ghana Post Company in Takoradi, who allegedly printed fake receipt books which enabled them dupe the company to the tune of more than GH¢16,000.00, have been arrested by the Takoradi Central Police.
The fourth suspect is however on the run and the police have mounted a search for his arrest.
The three officials are, Bismark Munkoh, Stephen Lirase, and Philip Boateng, with Kwesi Hagan, the Vaults Manger, on the run.
The suspects printed their own fake receipt books, which they issued to cover transactions with unsuspecting clients of the company between the period of January 1, 2009 and July 30, 2010. They also shared all proceeds from bulk mails after issuing the fake receipt to the clients.
Where a cheque was issued in the name of Ghana Post, the suspects would replace the cheque with fiscal cash from the vault with the connivance of the vaults manager, and share the money.
According to the police, Munkoh, who is the quality control manager had established close links with more than 35 clients of the company.
The police said when they receive bulk mail, he (Munkoh) would call the clients personally to inform them of their parcels. Sometimes, the corporate bodies and institutions called him that they were expecting such a bulk mail.
The police said when the group went for the mails of their clients, they would issue fake receipts to the clients as evidence of payment.
To continue with their deals, the police said, the four, led by Lirase who was the mail officer would sort the mails into the boxes without appropriate documentation from the counter.
According to the police, the company decided to carry out an audit when it realised that the sales from the Takoradi office was dwindling and that led to the discovery of the deal.
A total of 35 corporate bodies and other schools which were targets of the four, were visited during police investigations.
The police said when Munkoh, who was the principal suspect was interrogated, he admitted the offence and disclosed that the remaining leaflets in the said receipt book they were using was in the possession of Hagan who is currently at large.
The police said the three had been granted bail while they had intensified their search for Hagan.

MAN SWINDLES EMPLOYERS (MIRROR, PAGE 34, NOV 6, 2010)

2010-11-06T08:00:00.001-07:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Takoradi

BARELY 40 hours after being appointed as the sales and marketing officer of a firm in Takoradi, a young unassuming man has been arrested by the police for stealing.
Eric Essuman, is alleged to have broken into the vaults of his employer and made away with cash and cheques amounting to thousands of Ghana cedis.
After making use of the cash of more than GH¢5,000, Essuman was said to be in the process of cashing the cheques through a third party when he was apprehended.
According to the police, Essuman went to the bank to cash one of the cheques, but was asked to bring his identity card due to the face value.
To avoid detection, he then went home and asked a mobile phone prepaid card retailer near his house to go to the bank and cash the money on his behalf using her identity card since he could not find his.
Upon reaching the bank, and unknown to him and the phone card dealer, the bank manager had called the customer to confirm the issuance of the said cheque before payment.
The customer, according to the police, confirmed issuing the cheque but not to an individual but a company. The customer also informed the manager that he had informed the company not to present the cheque, since his outfit would be paying in cash.
The police said the customer then phoned the employers of Essuman, who told him that the cheque together with others in their vaults had been stolen.
The bank manager, according to the police, called for the arrest of anyone who presented the cheque to the bank.
After her arrest, the phone card dealer was made to call Essuman to go for the money.
He quickly rushed to the place for the money and he was arrested by the police.
About 25 different cheques issued to his employers with a face value close to more than GH¢15,200 was retrieved, but he could not account for the cash he stole.
He has since been remanded in prison custody to re-appear before court on November 15, 2010.

TAKORADI AIRPORT GETS AVIATION FUEL STORAGE FACILITY (BACK PAGE, NOV 4, 2010)

2010-11-06T07:12:00.001-07:00

A facility to provide adequate aviation fuel at the Takoradi Airport in anticipation of increased air traffic due to the commercial production of oil and gas has been inaugurated.
The facility which has the capacity to store 180,000 litres of aviation fuel as well as a reservoir which can contain 13,500 litres of water was constructed jointly by the Ghana Air Force, GOIL and Tullow Ghana at the cost of $480,000.
Inaugurating the facility, the Minister of Defence, Lt Gen Henry Smith, said with the increase in traffic there was the need for uninterrupted fuel supply to ensure smooth flights .
To ensure security in support of the country’s newly found oil and gas, he said the government had set up a ministerial committee on oil and gas which has been entrusted with ensuring the strategic direction of security in the sector.
He said the committee had developed plans to provide a framework for safety and security in the oil and gas industry in the country.
Lt. Gen. Smith said the committee had establisheded a petroleum security co-ordination centre to work closely with stakeholders in the industry by monitoring offshore and onshore facilities.
“In this view I call on the oil companies and other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to be ready to assist the government and security agencies to acquire the basic equipment needed to ensure maximum security in this sector,” he said.

NON-PAYMENT OF BOPS AFFECTS STMA'S REVENUE (PAGE 18, OCT 30, 2010)

2010-11-06T02:12:00.000-07:00

OFFICES of seventy-seven companies operating in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Area are likely to be closed down for defaulting in payment of their 2010 Business Operating Permits (BOPs).
A defaulters’ list made available to the Daily Graphic show that the companies are owing amounts ranging between GH¢1,200 to GH¢12,000 which have accumulated to the tune of GH¢338,431.50 making it impossible for the assembly to raise enough money internally to support its development projects.
The advertising unit of the assembly has also threatened to prosecute telecommunication companies which have failed to pay fines and penalties amounting to about GH¢258,000 imposed on them for painting private residential facilities with their colours and logos.
The Acting Public Relations Officer of the assembly, Mr Opoku Boateng, said the assembly’s bye-laws stipulated that “the assembly may close down any business or suspend its activities until the appropriate fee is paid for the grant of a permit for the operation of businesses.”
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Sekondi, the Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director, Mr Zakaria Abdulai, said failure to pay those debts was affecting the assembly’s internally generated fund.
He said the assembly expected all those, who were supposed to pay taxes and all other forms of levies to the assembly, to do so to ensure the mobilisation of funds for the assembly’s projects.
He explained that aside from the common fund of the assembly, it depended so much on its internally generated funds for the execution of projects to meet the expectation of the people.
The acting public relations officer, therefore urged the defaulters to pay their Business Operating Permits and fines in support of the assembly’s revenue generation efforts.

NO MILITANT GROUP IN WESTERN REGION — POLICE (MIRROR PAGE 27, OCT 30, 2010,

2010-10-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu,
Sekondi

The Western Regional Police Command has rebutted reports of an emerging militant group in the Western Region and assured the public that it had proactive measures in place to deal with such situations.
It said the police were on the ground on daily basis with intelligence on the ground in the communities and would, therefore, not be taken by surprise.
This follows reports that a group calling itself Cape Militia had emerged at Cape Three Points in the region, threatening mayhem if residents did not benefit from the oil revenues.
Speaking to The Mirror in Sekondi, the Western Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, assured the nation that police intelligence was all over the districts and communities along the coast.
“We are always in touch with the people at the community level and the story reported by an Accra-based newspaper is not true,” he said.
“Our risk assessment covered all those areas even before the day of the first oil was announced and we are ready and the country should be rest assured,” he said.
He urged the media to take time to clear certain issues with the security agencies before going public in order not to send wrong signals to members of the larger community in the country and the world as a whole.
Alhaji Hamidu said the police was aware that peace was a priceless commodity and they would do everything to protect it.
Meanwhile, some chiefs in the affected communities have expressed shock at the story, describing it as baseless and calculated to discredit the people of the area.
“And we do not think that we will wait for an armed group to emerge in our communities and we will not report it to the law enforcement agencies.
“If we have issue with the oil revenue, which is yet to come or be declared, we will engage the state in a dialogue but not arm conflict,” they said.
Nana Kwesi Agyeman, chief of Lower Dixcove, said as a leader of the community, he would ensure that peace prevailed in the area.
The chief of Cape Three Points, Nana Akye-Kesse, expressed shock and questioned the motive for the publication.

EXPATRIATE SPITS ON COP (MIRROR, LEAD STORY, OCT 30, 2010)

2010-10-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

From Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

An expatriate worker who allegedly spat on a policeman and called him a black monkey when the policeman attempted to arrest him has finally been apprehended by the police.
Aankit Patel, who is said to be an American volunteer, was said to have engaged in the act after the policeman had tried to arrest him for allegedly jumping a red light in traffic.
The policeman later managed to arrest Patel and escorted his vehicle to the Central Police Station in Sekondi.
Upon his arrest, Patel was said to have confessed to the police that he had behaved rudely.
“I spat on him and called him a black monkey who was coming to extort money from me. I am sorry. I have apologised a million times to the officer, the Ghana Police Service and the great people of Ghana,” Patel was reported to have stated.
According to a police source, Patel jumped the red light at a traffic interception and ignored the police signal to pull over.
It said Patel met a slow moving traffice, so the policeman pursued and managed to call him to order.
It was in the course of arresting him that Patel allegedly engaged the policeman, Corporal William Donkor, in verbal exchanges.
“Is it not money you want, you black monkey? I can give you all the money you want. You came to arrest me because of money. How much do you want?” the suspect was said to have retorted.
When The Mirror got to the scene, angry onlookers expressed concern about the level of indiscipline in society, and also by some visitors to the country.
When contacted, the Western Regional Police Command confirmed the story and warned visitors to the country not to take the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality for granted.
“Traffic lights are universal and we expected the suspect to respect them. Even when he was at fault, he should have taken his time to listen to the officer,” one of the officials said.
The suspect was charged with offensive conduct and other traffic offences and would soon be arraigned.

GAS PRODUCTION PROJECT TAKES OFF IN DECEMBER (PAGE 29, OCT 29, 2010)

2010-10-29T09:48:00.001-07:00

THE country’s multi-million dollar gas production project has received a big boost with the award of a contract to pipe the natural gas to the shore.
The award went to Techip, the company which is currently working on the ongoing subsea structures for the jubilee project. The contract for the piping of the natural gas will cover the engineering, welding and installation of a 14 kilometer-long rigid steel flow lines.
The flow lines will be laid from the riser station at the Jubilee Fields with water depth of more than 900 meters deep.
According to the officer in charge of the gas commercialisation project at Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, (GNPC), Mr Victor Sunu-Attah, this will be followed with the extension of another 36km 12inches pipe from a 70 meters depth to the shore.
Mr Sunu-Attah maintained that even though the contract was awarded in the last half of the year it was still within schedule and explained that the project would commence by the end of December this year.
Mr Sunu-Attah said that after the completion of the piping project another 120km of 20-inch pipeline from Jomoro District to Aboadze as well as 38km of 12-inch pipeline from the plant to Effasu would be laid.
He said the commercialisation of the gas would accelerate economic development and support strategic activities within the petroleum processing industry in West Africa saying “The project would also restart the country’s strategic role as preferred exporter of power in the region”.
The Country Manager of Technip, Mr Stephan Sole said the project would also include the pipeline end termination (PLET), subsea structure to connect rigid flow line and flexible riser as well as the flow line that would constitute the deep water section of the pipeline.
He said Technip was occupying a leading position in the subsea-sector in the country would work within the time schedule.
The project, he said, would be carried out by one of its new pipe laying vessels Apache II with strict adherence to is safety and quality standards and this would be executed by the Technip group’s operating center in Paris, France and the flow line would be welded at Technip’s spool base in Mobile, Alabama.
He said the company was a world leader in the fields of project management, engineering and construction for the oil and gas industry, offering a comprehensive portfolio of innovative solutions and technologies.

TEACHER JAILED 5 YEARS FOR RAPING STUDENT (BACK PAGE, OCT 28, 2010)

2010-10-28T11:28:00.001-07:00

A senior high school teacher who raped a student at Prestea and blamed it on the devil and his uncontrollable libido has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to the offence.
The convict, Eric Amankwah Marfo, told the Tarkwa Circuit Court that he had lured the victim into the room to discuss sex and that he had increased the volume of his sound system before raping her.
Marfo, who is a Home Economics teacher at the Prestea Senior High/Technical School, said while the music was playing, his neighbours thought he was celebrating the birth of his child while, in actual fact, he was having an affair with the student.
Passing judgement, the presiding judge, Mr Samuel Obeng Diawuo, deplored the conduct of the convict and said he had messed up his career.
The prosecution’s case was that the convict, who is married, sent for the student (name withheld) last Saturday and asked her to buy oranges for him.
On her return, the convict invited her to his room and engaged her in a discussion on sex before he forcibly had sex with her.
The prosecutor, Chief Inspector Edward Padi, said after going through the ordeal, the victim reported the case to her prefect and subsequently followed it up with a phone call to her parents, who reported Marfo to the police.

VRA FIXES DATE FOR SPILLAGE (SPREAD, OCT 28, 2010)

2010-10-28T11:26:00.001-07:00

THE Volta River Authority (VRA) has indicated that the planned spillage of the Volta Lake will now take place on November 1, 2010 to avert any possible damage to the dam.
The decision is informed by the consistent rise in the water level, which now stands at 276.40ft, which is 1.4ft less than the allowable maximum level of the dam.
At a press conference in Takoradi yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer of VRA, Mr Kwaku Awotwi, said the spillage would be carried out in such a way that it would not be noticed and would not affect communities downstream of the lake.
“Considering the current rate of inflow, VRA intends to commence discharging small amounts of water in controlled manner in the event the lake level rises above 277ft, currently forecasted to be on or around that figure by November 1, 2010,” Mr Awotwi said,
However, as a safety measure, he said, VRA would be working with the communities along the lake and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).
To avert any possible disaster, Mr Awotwi said, the VRA would spill about 10,000 cubic feet of water per second and explained that at such a rate it would be difficult for the communities to notice the spillage.
The measure, he explained, was to ensure that VRA was not compelled to spill uncontrolled amount of water in the event that the lake level rose above 280ft, which is the maximum allowable level.
“This is to also obtain optimum protection for the communities downstream of the reservoir in line with meeting the objectives for the flood control,” Mr Awotwi added.
As a proactive measure, he said, the VRA had intensified its efforts at educating the general public on the exercise and the necessary precautionary measures in the event of any risk.
“We will ensure that communities are given sufficient notification and will provide continuous public announcements before, during and after the spillage.

Faces of female aspirants -- In district assembly elections -- DORIS ESI COFIE

2010-10-28T03:51:00.001-07:00

In Shama-Junction Electoral area, in the Shama District of the Western Region, Dories Esi Cofie said she would so everything to ensure continuous development of the area.
As a teacher, she said one of the serious problems she saw lack of educational facility in Ituma community in the Shama District, “I have therefore managed to bring school to the community which is taking care of the needs of the children.”
“Been an assembly member is not just for the sake of it, but to ensure that we help in deliberations that will advance the course of the district and to use our negotiation power source for funding and lobby the assembly for attention for our area,” she said.
She said one of the important things for the people in one of her communities was water and she had provided pipe borne water for people of Atse Village and public toilet for Public Toilet for the people Shama-Kumasi.
Work on Shama-Junction-Market she said was in progress and when elected she would continue to work closely with the assembly which had shown so much interest in the completion of the project to work on the market.
She said through her initiative, Komfoeku also had a six classroom which was supported by the Ghana Education Trust Fund. She called on the people of her electoral area to vote for her to continue her work.

4.
JOANA RITA YANKSON

An incumbent member for Mempeasem-Ngyiresia electoral Joana Rita Yankson, a business woman said she could use her strong bargaining power to lobby for development for her area.
She said during her term, she had lobbied for household toilets with the support from an NGO for the people of her community.
She said through the same support she managed to construct a water kiosk for the people to save the people from hardship they went through having access to water even though they were in the metropolis.
Joana said she also managed to lobby cement foundation for some cement for the completion of the junior high school block for Ngyiresia community.
She said the completion of the project had saved the community the problem the children went through in their quest to access education.
“I also managed to get support from the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly in the area of streetlight to Ngyiresian Penyin New Site,” she said.
Madam Yankson said one of the problems for women in the community was access to loan since they could not compete with companies in the traditional banking system.
She said loan was contracted from Daasgift Foundation to the women in the community to ensure that they stayed in business.
The aspiring said she was also involved in the lobbying for support for 17 needy children in Mempeasem.

Faces of female aspirants -- In district assembly elections -- MARGARET TAKYI

2010-10-28T03:50:00.000-07:00

Ms Margaret Takyi, a teacher, said one reason why she wants to contest this year’s assembly election was to offer her selfless service to the people in the Kofi Gyan Electoral Area in the Prestea Huni-Vally District Assembly.
She said if given the nod, she would continue the projects already initiated: The electrification project and to educate the people to ensure that the high electricity bill was reduced.
She said education form the basis for everything if this world, therefore, aside the electrification project, she would raise fund for the completion of the six classroom block with as store, an office and 52 pieces of dual desk provided by the assembly.
Ms Takyi said the No.16 Acqua Privy toilet project at Yareyeya and the market stalls at Akodom yet to be commissioned would be executed.
“I will also ensure that the No.2 CHIP Compound at Huri-Amo to be completed to ensure the health needs of the people in the community is addressed,” she assured.
She said she is very much aware of the importance of service and would do everything to ensure that at the end of her turner if she should win became unforgettable.
The aspiring member said she would also work hard to protect the interest of women and children and encourage the community to take interest in education of their children.
Ms Takyi promised to play active role in the assembly to ensure equal development of the area.

Faces of female aspirants -- In district assembly elections, CYNTHIA SONEKAN

2010-10-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

CYNTHIA SONEKAN
A self motivated business woman and assembly member for Bortogyena electoral area in the Mpohor Wassa East of the Western Region, Ms Cynthia Sonekan, is seeking re-election in the upcoming district assembly election slated for December 2010.
Miss Sonekan is also a member of the Women-In-Law and Development in Africa’s (WiLDAF) Literacy Volunteer programme and had offered herself to protect the interest of members of her community.
With creative and action oriented attitude, she has successfully raised more than GHc3,000 from Barclays Bank and used the money to provide portable water for the Wassa Mampong community.
She also provided Bortogyena with public address system, 15 bicycles for pupils from far communities to attend school, 60 bags of cement from Ghacem Foundation and the completion of three unit classroom blocks her electoral area.
In the Wassa Mampong Community, Ms Sonekan became very popular and was described by the chiefs and people of the community as loving and God sent.
She said “Water is life and whoever brings water brings life. Members of the community especially women spend a whole day looking for water and it is heartwarming for to see the people hitherto struggle for water now have one of the life’s most indispensable commodity water close to them.”
Already member of the assembly and a member of WiLDAF, Ms Sonekan used her position to embark on community outreach to educate the people on marital, domestic violence, intestate succession law.
“The very people I help with my “little legal skills” turnout to campaign for me during the local government elections and I won,” she said.
Ms Sonekan said if retained, should continue to render selfless service to members of the community help to ensure that only the best came to the people.
“I will not let the people down; I will be an active member of the assembly to and work together with other member to ensure that the right decisions were taking in the interest of the people.

VRA fixes date for spillage (page 49)

2010-10-28T03:44:00.000-07:00

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Aboadze

Volta River Authority has announced its plan-spill of the Volta Lake to by November 1, 2010 in smaller quantities to avert any disaster for communities as the current level stands at 277ft.
They have also assured the country that they quantities that would spill would not be noticed and would not have any effect on communities downstream of the lake.
However, as a safety measure, VRA would be working with the communities along the lake and the National Disaster Management Organization, districts to be on the standby for any eventuality.
It said it would spilling about 10,00 cubic feet per second which would be difficult to noticed.
Speaking to the media in Takoradi, the Chief Executive of VRA Mr. Kwaku Awotwi said “considering the current rate of inflow, VRA intends to commence discharging small amounts of water in controlled manner in the event the lake level rises above 277ft, currently forecasted to be on or around that figure by November 1, 2010.

He said the current level of lake as at today, October 27 was 276.40ft which is the highest on the record of VRA therefore it was important to spill a step below the maximum level.
The measure he said was to ensure that VRA was not forced to spill uncontrolled amount of water in the event that the lake level rises above 280ft which was the maximum allowable level.
“This is to also optimum protection for the communities downstream of the reservoir in line with meeting the objectives for the flood control,” Mr Awotwi added.
He further explained that the small discharge currently planned, was not expected that any communities downstream will be affected, “however, VRA is collaborating closely with the communities, district assemblies and NADMO to provide appropriate and adequate information when the need arises and mitigate any effects accordingly.”
As a proactive measure, he said VRA was intensifying its communication efforts to the general public especially those from downstream most likely to be at risk, saying:
“We will ensure that communities are given sufficient noticification and will provide continuous public announcements before, during and after the spillage.
The chief executive also explained that could be using the same channel of generating units which would be increase 10,000 cubic feet per second.
Therefore the spill would not carry that amount of pressure that could rush people out of communities downstream.
He expressed the hope that with the signs of the rainy season over they had to still monitor until the said date in November to spill.

COCOA FARMERS INTER-CROP WITH COMMERCIAL TREES (BACK PAGE, OCT 27, 2010)

2010-10-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

Cocoa farmers in the Western Region have introduced innovations by interspersing cocoa trees with timber species to maximise returns on their agricultural ventures.
The initiative, which has been made possible under the farm forest project of CARE-Ghana, is also intended to save the dwindling timber species and forest cover in the region.
So far about 700,000 highly valued economic trees, including Mahogany, Afram, Wawa, Odum, and Emire, have been planted in the cocoa farms.
More than $400,000 has so far been spent on the project, which began about two years ago in more than 50 communities in the Jomoro, Sefwi Wiawso, Juaboso, Wassa Amenfi, and Sefwi Akontobrah districts, as well as the Tarkwa Nsuaem municipality.
The visiting Royal Prince of Denmark, Prince Joachiem, who is also the patron of CARE- Denmark, which is supporting the project, has inspected some of the pilot farms in some of the communities.
The farmers who signed onto the project earlier are reaping the benefits now as timber companies have already deposited huge sums of money awaiting the trees to mature.
Mr Ben Arthur of CARE-Ghana office in the Western Region said the focus of the project was to ensure that the farmers, apart from the benefits of bumper cocoa harvest, could also sell the timber to gain extra income in future.
He said research had shown that the timber species could be planted in between the cocoa trees and that while the farmer harvested the fruits from the cocoa tree he would also have the opportunity of harvesting these trees after 25 years or more.
Prince Joachim commended the farmers for embracing the project to preserve and protect nature.

OH NO, THESE ILLEGAL MINERS (1B, OCT 27, 2010)

2010-10-27T07:46:00.001-07:00

EQUIPMENT mounted on River Ankobra by illegal miners, believed to be Chinese, and their Ghanaian accomplices at Adansi in the Wassa Amenfi East District in the Western Region.
The miners continue to pollute the river with dangerous chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, thereby endangering the lives of thousands of people in communities who depend on the river for their main source of drinking water.
In addition to the mining machinery, which they have mounted on the river, they also use heavy-duty earth-moving machines to divert part of the river in order to carry out their mining activities.
The illegal miners operate at night to escape being arrested by the Wassa Amenfi East Assembly and the security agencies.
After polluting the diverted water, it is then released back into the main river which flows down to the communities from the Amenfi East areas through Dominase to the estuary in the Ellembelle District.
When the Daily Graphic got to Dekoto in the Wassa Amenfi East District, after an hour and half drive on a torturous road, the colour of the water which the people drink had changed to yellow.
Their activities have also created serious environmental problems since the green vegetative cover in these communities in the deepest part of the northern part of the Western Region and large tract of farmlands have been destroyed.

KESSBEN THRASH BA STARS 3-1 (BACK PAGE, OCT 25, 2010)

2010-10-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

Kessben FC yesterday maintained their lead after handing BA Stars a 3-1 defeat at the Sekondi Stadium amidst rowdy scenes by fans in the stands.
Kessben’s goals were scored by James Boadu in the sixth and 65th minutes and a contentious penalty well executed by Hans Kwofie in the 46th minute.
BA Stars piled pressure on the homesters after the opener and scored their goal on the 27th minute through Daniel Larbi-Coomson.
A 75th minute BA Stars goal disallowed by referee E.R. Biney caused pandemonium in the stands, requiring the intervention of the police to bring things under control.

JUBILEE FIELD 92% READY (PAGE 3, OCT 25, 2010)

2010-10-25T04:49:00.000-07:00

Work on the installation of equipment at the Jubilee Field for the commercial production of oil is 92 per cent complete, the Director of Exploration and Production at the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Thomas Manu, has said.
The few remaining installations, constituting eight per cent of the total work, will be completed by the end of this month.
At the moment, all the subsea production equipment has been installed on the sea bed by Technip.
Additionally, eight out of the nine flexible risers have been installed, giving high hopes to the country and the Jubilee partners that the first oil will flow in the last quarter of the year.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Mr Manu said the fixing of the production equipment on top of the wells was a good sign and an indication that the first oil would be produced this quarter.
He said work had progressed steadily according to plan and that at the moment the company doing the subsea installation was linking the risers from the seabed to the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.
Mr Manu said after the installation, there would be a period of testing and inauguration of the equipment before the commencement of production.
Asked if the 120,000 barrels of oil a day would be produced from the initial stage, he said it would take some months to reach that target.
“It will be a gradual process before it is opened for the full production of our daily target of 120,000bd,” he said.
Production is expected to double to 240,000 barrels a day after the completion of Phase II in 2014.
Ghana’s share, represented by the ,GNPC, is 13.75 per cent.
Other partners in the project include Tullow Ghana, 34.70 per cent; Kosmos, 23.49 per cent; Anadarko, 23.49 per cent; Sabre, 2.81 per cent and the E. O. Group, 1.75 per cent.

AOWIN-SUAMAN EXCEEDS REVENUE TARGET (PAGE 29, OCT 23, 2010)

2010-10-25T04:04:00.000-07:00

THE Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asutifi Rural Bank Limited, Mr Kofi Bonsu Boakye-Boateng has suggested to the ARB Apex Bank Limited to establish what he termed “ a mini Stock Exchange” solely for Rural and Community Banks (RCBs) where the share of these banks could be traded.
That, he said would enable the RCBs to raise the needed capital and also enable non-resident citizens desirous to have some kind of investment back home to own shares in these banks.
Mr Boakye-Boateng made the suggestion at the 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank at Acherensua in the Asutifi District of the Brong Ahafo Region.
He noted that one area posing a serious challenge to most RCBs was the build-up of the appropriate minimum stated capital level of GH¢150,000 set up by the Bank of Ghana and one of the ways to meet this requirement was the proposed “mini stock exchange” .
Mr Boakye-Boateng further proposed that another way shareholders could help to build share capital for their banks was to publicly convert cash donations and cash gifts at social functions into quantities that are equivalent to ordinary shares for the beneficiary.
Presenting the report of the bank for the year under review, Mr Anthony Yaw Oppong, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, said the bank made profit after tax of Gh¢51,107.73 for the year ended December 31, 2009.
He indicated that the total assets of the bank also increased from GH¢1,299,722.88 in 2008 to GH¢2,121,059.58 in 2009.
Mr Francis Boateng, who deputised for the Managing Director of ARB Apex Bank Limited, Mr Eric Osei Bonsu, commended the bank for its impressive performance over the years.
He advised the board and management of the bank to strive to always improve on services to maintain the ever- growing competition in the banking industry and urged the bank to brace up for the challenge of migrating from manual operation to a computerised environment.
Mr Osei-Bonsu further advised rural banks to keep abreast of issues at the banking front and embrace corporate mergers and commended the Asutifi Rural Bank for including merger talks in its agenda and expressed the hope that it would be among the first rural banks to embrace and take steps to merge with some other rural banks.