EUROGET DE-INVEST: Speaks Out on 9 Hospitals

Kwaku Agyemang Manu, Minister of Health

In 2007, Euroget De-Invest s.a (EDI) of Egypt, an Egyptian investment company, with special expertise in structuring and arranging project finance and investment initiatives, entered Ghana and prospected for social infrastructure projects, specifically hospitals. The project involves construction of nine (9) state of the art fully functional hospitals including a 500 bed military hospital, 2 regional hospitals at Wa and Kumasi, and six (6) district hospitals at Salaga, Twifo Praso, Madina (Now at Atomic/Kwabenya), Konongo, Nsawkaw and Tepa. The 9 hospitals involves the Ministries of Health (8 hospitals) and Defence (1 Military hospital in Kumasi)

Euroget De-Invest successfully went through the regulatory processes and duly procured the contract, after processing the same through the various Ministries, Cabinet and Parliamentary approvals in 2008. Further, commercial and supplier credit agreements were signed in 2008. The Value for money audit on the contract was conducted by Crown Agents of UK and successfully concluded in 2009. Consequently, the Turnkey EPC contract for the 9 hospitals amounting to US$519.00 million was finalized in 2010. The Turnkey EPC contract is being financed by a supplier’s credit facility, secured by promissory notes issued by the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

The supplier credit facility is arranged on concessional terms, providing sufficient financial savings for the Republic of Ghana. The supplier’s credit facility, signed between Ministry of Finance and Euroget De-Invest s.a. contains the terms and conditions for the concessional funding. The supplier credit facility and its terms and conditions are being implemented, monitored and available at the Ministry of Finance. All payments under the contract are made in accordance with the agreed terms of the Supplier’s Credit agreement.

Subsequent to the value for money (VFM) audit in 2009, the commercial contract with the Ministries of Health and Defence were finally concluded in 2010, pending various conditions precedent for effectiveness. Various pre-conditions to the effectiveness of the commercial contract and supplier’s credit agreement have been strenuously pursued. These pre-conditions include; the issuance of agreed Promissory Notes in accordance with the agreement, which was obtained in February 2012 and legal opinion of the Attorney General in April 2012, signifying full effectiveness of supplier credit facility. Other pre-conditions for commercial contract with the Ministries of Health and Defence included the release of lands and grant of access to sites for the hospitals, which were obtained on various dates, the last release being in 2014, and grant of final tax exemption by Parliament in December 2016.

The execution of the hospitals project, scheduled in two phases and commenced at different dates, are at various stages of completion. The expected commissioning dates for the 9 hospitals are between July 2017 and April 2018, which are well within the contractual delivery period.

On this note, distinguished members of the press are invited to visit the various sites to avail yourselves of the progress on the work.

Editorial

KOREA

The threats by the United States of America to attack the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea have not in any way contributed to the restoration of peace on the Korean peninsula.

Indeed these threats have worsened tensions in South –East Asia and pushed South Korea and the DPRK to the brink of war.

There cannot be any doubt about the fact that the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a major threat to world peace and security.

However, we cannot accept the current situation in which some countries are allowed to make and keep nuclear weapons while others are attacked for doing the same thing.

In our view all countries of the world including Russia and the United States of America need to get rid of all their nuclear weapons.

A nuclear weapon in any hand is dangerous for the world.

The threats of attack on the DPRK will not make the world a more peaceful place.

Local News:

Bond saga: Minority deceiving public? 

Ken Ofori Atta, Minister of Finance

By Ibrahim Alhassan

A deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei Asare is accusing the minority of deception over claims of conflict of interest against her boss Ken Ofori-Atta.

The minority at a press briefing on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 cited the finance minister for conflict of interest and lack of transparency in the issuance of $2.25 billion 15-year bond.

Government issued 15 and 7-year bonds with a coupon rate of 19.75%, raising a total amount of USD1.13 billion. The Finance Ministry additionally raised cedi equivalent of USD1.12 billion in five and 10-year bonds through a tap arrangement. Former deputy finance Minister Casely Ato Forson at the press conference asserted Franklin Templeton Investment limited which acquired about 95% of the domestic bond floated earlier this month has a direct relationship with Mr. Ofori-Atta.

“In an unaudited semi-annual report of Franklyn Templeton Investment limited dated 31st December, 2016; Honourable Trevor G. Trefgarne was named as one of the five board of Directors of the firm. He was also described as the chairman of Enterprise Group Limited in the report.

Enterprise Group has 10 Board of Directors. Principal among them are Mr Keli Gadzekpo, Group Chief Executive of Enterprise Group; Dr Angela Ofori Atta, wife of Finance Minister Hon. Ken Ofori Atta who doubles as Director of Enterprise Insurance, a subsidiary of Enterprise Group.

“Enterprise Group also has Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Hon. Gloria Akuffo and Dr Angela Ofori Atta as non-executive members of the firm. Hon Gloria Akuffo is/was Director of Enterprise Life, a subsidiary of Enterprise Group (it is not clear whether she has resigned or not).

“It is now emerging that a firm that Hon Trevor G. Trefgarne works as a member of Board of Directors took substantial position in the April 3, 2017, bond issued by the Finance Minister. As noted, information that is now available in the public domain appears to indicate that Hon. Trevor G. Trefgarne is not just Board Chairman of Enterprise insurance Limited, a company owned partially by the current Finance Minister’s company, Data Bank Limited.

“Hon. Trevor G. Trefgarne is also a Director of Franklyn Templeton which is the main participant in the recent Bond issuance. Putting these apparent facts together, we have reason to believe that there is a relational interest between our Finance Minister and Trevor G. Trefgarne which creates a potential lack of transparency and conflict of interest,” the minority said.

The minority is calling a parliamentary probe into the deal.

The NDC MPs are threatening to drag the finance Minister to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) if their quest to get the Legislature to look into the deal fails.

“Furthermore, we also intend to exercise the option of filing a report/petition with the Financial Services Authority of the U.S.A to investigate Franklyn Templeton. We also wish to point out that this Bond issue is clearly an international economic/business transaction within the meaning of article 181 (5) of the Constitution.

Therefore, we expected that the bond issuance would have been brought to parliament for approval”.

However, speaking to Starr News, a deputy Finance Minister Abena Osei Asare refuted claims of the minority explaining the previous administration dealt with the investor in question. “What the minority is seeking to do is just throwing dust into the public eyes. There are more important issues that we need to discuss. —This Franklin Templeton Investor that they are talking about, we’ve been doing business, Ghana has been doing business with them for more than 10 years now so I honestly don’t see what they are talking about”.

The Atiwa East MP also challenged claims the deal was shrouded in secrecy arguing the one day used in floating the bonds is a normal practice.

She stressed: “There is an issuance calendar which comes every quarter that will tell you the number of bonds that is going to take place in a particular quarter. So this is nothing new, they knew about it. They said that the period was just one day, my brother usually it’s two days but it’s happened before that these bonds are done in a day, there is nothing wrong with that, this is nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn’t done in secrecy, there is not conflict of interest here and they are free to do whatever they want to do. But I believe that in their quest to come to power, they shouldn’t destroy this country through some of these things. This is an investor you have worked with before; over 10 years. This investor bought 3.5 billion of your bonds so this is nothing new”.

Source: Starrfmonline

‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ short-term approach

Edward Kareweh, General Secretary, GAWU

By Jonas Nyabor

The General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), Edward Kareweh, has cast doubt on the ability of government’s proposed ‘Planting for Food and Job’ program to address the many challenges in the agricultural sector.

According to him, the program is just a “stop-gap” measure which will have short-lived benefits.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Kareweh said the approach by government does not tackle the underlying problems within the sector.

“It takes more than we are just seeing. These measures government is taking; I’ll call them stop gap measures. They are not permanent solution measures. They are not going to take us far. But we can get results within the short-term and then we will all be happy that we have implemented policies and come with results, but these are short-term measures. We need long-term measures.”

“Do we know how much it will cost the government to import fertilizer into this country? Are we thinking about building a fertilizer factory in this country? And how long will it take us?” he quizzed.

He lamented that, the government’s plan of importing fertilizer and improved seeds for distribution to the beneficiary farmers will not help the local economy.

“The unfortunate thing is that, we are going to import seeds, we are importing fertilizer, much of the money will simply go into importing all these things when in actual fact, if they were produced in this country, certainly the multiplier effect of it will be so great. One would not say what we are doing today will not bring benefits, they will bring benefits, but they will be short-lived,” he said.

He further said the elements of the program by the NPP government was not a novelty, especially with the provision of farm inputs and subsidized cost of fertilizer, which he said successive governments have also done without achieving the desired results.

He however urged the NPP government to make considerations for long-term solutions to ensure that relevant gains are made in the agricultural sector.

Planting for Food and Jobs program will fail if… – Peasant Farmers

By Jonas Nyabor

The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, has noted that, the government’s flagship programme for the agricultural sector, Planting for Food and Jobs, will fail if it is not properly restructured to target more small scale farmers, instead of large scale farmers.

According to the Association, government among other things has selected the wrong beneficiaries who will eventually collapse the programme.

President Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to officially launch the program on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, but the Association has said that its assessment of the current plan for the project indicates that it is likely to fail.

The Programme Officer for the Association, Charles Kwowe Nyaaba, in a Citi News interview said the current plan excludes over 70% of peasant farmers.

“The target beneficiaries in the first place are wrong. They are targeting the large-scale farmers, and not small scale farmers, but we all know that the farmer population in Ghana, we have over 80% being small-scale farmers… The approach of recruiting extension service personnel to help in the programme is wrong. If you go to the Ministry of Agriculture at the district level, you have the extension officers there who are not able to visit farming communities because of lack of logistics. You leave all these people hanging there and you say you are bringing National Service personnel to train them to go and train the farmers. At the end of the day, if you don’t take care, they would rather go and be learning from the farmers and that is not going to give us the impact that we are looking for,” he said.

Charles Kwowe Nyaaba added that, most rural farmers will be discouraged by government’s directive that beneficiaries of the programme deposit some amount of money into a bank account.

“We are also saying that, before you benefit from the facility, government is subsidizing 50% and the farmers will pay the initial amount of the 25% and those farmers are supposed to deposit the money in a rural bank, then after that you take the chip and go, before you’ll be allowed to benefit from the facility”, he emphasized.

According to him, most farmers live in very remote communities and that makes it difficult for them to access banks for such transactions.

“It is no surprise that business people are capitalizing on the sale of these facilities at a higher price, since majority of these farmers live in the rural areas and would not like to travel thus far to the banking facilities in order to benefit from these facilities. “We are also saying that before you benefit from the facility, government is subsidizing 50% and the farmers will pay the initial amount of the 25% and those farmers are supposed to deposit the money in a rural bank, then after that you take the chip and go, before you’ll be allowed to benefit from the facility”, he emphasized.

The NPP government has said that it intends to revolutionize agriculture in the country by introducing the programme which it said will create more than 750,000 jobs.

The programme, according to the government, would also motivate farmers to grow staple foods such as maize, millet, and beans. Interested farmers are to be provided with free seedlings among other agricultural inputs and agro-chemicals such as fertilizer at reduced prices.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is expected to launch the national ‘Planting for Food and Job programme’ at Goaso, capital of the Asunafo Municipality in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

Source: citifmonline

Akufo-Addo has dismissed 14,000 workers in 100 days - Minority

James Avedzi Klutse

By Enoch Darfah Frimpong 

The parliamentary caucus of the opposition National Democratic Congress has assessed the first 100 days of the Akufo-Addo led government and said it has been full of wasteful expenditure and ‘wahala’.

To them, unless there was a divine intervention from God in the affairs of the nation, Ghana would be heading into a ditch under President Akufo-Addo.

“We ask the almighty God for divine intervention in the affairs of this station. Awurade begye steer no,” the deputy minority leader, Mr James Klutse Avedzi said at a press conference in Parliament House on Tuesday.

He said it has been 100 days of “broken promises, gross incompetence, shameful plagiarism by the president, proceed on leave and dismissal of over 14,000 workers from the national service, cocoa board, police training recruits, nurses, teachers and local government staff.

“It has been 100 days of hardships, deceit, wasteful expenditure on presidential swearing in ceremonies in Accra and Kyebi, wasteful expenditure on Ghana@60 celebrations, terrorism by Invincible Forces, Delta Forces and all the hidden partisan vigilante forces."

Flanked by other members in leadership of the minority, Mr Avedzi said it has been 100 days of "unprecedented bribery and conflict of interest in high places."

He pointed to the Ameri deal which government claims it was reviewing and said there has been conflict of interest in handling it.

Mr Avedzi said the 110 ministers appointed by President Akufo-Addo was a “wahala”

“Yes there is no end in sight… in our part we shall offer the needed support and criticise constructively with the view to spearheading the ailing Akufo-Addo government in order that they do not roll back the clock of progress started by the NDC."

"Ghana cannot wait for four years of recklessness, violence, lawlessness, insecurity, incompetence, hardship and bribery in high places. Mr President, listen to the plea of most well-meaning Ghanaians and drastically prone down the size of your government now," the minority said. 

Foreign News

Britain:

Jeremy Corbyn – A Silver Lining in the Trump Era 

By Asad Latif Palijo

In a welcome move earlier this week, UK PM Theresa May announced snap general elections on 8 June 2017- a full 3 years earlier than the original 2020 polls. On the face of it, this decision was taken to rally the parliament behind the complicated Brexit talks. The June polls would see a new government in place just before the round of talks scheduled later this year to finalise the messy divorce with the European Union after the shock 2016 Brexit vote.

For the pacifists around the world this brings forward favourable prospects of a Corbyn-led Labour government- a flicker of light in an era of Trump’s darkness.

Since the fateful Atlantic Charter signed between Churchill and Roosevelt in 1941 aboard HMS Prince of Wales, the U.K. has long been the most allied of allies and a junior partner to the US. Together the two nations have launched  unilateral wars and regime changes in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa since World War 2.

Very few people are aware of the clandestine coup that the two allies brought in Persian gulf that essentially paved the way for war, famine and destruction in our part of the world Long before the more famous Afghan Jehad wars.

The year 1953 saw the Iranian nationalist government of Dr. Mosaddeq toppled by the US/UK as recently confirmed by the declassified NSA documents. http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB435/

The documents declassified under freedom of information laws, describe in detail how the US – with British help – engineered the coup, codenamed TPAJAX by the CIA and Operation Boot by Britain’s MI6.

This western intervention in a sovereign nation was done to protect western oil interests in Iran by installing a puppet Monarchy. This became the classic modus operandi for western allies who wished to protect their strategic resources in blatant disregard to international law and national sovereignty of countries. The UN quickly became a rubber stamp for these unilateral acts of aggression.

In Iran, people eventually rose up that would later see the puritans leverage the situation to their advantage in installing a religious regime. Ultimately in a zero sum game the Ayatullahs really hurt the Persian heritage of tolerance and Sufism founded on the poetry of Hafiz, Rufi and Jami. To imagine that it was all started for petrodollars makes mockery of human rights slogans of the west.

This Persian coup, together with the installation of the House of Saud in the Arabian Peninsula by MI6 British agent Lawerence of Arabia brought together the unholy nexus of war, oil and construction economy that has ever since intervened in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now Syria.

With Theresa May’s announcement of snap polls, for the first time in decades , there appears from among this theatre of war in an era of mutually assured destruction (MAD) , a silver lining in the form of Jeremy Corbyn, the first anti-war leader of a major political party in the entire western world.

Given Trumps penchant for war as demonstrated by Syrian strikes conducted over cake & biscuits, the need for Corbyn’s pacifism suddenly brings a ray of hope – a possibility of a more just global order.

Widely considered an outsider to the power corridors, Jeremy Corbyn’s rise to the mantle of Labour Party in 2015 is a story of rare determination. Within a year of his rise, his own party rebelled against him, forcing Corbyn to seek re election to the leadership. However, the labour voters – disenchanted with Blair-Brown-Miliband troika of putting themselves before the socialist ideals of the Labour Party – came out in an even stronger numbers to give Corbyn a comfortable majority.

During his parliamentary career stretching over 32 years, Mr Corbyn has been the most uncompromising MP in the Commons – defying party orders more than 500 times, marching with rival parties against the Labour government and even calling for an uprising against British troops over its excesses overseas. He is famous for splitting with his second wife following a row over their son’s education – Corbyn wanted public schooling for his son to set a precedence for other parliamentarians. He began his career rallying for the anti-apartheid movement and was even jailed several times.

But it is his anti war stance that speaks volumes of his courage and determination. During the wag the dog years of Blair-led Labour government, Corbyn went against his own party and voted against Iraq intervention. This anti apartheid veteran had the experience of injustice, war and racism in the latter half of the 20th century.

One hopes the British people will seize the opportunity to redeem themselves. For centuries their country was involved in colonialisation and intervention in sovereign government since the wild Wild West days of the East India company.

The world deserves better , the world deserves Corbyn.

The original source of this article is Global Research

Venezuela

Maduro: Venezuela demands respect

In his weekly television program “Los Domingos con Maduro” the Venezuelan President declared that the differences between Venezuela’s branches of government had been overcome. Photo: AVN

By Redacción Internacional

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, demanded respect for his country this April 2, and criticized the interventionist attempts of certain nations that have allied with Venezuela’s domestic extreme right to destabilize the government.

According to AVN, Maduro condemned unpatriotic sectors who, through the media war, present to the world “a caricature, a manipulated deformation of what Venezuela is, which like any country has its problems and resolves them peacefully, constitutionally.”

Faced with the tense situation in the country, on the evening of March 31, and into the early hours of April 1, Venezuela’s National Security Council met, presided by Maduro, which according to the constitution is the highest consultational body responsible for the planning and orientation of state power.

In a statement, read by Executive Vice President Tarek El Aissami, the Council called on the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) to review decisions no. 155 and 156, with the objective of maintaining constitutional stability.

Issued by the TSJ the previous week, both rulings sought to preserve the rule of law, in the face of those factions that seek to disregard the legal system and violate the national sovereignty of the Caribbean nation, especially within the National Assembly, which continues to be in a state of contempt of the judicial branch.

TSJ President, Maikel Moreno, indicated that the call of the Security Council was heard, and a statement was later issued on the court’s website clarifying important aspects of the past rulings.

The suspension of lawmaker’s parliamentary immunity was annulled, as well as the section referring to the Constitutional Chamber assuming determined functions of the National Assembly.

Following the Security Council meeting, President Maduro declared that the differences between the branches of state of the South American nation had been overcome, as teleSUR reported.

The ruling ratified that the Constitutional Chamber of the TSJ is “the competent body for the control of the constitutionality of the acts issued by any branch of national state power,” as well as “the resolution of conflicts between branches.”

Also expressed was the “rejection of any intervention that attempts against the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination” of the Bolivarian Republic.

Statement by the Federation of Cuban Women regarding Venezuela

By Granma 

The Organization of American States (OAS), the very same that in 1962 expelled Cuba, and commits innumerable acts of treachery against the people to satisfy imperialist machinations, has once again assumed an antidemocratic stance, in violation of its own principles. The servile, unscrupulous behavior of its Secretary General Luis Almagro, who abides completely with the callous interests of the empire, in his attempt to apply the organization’s Democratic Charter against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a clear example. 

It is unacceptable that in the 21st century, in the name of democracy, the peoples’ right to sovereignty and self-determination be violated. It is shameful to promote interference in the internal affairs of countries, and far from speaking out against constant human rights abuses on the continent; against the criminalization of protests by social movements; femicide, which sees hundreds of women killed every day; and instead of consolidating the unity of Our America and working together to make the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace - adopted by CELAC in January 2014 - a reality, acts of destabilization are being undertaken against the Bolivarian Revolution and its President Nicolás Maduro.

Venezuela is not alone, we accompany the country in its struggle, and we recognize the greatness of its revolution and the humanist and solidary legacy of Comandante Hugo Chávez. We stand in defense of the country’s emancipatory social project, faithful followers of those who wrote and continue to write the true history of Latin America and the Caribbean. 

We Cuban women, witnesses to similar attacks against our own Revolution, side with the brave, the patriots, those who do not beg on their knees for slices of power and money. From the land of Mariana, Martí, Celia, Vilma, Fidel and Raúl, we declare our unconditional support and solidarity with the Venezuelan government, people, its heroic women, beneficiaries and protagonists of a profound social revolution, and to its President Nicolás Maduro Moros.

The Federation of Cuban Women 

CUBA:

The children who found 3,300 euros… and returned them

Adrian (l), lesniel (c) and Mailol with parent

By Ronald Suárez Rivas 

 It had started to get dark and they were coming home, like every afternoon, from soccer class. It was Friday and they were likely making plans for the weekend when, very close to the sidewalk, on a pile of balusters from a half-built house, two objects caught their attention.

The first was a map and on top of it, a wallet with lots, and lots of money.

“When we opened it and saw what was inside, we ran to my house and asked my mother what we should do with it,” recalls Maikol Eduardo Rodríguez Correa (11 years old), who of the three children lived closest to the discovery spot.

After checking inside the wallet and noting that in total it contained thirty-three 100 euro bills, a plane ticket, a document that looked like a driver’s license, and the passport of a German national, his parents’ response was categorical: everything had to be returned to the owner.

“We sat the three of them down in the living room and began to talk with them about all the values that should be instilled at home and in school, selflessness, modesty, humility,” explains Maikol’s father, Eddy Rodríguez.

“We also explained that the wallet belonged to someone who was just passing through our country, and that surely he was desperate, without money, without his documents, so we had to hand it in, and all three understood,” adds Maikol’s mother, Sandra Correa.

First, she accompanied the three children to the local immigration office, but as it was already late, there was no official there to speak to. The security guard suggested they go to the local police station.

“The officer on duty took a statement, and kept the wallet to locate the tourist. When we returned home, we explained to the parents of the other children what had happened, and they agreed that we were right to have acted as we did,” says Sandra.

The next day, she returned to the police station to meet the man who, with tears in his eyes, was still not over the shock of recovering his belongings.

“He was very emotional, and told me in English that he couldn’t explain how he felt, that it was incredible that children of that age had found such a large amount of money and decided to give it back.

“When he left the police station, he asked for our address and came to the house to meet the children. He told us that he would have liked to spend more time with them, but that he had to go.

“Alongside him was his family. His daughter, who didn’t speak Spanish either, expressed her gratitude for the gesture in English, and for the way in which we have raised our children,” Sandra adds.

Unfortunately, no photos were taken during the meeting, nor was there any exchange of addresses or emails to allow us to contact this German tourist and discover his version of events, but police in Viñales confirmed that it all occurred just as Eddy, Sandra and the children told us.

Several days later, on thinking about what happened, the family from Pinar del Río continues to believe that they acted correctly.

“There are people who criticize us, and tell us that we should have taken that money, but we don’t regret it at all.

“We come from a modest family, but with a lot of dignity, and those are the values we pass on to our children.”

Lesniel Alejandro Ramos Machín and Adrián Bosmenier León, the other two children who, together with Maikol, found the wallet, are also certain they did the right thing, and although, just like anyone else, there are many material things they would like to have, they note “You don’t touch what isn’t yours.”

All three children are in the sixth grade at the Eduardo García Delgado School in Viñales, and after school they play soccer at the local stadium. For now, their biggest dream is to one day become great athletes, although they may well change their minds over time. Whichever path they take in the future, these children who found a wallet containing 3,300 euros and returned it, will surely grow up to be good men.