Supreme Court to rule on GLOA’s applicationby Florence Gbolu , 21/01/2009
The Supreme Court will on February 11, 2008 decide whether or not to grant an application by the Ghana Lotto Operators Association (GLOA) revoking the supervisory jurisdiction of the court to quash the judgment of a Fast Track High Court.
The new date was set by the court following arguments made by counsels for both the plaintiffs and respondents on their cases based on merit.
GLOA is praying the Supreme Court to quash the proceedings which led to the dismissal of an application for injunction pending an appeal against the outlawing of private lotto in the country.
The GLOA had sued the National Lottery Authority maintaining that its rights to free market activity had been impinged upon by the NLA following the passage of the National Lottery Authority Act 2006, Act 722.
The panel was chaired by Justice William Attuguba, and has Justices Date-Bah, Julius Ansah, Sophia Adanyirah and Rose Owusu as members.
However, on November 4, 2008, a Fast Track High Court, presided over by Justice Ofori-Atta, said the appellants were not able to assert their right to the law of equity and dismissed their application.
Following the lower court's decision, the GLOA filed the application to invoke the supervisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to quash the Fast Track High Court"s proceedings on October 22, 2008 which led to the subsequent dismissal of its application for injunction.
According to Aurelius Awuku, counsel for GLOA, the learned trial judge assumed jurisdiction over the matter when he has no jurisdiction. He challenged the mode for transferring the case from Justice Edward Asante's court to that of Justice Ofori-Atta.
He told the court that Justice Asante, who was originally sitting on the matter after it had been transferred from Justice Abada"s court by the Chief Justice, adjourned hearing of the case to October 22, 2008.
He said on the next adjourned date it emerged that Justice Asante was on leave and for that matter, a court clerk adjourned it to November 6, 2008.
However, Mr Awuku disclosed to the court that on the same day of October 22, 2008, the case was called at the High Court Fast Track 2 presided over by Mr. Justice Ofori-Atta who heard submissions in the absence of the applicants and its counsel.
He said the learned trial judge then adjourned the pending application for ruling on November 4, 2008.
He further argued that on November 4, 2008, he and his clients appeared before the court and objected to the delivery of the ruling on the grounds that the judge lacked jurisdiction to hear the application and deliver a ruling.
He submitted that since the case was transferred to Justice Asante by an order from the Chief Justice, it was only another order from the Chief Justice that could put the case before Justice Ofori-Atta for determination.
"In the absence of an order of transfer and any evidence confirming its existence, Justice Ofori-Atta overruled our objection and proceeded to dismiss the application for injunction pending appeal,” he told the court.
Reacting to the submissions made by GLOA, Counsel for the National Lottery Authority, Kizito Beyuo, appealed to the court to take a global look at the case and refuse the application.
He said they did concede that there was a certain procedure set out for transferring a case from one judge to the other.
He however, argued that there were exceptional circumstances to the rule. According to him, the matter put before Justice Ofori-Atta was to consider an aspect of the case, which was the application for injunction
He pleaded with the court to look at the substance of the case.

court free former 1st lady and Co

16/01/2009
By Florence Gbolu
The office Attorney General had filed for a nolle prosequi (unwillingness to pursue further) in the case in which the former first Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and others for causing loss to public property.
The application was filed following the decision of the President John Agyekum Kufuor to drop the charges against the accused persons before exiting office on January 6, 2009.
The Attorney-General’s Department consequently filed a notice at the court to discontinue the trial of the former First Lady for her alleged involvement in the divestiture of the Nsawam Cannery. The notice was filed last week at the Registry of the Fast Track High Court.
Mrs. Rawlings and the others namely, Emmanuel Agbodo, former Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee, Thomas Benson Owusu, former DIC Accountant, Kwame Peprah, former Finance Minister and DIC Chairman as well as Fanny Sherry Ayittey, Director of Carridem Development Company Limited, were facing eight counts of conspiracy, causing loss to public property, dishonestly obtaining public property by false pretences, obtaining public property by false statement, conspiracy to utter forged documents and uttering forged documents.
The accused persons were thus left off the hook by an Accra Fast Track High Court after it received the application.
During court sitting yesterday, the trial judge, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, informed the defendants that the A-G had filed a notice for withdrawal. There was however no representative from the A-G’s office to move the application.
Counsel for former first lady, Mr. Tony Lithur in reacting to this new development, noted that it was an understanding in law, that when such a notice is filed the parties have to be in court formally for the case to be struck out.
Associating himself to Mr. Lithur was Nana Ato Dadzie, Counsel for Kwame Peprah (the only accused person not in court yesterday), who also expressed dissatisfaction with the whole case.
He was of the view that the matter should have not been brought to court in the first place. He said the decision of the A-G to withdraw the case had come a little late.
He noted that the accused persons had suffered unnecessary pressure both locally and internationally, that has had diverse effects on their relations and health. Both defense counsels indicated their intentions to request for compensation, had the case been a civil one.
But the judge pointed out to them that his hands were tied in the matter. "Counsel knows that my hands are tied in this matter. But if the two of you want to pursue this you can put your heads together and take the appropriate action later,” he emphasized.
In 2002, the Auditor-General, pursuant to Article 187(2) of the 1992 Constitution and Section 11 of the Audit Service Act 200 (Act 584), conducted a routine audit of the DIC.
In the course of the audit, the A-G discovered a lot of discrepancies in connection with the divestiture of the GIHOC Nsawam Cannery Limited, and so started investigation of the divestiture and that later led to the court action.
They all pleaded 'not guilty" to all the charges leveled against them, and were granted self-recognizance bail.

Trial of former 1st lady adjourned.

By Florence Gbolu
An Accra fast track has adjourned the trial of the former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and four others including Caridem Development Company Limited who are standing trial for causing financial loss to the state to July 9, 2008.
Yesterday’s adjournment was as a result of the fact that the trial judge, Justice Acquaye before whom the accused persons were arraigned have been elevated to the Court of Appeal and thus a substantive judge had to be allocated to the court to take over the case.
The accused person, Mrs. Rawlings, is facing eight counts of conspiracy, causing loss to public property dishonestly, obtaining public property by false pretences, obtaining public property by false statement, conspiracy to alter forged documents and altering forged documents.To defend the charges against her include Emmanuel Amuzu Agbodo, former Executive Secretary at the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), Thomas Benson Owusu, former Accountant, DIC, and Kwame Peprah, former Minister of Finance and former Chairman, DIC.
The rest charged with the erstwhile first lady are Sherry Ayittey, Managing Director of Caridem, and Caridem Development Company Limited.
They are facing conspiracy charges and causing financial loss to public property running into billions of cedis following the acquisition of GIHOC Nsawam Cannery, a government enterprise and producer of canned foods, which was divested in 1995 during the administration of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and purchased by Caridem Development Company Limited owned by the 31st December Women’s Movement.
They have pleaded not guilty to all the charges and are on self-recognisance bail.
According to state prosecution, the accused persons have failed to complete interest payments accrued on the purchase price in the acquisition of GIHOC Nsawam Cannery
(picture caption: Mrs. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings)

Ex-GHAPOHA staff loses court battle

Saturday, April 21,2007

By Florence Gbolu

The Court of Appeal yesterday declined to affirm a Tema High Court decision that ordered the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA) to pay severance awards to the authority’s former casual employees.The court in a two-to-one majority pointed out that there were some procedural errors in the trial at the High Court so it could not ask GHAPOHA to pay the severance awards to the 4,195 ex-workers.A three member panel presided over by Justice J.B. Akamba however ordered GHAPOHA to pay the severance award due Clement Agbesi, the only person among five others who initiated the suit on behalf of all the ex-workers at the Tema High Court.On July 11, 2003, the retrenched workers filed the suit at the High Court against GHAPOHA seeking damages for breaching the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement and asked the court to award compensation for maintaining them as casual workers in violation of their economic rights under the Constitution.They also sought an order that compensation packages payable for severance of permanent employees be paid to them and an interest on all sums found due and owing them at the bank rate from October 1, 2002 to the date of judgment.The court on January 18, last year, entered judgment in favour of the ex-workers.It ordered GHAPOHA to pay ¢5 million to each ex-worker for breach of the collective bargaining agreement and ¢10 million to each for each year of service “after the expiration of 154 continuous working days,” for keeping them as casual workers.Furthermore, the court ordered the company to pay severance awards comprising three months salary for each year of service, ¢3 million in lieu of rent, ¢2 million as medicals, two bags of rice, two gallons of oil, ¢1.5 million conveyance fees, bonus for 2001 five months salary as handshake, interest from October 2001 and ¢10 million as cost.GHAPOHA appealed against the court’s decision on the grounds that “the trial judge gave judgment for 3,839 workers plus a further 356 plaintiffs as if they were parties to the action although the record of proceedings and relevant rules of the court established that they were not.”The Authority argued that the trial judge’s finding that the company acted illegally and unlawfully in treating the ex-workers as non-permanent employees was erroneous since there was no evidence on record of the period of employment of each plaintiff, adding, “There is no evidence that any of the plaintiffs had worked satisfactorily for 154 days in any year to qualify for upgrading as permanent employees or to warrant the finding of the trial judge that GHAPOHA breached the collective bargaining agreement.GHAPOHA further argued that although the judge rightly declared his intention to restrict the adjudication of the issues set down for trial and the evidence on record, his findings were not supported by the record.“The trial judge erred in finding that GHAPOHA had violated the constitution of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.”It said the provision did not provide for the automatic conversion of casual employees to the status of permanent staff, and that the finding by the court that the severance package paid to them was not negotiated, is against the weight of evidence.It said the judgment left various matters yet to be decided and the award of damages was baseless in the law and should be set aside.Inviting the court to affirm the high court’s decision, the ex-workers contended that they were subjected to grave injustice and unfair treatment by their employer for a long time.“The defendant/appellant in fragrant violation of all the Collective Bargaining Agreements that existed, exploited and cheated us and even when GHAPOHA carried out a re-organisation in or about September 2003 they still sought to cheat and exploit us.”Reading the decision of the majority the presiding judge, Justice Akamba held that the inclusion of 3839 list of ex-workers and 356 others by the plaintiffs should have been done with the leave of the trial court which they failed to do.“The supplementary list has therefore become total strangers in the whole action and have found themselves in a comedy of errors”.The majority’s view which also included that of Justice G.M. Quaye, said that there is lack of clarity about the whole list adding “the steps taken in filing the lists are unwarranted by the rules and this entitles the appellant to have the purported joinders set aside”.They also said the information accompanying the supplementary list bore no evidencial value since the ex-workers failed to discharge the burden of proof.Ruling in favour of the ex-workers, Justice W.H.K. Addo held that failuer to take leave of the court to ammend the list did render the action of the ex-workers action void.He said the trial judge exercised his discretion in finding GHAPOHA liable and the appellant could not also show at the appeal whether the trial judge exercised that discretion wrongly.He said the appeal had no merit and dismissed GHAPOHA’s action.Justice Akamba later said even though GHAPOHA was entitled to cost, the court will not give one.Later in an interview Albert Adaare, counsel for the ex-workers said they will apply for the ruling and see their next line of action.Gathered in front of the Supreme Court building were hundreds of the ex-workers who had travelled from different parts of the country to listen to the court’s verdict.While some felt disappointed about the verdict others did not understand the whole issue and kept asking themselves what was going on.

Tagor, Abass jailed

By Florence Gbolu
An Accra Fast Track High court yesterday sentenced Kwabena Amaning a.k.a Tagor and Alhaji Issah Abass to 30years imprisonment.
They are each slapped with a sentence of 15years in prison with hard labour to run concurrently from the time of their arrest.
The court handed down the sentence after one year of trial.
Abass, 54 and Tagor, 34 were arrested with several others for their involvement in the missing 76 parcels of cocaine on board the vessel MV Benjamin.
Their arrest came after a secret tape recording exposed a meeting they held at the residence of the now interdicted Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Kofi Boakye.
After the Presiding judge, Justice Victor Jones Dotse handed down the sentence; the court room became a scene of mourning as relatives and sympathizers of the two, mostly women wept uncontrollably.
Tagor spotted a brown linen pair of shorts and a shirt and was in Plaster of Paris (POP) which bore the inscription ‘Jesus is good’ whiles Alhaji Issah Abass wore a pink linen shirt and a pair of black trousers to match.
As they were being whisked away into a waiting van amidst tight security presence, Tagor who was in crutches hugged his wife and bid her goodbye.
The two, described by the prosecution as self-confessed drug barons, were jointly charged for conspiracy and tried for drug-related offences.
Tagor was additionally charged for carrying out prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs, buying and supplying of narcotic drugs while Abass was also charged with a similar offence; carrying out prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs and supplying narcotic drugs.
Tuesday, November 27 marked exactly one year since they were arraigned before the Fast Track High court after a nolle prosequi (unwilling to continue further) application was filed by prosecution at the circuit court but they were subsequently re-arrested.
The court found each of them guilty on two counts of the criminal charges leveled against them and sentenced them to15 years on each of the counts to run concurrently beginning from August 2 2006, when they were first arrested.
They were however acquitted on two other counts of buying and supplying narcotic drugs after the court realized that prosecution had not been able to establish any evidence against them in that regard.
The two have since the day of their arrest pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Tagor told the court when asked about his injury that he got injured during a football match at the prison where he is on remand.
Delivering the over two hour judgment, Justice Dotse stated that he had taken into consideration the fact that sentence is meant to both correct and serve as a deterrent to the two persons and others.
According to him, he also took into consideration the fact that narcotic drugs have become a menace to society, with Ghana becoming a drug designated region.
The court noted in its ruling that the prosecution called 11 witnesses to support their case whilst one of the convicts Alhaji Issah Abass called four witnesses.
Whilst commenting on the evidences of each of the witnesses, the trial judge stated that the first prosecution witness, Kwabena Acheampong an ex-convict with drug related charges’ evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that a meeting was held in the residence of Kofi Boakye’s house of which the subject matter was the 76 missing parcels of cocaine and previous dealings in narcotic drugs.
He said the witness who was among the gang of five who met in the residence of the interdicted police officer in his evidence clarified that the use of the word ‘goods’ in the conversation meant cocaine as he admitted that the meeting talked about various dealings in cocaine.
The trial judge however expressed his disappointment at the conduct of the detective Chief Inspector Justice Oppong, who was initially assigned to the case, describing his conduct of work as ‘wishy-washy’ since in the courts wisdom he did not do anything in his investigations to establish that the two dealt in cocaine.
The court therefore recommended that in future the police administration should investigate their officers well before cases of such nature are given to them to work on.
That notwithstanding, the judge lauded Inspector Charles Adaba for doing a thorough job as an investigator for his ability to investigate jargons used by drug dealers and also helping to unravel the mystery surrounding the recordings of the said meeting including other hidden details of the accused persons.
The court also appreciated the assistance of Professors J.P French, Phillip Thomas Harrison and Kofi Agyekum for putting their expertise at the disposal of the court.
On the defense, Justice Dotse dismissed the assertion made by Alhaji Abass in his evidence that their line of conversation at the infamous meeting was a bait to make Kofi Boakye talk.
He said from a look at the contents of the recordings; he was not convinced that the actions were acted to tease Kofi Boakye.
He held that the accused person and others at the meeting lost control and talked loosely to previous dealing in cocaine.
He noted further that if they were really baiting Kofi Boakye, they would not have said things that really were true.
Based on the evidence before him, the judge said he found the accusation of two defense witnesses as mischievous since according to him, it was a deliberate attempt to discredit the work of Inspector Charles Adaba, the investigator.
He said he was of the opinion that they decided to include him because he was strict on accused persons.
The judge was however blunt when he touched on the involvement of ACP Kofi Boakye.
He virtually expressed discomfort about how the Attorney Gerneral with all the powers on him failed to indict the police capo.
Before handing down the ruling, the judge commented on the addresses filed by prosecution and counsel for the accused persons.
The court stated that it was impressed with the work of counsel for Alhaji Abass in filing his address as he did a well researched work by quoting extensively from the exhibits.
With counsel for Tagor, the court was of the view that they were in a hurry and did not check the details.
For the prosecution, the court stated that it only made reference to lines when they should have brought the quotations out.

Individuals not permitted to import cocaine

Thursday May 10,2007

by Florence Gbolu

Reverend Jonathan Yaw Martey, Head of Quality Control Laboratory of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) yesterday testified in the case involving Kwabena Amaning also known as Tagor and Alhaji Abass in the loss of 76 parcels of cocaine from the MV Benjamin vessel at Tema Port in April last year.Tagor is facing four counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs, buying of narcotic drugs and supply of narcotic drugs while Abass is charged with three counts of conspiracy, engaging in prohibited business related to narcotic drugs and supply of narcotic drug.The two have pleaded not guilty to all the charges and are in prison custody.Tagor and Abass were among 14 people recommended for prosecution by the Justice Georgina Wood Committee set up by the Ministry of the Interior to investigate the missing 76 parcels of cocaine and another quantity of cocaine seized from a house in East Legon in Accra in November 2005.An alleged meeting at the residence of ACP Boakye, the then Director of Police Operations, with four people including Tagor and Abass, formed the basis for the setting of the committee by the Ministry.Led in evidence by Ms. Gertrude Aikins, the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Rev. Martey told the court that individuals are not allowed to import cacaine and other narcotic substances into the country saying “the only body that is permitted under the law to import cocaine in the Ghana Standards Board (GSB)”.He said the quota given to Ghana by the Intenational Narcotics Control Agency of the United Nations is 10 grmmes per annum adding that “ the GSB imported only 0.92 grammes in two instalments for analysis in the whole of last year”.He told the court that it is the FDB which is mandated by law to regulate the importation and manufacture of narcotic drugs in the country and added that he did the Tagor and Abass had not applied to them to import cocaine into the country.He said during cross-examination by Ellis Owusu Fordjuor and Mohammed Atta, counsel for Tagor and Abass respectively that there was no occasion where a sample of cocaine sent for analysis had tested negetive.The court presided over by Justice Jones Dotse of the Court of Appeal arjourned proceedings until May15.

MFWA Protests Harrassment Of Journalists

By Times Reporter
Monday, 06 November 2006
The Accra-based Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has protested against the intimidation and harassment of a group of journalists covering the trial of suspected narcotic drugs dealers by sympathizers of the accused persons.
"Such practices undermine democracy, restrict editorial independence and deny the public access to information by way of photographic images," it said.
A statement signed by Professor Kwame Karikari, Executive Director of the Foundation, noted that more than six journalists have been victims of attacks, intimidation and harassment in the wake of cocaine scandals that have rocked the country recently.
The MFWA is concerned about the persistent violations of the freedom of expression and rights of journalists by sympathizers of suspected drug dealers," the statement said, and reiterated the call on the security agencies to deal ruthlessly with such people.
"To let such acts of criminality pass could give free rein to impunity by non-state actors," it said.
On November 2, a group of journalists covering the trial of suspected drug criminals in an Accra regional tribunal were threatened and insulted by sympathizers of the suspects.
The statement said Florence Gbolu of an Accra based daily newspaper told the MFWA’s correspondent that the assailants charged on them when some of the reporters took shots of the accused persons outside after the court session.
The journalist said the angry looking assailants including six well-built men ordered them to surrender their cameras.
The statement said the action of the assailants attracted a large crowd that caught the attention of court officials including a high court judge and police officers.
"A police officer came to our rescue and escorted us to one of the empty courtrooms for a few minutes, before a high court judge escorted us out of the court premises," Gbolu was quoted as saying.

A hut on the other side of the world

Dave Maass sits in a "fetish shrine" in Ghana.Photo by Olivier AsselinDave Maass of Scottsdale is a volunteer with Journalists for Human Rights and an anthropological researcher at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. Here is his story of his work in Ghana with journalist Florence Gbolu.At this moment, I feel extremely out of place. Right now, I'm just a big, gangly, white American Jew with thick glasses hunching topless on a bench in the Nyigble "fetish shrine." My bottom half is wrapped in a length of loudly colorful fabric and my bare feet are playing nervously in the sandy floor. The shrine is a small enclosure surrounding a smaller hut; inside is some sort of idol to one of their gods, and only the priest is allowed to visit it.This open-aired room is quickly filling up with old women. Some are very large, others as thin and knotted as a twig. Many of them can no longer be bothered to keep their robes covering their breasts. There are few men, mostly very young. It's getting crowded.As a JHR volunteer, I'm working with The Ghanaian Chronicle, a.k.a. "The Spear of the Nation," Ghana's most popular independent newspaper. I'm supposed to mentor, advise and work side-by-side with a Ghanaian journalist, in this case Florence Gbolu, who's sitting beside me with her notepad. The idea is to help the Ghanaian media more effectively cover human-rights abuses. Potentially, this will all end up on the weekly "Social Justice" page I'm charged with editing.Whether human rights abuses are occurring in this fetish shrine is still up in the air. The Paramount Chief of the area secured us an invite to this ceremony (it cost us three bottles of gin - one for the chief, two for the shrine's priest). What we've been told: A woman has been kept in a room off to the side of the shrine for three months. She has not left this room, has not seen the sun, has not changed her clothes. Normally, this would be inhumane imprisonment. In this case, however, the woman volunteered. I'm not exactly sure why.Everyone is speaking the local Ewe language. Florence's mother was born not too far from the shrine, and Florence speaks Ewe fluently. I'm her journalistic adviser, but as an anthropologist I'm expecting her to be my guide to this ceremony. I'm expecting her to explain the legends and meanings around each act. But no. She knows almost as much about these rituals as I - a Jew who practices when I'm back in Scottsdale for the holidays - know about those of Chasidic Jews in Tzfat, Israel.And so we both sit there in somewhat stunned silence as women and young men to the left and right of us begin thrashing in trances to the thumping beat of drums and priestess songs, as twin roosters are sacrificed and left to their last flops a few feet from where we're sitting.Finally, when Florence turns to me, it's to whisper what she's just been told by one of the chief's men: A woman is about to be lashed. I don't quite understand why she's so excited."We have a story!" she says.Oh, right: We're human-rights journalists."We do," I agree, with a discreet smile.

Arthur, Wilson Responsible for GNPC's Investments

(From Ghanaian Chronicle - AAGM)
Byline: Florence Gbolu
The former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata, last Monday told the Accra Fast Track Court (FTC), trying him on charges of causing financial loss to the state, that Mr. Jude Arthur, representing Investments Holdings Limited (IHL) - Trustees and Jim Wilson were responsible for protecting the interest of GNPC in Valley Farms. According to the former GNPC boss, who was continuing his defense before the court, he believed the things Mr. Arthur, then a worker at Merchant Bank, told him because he (Jude Arthur) was the Chairman of the Board of Valley Farms Limited. He told the court that he neither saw nor received a finalized shareholders' protocol, which was signed by all the parties. Led in evidence by his counsel, Prof. E.V.O. Dankwa, Tsikata stated before the FTC, presided by Justice Henrietta Abban, an Appeal Court judge, sitting as an additional High Court Judge, that he saw the draft copy of the document, but not a finalized one. When asked to differentiate between African Project Development Facility (APDF) study on valley farms and that of Caisse Francaise de Development, he said, the appraisal was very detailed whilst the APDF appraisal had detailed cash flows on the project. He said they had Sensitivity Analysis of world market prices of cocoa and Economic Analysis that showed the viability of the project. He averred that the arrival of the company focused on the quality of Cocoa of Ghana, since it attracted high premium on the world market. He said further that according to the study, cocoa investment in Ghana was a low risk venture, because of the high profile of Ghana's cocoa. During the last sitting, Mr. Tsikata, backing his evidence with documentary proof, noted that a sub-committee was set up as a result, to find ways and means of enabling GNPC finance crude oil importation. According to him, interest charges then levied by the Bank of Ghana, where the corporation had its account, was being contested in order to prevent losses to the GNPC, as the bank's interest requirement did not favour the corporation. Tsikata further indicated with documentary proof that the board of GNPC discussed issues relating to the responsibility of the corporation in importing crude oil and refining oil, as well as looking for the money to undertake the job. The former GNPC boss is standing trial on three counts of causing financial loss to the state and one count of intentionally misapplying public property by illegally guaranteeing a loan of 5.5 million French Francs from Caisse Francaise de Development, a French company, to Valley Farms, a limited liability company. He is further accused of using a total amount of 20 million belonging to the company for acquiring shares in the French company, when he was in office. Valley Farms, subsequently defaulted in the payment of the loan and GNPC, as guarantors, settled the debt, when it was requested to do so upon default of payment by Valley Farms, prosecution alleged. Tsikata has pleaded 'not guilty' to all the charges, and is on a 700 million self-recognizance bail. Sitting has been adjourned to November 11, 2005. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media. (allafrica.com

Five Filipinos Arraigned Before Court

by Florence Gbolu Feb 22, 2008 (Ghanaian Chronicle) --
Five Filipinos have been arraigned before an Accra Fast Track High Court for allegedly stealing 73,900 barrels of crude oil belonging to the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited valued at Gh c6510000 ($7million).
The five are Epifacino Moran Jio, Iloefonso Pagay Pama, Engineer, and Felix Borre Climaco, The rest include Leonardo Planes Abrinica and Danilo Bagasol Bueno both captains.
All of them are sea men working for the Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited. However, the police are looking for Epifacino who is currently on the run.
The court presided over by Justice Ofori-Atta, has adjourned the case on the request of the Attorney General who had told the court that they were short served with a habeas corpus order filed by counsel for the accused persons.
The writ of Habeas Corpus was filed against the Attorney-General by counsel for the accused persons Mr. Musah Ahmed, to compel the Attorney General who has failed to produce four of the Filipinos accused of stealing the crude oil in court.
The four accused persons were arrested in Nigeria and brought to Ghana since February 6 this year, and are facing charges of stealing but the court has not yet taken their plea.
It is the case of prosecution that in November 2007, the chief Executive Officer of the Company Mr. Quincy Sintim Aboagye, contracted vessel MT Emerald through their agents NEPS in Nigeria, to convey 73,900 barrels of crude from the Company base at Saltpond and discharged same to Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in Tema.
According to the facts, after the crude was loaded and set sail from Saltpond under the command of the first accused, Epifacino Moran Jio, the vessel finally sailed out of the shores of Ghana with the oil.
A report wassubsequently made to Interpol Ghana, who with the assistance of their counterpart in Nigeria arrested the accused persons in Lagos.
According to prosecution the barrel of oil were yet to be retrieved.
The Court has adjourned hearing to February 26, 2008.

OPEN YOUR DEFENCE•Judicial C`ttee orders Ga Mantse

•Bright Akwetey`s restraining order thrown out
By Florence Gbolu Posted: Monday, July 21, 2008
The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Tawiah III, has been ordered by the Judicial Committee of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs at Dodowa, to open his defence in a case in which his nomination, election and installation as the chief of Ga, is being challenged on the basis that it was done contrary to the Ga custom.
This was after the Judicial Committee's panel, chaired by Nii Tetteh Otu II, President of the House, turned down a “submission of no case”, filed by the Ga Mantse.
In effect, the meaning of the ruling is that the Ga Manste would have to file his defense in the case brought against him by Nii Owula Kpakpa Blofonyo, the Ga State Akwashong Mantse (supreme warrior).
Nii Owula Kpakpa Blofonyo, filed the petition challenging the election, nomination and installation of Dr. Blankson as Ga Mantse, with the stool name King Tackie Tawiah III.
According to him, the respondent has a case to answer," Samuel Klayson, the counsel for the Judicial Committee's panel told the court, as the panel rejected the submission of no case, filed by the Ga Manste on November 23, 2007.
In the motion for no case, the counsel for the Ga Mantse, Willie Amarfio, had challenged the capacity of the plaintiff in instituting the case against the Ga Manste, arguing that Nii Blofonyo is neither the Ga State Akwashong Mantse nor a king maker.
Meanwhile, Mr. A.G. Boadu, counsel for the Plaintiff, had argued that Nii Blofonyo is both the Asere Akwashongtse and Ga State Akwashong Mantse, who has a vital role in the nomination and installation of a Ga Mantse.
He said his non-involvement in the installation of Dr. Blankson, which is contrary to Ga custom, makes the installation illegal.
Citing authorities such as Nsiah versus Ameyaw II, at the Court of Appeal (1994); and Brobbey and others versus Kwaku and another at the Supreme Court (1995); the Counsel further argued that even if Nii Blofonyo was not a kingmaker, he was an "interested party" whose petition should be upheld.
Nii Akropong III, head of Teiko Tsuru We and Nuumo Tete, the Nai Wulomo (Ga Chief Priest) are attached to the suit for their roles in the nomination and installation of Dr. Blankson.
The case has been adjourned to July 25, for the Ga Mantse to open his defense.
However, the panel dismissed an application for interlocutory injunction which was filed in October last year, by Nii Yaya Arday, head of Abola Piam We, one of the four ruling houses in Ga Mashie, seeking the Ga Traditional Council to be restrained from allowing Dr Blankson to act as Ga Mantse until the final determination of the case, in which the plaintiff (Nii Arday) is challenging the election, nomination and installation of Dr. Blankson as Ga Mantse.
It was the decision of the house that Dr. Blankson was installed before the application was brought before the house Bright Akwetey, Counsel for the Petitioner, had argued that Dr Blankson's continuous acting as Ga Mantse was detrimental to the outcome of the case, adding that because the substantive suit is challenging the very basis for his kingship, it was important that he was restrained.

Fighting the Cancer menaceThe African,Oxford Initiative

By Florence Gbolu - Ghanaian Chronicle Wed, 30 Apr 2008
The African and Oxford Initiative on Cancer (AFROX) was, over the weekend, inaugurated in Accra, to assist African countries in a Cancer Initiative, with Ghana being the hub for the programme.According to one of the Chairmen of AFROX, Prof. David Kerr, by 2020, more than 70% of all cancer cases would be in Sub-Saharan Africa, causing a huge health problem.However, he noted that the best thing to do was to try and prevent this, before it happens.Prof. Kerr noted that cancer affects everyone – the young and old, the rich and poor, men, women and children – and represents a tremendous burden on patients, families and societies. Cancer, he said, was one of the leading causes of death in the world, particularly in developing countries. “Deaths occur in low and middle income countries, where resources available for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, are limited or nonexistent. Yet, many of these deaths can be avoided.” Over 40% of all cancers, he underscored, could be prevented, but he was quick to inform that by 2020, there would be more deaths from cancer in the world.AFROX, Prof. Kerr hinted was coming up with concrete programmes, to bring employment and financial aid to Ghana.This notwithstanding, AFROX would work with various pharmaceutical agencies, to join in their effort to fight cancer in Africa.Prof. Kerr noted that it was the hope of AFROX, to write a Cancer Code for Africa, and help the Health Ministry build a National Cancer plan for Ghana.The main priority of the Initiative is to help cancer prevention, mainly Hepatitis B, to prevent liver cancer, and HPV vaccine, to prevent cervical cancer, which is common in women, and also an important health problem in Ghana.In addition to this, a former Health Secretary of England, Alan Milburn, indicated that AFROX would be working with individual countries, and would try to put each of them on a National Cancer Plan.He stated further, that the initiative would also work to bring into the country, human resources.Also, they would be talking to the health industry in England, to assist in curbing the cancer in Africa.“The rate of death in cancer from a developing country is as twice more than in a developed world. However people in Europe and America, often think of cancer as a disease of affluence, but 70% of the cases of cancer would be in developing countries, and not developed world,” he indicated.It was his hope that cancer in Africa, would be managed, and services improved dramatically in the diagnosing of cancer in Ghana in general.Based on projections, cancer deaths will continue to rise, with an estimated 9 million people dying from cancer in 2015, and 11.4 million in 2030. WHAT IS CANCER?Cancer is a generic term, for a group of more than 100 diseases, which can affect any part of the body. Other terms used are malignant tumours and neo-plasms.Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. From a total of 58 million deaths worldwide in 2005, cancer accounted for 7.6 million (or 13%) of all deaths.The main types of cancer, leading to overall cancer mortality are, lung (1.3 million deaths/year); Stomach (almost 1 million deaths/year); Liver (662,000 deaths/year); Colon (655,000 deaths/year) and Breast (502,000 deaths/year).More than 70% of all cancer deaths in 2005 occurred in low and middle-income countries. Deaths from cancer in the world, are projected to continue rising, with an estimated 9 million people dying from cancer in 2015, and 11.4 million dying in 2030.The most frequent cancer types worldwide are:Among men (in order of number of global deaths) lung, stomach, liver, colorectal, oesophagus and prostate. With women (in order of number of global deaths) they are breast, lung, stomach, colorectal and cervical.WHAT CAUSES CANCER?Cancer occurs because of changes of the genes responsible for cell growth and repair. These changes are the result of the interaction, between genetic host factors, and external agents, which can be categorized as: Physical carcinogens such as ultraviolet (UV), and ionizing radiation chemical carcinogens such a asbestos, and tobacco smoke biological carcinogens such as infections by virus (Hepatitis B Virus and liver cancer, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), and cervical cancer) and bacteria (Helicobater pylori and gastric cancer), and parasites (schistosomiasis and bladder cancer), contamination of food by mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, (products of Aspergillus fungi) causing liver cancer. The incidence of cancer rises dramatically with age, most likely due to risk accumulation, over the life course, combined with the tendency for cellular repair mechanisms, to be less effective as a person grows older.CANCER FACTS40% of cancer cases can be prevented (by a healthy diet, physical activity and not using tobacco. Tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of cancer in the world. Tobacco use causes cancer of the lung, throat, mouth, pancreas, bladder, stomach, liver, kidney, and other types. Environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking) causes lung cancer. One-fifth of cancers worldwide, are due to chronic infections, mainly from hepatitis B viruses, HBV (causing liver), human papilloma viruses, HPV (causing cervix), Helicobacter pylori (causing stomach), schistosomes (causing bladder), the liver fluke (bile duct), and human immunodeficiency virus HIV (Kaposi sarcoma and lymphomas).HOW CAN CANCER BE REDUCED?The existing body of knowledge, about the causes of cancer, and about interventions to prevent and manage cancer, is extensive. Cancer control is understood as public health actions, which are aimed at translating this knowledge into practice. It includes the systematic and equitable implementation of evidence-based strategies, for cancer prevention, early detection of cancer, and management of patients with cancer.Up to one-third of the cancer burden could be reduced by implementing cancer preventing strategies, which are aimed at reducing the exposure to cancer risk, mainly by: changes in tobacco and alcohol use, and dietary and physical activity patterns, immunization against HPV infection, the control of occupational hazards, and reducing exposure to sunlight.Another third of the cancer burden, could be cured, if detected early, and treated adequately. Early detection of cancer is based on the observation, that treatment is more effective when cancer is detected early. The aim is to detect the cancer when it is localized. There are two components of early detection programmes for cancer: (1) Education to promote early diagnosis, by recognizing early signs of cancer such as: lumps, sores, persistent indigestion, persistent coughing, bleeding from the body's orifices, and the importance of seeking prompt medical attention for these symptoms. (2) Screening is the identification, by means of tests of people with early cancer, or pre-cancer, before signs are detectable. Screening tests are available for Breast cancer (Mammography), and Cervical cancer (Cytology tests). Treatment of cancer is aimed at curing, prolonging life, and improving quality of life of patients with cancer. Some of the most common cancer types, such as breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer, have a high cure rate, when detected early, and treated, according to best evidence. The principal methods of treatment are surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Fundamental for adequate treatment, is an accurate diagnosis, by means of investigations, involving imaging technology (ultrasound, endoscopy, radiography), and laboratory (pathology). Relief from pain and other problems can be achieved in over 90% of all cancer patients, by means of palliative care. Effective strategies exist for the provision of palliative care services for cancer patients, and their families, even in low resource settings.

Social Justice- Female Circumcision Still Going On

by Florence Gbolu And Jaime JacquesGhanaian Chronicle (Accra)
July 6, 2005
Growing up in a community where there is the belief that a woman is not regarded ideal unless she goes through genital circumcision, Matilda Ayripah could not wait for her turn to be circumcised and be given all the respect due her. She saw her circumcision as one thing she ought to do before associating with men.
At age 18, Matilda ran away from her parents and voluntarily arrived at the compound of the circumciser in her village to become an 'ideal woman'. Girls who were not circumcised were insulted and ridiculed and she did not want to be the victim of her friends' desultory comments.
During her turn, she recalls being given a concoction to drink. After she drank it, she was laid down and held firmly by a strong group of men. She became scared at the last minute, and struggled to rise and run away but it was too late, she says. She woke up three days later from a long sleep, restless and in great pain. Her parents were sitting beside her and gave her a broad smile to signify their pride in her bravery and for understanding tradition.
She was then given food and some herbal medicine, and was cautioned by the circumciser not to touch or remove anything inside of her because she would become barren. After going through all this pain in the quest to be an ideal African woman, she couldn't afford to become barren, so she obliged. Later in the evening, the circumciser and some strong men held Matilda firmly to remove the large folded cotton which had been inserted into her to protect her womb from being cut.
As she recounts her story, the look on her face betrays the pain Matilda felt during the removal of the cotton.
In fact, there are many painful memories she lives with every day, from the actual cutting to the post-natal infections. Matilda regrets her decision to be circumcised, but is resigned to the fact that it is too late to turn back time. She would, however, like to advise other girls thinking of going through with the procedure that the lifelong physical and emotional pain of female genital mutilation (FGM) is not worth abiding tradition. "I feel pain whenever I remember what happened to me, whenever I remember, I call my children to encourage them to never go through with it."
More and more people are coming to realize the disastrous effects FGM can have on a woman's life, and although the practice is on the decrease, it is still happening in Ghana, says Rierselle Akanbong of the CHRAJ office in Navrango. "There is still cause for concern, I believe there are still pockets of this practice going on, and we must eradicate this heinous crime," he says. "It is a violation of children's rights. It inflicts pain on them when their entire clitoris is cut off with absolutely no anesthetic. The ceremony is degrading, and the child is not able to attend school for at least three months, while she heals."
Akanbong, who comes from the region, recalls witnessing FGM ceremonies in the mid nineties. "I saw it with my own eyes, it was horrible," he says. "The girls were screaming and there was so much blood coming out, one girl even fainted."
Back then, FGM was openly practiced and even encouraged. After years of advocacy against the practice, female circumcisers have become more secretive, but it is still going on in the remote villages of the Upper East Region, says Akanbong. "There will be drumming and dancing outside of a mud hut, disguising it as a marriage ceremony," he says, "but inside, FGM is going on."
Although he doesn't get any complaints of FGM, he believes it is because people still do not know that the practice is against the law. "When we embark on educational programmes, most often the people become surprised when they hear that FGM is a criminal offense," he says.
The Paramount Chief of Bolgatanga, Ya-Na, is trying to enforce the law. Six years ago, he declared that he would hold the sub-chief of a district responsible before taking action against the circumciser. Since then he has seen a drastic reduction in the number of FGM cases in the region. He is pleased with the results and works hard to advocate the eradication of all forms of FGM in Ghana.
"When circumcised women menstruate, there are problems, when they want to have babies, there are problems. There is nothing good about FGM, either traditionally or medically," he says.
Traditionally, the origins of female circumcision are not clear. There are theories, but they are speculative. Some of these suggest that women were circumcised to stop them from engaging in extra marital affairs, or to stop them from being too sexually demanding towards their husband who may have numerous wives to satisfy.
Another theory suggests that it is more enjoyable for men to have sex with a circumcised woman. Matilda negates this idea, saying that her husband left her because he did not enjoy having sex with her because of her circumcision, and she also had no pleasure or satisfaction any time she made love with her husband.
"In our tradition, it was the duty of a wife to be submissive to her husband so I had to do what he say and want to make him happy," she says. "When you are circumcised, you hardly enjoy sex with your husband, you just realize some few months later that your love-making yielded a good result with a pregnancy."
Matilda is a mother of seven, now at age 44; she lives alone since her husband is married to another woman who is not circumcised.
Medically, the most prevalent problems associated with FGM are post-delivery infections, and pelvic inflammatory diseases, says Dr. Kwasi Odoi Agyarko of Rural Health Integrated, an NGO in Bolgatanga that does advocacy work to stop the practice of FGM.
Although he is pleased with the decrease in FGM in Ghana (between 1995 and 2000 the incidence had fallen from 14 per cent to 2.8 percent), he worries about women inserting herbs into their vaginas; something he says is still widely practiced in Ghana. "Women do it to make themselves tighter," he says, "But what it is really doing is reducing the elasticity of the walls of the vagina, and causing ulcers which are then transmitted to their partners."
Like FGM, it is a practice that is intended to increase the pleasure for a man, but in reality, is harmful for both the woman and her sexual partner. It is part of a tradition with no clear origin, and no measurable benefits, the kind of practice that should be abandoned, says Bolga Ya-Na. "Obsolete customs and traditions should not be maintained, maintain the good ones, but we have to accept change

Fighting Child Trafficking in Ghana

November 06, 2007
Over a year ago, the Government of Ghana passed a law that made it a crime to traffic in people - that is, to sell adults and children into a modern form of slavery.
The Human Trafficking Act aims to prevent, reduce and punish human trafficking, and to rehabilitate and reintegrate people who are trafficked. To be able to achieve some of the goals set up in the Millennium Development Goal there is the need to combat these practices, especially when they target children.
However, in this era of civilization and development, Ghanaian children, through no fault of their own, are still being given out or sold to people, being deprived of their rights to enjoy life to the fullest. These children often live in terrible conditions, working during unfavourable weather, eating non-nutritious foods, and wearing shabby clothes. Many grow up with no formal education or moral training, thereby leaving them illiterate and lacking discipline.
The International Organization of Migration (IOM) is one organization working to fight this scourge and put the new Human Trafficking Act into practice in the country, especially among children working in fishing communities. Last week, the IOM held a workshop to help implementation partners in the community - including partner organizations and agencies and members of the media - to understand how the IOM helps trafficked children and how the partners could help in the organization's work.
In December 2002, the IOM launched a programme on migration in three fishing communities, namely Yeji, Mfantesiman and North and South Tornu District, all falling on Volta-area lakeshores. The aim of this project was to fight the child trafficking situation in these various communities and rescue these captured children. Together with its implementing partners such as the Department of Social Welfare, Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, the IOM has been able to rescue over 500 children and reintegrate them into society.
Kwasi Opoku Mensah, a programme officer at Friends for Human Development, one of the IOM's implementation partners, explained to Social Justice how the child-rescue program began. While working in his former job in the fisheries, Mr. Mensah said, a ban was made on the use of certain gears for fishing. To make sure that this law took effect, officers were brought in to secure the place.
Whilst there, the officers noticed large number of children on the sea. After investigating, they realized that these little ones were trafficked. This they reported, and research began as to how the children found their way into such places. Since then, Mr. Mensah and his organization have helped rescue trafficked children from their situations, and in partnership with the IOM, they have rescued about 537 children over the past few years.
The IOM's officers visit fishing communities and have meeting with chiefs to educate the communities on the Human Trafficking Act, and the dangers in using children in fishing. A lot of people do not know the crime they commit when they use these children to fish, the IOM said. The implementation officers inform the people in the community about the project and the need to release the children, after which, they are left to decide what to do.
Later, the officers return to the community for response and begin to register these children whom the fishermen are ready to release. "Rescuing these children is not aimed at destroying the fishing business. These fishermen are supported with micro-finance compensation, which is often fishing nets, to enable them continue their work without the help of these children," said Mr. Mensah.
After the children are rescued, they are camped at Yeji for month before they are brought down to Accra to be rehabilitated. They are then reunited with their parents if it is possible and in the child's best interest. People give out their children to these fishermen out of poverty and by doing this they are rewarded with some money either monthly, quarterly or yearly by the new masters of their children.
To enable them solve or curb this menace, the IOM provides micro-finance assistance to parents of these rescued children to enable them start a business of their own and provide for their families. The implementing partners do follow-ups later on to ensure the people are using their benefits profitably. Mr. Mensah has a target to help rescue, if not these all trafficked children, a majority of them in the years to come. "Now that the law has been passed, I hope to involve both the law and IOM policy to rescue these children," he said.

Former ADB worker takes CHRAJ on... challenges it to quash decision

A former accountant of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) has dragged the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to court, challenging recommendations it made against him with respect to his dismissal from the company. The plaintiff, Magnus Afenu, who filed a Certiorari at the High Court, is seeking a judicial review on the matter by demanding the recommendations made against him should be quashed.Afenu, who was dismissed in 1997 by ADB, made a formal complaint with CHRAJ alleging that his dismissal from the bank was wrongful.The former accountant, who was then serving at the Hohoe branch of the bank further described his dismissal as an act of victimization which was not given a fair hearing by CHRAJ.ADB interdicted him on September 25, 1992, for operating a current account at Social Security Bank, New Town branch on which he drew various cheques and purchased them at Hohoe Branch, taking advantage of his position as Branch Accountant and giving value to the cheques, eight of which were returned unpaid.The reasons given for his dismissal were that he played a role in the purchase of the cheques from G-Way Enterprise totaling ¢ 67.8 million, which was a breach of the Bank's regulations and also led to the loss of the same amount to the Bank.Afenu, thus petitioned the Bank's Managing Director and the Board Chairman but both petitions were dismissed. It was after this that he petitioned CHRAJ and after hearing his complaints the commission ruled that the complainant's petition was unmeritorious and subsequently dismissed. Dissatisfied with the decision of the commission, Afenu quickly resorted to a Court action against the human right commission.He held that CHRAJ committed a procedural error by allowing evidence to be given on a matter which was not essentially before it for determination during the hearing. He argued that his request to tender his statement dated September 22, 1995, which was a response to queries raised by the Internal Audit Team was rejected by the commission.According to him the rejection of this evidence was improper thus resulting to a severe miscarriage of justice.In his view the Commission's rejection of evidence also deprived itself of evidence that by its knowledge would have inured to his benefit.Opposing the application, counsel for CHRAJ, Kofi Akuffo argued that the application was baseless.According to him, “Nothing short of subterfuge carefully crafted to hoodwink the court to re-hear the matter, noting that, "this should be resisted."He thus noted that Afenu should not be allowed to hide behind unequal doses of semantic analysis, pedantry and technicality to avoid culpability.It was the submission of Mr. Akuffo that there were only three grounds for which a decision can be challenged by judicial review, stating them as illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety.He argued that the decision by the Commission was clearly in compliance with the powers possessed by CHRAJ, by virtue of Article 218 and under Act 456 of the 1992 Constitution. Counsel denied the allegation of rejection of evidence and indicated that it was unsubstantiated and unproven. Mr. Akuffo further submitted that the purported rejected statement did not contain any new evidence which the Commission was not aware of.