Abuse of incumbency of the highest order



For lack of transparency and abuse of incumbency, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) over the weekend turned the Presidential Lodge at the Upper West regional residency to vetting room for its Parliamentary aspirants in the region.

This paper can confidently say that, the Upper West regional National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary vetting was done at the Presidential Lodge at the residency where the Minister for Works and Housing and Water resources, Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin, Member of Parliament for Nadowli West and others were vetted, a typical indication of an abuse of incumbency.

Having been mendacious to Ghanaians and winning power in the 2008 general elections, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is now caught in the web as they have entangled themselves with what they accused the then New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of doing which they couldn’t provide any evidence at the time.
When in opposition, the NDC accused the NPP of abuse of incumbency alleging that NPP was using State resources to support party activities.
Since the Prof. Mills led-NDC administration took over power of this country, the NDC government in most instances uses state facilities in the interest of the party with impunity.
Counting from the famous Tamale congress where the party’s present National Executives were elected, the state broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) telecast the congress live from the congress grounds for hours but the NDC is yet to make any payments to that effect to the state broadcaster.
Again in July last year at the ‘almighty’ Sunyani congress, where the FONKAR GAME was played, GBC also telecast the congress live from the Sunyani Coronation Park and other state resources were used including electricity of which they are also yet to effect any payments for those services.
As to how much was also paid to the GBC for airing live, when President Mills picked his nomination forms is also yet to be disclosed, not considering the inconvenience caused most inhabitants of the capital when some major streets were closed to vehicular traffic.
The never ending list also includes the usage of the peduase lodge for party activities where party chairpersons frequently meet to deliberate on party issues.
The political pundits this paper spoke to, alluded to the fact that, the NDC government has abused incumbency and are using state properties for party events which to them do not augur well for a meaningful governance.

Cocaine here, Cocaine there, Cocaine everywhere (Pt.1)
NDC GURU BUSTED
FRONT PAGE Newspaper
It’s now becoming clear that the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) allegation of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) being cocaine party and calling it Narcotic Peddlers Party (NPP) is rather the opposite.
Not a single month will pass without any member of the Prof. Mills-led administration getting involved in drug peddling or accused of financial malfeasance.
In this regard one was not surprised when the founder of the NDC and wife, Mr./Mrs. Rawlings said that this government is the worst in terms of corruption and would not know what campaign message they will carry to the electorate in this year’s electioneering campaign.
The founder, former President Jeremiah John Rawlings said sometime last year that the NDC lost the 2012 election in the first year of ascending the throne of power.
To add more salt to injury, the former first lady, Mrs. Konadu Agyeman Rawlings recently predicted that the Prof. Mills-led government will lost the December 2012 general election because the NDC is corrupt and characterized with ineffectiveness.
Information available to the Front Page from New York City in the USA alleged that one of the NDC’s gurus, who is described as a drug agent was busted for carrying some whitish powder suspected be cocaine worth US$5 million.
The information alleged that the NDC guru, Alhaji Sulemana Musah popular known as ‘Alhaji Dan’ is a Patron to the NDC Zongo caucus of Madina Abokobi Constituency and hails from Bawku in the Upper East Region.
According to a deep throat source, the arrested cocaine dealer who is in custody in a New York prison was arrested in December 2011.
The source further hinted that, Alhaji Sulemana who was usually seen in the company of some ministers of State, most often represent their business interests.
A tall list of these NDC bigwigs, which is in possession of this paper (to be published later) who are allegedly behind Alhaji Dan’s “business” includes certain prominent personalities in the Prof. Mills-led administration who went all out to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians that the Kufuor-led NPP administration was full of drug dealers, in a bid to win the 2008 elections.
When yours truly spoke to its sources in the National Democratic Congress (NDC), it was stated that, Alhaji Suleman Musah who is being held in custody is a notable financier of the NDC and has been kind to the party especially during the famous Sunyani Congress in July last year. It is noted that he donated some pick-up vehicles to the party ahead of the congress.
According to the allegation, the December trip was Alhaji Musa’s second in the year where luck eluded him in New York City.
Front Page’s investigations at the Narcotic Control Board (NCB) has it that there has been many arrests behind the curtains since the NDC assumed power but to avoid disgrace to the party and the government, the NCB is tight lipped about them.
It further revealed that, continuous media reportage on drug related arrests will undermine government’s image.
The Mills-Mahama administration is hiding this shameful act from Ghanaians because according to the NDC’s 2008 manifesto, the Professor, promised Ghanaians that “An Atta Mills government will not allow this country to be turned into a haven for the trade of narcortics”, but the drug trade is getting worse except that most drug related offences are not reported.
Front Page will bring you more as the story unfolds and the panic this cocaine saga has created at the Castle and an attempt to send delegation to negotiate.




Malik Baako smells Woyome, Waterville conspiracy to dupe Ghana, as inept AG slept on the job
Editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper Malik Kweku Baako is smelling conspiracy between a financier of the NDC, Alfred Woyome and private contractor, Waterville to dupe the nation.

Woyome has been paid a total of ¢42 Million in judgement debt for a contract he claimed was abrogated by the erstwhile New Patriotic Party.

The payment has generated a swirl of controversy with the president John Mills demanding an investigation from the Economic and Organised Office (EOCO) into how the liability was incurred.

But on a discussion on Joy FM and MultiTV’s news analysis programme Newsfile, Kweku Baako Jnr. was eloquent in his critique of Woyome, Waterville and bemused with how government led by its then Attorney General Betty Mould Iddrisu handled the whole matter.

He is convinced that even as a layman, no lawyer would be able to beat him on this case, given the chronology of events, the facts of the case available to him.

Facts of the case

The New Crusading Guide paper editor was shocked at how Woyome, a person who had no direct contract with government could be paid that whopping amount of money.

“Woyome has himself said he has no contract with government,” Baako began his submission on the matter.

He stated that Vamed Engineering, the company on whose behalf Woyome claimed to be representing, on some occasions, wrote a letter on July 1, 2005 in which it officially transferred all its interests relating to the construction of the stadia for the CAN 2008 to Waterville.

“As of today-July 1, 2005- Vamed Engineering will not be involved in or accept any liability for the financial engineering or any other aspect relating to the stadia or atomic energy projects,” Malik Baako read portions of the letter as saying.

Vamed was one of the original companies which presented its bids to the Procurement Authority for consideration for the building of the stadia.

Waterville then accepted responsibility to take over the interests of Vamed following which it (Waterville) was provided a contract by the government to undertake construction of the two stadia, Accra Sports Stadium and El-wak.

That letter of contract was written and signed by the then Sports Minister Osafo Maafo on April 26, 2006 asking Waterville to proceed with the construction works. However, that contract was abrogated after Waterville failed to meet the terms of the contract. A letter to abrogate that contract was written and signed by the then Attorney General, Joe Ghartey on August 1, 2006, citing among other things, failure by Waterville to raise funding for the project.

Six days later, which was the 7th of August, Waterville through its counsel, Kwame Tetteh wrote to government initially challenging the abrogation of the contract.

On 15 September however, Waterville wrote another letter accepting the terms of the abrogation and rather demanded for payment of the work it had done thus far.

“...Conscious of the delay that such legality will ensue and the adverse impact on CAN 2008 target, we decided without prejudice to our accrued entitlement to accept the decision of the government to terminate the agreement,” signed by the MD, Massimo Masser, Baako read the letter as saying.

Based on the demands by Waterville the then government set up a committee to assess how much money was due Waterville for the initial work it had done on the project.

Malik Baako said on 24 October, 2008 the then Chief of Staff, Kwodwo Mpiani wrote a letter to Waterville informing them that the committee had concluded its investigations based on which government made payments owed Waterville to Michelletti&Consar, the company which concluded the building of the stadia.

No objection came from Waterville to the effect that they had not received their share from Michelleti, Malik Baako emphasised, neither did Michelleti say it was unable to pay the amount owed it, he added.

Woyome Link

Malik Baako said the only period Alfred Woyome came into the picture was a private transaction between Waterville and Powerpack-the company Woyome acted as an alternate Director for a short period.

He said on 19th December, 2005 a “Financial Services Engineering agreement” was signed between M. Powerpack Ltd and Waterville for the former to provide financial engineering for Waterville in its activities in Ghana and elsewhere.

According to Baako, a termination agreement of the financial services agreement between Waterville and Powerpack was signed on 30th November, 2006 which stated in clear terms and by both sides- that Waterville had effected payments for the financial services rendered by Powerpack.



In Woyome's defence

Victor Adawudu

Conflict between Woyome and Waterville

On 18 August 2009 Alfred Woyome wrote to the government of Ghana and addressed to the first Attorney General of the NDC government, Betty Mould Iddrisu challenging a court suit by Waterville against the government of Ghana in which it demanded an amount of €33 million.

Woyome contended the amount being demanded by Waterville was “grossly exaggerated” Malik Baako quoted a portion of the letter.

According to Woyome, Waterville was only deserving of not more than €5 million without interest and damages with members of the consortium which included himself deserving of some €6 million

Waterville then instructed their lawyer, Kwame Tetteh to intervene and he subsequently wrote to the Attorney General saying Waterville did engage Powerpack to provide financial engineering services but the relationship was terminated in November 2006.

The letter said: “Powerpack’s claim against Waterville were fully settled and acknowledged in the agreement. Therefore neither Powerpack nor Woyome has any claim against Waterville.”

The letter further added: “The stadia contracts were contracted between Waterville and the government of Ghana. Neither, Powerpack nor Woyome was a party. It is therefore wrong for Woyome or Powerpack to make a claim in a contract of which neither was a party.”

Woyome/Waterville U-turn

Shortly after this “tug of war” between Woyome and Waterville, the two Mr. Baako said, somehow conspired, or so he smelt, to dupe the nation with the Attorney General sleeping on the job.

And it was started with a letter written by Waterville on April 20, 2010 to the AG in which it said Woyome was claiming financial engineering from the government of Ghana and Waterville was claiming payment for work done on the project.

Malik’s judgement

Malik Baako is convinced Woyome had no right to demand any money from the government, more so when it had been proven that Woyome only had a contract with Waterville and not government a contract agreemnt he had duly been paid for the services he rendered.

He was disappointed with the role of the Attorney General who he said was either inept or slept on the job.

"They (AG’s department) slept on the job or they were just clearly inept,” he stated.

In Woyome's defence

But the NDC’s Victor Adawudu who was also on the show was convinced Woyome had a legitimate case and has been paid his due.

He said the NDC financier led a consortium called Vamed for the CAN 2008 stadium construction bid.

According to him, Vamed had followed through all the Procurement procedures and were in line to be awarded the contract only for the President John Kufuor to truncate the procedure and award the contract to a Chinese company- a company which he said never tendered for the project.

He cited a cabinet memo written by the then Sports Minister Osafo Maafo in which it was informing cabinet to tread cautiously in its bid to abrogate the Procurement process.

He said the AG based on the facts available to her had every right to say she did not have a defence on the matter.

Adawudu agreed with the AG that the case was indefensible, particularly when there was a legitimate contract which was illegitimately abrogated.

He hinted however that Vamed and some members of the Consortium have taken Woyome to court seeking part of the judgement debt paid him by government.


NDC Failed Police On Housing
Prof. John Evans Atta Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has failed the nation’s Police Service and other security agencies as they were made to believe that their accommodation problems would have been solved by now with about 30,000 housing units through the dead STX deal.
President Atta Mills has given indication that his government is looking for alternatives to the failed STX Housing deal, which was expected to provide some 30,000 housing units for the country’s security agencies.
This is the second time the president has publicly expressed his disappointment at the botched housing deal which has been in and out of court in recent past due to unresolved boardroom wrangling.
The two key players STX Ghana and STX Korea are yet to come to an agreement on the future of the deal and it is based on this impasse that the President has said his administration would advise itself and give an alternative soon.
Answering questions most of which centered on the STX Housing deal and the Alfred Woyome judgment debt saga, from senior editors and some journalists at the seat of government on Monday, President Mills said, “STX has spent so much time on board room wrangling, we cannot wait, I have therefore decided that we look for alternatives, very soon we would come out with our decision.”
The main opposition New Patriotic Party has since the first day the STX issue came up raised several anomalies regarding the deal.
They have challenged government on several platforms criticising the deal.
Other institutions like the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) and other local contractors raised issues with why the contract would be given to a foreign firm when they can equally deliver on the number of houses at an even cheaper cost.
The entire project is expected to cost US$10 billion out of which $1. 5 billion would be used to build the units for the security agencies.
By: Martin Asiedu-Dartey/Citifmonline. com












Court orders BNI, A-G to produce police boss in cocaine scandal, demands answers for detention
The Human Rights Court in Accra has ordered the Bureau of National Investigations, BNI, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to produce DSP Gifty Mawuenyega, arrested and kept in the custody of the BNI over her alleged involvement in the in cocaine-turned-baking powder case.

The Court wants the two bodies to produce the suspect in Court on Wednesday and explain when they have kept her in custody since her arrest on December 29, 2011.
Mr. Oliver Dzeble, lawyer for DSP Gifty Mawuenyega, deputy head of the Commercial Crimes Unit of the Police CID says he has been denied access to his client since her arrest.
The BNI was directed by President J.E.A. Mills to investigate how a cocaine exhibit in a drugs related trial later turned out to be baking powder. The BNI has since presented its report to the President. Contents of the report are yet to be made public.


GREDA wants controversial STX deal

The Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) has welcomed calls for government to quickly abrogate the controversial STX Housing Project and hand it over to it.
According to GREDA, it is poised to execute the project if government awards it the contract.
The STX housing project, which was meant to provide housing for the nation’s security personnel, is on the verge of collapse.
The Vice President, John Mahama, had said government will not hesitate terminating the contract if it becomes necessary, while some members of the NDC communications team want the deal handed over to the local contractors.
The executive secretary of the GREDA, Samuel Amegayibor told Citi News, GREDA wants government to review its contract proposal and hand the project over to it.
Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has backed calls for the local contractors to be given the STX housing project to execute.
According to the NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, the local contractors when given the necessary support by government will be able to perform the task accordingly.


Black Stars arrive in camp
Ghana's African Nations Cup squad has arrived at their base camp in South Africa.
Assistant Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah and a 19-man squad touched down at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport some minutes after 7am GMT Saturday morning and were then driven by coach to their base, the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus in Rustenburg.
Appiah said: "It's great to be here to begin work. We hope to get the best out of our preparations."
Head coach Goran Stevanovic is also in camp after flying in from Europe.
The team would be joined in the coming days by the remaining members to make up the 25-man squad.