CONTROVERSY: Can Akufo- Addo Appoint An Independent Special Prosecutor?

Nana Akufo Addo

There is no dispute over the need to appoint an independent special prosecutor free from political influence who will bring erring officials to book.

Indeed all political parties and civil society groups have said that the establishment of the office of the special prosecutor would greatly enhance the fight against corruption.

However, huge controversy has emerged over whether an amendment of the 1992 constitution would be required for the establishment of the office.

Some leaders of the opposition, especially the National Democratic Congress (NDC) say that whiles the appoint of an independent public prosecutor is desirable, it would violate Article 88(3) of the 1992 constitution which states that “ the Attorney-General shall be responsible for the initiation and conduct of all prosecutions of criminal offences”

Members of Government on the other hand say that the 1992 constitution does not in any way prohibit the appointment of an independent public prosecutor.

They quote Article 88 (4) of the same constitution which stipulates that “All offences prosecuted in the name of the Republic of Ghana shall be at the suit of the Attorney-General or any other person authorised by him in accordance with any law”.

From the reading of the constitution there can be no doubt that the Attorney-General can appoint persons to prosecute criminal offences as personnel of the Ghana Police Service currently do.

Indeed, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and his staff in the Attorney-General’s Department currently carry out prosecutions.

Ms Gloria Akuffo, Attorney General Designate

The issue which arises is whether persons or a person mandated by the Attorney –General to carry out prosecution can be said to be independent.’

In the true sense of Article 88(4) persons authorised by the Attorney-General to carry out prosecutions can only be seen as agents or extensions of the Attorney-General and not independent public prosecutors.

Such a person would at best be performing the duties of the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Attorney-General’s Department and cannot under any stretch of imagination be described as an independent public prosecutor free from political influence.

It ought to be demonstrated that an independent public prosecutor is truly independent of the executive and is not exercising the powers of the Attorney-General or the executive.

This can be assured through the enactment of appropriate laws guaranteeing the security of tenure of the independent special prosecutor and ensuring that his or her appointment is free of political influence.

As things stand now, it may be necessary to refer the issue to the Supreme Court for a proper interpretation of Article 88 and its clauses.

Until then the controversy would continue to rage on.

Editorial

VETTING OF MINISTERIAL NOMINEES

The vetting of Ministerial nominees by Parliament is a very important duty which ought to be performed diligently and in a manner which engenders public confidence.

However, it appears that some of the practices at the Appointments Committee of Parliament can and may have undermined public confidence in its work.

It is difficult to understand why Ministerial nominees are allowed to serve as members of the Committee charged with responsibility for vetting them.

The fact that Ministerial nominees can serve on the Appointments Committee is a problem which needs to be solved.

The Insight calls for reforms in the work of the Appointments Committee and recommends that in future nominees should not be made to serve on the committee.

Let us take the work of this committee more seriously than we do now.

Let's maintain three-year SHS duration - Coalition appeals

Mr Opoku Prempeh

By Iddi Yire

The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has appealed to Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Education Minister-designate, to maintain the three-year tenure of Senior High School (SHS) education.

Mr Bright Appiah, GNECC Chairman, speaking to the Ghana News Agency, on Thursday, in Accra, said the three-year duration was in line with the Anamoah-Mensah Committee's report and every form of review to be undertaken must reflect that Committee’s recommendations.  

The Mathew Opoku Prempeh, which was set up to review the nation's educational system, in 2003, recommended a new educational system consisting of two years of kindergarten, six years of primary, three years of junior high school and three years of SHS.

However, the Kufuor Administration in 2007, added another year to the duration of SHS.

This was, however, reversed to three years by the Atta Mills Administration in 2009.

Mr Appiah congratulated Dr Opoku Prempeh, who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia, on his nomination as Education Minister by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He said the nomination of Ministers was the preserve of the President and the Coalition believed that Dr Opoku Prempeh had what it took to deliver on his mandate.

He, therefore, appealed to the Minister-designate to ensure the Government delivered on its manifesto promises on education to the letter.

He urged Dr Opoku Prempeh to follow the strategic national educational policy of the Ministry, and to also ensure that the educational standard of the nation was raised to a higher level.

Mr Appiah said, there was the need for the Government to ensure that the national educational policy would also reflect the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Education.

Goal Four calls on all countries to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

Mr Appiah said obtaining quality education was the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development.

The Coalition, he said, would continue to support the Government in its quest to provide better education for all.

The GNECC is a network of civil society organisations, professional groupings, educational/research institutions and other practitioners interested in promoting quality basic education for all.

Formed in 1999, the Coalition has steadily grown over the years with a current membership of about 200 organisations.

Its philosophy is premised on the fact that education is a fundamental human right and key to breaking the cycle of poverty.

'Low-cost' footwear killing our business

A shoe maker

By Gideon Ahenkorah

Cobblers, popularly called “shoemakers” in Accra, have blamed the near collapse of their business on the increase in the sale of cheap foot wear, commonly known as “low-cost”.

They said the low prices of footwear had discouraged their patrons from repairing faulty ones.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Wednesday found out in a survey that the shoe repair business was increasingly becoming unattractive.

Sampson Akoto Asare, popularly known as “expert shoemaker”, a footwear repairer at the Tema Station in Accra, said his business had “slimed down” drastically due to the influx of assorted cheap foot wear, describing the rival business as “an enemy to our job”.  

He said he used to make at least a GH₵100.00 a day some years ago, but now he could only make GH₵30.00 a day, which he explained, was outrageously meagre to live on.

Mr Akoto Asare, who is the bread winner of a family of six, therefore, called on foot wear dealers to increase the prices of their wares to deter buyers from always buying new foot wear instead of repairing faulty ones.

“Now the business is sinking, we shall all stop and find other businesses,” he said.

At Dansoman, Philip Gyima said he was thinking of adding a new business to the shoe repairing one, which complained, was becoming a no income venture.

“For the past three days, I have not made even GH₵40.00,” he said. “Everyone wants to buy new shoes instead of repairing the faulty ones.”   

For Kwasi Appiah, the shoe repairing business at Mallam Market was nothing to write home about.

He said the venture was “seeing death in its face” as many people hardly repaired their faulty foot wear.

“Even market women now buy new slippers instead of fixing new ones,” he said. “I think we all have to sell foot wears instead of repairing them.”  

  

But for Stephen Kwame Addae, going mobile, he said, was the solution to sustain his livelihood.

The 19- year old, who now treks Lapaz, to find business, said he was making significant gains.

“Of late many people feel lazy to bring their foot wear for repairs,” he observed. “They expect us to come to their locations to render the service.”  

He, therefore, advised cobblers to move from their abodes and chase businesses around, saying, “We can convince people to repair their faulty shoes or slippers instead of buying new ones”.    

Meanwhile, the GNA also gathered that dealers who are into the sales of “low cost foot wears” were enjoying a boom in business making the venture very attractive.

The interviews revealed that the cost of repairing faulty footwear ranged from GH₵1.00 to GH₵20.00 depending on the nature of the damage.  

On the other hand, the price of the low cost footwear, being complained about ranges from GH₵3.00 to GH₵50.00 depending on the quality of material used and the demand.

NUGS Happy With New Minister

The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has hailed Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh on his nomination as the Education Minister and pledged to work with him to progress education for national development.

It also commended the other nominees announced by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and promised to collaborate with them on issues of mutual national interest.

A statement signed jointly by Mr Luqman Abubakar and Mr Kwasi Frimpong, President and Press and Information Secretary, respectively, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said:

“We state categorically that we are ready to work with Dr Opoku Prempeh as the sector minister and all ministers in this current government.”

The leadership of NUGS said the interest and welfare of the Ghanaian students both in the country and abroad should be his priority.

“NUGS believe strongly that the interest and welfare of the Ghanaian student (s) both in the country and abroad shall be your utmost priority dating back to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where you served students in the capacity as KNUST’s local NUGS President,” the statement said.

Dr Opoku Prempeh was born on May 23, 1968 and comes from Pakyi No. 2 in the Ashanti Region.

The 49-year old medical doctor is a member of the Glasgow Royal College of Surgeons and was twice the local NUGS President of KNUST.

Meanwhile, the Women’s Commissioner of NUGS, Miss Naomi Tawiah, on behalf of the Union, has congratulated Madam Djaba on her nomination as the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs.

“As a Commission, that is so concerned about Women Empowerment and the need for Gender Equity, it is our firm believe that her appointment will inure to the ultimate benefit of women, and most especially the vulnerable girl child,” the Commission stated.

The Women’s Commissioner urged Madam Djaba to prioritise scholarship schemes for Girl-child Education and for young females who faced challenges in their Education.

She should also seek to handle the numerous issues that were impeding the Education of the Ghanaian girl-child.

The Union also lauded the female ministerial nominees and Members of Parliament for their feat and wished them well.

SCANDAL: Africa Pays 400 Billion Euros Per Year to France!!

French President Francois Hollande

By Mathew Ogunsina

This economic slavery is important for the development of the French economy.Whenever this traffic is likely to fail; France is ready for anything to reconquer it. If a leader of the CFA zone no longer meets the requirements of France, Paris is blocking its foreign exchange reserves and more, France closes the banks in this country considered “rebel”. This was the case of Côte d’Ivoire with Laurent Gbagbo.

A German newspaper accuses France of looting 440 billion euros each year to Africans through the CFA Franc.

“The French government collects from its former colonies each year 440 billion euros of taxes. France relies on the revenues coming from Africa, not to sink into economic insignificance, warns the former president Jacques Chirac.

In the 1950s and 60s, France decided the French colonies of Africa to become independent. Although the Paris government accepted formal declarations of independence, it called on African countries to sign a so-called “pact for the continuation of colonization.” They agreed to introduce the French colonial currency FCFA (“Franc for the French colonies in Africa”), to maintain the French schools and military system, and to establish French as an official language.

The CFA franc is the denomination of the common currency of 14 African countries members of the Franc zone. This currency, which constitutes a brake on the emergence of these countries, was created in 1945, when France ratified the Bretton Woods agreements and proceeded to implement its first declaration of parity to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) . This was called “Franc of the French Colonies of Africa”.

Under this law, 14 African countries are still obliged to store about 85 per cent of their foreign exchange reserves at the Banque de France in Paris. They are under the direct control of the French Treasury. The countries concerned do not have access to this part of their reserves. As the 15 per cent of reserves are insufficient for their needs, they must borrow additional funds from the French Treasury at market prices. Since 1961, Paris controls all foreign exchange reserves in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

In addition, these countries must each year transfer their “colonial debt” for infrastructure built in France to Paris as Silicon Africa 3 reported in detail. France takes around 440 billion euros a year. The government in Paris also has a right of first refusal on all newly discovered natural resources in African countries. Finally, French companies must have priority in awarding contracts in former colonies. As a result, there is the most assets in the fields of supply, finance, transport, energy and agriculture in the hands of French companies.

The ruling elite in each African country must fulfill these compulsory claims without any other choice. African leaders who refuse are threatened with assassination or overthrow of their government. Over the past 50 years, there have been 67 coups d’état in 26 African countries. 16 of these 26 countries were former colonies of France.

An example is the first president of Togo West Africa, Sylvanus Olympio, overthrown by a coup. He had refused to sign the “Pact for the Continuation of Settlement”. But France insisted that Togo pay the compensation for the infrastructures that had been built by the French during the colonial period. The sum is equivalent to about 40 per cent of households in Togo in 1963, requiring the fairly independent country to reach its economic limits quickly.

In addition, the new president of Togo decided to remove and print his own national currency, the French colonial currency FCFA. Three days after this decision, the new government was overthrown by a group of former foreign legionaries and the President killed. The head of the Legionaries, Gnassingbe Eyadema, received 550 euros from the French embassy for the attack, according to the British Telegraph. Four years later Eyadema was promoted with the support of Paris, the new president of Togo. He established a tyrannical dictatorship in this West African country and remained in power until his death in 2005.

In the following years, the Paris government kept the link with the former legionaries to overthrow unpopular governments in its former colonies. This was the case of the first president of the Central African Republic, David Dacko, overthrown by former members of the Foreign Legion in 1966.

The same thing happened to the President of Burkina Faso, Maurice Yaméogo, and with the President of Benin, Mathieu Kérékou, the author of a coup d’état. This was also the case of the first President of the Republic of Mali Modiba Keita, who was also the victim of a coup by former legionnaires in 1968.

The reason, a few years earlier, he had simply decided to part with the French colonial currency. “

Is Trump Already Finished?

Donald Trump, President of the United States

By Paul Craig Roberts

It did not take long before we knew there was no hope of change from President Obama. But at least he went into his inauguration with an unprecedented number of Americans on the Mall showing their support for the President of Change. Hope was abundant.

But with Trump, we are already losing faith, if not yet with him, at least with his choice of those who comprise his government even before Trump was inaugurated.

Trump's choice for Secretary of State not only sounds like the neoconservatives in declaring Russia to be a threat to the United States and all of Europe, but also sounds like Hillary Clinton in declaring the South China Sea to be an area of US dominance. One would think that the chairman of Exxon was not an idiot, but I am no longer sure. In his confirmation hearing, Rex Tillerson said that China's access to its own South China Sea is "not going to be allowed."

Here is Tillerson's statement: "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that first, the island-building stops, and second, your access to those islands also not going to be allowed."

I mean, really, what is Tillerson going to do about it except get the world blown up. China's response was as pointed as a response can be:

Tillerson "should not be misled into thinking that Beijing will be fearful of threats. If Trump's diplomatic team shapes future Sino-US ties as it is doing now, the two sides had better prepare for a military clash. Tillerson had better bone up on nuclear power strategies if he wants to force a big nuclear power to withdraw from its own territories."

So Trump is not even inaugurated and his nominee for Secretary of State has already created an animosity relationship with two nuclear powers capable of completely destroying all of the West for eternity. And this makes the US Senate comfortable with Tillerson. They should be scared out of their wits, assuming they have any.

One of the reasons that Russia rescued Syria from Washington's overthrow is that Russia understood that Washington's next target would be Iran and from a destroyed Iran terrorism would be exported into the Russian Federation. There is an axis of countries threatened by US supported terrorism-Syria, Iran, Russia, China.

Trump says he wants to normalize relations with Russia and to open up business opportunities in the place of conflict. But to normalize relations with Russia requires also normalizing relations with Iran and China.

Judging from their public statements, Trump's announced government has targeted Iran for destabilization. Trump's appointees as National Security Advisor, Secretary of Defense, and Director of the CIA all regard Iran incorrectly as a terrorist state that must be overthrown.

But Russia cannot allow Washington to overthrow the stable government in Iran and will not allow it. China's investments in Iranian oil imply that China also will not permit Washington's overthrow of Iran. China has already suffered from its lost investments in Libyan oil as the result of the Obama regimes overthrow of the Libyan government.

Realistically speaking, it looks like the Trump Presidency is already defeated by his own appointees independently of the ridiculous and completely unbelievable propaganda put out by the CIA and broadcast by the presstitute media in the US, UK, and Europe. The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and BBC have lowered themselves below the National Enquirer.

Possibly, these statements from Trump's appointees are nothing but what is required to be confirmed and are not operational in any sense. However, it is possible to stand up to the bullies in confirmation hearings. I stood up in my confirming hearing, and the embarrassed Democrats requested that the entire hearing be deleted from the record.

If the Chairman of Exxon and a Lt. General are not capable of standing up to the imbecilic Congress, they are unfit for office. That they did not stand up is an indication that they lack the strength that Trump needs if he is to bring change from the top.

If Trump is unable to change US foreign policy, thermo-nuclear war and the destruction of Earth are inevitable.