FDA holds meeting on Ebola vaccination trials

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) will today hold a crunch meeting with the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences to discuss concerns over proposed Ebola vaccination trials in Ghana.

“The meeting is not to give approval; that prerogative belongs to FDA,” a highly placed government source disclosed to the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra yesterday.

“A definite decision on the proposed trials is yet to be made,” it said.

Reacting to concerns raised by a section of Ghanaians over media reports that an Ebola vaccine trial had been scheduled to take place in parts of Ghana, the source said the FDA could only give approval after testing the efficacy and possible side effects of the vaccine.

 “The FDA has not granted approval yet. That must be made clear to all Ghanaians,” it noted in a terse response to the Daily Graphic.

Opposition

There are reports of pending Ebola vaccination trials for selected communities in Ghana.

The reports say volunteers are to be given GH¢200 each, together with cellular phones.

But the reports have been met with strict opposition from Ghanaians and some non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

For instance, the Coalition for Ghana’s Independence Now (CGIN) has said it is disenchanted that the government could consider allowing its citizens to be used for an Ebola vaccine trial.

Media reports indicate that the University of Health and Allied Sciences was spearheading the project, which is expected to take off in Hohoe in the Volta Region.

The FDA is on record to have confirmed that it is testing the vaccine before it could approve of the trials.

Officials have already approached students of the Hohoe Midwifery Training School to volunteer for the trial.

The statement

A statement issued by the CGIN said: “We want to say, without fear or favour, that Ebola is not just a disease but rather a well-planned business. A business where people have created an artificial problem and now looking for a market to sell the solution and we are telling Ghanaians beforehand that there is and will be no way by which Ghana can go through this Ebola virus human experiment without Ebola being spread country wide.

“We also would want Ghanaians to know that, since there is no single case of Ebola or patient in Ghana, healthy people would have to be infected with the Ebola virus before the said vaccine is administered to them for a gamble.

“It is, therefore, from the above illogical scenario that we consider the intended human experimentation of Ebola in Ghana as criminal, a human rights abuse, thievery and a total disrespect of Ghanaians as human beings.”

It added: “The CGIN is not crying wolf when there is none but we are guided by history, logic and critical thinking and our responsibility as citizens to play our role of national security.

“Ebola outbreak, which is 100 per cent sure to happen in Ghana should this human trials be allowed to go on, will be the greatest national security threat our country will ever face. The manufacturers of the so-called Ebola vaccine will look on till a larger number of Ghanaians are killed by the disease here in Ghana before the vaccine will be released and this will happen to make the government buy the vaccine at any price.”

Background

Ebola is an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding, spread through contact with infected body fluids by a virus whose normal host species is unknown.

It has so far claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Senegal and Nigeria.

Govt to wash hands off pricing of petroleum products

The government has decided to wash its hands off the pricing of petroleum products.

This means that the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs) and Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) will, before August 2015, price their own products.

The strategy, which is the final phase of Ghana’s petroleum downstream deregulation policy, will result in the cessation of subsidies on fuel products.

The government’s indebtedness to the BDCs as a result of subsidies currently stands at more than $800 million.

The Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr Moses Asaga, in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra Monday, clarified that “the increment or decrease of petroleum prices will no longer be the preserve of the government but will be determined by market forces that will take into consideration the international price of crude oil, the foreign exchange rate, the fall or rise of the cedi, import duties, taxes and other factors.

“This means the government will no longer be involved in the pricing of petroleum products and therefore the perennial issue of subsidies will come to an end,” he said.

Rationale

Explaining the rationale behind the liberalisation of the petroleum downstream sector, Mr Asaga told the Daily Graphic that the full implementation of the deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector would promote competition among market players.

“Prices will vary and will be lower because the BDCs and the OMCs will be competing with one another for a wider market share. The petroleum downstream sector will in no time turn out like the telecoms sector, where there is so much healthy competition.

“The issue of colossal subsidies which put a huge financial burden on the government, he said, would also end and thereby result in the re-channeling of finances into other sectors of the economy, Mr Asaga said.

Timeline

Mr Asaga did not give a specific date by which the new policy would be implemented but said it would be implemented before August 2015.

According to him, the NPA was currently holding meetings with stakeholders, including the BDCs, the OMCs and transporters.

“We have met the BDCs and scheduled a meeting with the OMCs this week. Some portions of the NPA Act will have to be slightly amended to contain the new situation or pricing,” he said

Sanctions

Touching on moves to ensure that consumers were not short-changed, he said: “There will be sanctions on BDCs and OMCs that will go beyond the average price indicated. The punishment will be the suspension of operating licences. In the event that the quality of products is found to have been compromised, it will result in the withdrawal of licences after a third warning.”

He said the Petroleum Product Market Scheme (PPMS) Unit, which was set up at the NPA two years ago, “will be strengthened to become a very strong department in the new dispensation to further do away with incidents of adulteration and sale of inferior products.

“The failure rate or quality, which used to be 30 per cent of product quality, has been reduced to two per cent since the introduction of the PPMS. We will tighten it to 0.5 or 0.1 per cent,” he added.

Debt

On the debt the government owed the BDCs, Mr Asaga said, “We hope to isolate this debt and deal with it once and for all.”

He said Nigeria was currently facing acute fuel shortage because of debts the government owed the BDCs there, adding that in the case of Ghana, “we have managed the system prudently to forestall product shortages so far”.

Control

He explained that Cabinet was aware of the new measure and further indicated that there were checks and balances in place to ensure that the interests of consumers were protected.

“The NPA will make sure that prices quoted by the BDCs and the OMCs are within the approved and expected ranges. We will make sure they do not take undue advantage of the consumer.

“Each OMC will have to indicate its ex-pump price and it is expected to submit it to the NPA for publication. This will enable consumers to have a choice, depending on the price of products,” he said.

Quality

Asked how the NPA would ensure that the quality of products was not compromised, Mr Asaga said: “The NPA will tighten its quality control measures to ensure that the inspection and testing of petroleum products meet the standard specification of the NPA and the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) before they are discharged at the port.”

History

The deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector started with the establishment of the NPA, which decided to deregulate the industry that used to be controlled by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company Limited, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and a few multinational companies.

The BDCs were introduced in the process. 

They were initially four, but the number has now increased to 27.

The OMCs, which were less than 10 some decades ago, have increased to 120, out of which 70 per cent control the retail market.

Court adjourns murder case; Following bizarre behaviour by suspect

A bizarre behaviour displayed by one of the suspects in the murder of the two Americans at Akwamufie in the Eastern Region, compelled the Accra District Court to adjourn the case to June 8, next month.

The court, presided by Ms Veronique Manfort, further directed the prosecution to send the suspect to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital for examination.

Obiri Yeboah, who is a farmer and fetish priest, was seen murmuring and looking restless when he appeared before the court on May 14 this month.

Yeboah and five others namely Anokye Yaw Frimpong, a driver; Nana Appia-Nti III, a mechanic; Brenda Kareema Mohammed, a pensioner, and her son, Yazid Alazim Mohammed, a businessman; and Mensah Kamaugogo Muata, a surgeon assistant, are facing two counts of conspiracy and murder.

Their pleas have not been taken.

Docket 

According to the prosecutor, Superintendent Francis Baah, the docket on the case had been forwarded to the Attorney-General’s office for advice.

Confession

On May 14, this month, Frimpong confessed in open court that he had single-handedly murdered the two victims.

He claimed to have committed the crime without the knowledge of the other five accused persons.

The accused, who was determined to give further details, was asked by the court to hold on until the police had completed their investigations into the murder.

Background

According to the prosecution, the deceased persons – Mamelina Diop, 75, and Nzinga Jaana, 69 – were pensioners from the American Civil Service but resided at Fihankra, near Akwamufie in the Eastern Region.

He said while Nana Appia-Nti lived at Atimpoku, the other accused persons lived at Fihankra.

In 1997, some African Americans in the Diaspora decided to make Ghana their home and therefore acquired 218.5 acres of land at Appiakrom where they created a community now called Fihankra.

Agreement

“In the agreement governing the purchase of the land, the group promised to build schools, a hospital and a stadium, provide potable water and bring other amenities to the community,” the prosecution said.

It said the leader of the group, Oluwale Kwadwo Akpan, who had made himself a traditional ruler of the area, started issuing indentures and collected annual rent for the land allocated to the residents of Fihankra.

After his death in May 2009, his wife, Majewa Adoujokroke Akpan; his son, Goloi Osakwe Dwemena Akpan, and the two murdered African American women took over the management of the fund.

Revolt

However, Kareema Mohammed, Alazim Mohammed and Muata revolted against that arrangement and accused the Akpan Family and the two African-American women of fraud and mismanagement. 

The disagreement later degenerated into personal confrontations thus severing the cordial relationship between them and the two African-American groups. The latter’s lives were later threatened by the accused persons.

Murder

On May 5, this year, Mamelina and Jaana were reported missing.

A search, however, led to the discovery of a freshly dug grave the next day. An order was subsequently obtained from the Akosombo District Court for the exhumation of the bodies.

“The bodies of the deceased persons, which were found buried in a shallow grave, were removed and deposited at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital morgue, pending autopsy,” the prosecution said.

Investigations led to the arrest of the accused persons.

35 NSS officials charged

Alhaji Alhassan Mohammed Imoro

Thirty-five people, including the top hierarchy of the National Service Scheme (NSS), who were implicated in a massive fraud at the secretariat have been charged with conniving to deprive the state of more than GH¢107 million.

They are alleged to have, between September 2013 and August 2014, acted together to loot the state through the payment of allowances to 31,516 non-existent national service personnel.

They are the Executive Director, Alhaji Alhassan Mohammed Imoro; his deputy, Michael Kombor; the Accountant, Nelson Ayeltiga; the acting Internal Auditor, Gloria Aku-Mensah; the Head of Project Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Alhassan Iddrisu, and the Director of the National Voluntary Service Scheme, Ebenezer Anim Danquah.

Others are the Internal Auditor, Sammy Ofori; a former Greater Accra Regional Director, Seth Nana Obugyei Asiedu;  the Volta Regional Director, Gabriel Nyorke; the Central Regional Director, Ali Ahmed Awumbila; a former Western Regional Director, Michael Totimeh; the Brong Ahafo Regional Director, Ebenezer Edzi; the Northern Regional Director, Shaibu Temi Abiru; a former Upper East Regional Director, George Dassah Naawinyelle; the Northern Regional Accountant, Dominic Dele; the Brong Ahafo Regional Accountant, Samuel Larbi-Siaw; the Volta Regional Accountant, John Kwame Ayew;  the Ashanti Regional Accountant, Mohammed Abukari, and the Eastern Regional Accountant, Francis Himbuah.

Others indicted are Nicholas Senti, the Western Regional Accountant; Solomon Kurug, the Upper East Regional Accountant; Aliyu Hussein, the Upper West Regional Accountant; Alexander Agumey, the Central Regional Accountant; Seth Quarteyli Quartey, the Greater Accra Regional Accountant; Cletus Kaba, the Northern Regional Administrator; Raphael Adu Agyepong, the Ashanti Regional Administrator; Theophilus Kwoffie, the Western Regional Administrator; Dominic Popola Maabesog, the Upper East Regional Administrator, and Joseph Bati, the Upper West Regional Administrator.

The rest are Festus Obeng-Sefa, the Central Regional Administrator; Emmanuel Asante, the Greater Accra Regional Administrator; Helena Bokoro, a secretary at the Northern Regional Secretariat; Mutaro Usif, a secretary at the Tamale Metro Office; Helena Mensah, personal secretary to the Ashanti Regional Director, and Freda Donkor, a typist at the Ashanti Regional Secretariat.

Bench warrant for arrest 

Thirty-two of the accused persons were arraigned before the Financial Division of the High Court, presided over by Mrs Justice Georgina Mensah-Datsa, in Accra yesterday.

The other three were absent, prompting the judge to issue a bench warrant for their arrest. 

They are Asiedu, Kurug and Helena Mensah.

The 32 present pleaded not guilty to the charges and have all been admitted to bail in various amounts, depending on the value of the amount allegedly stolen.

Hearing resumes on June 5, 2015.

Given the number of accused persons and the almost 20 lawyers fighting for their vindication, the case was moved to the Court of Appeal building to contain the crowd that turned up. 

On a sunny day with no air-condition to keep the packed courtroom cool, ceiling fans span furiously but in vain to cool  the sticky hot air in the courtroom. 

Interdiction

The accused persons have all been interdicted, pending the outcome of the case.

They have each been charged with conspiracy, while some of them face additional charges of stealing and bribery.

Aside from the charge of conspiracy, Alhaji Imoro faces four additional counts of stealing GH¢28.7 million and giving bribes totalling GH¢100,000 to one of the investigators in the case to thwart investigations.

Kombor faces one count of stealing GH¢540,000; Dankwah has been charged with one count of stealing GH¢350,000, while Alhassan faces one count of stealing GH¢559,000.

The following are the amounts allegedly stolen by some of the accused persons: Gloria, GH¢383,000; Ayeltiga, GH¢44,000; Ofori, GH¢210,500; Totimeh, GH¢771,919.08; Asiedu, GH¢18.3 million; Nyorke, GH¢922,788.27; Awumbila, GH¢315,183.54; Edzi, GH¢2.2 million; Agyepong, GH¢3.2 million; Abiru, GH¢612,794.

The rest are: Naawinyelle, GH¢335,716.26; Dele, GH¢189,152.40; Larbi-Siaw, GH¢577,000; Ayew, GH¢44,900; Himbuah, GH¢210,000; Senti, GH¢99,000; Kurug, GH¢184,602.67; Hussein, GH¢210,000; Agumeh, GH¢283,825.16; Quartey, GH¢4.4 million; Kaba, GH¢189,152; Adu-Agyepong, GH¢52,000; Kwoffie, Maabesog, GH¢173,852; Bati, GH¢210,000; Obeng-Sefa, GH¢63,575; Asante, GH¢200,000; Bokoro, GH¢51,739; Usif, GH¢18,869; Helena, GH¢52,000, and Freda, GH¢29,800.

Scramble for sureties

There was a scramble for sureties at the court when the presiding judge announced that the accused persons would need two or three sureties to meet their bail conditions.

Mrs Justice Mensah-Datsa had announced that the offences for which the accused persons were being held were bailable, hence the 32 accused persons who appeared in court should do their homework to meet the bail conditions.

Her announcement triggered a rush by  the   defence  lawyers   to   locate family members, relatives and friends who had come to the court to support the accused persons. 

With their freedom at stake, some of the accused persons also dashed out of the courtroom to make frantic calls to potential sureties to come to their rescue. 

In the ensuing melee, Alhaji Imoro sat quietly in the dock, as he had already satisfied his bail condition. 

Adjournments

After six adjournments, as a result of non-completion of investigations by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the state finally indicated its preparedness to begin calling witnesses at the court’s sitting yesterday.

Making a case for bail for the accused persons, some of their lawyers said the accused were responsible people who would come to court when needed to stand trial. 

Facts 

The facts of the case, as read out by a Chief State Attorney, Ms Penelope Marmattah, were that in July 2014, the BNI commenced nation-wide investigations into the operations of the NSS with regard to the payment of monthly allowances to service personnel.

The investigations established that between September 2013 and August 2014, the payroll of the NSS was bloated with 31,516 ghost names for both the postings and the national voluntary service recruitment. 

During that service year, national service persons were paid GH¢243 per month as allowance from September to December 2013 and GH¢350 from January to August 2014.

The plot

According to the prosecution, an elaborate plot hatched by Alhaji Imoro, supported by senior officers of the scheme at the National Service Secretariat and regional directors of the scheme, and implemented by the district directors, involved the generation of “ghost” names at the head office in Accra. 

“These ghost names were added to the genuine names on the nominal rolls on which payment vouchers were prepared. The payment vouchers were prepared by the Chief Accountant of the scheme, Gloria Aku Mensah, whose duty it was to audit and vet all the accounts and yet passed them on. 

“Ayeltiga and Mensah received regular payments from some regional directors,” the prosecution noted.

It said the ghost names, which were detected in all the districts in the country, were mostly posted to the rural areas and in some cases to non-existent institutions and departments. 

The names of personnel posted to self-accounting public and private institutions were converted to and retained on the government payroll without effecting the required amendment with the consultant to the scheme.

The executive director had dealings with his regional directors and the regional directors had dealings with the district directors who worked directly under them. The executive director never dealt directly with the district directors. The ghost names were sent by the executive director to the regional directors with firm instructions as to how much was to be sent to him every month.

 The number of names the executive director gave to each regional director depended on the trust and loyalty he had developed with each regional director.

 On receipt of the ghost names and the instructions thereof, the regional directors in turn passed names to district directors, with a set of instructions as to how much was to be sent back. 

Genesis

According to the state, Alhaji Imoro began sending out names in September 2013 shortly after the postings. 

The names then increased from October through to January 2014 when the postings stabilised and no more names were given.

In addition, all the senior officials at the scheme who were implicated in the fraud had their own separate deals with the regional directors independent of one another. 

“They have confessed to having each received regularly every month several thousands of Ghana cedis from the regional directors. 

“The regional directors have also admitted having made regular payments to them,” the prosecution noted.

Travel Allowance

“At the end of the service year in August 2014, the amounts that the regional and district directors shared included travel and transport allowances meant for service persons to travel back to their various destinations.

“All the regional directors were involved and they have all admitted their involvement. They have promised to refund their share of the proceeds.

“At the secretariat, with the exception of the Executive Director, Alhaji Imoro, who has repeatedly denied any involvement, all the others cited in the fraud have confessed to their involvement. 

“All the regional and district directors, as well as the senior officials at the secretariat, have all made part payments in satisfaction of their liabilities. 

“The executive director has, however, not made any payment, although he has been furnished with his liability,” the prosecution added.

Afoko dodges as he avoids cameras on first court appearance

Since news broke that the police have arrested Gregory Afoko in connection with the death of the Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Alhaji Adams Mahama, from an acid attack, the picture of the suspect has been missing in traditional and on social media.

A few images of Gregory Afoko that made it to the media scene did not expose the suspect’s face, making it difficult for members of the public to determine how he looked, except for the fact that he sported long dreadlocks.

When the opportunity came for the media to take shots of him at the Accra District Court Tuesday, the suspect again dodged the sharp lenses of the paparazzi with the aid of the dreadlocks. 

When he stepped out to the avalanche of photographers at the court, he cleverly escaped the ‘clicks’ of the cameras.

Those who managed shots could only capture other parts of his body without his face. 

The suspect was not scared of the fact that he was in the grip of the law and managed to exercise free expression by dodging the cameras. 

Gregory, a younger brother of the Chairman of the NPP, was earlier yesterday remanded in custody for allegedly killing Alhaji Mahama.

Gregory was remanded by the court to reappear on June 9, 2015 after the court, presided over by Mr Worlanyo Kotoku, had declined a bail application from counsel for the accused person.

Defence lawyer, Mr Stephen Ekow Korsah, prayed the court to grant his client bail, but it refused and, accordingly, remanded Gregory, who has been charged with two counts of conspiracy and murder.

Gregory, a farmer, has been accused, together with Asabke Alangdi, a member of the NPP, for allegedly committing the offence on May 20, 2015. 

Asabke is currently on the run.

The two are alleged to have poured acid on Alhaji Mahama on May 20, 2015, resulting in his death the following day.

Gregory’s plea was not taken.

Facts of the case

According to the facts of the case, as presented by the prosecutor, Mr Francis Baah, on May 14, 2015, Gregory’s brother, Mr Paul Afoko, and the General Secretary of the NPP, Mr Kwabena Agyepong, arrived in Bolgatanga for a meeting.

“The deceased organised some thugs to violently attack them, scuttling the planned meeting at the Azumsolon Guest House, for campaigning against the flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and also not notifying him of the meeting. The situation was later brought under control by the police,” the prosecution said.

According to the prosecution, an upset Gregory confronted Mahama but he was chased out by thugs.

Another group

The facts also noted that Gregory and Asabke formed another youth group in their bid to protect persons perceived to be against Nana Akufo-Addo.

It said the accused persons held a series of meetings with the youth and on May 20, 2015 they laid ambush at Mahama’s residence with a substance suspected to be acid.

“The deceased returned home around 11:10 p.m. in his pick-up, with registration number NR 761 – 14, and immediately he parked the vehicle in front of his house, the suspects went close and signalled him to roll down the glass. 

“The deceased identified the suspects to be party members and rolled down the glass to talk to them. Suddenly, the suspects poured the substance, suspected to be acid, on his head, face and other parts of his body and fled on a motorbike.

“The deceased started screaming for help and his wife, Hajia Zenabu Adams, went to the aid of the deceased and managed to bring him out of the vehicle,” the prosecution stated.

Injuries

According to the prosecution, Mahama’s wife sustained burns on the right side of her chest and breast while assisting her husband. 

When she inquired about what had happened to him, he told her Gregory and Asabke had attacked him.

The prosecution said Mahama continuously shouted and screamed out of pain and repeatedly mentioned Gregory and Asabke as the ones who had attacked him in the presence of neighbours and friends who had rushed to take him to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital.

Mahama died while being airlifted to Accra for treatment.

Gregory, who was later picked up, led the police to Asabke’s father’s house. 

The police later located Asabke’s house but he had then absconded with his wife, abandoning their baby in the process.

“A gallon which contains some of the substance and a plastic cup were retrieved at the scene for forensic examination,” the facts stated.

Post-mortem report

A post-mortem report on Mahama said he died of shock lungs and extensive acid burns. 

Investigations are ongoing.

ECG bills Redrow GH¢22,000: Yvonne Nelson absolved

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has confirmed it indeed disconnected power supply to 41 properties at Redrow Developments Limited’s estate at the East Legon Hills in Accra last week.

It has also billed the estate GH¢22,056.1 after it found eight of the disconnected estate houses were using electricity illegally.

The estate agency has so far paid GH¢8,000, the District Technical Officer of the East Legon District Office of ECG, Mr Afukar Sampson, disclosed in an interview with Graphiconline’s correspondent Mabel Aku Baneseh.

Mr Sampson could not state the exact period the illegal connection and enjoyment of power supply began, but explained the ECG had its method of calculating such losses.

He further explained that “most real estate companies do their own internal connections, give each household meters or bill in bulk. In this instance, some of the homes had meters but they were mostly billed in bulk while others paid nothing for the power supplied them.”

Illegal connections
Narrating the incident to the Graphiconline, Mr Sampson noted that his outfit sometime last week, received reports of illegal connection activities at the estate.

“We went there with our estimator called Emmanuel Bediako and we found that some homes had meters while others did not. We also found some were enjoying power illegally. We called our Director of Customer Services who instructed us to liaise with the Regional Connection Manager to inform the Loss Control Unit to remove the cables from the illegally connected areas,” Mr Sampson explained.

Disconnections
“On Thursday, May 21, 2015, ECG officials disconnected 16 homes while 25 additional homes were disconnected the following day. Around 3 pm on Friday, representatives from Redrow Estates met with ECG Accra’s Loss Control Unit and at the end we came up with a GH¢22,000 bill for them to settle. Redrow Estate paid GH¢8,000 on behalf of their customers,” Mr Sampson said.

According to Mr Sampson, his outfit also observed that the estate company had connected some properties to power but those buildings were yet to be occupied.

He further explained that the ECG was investigating the matter to determine the actual loss incurred.

Yvonne Nelson factor
Popular actress, Ms Yvonne Nelson, who lives in the estate, has been accused by sections of the media as enjoying power supply illegally.

But Mr Sampson explained that, “no individual is to be blamed. It is the Redrow Estates that is being held responsible for this lapse.”

Ms Nelson led thousands of Ghanaians on May 16, 2015, on a vigil to protest against the incessant power cuts popular termed as “Dumsor.”

The success of her protest march dubbed “DumsorMustStop” according to some pundits, had resulted in a witch-hunt, but an official of the Public Affairs Directorate of the ECG, Mr Dan Agyei-Larbi has denied the rumours.

He said “disconnection of homes for non payment of bills and illegal connection is an ongoing exercise. We receive tip-offs daily while our own internal investigations also lead us to culprits. It is an ongoing exercise which is not targeted at any individual. The focus is on all companies and persons who have decided to enjoy electricity for free at the expense of a wider population.”

We do not pay bills directly
In a separate interview with the Graphiconline, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Redrow Developments Limited, Mr. Christopher Aryeetey, said “we usually do not pay electricity bills directly on behalf of our clients but in this regard we did it because our contractor did not complete the procedure for acquisition of meters for the affected households. The affected households are new and when there is no meter, we usually arrange with ECG for clients to pay fixed rates. But in this instance, the contractor did not complete arrangements. We hope to procure meters for the affected households before the end of the week,” Mr Aryeetey noted.

Redrow Statement
Meanwhile, a statement through Mr. Aryeetey, on behalf of Redrow Development Ltd. has absolved Ms Nelson of any wrongdoing.

The statement said “we would like to state that the assertion and reports that the entire Redrow Estates has been disconnected is not true.

Further, electricity supply to our client, Yvonne Nelson, who is a resident and the focus of the media stories, has not been disconnected, as reported. We would like to further add that her property is properly metered, and, therefore, has legal electricity connection.”

According to the statement, the company does not condone the illegal use of electricity.

“Redrow Developments sub-contracted the connection and installation of electricity to our estates to an electrical firm. Unfortunately the contractor misinformed management on: status of availability of meters from ECG, and their (ECG) processes for connection of electricity as a temporary measure. Upon an inspection by officials of ECG to our estate, they drew our attention to the illegal connections of 12 houses, and further issued penalties, part of which has been paid. Earnest arrangements are underway, with the great support of ECG to install meters for the affected houses. We would like to thank our clients for their patience and the ECG for their co-operation,” the statement added.

NPA freezes opening of new fuel stations

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has suspended the issuance of permits for the construction of new retail outlets for petroleum products across the country.

This is because the NPA is in the process of auditing the permits issued to various petroleum service providers (PSPs) to establish petroleum product retail outlets, including refilling outlets for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The suspension takes retroactive effect from May 1, 2015.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NPA, Mr Moses Asaga, “the audit will culminate in the revision of the requirements for the grant of construction permits for such facilities”.

He explained  that “the suspension will affect all applications submitted to the authority from the said date.

Applications that were received before May 1, 2015, but had incomplete documentation will be affected by the suspension.”

Reason

Mr Asaga told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the rationale behind the new directive was to ensure that sanity prevailed in the operations of PSPs.

“The growing numbers of filling stations in the country has to be looked at again. Presently there is an uneven spread of filling stations in some parts of the country. Take the northern border towns for instance, between Paga and Bolgatanga, there are 20 filling stations alone and we all know that there are no massive commercial activities in those towns,” he said.

Asked how long the suspension will be in force, Mr Asaga said the timeline was not known immediately. 

“We are in talks with the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services (CERSGIS) to complete a map of filling stations and their respective locations. 

We currently have the co-ordinates of all existing filling stations and are in the process of developing them into geographic information systems with pictorial maps of the retail outlets,” the CEO of NPA said. 

Sanity

Those measures, he said, would inform the NPA to take the necessary measures to prevent the proliferation of filling stations in certain areas. 

He said it was important for the NPA to take stock of the activities of PSPs to ensure all laws were complied with.

According to Mr Asaga, the safety of Ghanaians was also taken into consideration before arriving at that decision.

“The NPA had sent a circular to all stakeholders on the new decision and would duly inform them when the exercise ends,” he said.

Reaction from consumers

A number of Ghanaians the Daily Graphic spoke to were elated at the decision of the NPA.

Some expressed concern over the dangers posed by some gas filling retail outlets across the country and wished the NPA would take decisive actions to prevent the recurrence of such disasters. 

Three in jail for defrauding TOR

The three persons, who were convicted and fined GHC30,000 each for stealing GH¢623,030 belonging to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), are in jail because they have failed to raise the money to secure their freedom.

The High Court in Accra last Monday convicted them for stealing GH¢623,030 from the accounts of TOR in 2007.
Frank Kpemli, alias George Owusu; Richard Afari, alias Wofa, and Mohammed Sanusi Bagigah, alias Parker, were each fined GH¢30,000 or in default serve 15 years’ imprisonment each with hard labour.
However, the three are languishing in jail due to their inability to pay the fine.
Sources told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday that the convicts would remain in jail until they were able to settle the fine.
A fourth accused person, Joseph Nyanor, was acquitted and discharged during the trial after his lawyers filed a submission of ‘no case.’
Bernard Sallah, alias Big Ben, who was also accused, was set free by the court, presided over Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, after the full trial.
Charges
The five were all charged with one count of conspiracy to commit crime, namely, stealing, contrary to sections 23 (1) and 124 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29), while Kpemli was also charged with four counts of stealing, contrary to Section 124 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29).
Afari was charged with one count of stealing, whereas Bagigah faced 15 counts of forgery.
Facts of the case
The facts of the case are that on July 6, 2007, Kpemli, using the false name George Owusu, went to the Stanbic Bank, headquarters branch in Accra to cash GH¢20,000.
In the course of processing the money for Kpemli, officials at the bank, who had become suspicious of the huge sums of money passing through his account purporting to come from the TOR account at the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), now  known and called GCB Bank Limited, alerted TOR and the police.
The police rushed to the bank and picked up Kpemli for interrogation.
In the course of interrogation, Kpemli revealed that he was part of a syndicate working to siphon various sums of money from TOR accounts by using TOR’s cheques.
 He mentioned Sallah as a member of the syndicate who assisted him to open a number of accounts with various banks where the money drawn on TOR account at the GCB Bank had been lodged and withdrawn.
He also cited Afari as the one who recruited him into the syndicate and also lodged the various amounts of money belonging to TOR into the various accounts opened in his name.
Withdrawals
Meanwhile, a mini statement requested by TOR from the GCB Bank revealed that a number of unauthorised withdrawals had been made from its accounts at the bank.
Investigations revealed that the withdrawals had been made on the TOR account through 15 TOR cheque leaflets.
Those leaflets, it was revealed, had come from a GCB TOR chequebook with serial numbers ranging from 003801 to 003850.
Investigations further revealed that the chequebook was one of 50 GCB chequebooks signed for TOR and collected by Mr Joseph Nyanor, who used to be a cashier at the company.
Mr Nyanor collected those chequebooks from the GCB sometime around the end of May 2007 but failed to hand over same to the Chief Accountant of TOR for safekeeping, as had been the practice in the company.
According to the prosecution, the chequebooks were still in the custody of the cashier when it was revealed that leaflets from one of them, with the serial numbers 003801-003850, had been used to withdraw money from the company’s account and same could not be accounted for.
Forged signatures
Investigations also revealed that the group recruited Bagigah, who has a flair for forging signatures, to forge the signatures of the General Manager, Finance and the Deputy Managing Director, both of TOR, who were signatories to the TOR account.
In all, GH¢623,030.20 was dishonestly appropriated from the TOR account, with various amounts being withdrawn by various members of the syndicate.
 In his statement to the police, Afari mentioned the names of all the accused persons, together with Sampson Omerua, Lexandrou Helen Hajia and Alhaji Nigeria, as members of the syndicate.
They are all on the run.

5 Doctors sue Movenpick for violating their rights

Five female medical doctors have dragged the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel Limited and its General Manager to the Human Rights Court for discrimination.

According to the applicants, on February 6, 2015, they had gone to the hotel to celebrate the birthday of one of their colleagues but they were turned away because they did not have male escorts.
The applicants — Dr Katherine Attoh, Dr Emmanuella Amoako, Dr Abiba Mustapha Saeed, Dr Rushije Esi Dela Hiadzi and Dr Najat Mohammed — are praying the court to declare that the conduct of the respondents in implementing a policy of denying access to the hotel’s bar to women without male escorts is unconstitutional, unlawful or illegal and constitutes a violation of their fundamental human rights.
The first and second respondents are Movenpick Ambassador Hotel Limited and Mr Hauser Axle, respectively.

Humiliation
The plaintiffs, through their lawyer, Professor Kenneth Agyeman Attafuah, are urging the court to declare that the conduct of the hotel’s bouncers on February 6, 2015 ruined their evening and caused each of them grave embarrassment, humiliation and emotional distress.
They are further praying the court to hold that the hotel’s policy of denying unescorted women access to its facility constitutes sexual or gender-based discrimination.

“A declaration that the respondents' policy of imposing on females, as an entry requirement to its bar, a condition of having male escorts constitutes an unconstitutional, unlawful and unjustifiable restriction on women's freedom of association,” they said.

They are also pleading for an order directed at the first and the second respondents jointly and severally to pay to each applicant significant monetary compensation for the unjustifiable violation of each applicant's fundamental human rights to dignity and freedom from sexual or gender-based discrimination.

Additionally, the plaintiffs are seeking an order compelling the respondents, jointly and severally, to pay to the applicants costs, including solicitor’s costs, on full indemnity basis.
They are also praying the court for an order directed at the respondents to cease the contravention and desist from committing the same or similar contravention, namely, discriminating against a person because of his or her sex, contrary to law.
Furthermore, they are seeking an order directed at the respondents to refrain from requiring women, or any class or group of persons, to comply with a restriction, imposition, term or condition which is based on a prohibited ground of discrimination as a prerequisite for gaining access to any of the first respondent hotel's facilities and services customarily available to the public.

Affidavit in support  

An affidavit in support of the application for the enforcement of their fundamental human rights deposed to on behalf of the plaintiffs by Dr Attoh said she and her colleagues had gone to the hotel at approximately 10:45 p.m. on February 6, 2015 to celebrate Dr Mohammed’s birthday.
However, the affidavit said, the bouncers turned them away, with the explanation that they were unaccompanied by men and that that act was against the hotel’s policy.
According to the applicants, they had graphic evidence to prove that the hotel had discriminated against them due to their gender.

They said they were all extremely upset, felt humiliated, embarrassed, denigrated and demeaned as women because they were denied entry into the hotel’s bar, which was “customarily available to the public, simply on account of our being females without male escorts”.
That action, according to the plaintiffs, constituted sexual or gender-based discrimination, contrary to articles 12 and 17 of the Constitution of Ghana (1992).

Three fined GH¢30,000 each for stealing GH¢623,000 from TOR

The High Court in Accra has convicted three persons for stealing GH¢623,030 from the accounts of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in 2007.

Frank Kpemli, alias George Owusu; Richard Afari, alias Wofa, and Mohammed Sanusi Bagigah, alias Parker, were each fined GH¢30,000 or in default serve 15 years’ imprisonment each with hard labour.
A fourth accused person, Joseph Nyanor, was acquitted and discharged during the trial after his lawyers filed a submission of ‘no case’.
Bernard Sallah, alias Big Ben, who was also accused, was set free by the court, presided over Mr Justice John Ajet-Nasam, after the full trial.

Charges

The five were all charged with one count of conspiracy to commit crime, namely, stealing, contrary to sections 23 (1) and 124 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29), while Kpemli was also charged with four counts of stealing, contrary to Section 124 (1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29).
Afari was charged with one count of stealing, whereas Bagigah faced 15 counts of forgery.

Facts of the case

The facts of the case are that on July 6, 2007, Kpemli, using the false name George Owusu, went to the Stanbic Bank, headquarters branch in Accra, to cash GH¢20,000.
In the course of processing the money for Kpemli, officials at the bank, who had become suspicious of the huge sums of money passing through his account purporting to come from the TOR account at the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), now  known and called GCB Bank Limited, alerted TOR and the police.
The police rushed to the bank and picked up Kpemli for interrogation.
In the course of interrogation, Kpemli revealed that he was part of a syndicate working to siphon various sums of money from TOR accounts by using TOR’s cheques.
 He mentioned Sallah as a member of the syndicate who assisted him to open a number of accounts with various banks where the money drawn on TOR account at the GCB Bank had been lodged and withdrawn.
He also cited Afari as the one who recruited him into the syndicate and also lodged the various amounts of money belonging to TOR into the various accounts opened in his name.

Withdrawals

Meanwhile, a mini statement requested by TOR from the GCB Bank revealed that a number of unauthorised withdrawals had been made from its accounts at the bank.
Investigations revealed that the withdrawals had been made on the TOR account through 15 TOR cheque leaflets.
Those leaflets, it was revealed, had come from a GCB TOR cheque book with serial numbers ranging from 003801 to 003850.
Investigations further revealed that the cheque book was one of 50 GCB cheque books signed for TOR and collected by Mr Joseph Nyanor, who used to be a cashier at the company.
Mr Nyanor collected those cheque books from the GCB some time around the end of May 2007 but failed to hand over same to the Chief Accountant of TOR for safe-keeping, as had been the practice in the company.
According to the prosecution, the cheque books were still in the custody of the cashier when it was revealed that leaflets from one of them, with the serial numbers 003801-003850, had been used to withdraw money from the company’s account and same could not be accounted for.

Forged signatures

Investigations also revealed that the group recruited Bagigah, who had a flair for forging signatures, to forge the signatures of the General Manager, Finance, and the Deputy Managing Director, both of TOR, who were signatories to the TOR account.
In all, GH¢623,030.20 was dishonestly appropriated from the TOR account, with various amounts being withdrawn by various members of the syndicate.
 In his statement to the police, Afari mentioned the names of all the accused persons, together with Sampson Omerua, Lexandrou Helen Hajia and Alhaji Nigeria, as members of the syndicate.
They are all on the run.

Kabila sues Betty, three others

• Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice

A former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, and three others have been dragged  to the Financial Division of the High Court for negligence resulting in the loss of GHc51.2 million to the state.

According to a former National Youth Organiser of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Mr James Kwabena Bomfeh, also known as Kabila, the inaction of Mrs Mould-Iddrisu and the three others resulted in the payment of GH¢51.2 million to businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
Those attached to the suit are a Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebo Barton Odro; a chief state attorney, Mr Samuel Nerquaye-Tetteh, and a legal adviser at the Ministry of finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP), Mr Paul Asimenu.

Reliefs of the Plaintiff 

A writ of summons signed on behalf of the plaintiff by his lawyer, Mr Christopher Amanortey Akwesi, is praying the court to slap the defendants with damages for conspiracy, malfeasance and negligence.
The plaintiff is further asking the court to declare that “on a true and proper interpretation of the Government Contracts (Protection) Decree, 1979, (AFRCD 58) and the Protection of Public Property Decree SMCD 140 to prevent waste and protect public property, the defendants are jointly and severally liable for the refund of all monies that have been wasted owing to the payment they caused to be made by the government of Ghana to Woyome”.
Mr Bomfeh is also seeking “an order for payment of monies that have been wasted by the defendants due to payment they caused to be made by the government of Ghana to Woyome”.
An additional relief being sought by Mr Bomfeh is an order from the court to the defendants to pay interest on the amount “from the date of the illegal payment till date of final payment”.

Background

Woyome was paid GH¢51.2 million as judgement debt in 2010 for engaging in financial engineering for the state ahead of CAN 2008.
He was charged with two counts of causing financial loss to the state and defrauding by false pretence but was acquitted and discharged on March 12, 2015.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Department has filed a notice of appeal to contest Woyome’s acquittal.
Woyome has also informed the Supreme Court he will refund the money by the end of the year. The Supreme Court on July 29, 2014 ordered him to refund all moneys paid to him because there was no legal contract to warrant the payment to him.

NPA sends SOS to govt to settle debts

Chief Executive of the NPA, Mr Moses Asaga

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has called on the President and other authorities to intervene in the settlement of validated debts owed the bulk oil distribution companies (BDCs) to avert shortage of petroleum products in the next few weeks.

A letter to that effect, dated April 20, 2015, a copy of which is available to the Daily Graphic, said although the government had directed the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to settle the authenticated claims, that directive was yet to be adhered to.
The letter, signed by the Chief Executive of the NPA, Mr Moses Asaga, and addressed to the Minister of Petroleum, was copied to the President, the Vice-President, the Chief of Staff and the Minister of Finance.
Others who were copied are the Governor of the BoG, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors and the members of the Ministerial Forex Committee.
Agreed issues
The letter referred to a meeting held at the Flagstaff House on February 4, 2015 and chaired by the Vice-President in respect of foreign exchange losses claim in the petroleum industry,  during which some issues were agreed on.
Among the issues agreed on, it said, was the government accepting liability for the foreign exchange losses.
While attributing the losses to the depreciation of the cedi, it said, “The government directed the Bank of Ghana to use its dividends to settle the validated forex loss claims.”
No payment
“In line with the above decisions, we respectfully wish to draw your attention to the fact that no payment has been made till date.
“The delay in the payment of the above has led to serious challenges in the industry,” the letter added.
The challenges, it said, included the unwillingness of commercial banks to finance BDCs’ petroleum imports on account of severe financial challenges, liquidity constraints and loss of confidence in the industry, oil banks pulling out of trade financing and the inability of the BDCs to confirm scheduled petroleum product imports.
Address challenges
“We wish to advise that the above challenges (if not addressed soon) will result in a shortage of petroleum products in the next few weeks.
“In view of the above, we wish to seek your urgent intervention to help liaise with the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Ghana to take immediate steps to settle the outstanding validated forex loss claims,” the letter added.
Government’s indebtedness
An amount of $215 million has been validated by the international firm, Ernst & Young, as money the government owes the BDCs.
It signifies outstanding foreign exchange losses for 2013, which came about as a result of the depreciation of the cedi.

12 Banks withdraw support to BDCs

Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Mr Senyo Hosi

Twelve major commercial banks in the country have decided to not issue letters of credit (LCs) to bulk oil distribution companies (BDCs) as a result of the huge debts the BDCs owe the financial institutions.

A similar incident occurred in July 2014 when seven out of 10 key banks withdrew the financing of petroleum product purchase, which led to acute fuel shortage.

They, however, resumed the issuance of LCs to the BDCs after the government made payment of US$150 million directly to the banks as part payment of its indebtedness to the BDCs.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), Mr Senyo Hosi, “The situation is very frustrating because the effect is that our members are increasingly finding it difficult to raise LCs to import petroleum products to serve the market.” 

“Our efforts at applying unorthodox trade finance models continue to prove inadequate to meet the market demand,” he noted in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday.

This was confirmed in an interview with a senior banking source. The source indicated that the current situation had become precarious and could possibly crush the entire banking sector. It explained that the situation had strained their international credit and confirmation lines. 

The source further indicated that a failure to commence the repayment of these huge debts could lead to the insolvency of some of the affected banks.

New withdrawal

The government is indebted to the BDCs to the tune of $800 million, representing foreign exchange under-recoveries for 2013 and 2014, price under recoveries and the financing cost (interest) for bearing price under- recoveries, also known as the real value factor (RVF).

According to the banking source, BDCs owed the banks some $1 billion, most of which was being used to fund government’s debt to the BDCs, while the remaining was used as working capital to fund inventory and credit to their customers.

The government’s debt is as a result of the reintroduction of subsidies.

“As you can see, the figures are huge and the banks cannot continue operating without us paying them back. Funding confidence in the industry keeps waning,” Mr Hosi noted.

The chamber, however, acknowledged that more than GH¢412 million had been accrued in over-recoveries (profit) to pay off price under-recoveries (loss) to its members.

The government, on June 27, 2014, gave the BDCs $150 million as part-payment of its forex under-recovery liability as at 2013.

According to the chamber, the GH¢412 million was the balance for under-recovery for subsidies on petroleum products for the period from July 2011 to December 2013.

Growing concerns

Mr Hosi said there were growing concerns in the banking sector over the huge debts which had the potential to collapse the banking industry.

“This trend cannot continue. The government must take a firm decision on whether or not to continue subsidising petroleum products,” he said.

Subsidies reintroduced 

Meanwhile, subsidies on petroleum products have been reintroduced, following the steady rise in crude oil prices.

It is estimated that subsidies between March 16, 2015 and May 15, 2015 will be in excess of GH¢80 million, with more than GH¢40 million being incurred between May 1 and 15, 2015.

Mr Hosi said the reintroduction of the subsidies would put further financial burden on BDCs which were not permitted by the government to price products they imported.

Government lacks capacity

Commenting on the position of the government to reintroduce subsidies, he said, “The decision to subsidise or not is the sole preserve of the government.”

He said it must, however, have the capacity to budget appropriately and fund the budget timeously.

Subsidies ill-targeted

“The CBOD has always maintained that the pursuit of subsidies as a social intervention is mostly misplaced or ill-targeted. The pursuit of mass transportation and the facilitation of refinery investments will better mitigate the impact of petroleum pricing on the ordinary citizen,” he emphasised.

Lamenting the difficulties faced by its members, Mr Hosi noted that “BDCs, as businesses, also face losses because the government, more often than not, delays in paying the importer who has to pre-finance these subsidies”. 

In another development, a source at the NPA told the Daily Graphic that “the issue of subsidies are policy issues.

“It is the Executive and not the NPA that determines subsidies”, it said.

Police recruitment scam: Timbilla’s signature for forensic test

Mr Patrick Timbilla — interdicted

It has now been established that GH¢2.7 million was paid by 1,100 people as bribes in the recent scam recruitment into the Ghana Police Service.

The victims are said to have paid between GH¢2,000 and GH¢7,000 to be recruited into the service, but the admission letters they received turned out to be fake.
The victims include graduates of senior high schools and tertiary institutions across the country.
A source at the Attorney-General’s Department, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra yesterday, said investigators had also traced the bank accounts the money was paid into.
The interdicted Director-General of the Human Resource Department of the Ghana Police Service, Mr Patrick Timbilla; Aisha Asumda, alias Aisha Boku Masi, a 36-year-old shea butter seller, and Alifa Adams are alleged to have played various roles in the alleged scam.
“We are currently studying the docket to sift through to identify potential witnesses. There are middlemen involved and we need to interview as many of the victims and middlemen as possible to enable us to conduct effective prosecution,” the source said.
 Mr Timbilla’s signature, which was found on the fake admission letters, according to the source, had been sent to the Police Forensic Laboratory for examination.
Charges and timeline
On charges to be preferred against the suspects, the source said: “We are currently interviewing potential witnesses. We can only draft the charges on completion of the interviews and receipt of the forensic results.”
It noted that although the docket was received last month, it was not in a position to state the exact date prosecution would start.
That, according to the source, was because there were outstanding issues to be investigated in the scam, which occurred between September 2014 and February 2015.
“We also need the result on the signature to arrive at a firm decision on Mr Timbilla,” it said.
Background 
On February 28, 2015, reports said hundreds of young men and women had turned up at five police training depots for enlistment into the Ghana Police Service but they left disappointed after they found out it was a scam.
It was found out that their recruitment letters, which had  Mr Timbilla’s signature on them, were fake and that the purported enlistment was a fraud.
The victims of the scam, who had gone to the Kumasi, Koforidua, Pwalugu, Accra and Ho Police depots with their luggage to begin the training, claimed they had paid between GH¢2,000 and GH¢3,500 to the alleged fraudsters.
The Police Administration set up a Special Investigations Taskforce, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr Bright Oduro, to look into the alleged scam.
Persons involved 
The taskforce investigated 14 people, including three police officers and 11 civilians.
The three police officers included Mr  Timbilla.
Mr Timbilla was interdicted immediately he was mentioned by some of the suspects arrested in connection with the recruitment scam.
The other police officers are General Corporal Gideon Sarpong of the Visibility Unit, Takoradi, and Constable Ruth Agyiri, 27, Central Police Station, Koforidua.
Two suspects — Aisha and her accomplice, Alifa — were arrested at Tesano and Adenta, respectively, following a tip-off.
The other civilians included Amos Brown, Pastor Paul Danso and Richard Harrison.
The report of the taskforce was presented to the Police Council on March 20, 2015.

Former GREDA boss bought sim box at $2,400 — Investigator

A former boss of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Dr Alex Tweneboah, admitted purchasing a SIM box worth $2,400 from the United Kingdom with his credit card, the investigator in the case in which Dr Tweneboah is alleged to have engaged in sim box fraud, has said.

According to the investigator, Assistant Superintendent of Police Mr Seth Sewornu, Dr Tweneboah also confessed to  receiving $1,300 from his partners in Hong Kong.
Testifying as the second prosecution witness in the case, Mr Sewornu told the Financial Division of the High Court in Accra yesterday that the accused person had told investigators that he engaged in the fraudulent activity because he was facing financial challenges.

The charge

Dr Tweneboah is facing three counts of providing electronic communication equipment without lawful authority, possessing illegal device and knowingly obstructing and interfering with the sending, transmission, delivery and reception of communication.
He has pleaded not guilty to all three counts and is currently on bail.

Evidence

Led by an Assistant State Attorney, Mr Joshua Sackey, to give his evidence-in-chief, the investigator told the court that a sim box, a 4G Surfline Internet modem, three laptops and cables had been retrieved from Dr Tweneboah’s residence at Manet Cottage in Accra on January 15, 2015.
He said a communication task force, in an operation to clamp down on activities of sim box fraudsters, on January 15, 2015 arrested Edmund Essilfie, Emmanuel Essilfie and Kwaku Appiah.
According to him, the three men denied ownership of the equipment found in Dr Tweneboah’s home and claimed it belonged to Dr Tweneboah.
The investigator told the court the accused person gave a statement and claimed he had paid for the sim box with his credit card in the United Kingdom.
The sim box, three laptops, the surfline modem and 72 sim cards retrieved from the accused person’s residence were tendered in evidence.
Prior to the tendering of the 72 sim cards, one of the lawyers for Dr Tweneboah, Mr Fiifi Abbam, had objected to the tendering of the cards.
His argument was premised on the fact that there was no evidence to prove that the cards were registered in Dr Tweneboah’s name.
But the court, presided over by Mrs Afia Serwaa Botwe, upheld the prosecution’s opposition to the objection and admitted the cards in evidence.

‘ITLOS decision on Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire maritime dispute is victory for both countries’

Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister of Petroleum

 

Two ministers of state have described the decision by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to allow production of oil to take place on a maritime boundary between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire as victory for both countries.

The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Mr Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, have also hailed Saturday’s ruling as victory for international diplomacy, respect for the rule of law and a boost for investor confidence in Ghana.
Mr Buah and Mrs Marietta Appiah-Opong, in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic in Hamburg last Saturday, stressed that the ruling had also averted huge global financial catastrophe in the oil and gas industry.
They both expressed joy that the exploration and exploitation works on drilled wells for the Tweneboah-Enyenra-Ntoumme (TEN) project, being operated by Tullow Oil Plc and its partners, could proceed without any restrictions.

ITLOS’s Decision

The tribunal on Saturday, April 25, 2015, gave Ghana the nod to continue oil production activities at a disputed maritime boundary area between it and Cote d’Ivoire.
It, however, ordered Ghana not to start any new offshore drilling for oil in the disputed waters until the substantive matter is resolved.
These were contained in a unanimous decision by the tribunal, following Cote d’Ivoire’s call for the suspension of activities on the disputed maritime boundary until the final determination of their disagreement over the boundary.
Ghana and its partners would have lost more than $4.7 billion from April 25, 2015 till 2018 when the matter would be settled if the tribunal had heeded Cote d’Ivoire’s call for a suspension of oil exploration activities.
Another key issue raised by both ministers was that although the tribunal directed that new wells should not be drilled in the disputed area, exploration and exploitation works being conducted by other oil companies had not been affected in any way because they were not operating in the disputed area.
“Work on the TEN project has progressed by more than 50 per cent, with enough drilled wells for production,” Mr Buah said.

Mr Buah

“This decision has really given our upstream industry a big boost and renewed investor confidence in our basins and Ghana’s basic objective is to become the oil hub in Africa. It is decisive enough to tell investors we can go on.
“Some companies were holding on and now that this decision has lifted the dark clouds, we hope reluctant companies will now show more interest in Ghana’s oil and gas industry,” he added.
He said Ghana would have lost $2.7 billion in deferred revenue from December 2016 to February 2018 when judgement would be delivered.
Future
Justifying why both countries had a future tied together, Mr Buah said: “Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire work together on energy challenges and we have major agreements on the exchange of electricity, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work on a West African gas company and we have to focus on strengthening those agreements to address the issue of access to cheaper energy source.
“As we speak, we exchange power with Cote d’Ivoire on a daily basis, our transmission grids are linked. We have a future potential to extend the West African Gas Pipeline beyond Ghana to Cote d’Ivoire.”
Mrs Brew Appiah-Opong
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice said the outcome of the application was extremely important to Ghana because what it sought to do was to stop the country’s oil companies, in particular Tullow Oil Plc and its partners, from working in the area.
“What it means is that all our oil companies can continue to operate without fear that their activities will be stopped during the course of this court action.
“We put in a good fight. Every single member of the team worked hard from all relevant agencies and each needs to be proud for a good work done,” Mrs  Appiah-Opong said.
The team’s main focus now, she said, was to start preparing for the main case, which will be heard in 2017.
“The other focus is we must endeavour to strengthen our relationship with Cote d’Ivoire and we will continue to co-operate with them in the energy sector as we have always done,” she added.
Background
Ghana went to the ITLOS in September 2014 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), seeking a declaration that it had not encroached on Cote d’Ivoire’s territorial waters.
Cote d’Ivoire, in February 2015, filed for preliminary measures urging the tribunal to suspend all activities on the disputed area until the definitive determination of the case, dubbed: “Dispute Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean.”
The case was filed by Ghana after 10 failed attempts at negotiation and Cote d’Ivoire’s issuance of threatening letters to oil companies operating in the disputed area.

Maritime boundary dispute: Special Chamber prescribes provisional measures

The Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) formed to deal with the dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean last Saturday delivered its Order on a Request for provisional measures filed by Côte d’Ivoire.

Judge Boualem Bouguetaia, President of the Special Chamber, read the Order at a public sitting of the Chamber.

The dispute was submitted, by way of special agreement concluded between the two sates concerned on December 3 2014, to a special chamber formed in application of Article 15, paragraph 2, of the Statute of the Tribunal. The case was entered as No. 23 in the List of cases of the Tribunal.

Submission of request

The Request for provisional measures was submitted to the Special Chamber by Côte d’Ivoire on February  27 2015. At the public hearing held on March 29 and 30 2015,  Côte d’Ivoire requested the Special Chamber to prescribe provisional measures requiring: 

• Take all steps to suspend all ongoing oil exploration and exploitation operations in the disputed area. 

• Refrain from granting any new permit for oil exploration and exploitation in the disputed area.

• Take all steps necessary to prevent information resulting from past, ongoing or future exploration activities conducted by Ghana, or with its authorisation, in the disputed area from being used in any way whatsoever to the detriment of Côte d’Ivoire; and, generally, 

• Take all necessary steps to preserve the continental shelf, its superjacent waters and its subsoil; and desist and refrain from any unilateral action entailing a risk of prejudice to the rights of Côte d’Ivoire and any unilateral action that might lead to aggravating the dispute.

At the same public hearing, Ghana requested the Special Chamber to deny all of Côte d’Ivoire’s requests for provisional measures.

Special Chamber’s Order

In its Order of April 25 2015, having found that it has prima facie jurisdiction over the dispute, the Special Chamber notes that the power to prescribe provisional measures under Article 290, paragraph 1, of the Convention has as its object the preservation of the ITLOS/Press 229 April 25 2015 respective rights of the parties to the dispute or the prevention of serious harm to the marine environment pending the final decision (paragraph 39). 

It considers, however, that it may not prescribe provisional measures unless it finds that there is a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice may be caused to the rights of the parties in dispute (paragraph 41). Concerning the rights which Côte d’Ivoire claims on the merits and seeks to protect, the Chamber states that, before prescribing provisional measures, it needs only to satisfy itself that these rights are at least plausible (paragraph 58) and finds that Côte d’Ivoire has presented enough material to show that the rights it seeks to protect in the disputed area are plausible (paragraph 62).

Insufficient Ivorian evidence

In relation to Côte d’Ivoire’s request for provisional measures to prevent serious harm to the marine environment, the Chamber finds that Côte d’Ivoire has not adduced sufficient evidence to support its allegations that the activities conducted by Ghana in the disputed area are such as to create an imminent risk of serious harm to the marine environment (paragraph 67). The Special Chamber underlines, however, that the risk of serious harm to the marine environment is of great concern to it (paragraph 68) and that the Parties should in the circumstances “act with prudence and caution to prevent serious harm to the marine environment” (paragraph 72).

The Special Chamber also considers that there is a risk of irreparable prejudice where, in particular, activities result in significant and permanent modification of the physical character of the area in dispute and where such modification cannot be fully compensated by financial reparations (paragraph 89) and that whatever its nature, any compensation awarded would never be able to restore the status quo ante in respect of the seabed and subsoil (paragraph 90).

This situation may affect Côte d’Ivoire rights in an irreversible manner if the Special Chamber were to find in its decision on the merits that all or any part of the area in dispute belongs to Côte d’Ivoire (paragraph 91). The Chamber therefore considers that the exploration and exploitation activities, as planned by Ghana, may cause irreparable prejudice to the sovereign and exclusive rights invoked by Côte d’Ivoire in the continental shelf and superjacent waters of the disputed area, before a decision on the merits is given by the Special Chamber, and that the risk of such prejudice is imminent (paragraph 96).

The Special Chamber further notes that, in accordance with article 89, paragraph 5, of the Rules, it may prescribe measures different in whole or in part from those requested (paragraph 97).

In the view of the Special Chamber, the suspension of ongoing activities conducted by Ghana in respect of which drilling has already taken place would entail the risk of considerable financial loss to Ghana and its concessionaires and could also pose a serious danger to the marine environment resulting, in particular, from the deterioration of equipment (paragraph 99). It therefore considers that an order suspending all exploration or exploitation activities conducted by or on behalf of Ghana in the disputed area, including activities in respect of which drilling has already taken place, would cause prejudice to the rights claimed by Ghana and create an undue burden on it and that such an order could also cause harm to the marine environment (paragraphs 100 and 101).

No new drilling

The Special Chamber considers it appropriate, in order to preserve the rights of Côte d’Ivoire, to order Ghana to take all the necessary steps to ensure that no new drilling either by Ghana or under its control takes place in the disputed area (paragraph 102).

Pursuant to article 95, paragraph 1, of the Rules, the Special Chamber requests each Party to submit a report and information on compliance with the provisional measures prescribed not later than 25 May 2015.

Provisions of Order

The operative provisions of the Order of 25 April 2015 read as follows:

“THE SPECIAL CHAMBER, (1) Unanimously, prescribes, pending the final decision, the following provisional measures under article 290, paragraph 1, of the Convention:

(a) Ghana shall take all necessary steps to ensure that no new drilling either by Ghana or under its control takes place in the disputed area ...;

(b) Ghana shall take all necessary steps to prevent information resulting from past, ongoing or future exploration activities conducted by Ghana, or with its authorisation, in the disputed area that is not already in the public domain from being used in any way whatsoever to the detriment of Côte d’Ivoire;

(c) Ghana shall carry out strict and continuous monitoring of all activities undertaken by Ghana or with its authorization in the disputed area with a view to ensuring the prevention of serious harm to the marine environment;

(d) The Parties shall take all necessary steps to prevent serious harm to the marine environment, including the continental shelf and its superjacent waters, in the disputed area and shall cooperate to that end;

(e) The Parties shall pursue cooperation and refrain from any unilateral action that might lead to aggravating the dispute.

(2) Unanimously,

Decides that Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire shall each submit to the Special Chamber the initial report referred to in paragraph 105 not later than 25 May 2015, and authorizes the President of the Special Chamber, after that date, to request such information from the Parties as he may consider appropriate after that date.

(3) Unanimously, Decides that each Party shall bear its own costs.”

Judge ad hoc Mensah appends a separate opinion to the Order of the Special Chamber.