April 1,
AN orientation programme has been organised for prospective national service personnel in the Kumasi metropolis with a call on service personnel to see themselves as role models in the communities in which they operate.
They were therefore called upon to lead lives that would portray a good image of themselves and the National Service Scheme (NSS). Mr Kwesi Quainoo, the Ashanti Regional Director of the Scheme, said at the orientation that “one of our major objectives is to ensure that personnel develop the right habits and attitudes to work to enhance their potentials as far as job opportunities are concerned”.
He admitted the fact that personnel went through some difficulties but observed that sacrifice and hard work were the only answer to a successful future.
“The National Service Scheme has both challenges and opportunities to help personnel have cross-cultural experience, which would enable them to learn new things and thus be in a better position to make informed decisions in the future”, Mr Quainoo said.
The regional co-ordinator says one of the noble objectives of the NSS is to serve as a vehicle to foster national cohesion and integration to help personnel gain knowledge and skills in various aspects of life.
Mr Quainoo gave the assurance that his outfit would ensure a convenient posting exercise this year and therefore called on the prospective service personnel to co-operate with the secretariat for a successful exercise.
He noted that last year there was so much congestion at the secretariat in Kumasi, which made the work very tedious for the staff.
The secretariat therefore set up a registration centre at the Kwame NKrumah University of Science and Technology and the Kumasi Technical Institute to ensure sanity in the programme.
Mr Quainoo advised personnel, especially those who would be in the classrooms to avoid dressing shabbily to work, in order to paint a good picture of themselves.
On the payment of allowances, Mr Quainoo said the system had improved over the years and gave the assurance that everything would be done to ensure that personnel were paid promptly.
He warned against personnel deserting their post and going to the secretariat at the end of the month to collect their allowances.
The regional co-ordinator continued that a monitoring team would be dispatched to the various departments and other points of work to see how personnel were discharging their duties.
He also advised the personnel to register for the National Health Insurance Scheme to access affordable and quality health care.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Goaso citizens hail Justice Baffoe-Bonnie’s nomination
March 28
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu, Kumasi
GOASO citizens in Kumasi have congratulated Mr Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie on his nomination to the position of a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana.
A spokesman of the citizens, Mr Stephen Owusu-Gyamfi, also known as Glabus, said it was an honour for them and indeed the entire people of Goaso and Ahafo that for the first time a native of the area was about to assume the high position of a Justice of the Supreme Court.
Mr Owusu-Gyamfi, who is an accountant with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) at Asante Mampong, said, “Justice Baffoe-Bonnie has proved over the years that he understands the profession in which he is and it is not surprising that his performance has been recognised by the President of the Republic.”
He was full of commendation for President Kufuor for nominating Mr Justice Baffoe-Bonnie to the enviable position and said that also showed that the President recognised hard work and dedication.
Mr Owusu-Gyamfi was confident that Justice Baffoe-Bonnie would scale through the parliamentary vetting to enable him to assume the position he so deserved.
He stated that from the very beginning of his education at Goaso through the Konongo Odumase Secondary School to the University of Ghana, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie showed signs of “a genius” and it is no wonder that he is about to assume that high position.
The spokesman said the eminent Justice’s father, Opanin Baffoe Bonnie of blessed memory, was one of the few people at Goaso in his life time who took great interest in his children’s education, and no wonder, most of his children had become prominent men and women in their chosen fields of endeavour.
Mr Owusu-Gyamfi expressed the hope that Justice Baffoe-Bonnie would continue to do what he knew best — administering justice without fear or favour — when he assumed his new role as a Justice of the Supreme Court.
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu, Kumasi
GOASO citizens in Kumasi have congratulated Mr Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie on his nomination to the position of a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana.
A spokesman of the citizens, Mr Stephen Owusu-Gyamfi, also known as Glabus, said it was an honour for them and indeed the entire people of Goaso and Ahafo that for the first time a native of the area was about to assume the high position of a Justice of the Supreme Court.
Mr Owusu-Gyamfi, who is an accountant with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) at Asante Mampong, said, “Justice Baffoe-Bonnie has proved over the years that he understands the profession in which he is and it is not surprising that his performance has been recognised by the President of the Republic.”
He was full of commendation for President Kufuor for nominating Mr Justice Baffoe-Bonnie to the enviable position and said that also showed that the President recognised hard work and dedication.
Mr Owusu-Gyamfi was confident that Justice Baffoe-Bonnie would scale through the parliamentary vetting to enable him to assume the position he so deserved.
He stated that from the very beginning of his education at Goaso through the Konongo Odumase Secondary School to the University of Ghana, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie showed signs of “a genius” and it is no wonder that he is about to assume that high position.
The spokesman said the eminent Justice’s father, Opanin Baffoe Bonnie of blessed memory, was one of the few people at Goaso in his life time who took great interest in his children’s education, and no wonder, most of his children had become prominent men and women in their chosen fields of endeavour.
Mr Owusu-Gyamfi expressed the hope that Justice Baffoe-Bonnie would continue to do what he knew best — administering justice without fear or favour — when he assumed his new role as a Justice of the Supreme Court.
Use ADR to free courts of workload
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu,
Mamponteng
THE District Magistrate at Mamponteng in the Ashanti Region, Mrs Aliata Saeed, has called on litigants to make use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to free the courts of their huge workload.
She expressed regret that very trivial cases, some of them involving debts of GH¢50, continued to flock the courts, when they could have been handled through the ADR system without much delay and financial drain.
Mrs Saeed, who was speaking at the inauguration of the refurbished district court building at Mamponteng in the Kwabre District, said “it is not every time that the court is the place to settle disputes”.
“We have to realise that the pressure on the courts is too much and as such cases that are not serious must be settled through arbitration,” she said.
The refurbishment of the building, which also houses the district post office, cost GH¢23,000, and was financed by the district assembly.
Mrs Saeed noted that it was most often antagonistic to have cases settled by the courts, but very friendly when handled through the ADR.
She commended the district assembly for releasing funds to renovate the building, which was seriously crying for attention.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Alhaji Kwasi Yeboah, said it was important for the people to take good care of government property to ensure their longer lifespan.
He said the government and the assembly were determined to improve on their development activities so that people in the remotest parts of the district enjoy decent living.
Alhaji Yeboah disclosed that 15 kilometres of roads in the district were to be rehabilitated this year under a special presidential package, adding that five kilometres of the entire project would be undertaken at Mamponteng, the district capital.
The DCE also touched on the water project at Mamponteng and expressed the hope that the new management board of the project would ensure that it was maintained properly.
Alhaji Yeboah called on the people to be wary of opposition politicians, who were only out to spread false information about the government.
“We must not give in to the machinations of such people because they have nothing good for the nation,” he said.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwabre East, Mr Kofi Frimpong, urged the people to continue to rally behind the government to ensure accelerated development.
He also asked them to open their eyes very wide and look out for politicians whose weapon was misinforming the electorate about the government, as the general election approached.
The Chief of Ahwiaa, Nana Kusi Asiamah Yeboah, chaired the ceremony.
Mamponteng
THE District Magistrate at Mamponteng in the Ashanti Region, Mrs Aliata Saeed, has called on litigants to make use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to free the courts of their huge workload.
She expressed regret that very trivial cases, some of them involving debts of GH¢50, continued to flock the courts, when they could have been handled through the ADR system without much delay and financial drain.
Mrs Saeed, who was speaking at the inauguration of the refurbished district court building at Mamponteng in the Kwabre District, said “it is not every time that the court is the place to settle disputes”.
“We have to realise that the pressure on the courts is too much and as such cases that are not serious must be settled through arbitration,” she said.
The refurbishment of the building, which also houses the district post office, cost GH¢23,000, and was financed by the district assembly.
Mrs Saeed noted that it was most often antagonistic to have cases settled by the courts, but very friendly when handled through the ADR.
She commended the district assembly for releasing funds to renovate the building, which was seriously crying for attention.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Alhaji Kwasi Yeboah, said it was important for the people to take good care of government property to ensure their longer lifespan.
He said the government and the assembly were determined to improve on their development activities so that people in the remotest parts of the district enjoy decent living.
Alhaji Yeboah disclosed that 15 kilometres of roads in the district were to be rehabilitated this year under a special presidential package, adding that five kilometres of the entire project would be undertaken at Mamponteng, the district capital.
The DCE also touched on the water project at Mamponteng and expressed the hope that the new management board of the project would ensure that it was maintained properly.
Alhaji Yeboah called on the people to be wary of opposition politicians, who were only out to spread false information about the government.
“We must not give in to the machinations of such people because they have nothing good for the nation,” he said.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwabre East, Mr Kofi Frimpong, urged the people to continue to rally behind the government to ensure accelerated development.
He also asked them to open their eyes very wide and look out for politicians whose weapon was misinforming the electorate about the government, as the general election approached.
The Chief of Ahwiaa, Nana Kusi Asiamah Yeboah, chaired the ceremony.
Businessman puts up computer
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu, Kwamang
March 27, 2008
A native of Kwamang in the Ashanti Region, Mr Joseph Kwaku Duku, has financed the construction of a GH¢100,000 computer and library complex for the local Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Schools.
The facility, which was inaugurated by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr E.A. Owusu-Ansah, would also be used by students from other schools in the community.
Mr Duku, who is a businessman, said the decision to put up the complex was a means of repaying the community that had made him what he was today.
He stated that he saw education as the bedrock of national development, and therefore, felt fufilled for being able to accomplish his dream of supporting educational development in his native Kwamang.
Mr Duku advised children in the area to take advantage of the facility to broaden their knowledge.
Inaugurating the complex, Mr Owusu-Ansah said the world was witnessing an unprecedented change and anything short of quality education would not be in the interest of the nation.
“It is for this reason that we urge philanthropists and non-governmental organisations to team up with the government in the provision of basic infrastructure to improve the quality of teaching and learning in our schools,” he said.
The regional minister observed that quality education offered children the opportunity to seek knowledge that would impact on the body, mind and characters of the children.
He entreated citizens of various communities in the region both at home and abroad to give a little back to their towns and villages which brought them up.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo, Mr Kwame Osei Prempeh, said Ghana needed people like Mr Duku to advance its development agenda.
He promised to build another library for the town to ease pressure on the already existing facilities.
Mr Osei Prempeh said the government had created opportunities for people to go about their businesses freely and, therefore, urged the people to support the government for it to do more for them.
The Omanhene of Kwamang, Barima Abeyie Ntori Nimpa II, said parents had the responsibility to take care of their children’s education.
March 27, 2008
A native of Kwamang in the Ashanti Region, Mr Joseph Kwaku Duku, has financed the construction of a GH¢100,000 computer and library complex for the local Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Schools.
The facility, which was inaugurated by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr E.A. Owusu-Ansah, would also be used by students from other schools in the community.
Mr Duku, who is a businessman, said the decision to put up the complex was a means of repaying the community that had made him what he was today.
He stated that he saw education as the bedrock of national development, and therefore, felt fufilled for being able to accomplish his dream of supporting educational development in his native Kwamang.
Mr Duku advised children in the area to take advantage of the facility to broaden their knowledge.
Inaugurating the complex, Mr Owusu-Ansah said the world was witnessing an unprecedented change and anything short of quality education would not be in the interest of the nation.
“It is for this reason that we urge philanthropists and non-governmental organisations to team up with the government in the provision of basic infrastructure to improve the quality of teaching and learning in our schools,” he said.
The regional minister observed that quality education offered children the opportunity to seek knowledge that would impact on the body, mind and characters of the children.
He entreated citizens of various communities in the region both at home and abroad to give a little back to their towns and villages which brought them up.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo, Mr Kwame Osei Prempeh, said Ghana needed people like Mr Duku to advance its development agenda.
He promised to build another library for the town to ease pressure on the already existing facilities.
Mr Osei Prempeh said the government had created opportunities for people to go about their businesses freely and, therefore, urged the people to support the government for it to do more for them.
The Omanhene of Kwamang, Barima Abeyie Ntori Nimpa II, said parents had the responsibility to take care of their children’s education.
How the 2007 National Best Farmer rose to fame
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu, Kumasi
March 27, 2008
THE reigning national best farmer, Alhaji Abdul-Salaam Akate, is someone who always seeks for fresh challenges in his chosen career.
The award, conferred on him in December, 2007, seems to have gingered him to enter into other bigger activities in his farming business.
Just three months after being crowned the best farmer, 54-year-old Ahaji Akate has taken a giant step to enter into serious mechanised farming to widen his production base.
He has ordered a combine harvester and more tractors from Europe to beef up the company’s stock to facilitate a major mechanised crop farming on a three-mile square land he has acquired at Amantin in the Brong Ahafo Region.
“I am not resting at all. This award (best farmer), which I received, has re-ignited my spirit and I am going to work even harder to improve agriculture in this country,” Alhaji Akate stated.
“I have encouraged my workers to see the award as theirs so that the company will grow from strength to strength,” he said.
When this reporter visited the main offices of the Akate Farms in Kumasi, Alhaji Akate, in the company of his wife, Mariam, a journalist by profession and now an administrator of the company, was busily putting heads together on the new initiatives of the company.
He recalled that momentous day, Friday, December 7, 2007, when he won the coveted award at Wa, and stressed that “when my name was mentioned, I became emotional, especially as everybody on the dias wanted to touch me”.
“It was a proud moment for me, as it happened in my home region before a huge assembly of dignitaries, including the Vice-President and some respected citizens of my region”, Alhaji Akate said.
Alhaji Akate hails from Bawiesibe in the Upper West Region.
His prize was a fully-furnished three-bedroom house to be constructed at a place of his choice. Alhaji Akate has decided that the building, to be financed by the Agricultural Development Bank, be put up in Kumasi for use by some of his workers.
The decision is borne by the fact that it was in Kumasi that it all started and it is also appropriate that the workers who have supported him in building the company enjoy the fruits.
Tracing the history behind his successful story as a farmer, Alhaji Akate said some people erronously thought that he received the prestigious prize on a silver platter.
“It is a long history of a terrible beginning, tough and hard,” he stressed.
Alhaji Akate, who lost his father when he was in primary two, had to abandon his education to join his aunt at Asante Bekwai. He could not continue schooling anywhere, neither could he learn any trade.
Between 1973 and 1974 he joined the then Cocoa Marketing Board (CMB) as a labourer at Bekwai and was later transferred to Obuasi.
While with CMB, Alhaji Akate was doing some petty trading in cigarretes but later his employment with the CMB was cut short and he had to concentrate on his private business.
Eager to venture into other areas of business, Alhaji Akate said he bought the land where the main company yard is located in Kumasi, in 1981, at a cost of GH¢700 and started his poultry business with 1,500 layers, whilst continuing with his cigarrete business.
Today the poultry section of the farms has as many as 450,000 birds.
Despite his little knowledge in formal education, the fledgling poultry farmer kept records of his operations and later realised that he could take poultry farming as a full-time business.
“A brother of mine introduced me to the Social Security Bank, which advanced ¢1 million (now GH¢100) loan to me, and I paid off the loan in ten months after which the bank gave a further ¢2.5 million (GH¢250) and then ¢5.5 million (GH¢ 550),” he said.
According to him, even though he remained a committed customer, he had problems with his bankers and was later introduced to the Barclays Bank by a friend who had since 1988 given him all the neccesary assistance to progress.
Even though Barclays Bank is not into mainstream agriculture financing, Alhaji Akate says they have remained failthful partners in development which he thinks other banks should emulate.
The national best farmer said the selection of the award winners was very transparent and until the age of the first runner-up was mentioned, he did not know he was the winner. “When the members of the selection committee came to my office to interview me, they refused to take even water and this tells you the seriousness and openess which they attached to the job assigned them,” Aljaji Akate emphasised.
On what must be done to improve agriculture in the country, Alhaji Akate said even though the government was doing its best, there was still a problem with land acquisition.
He, therefore, suggested that the land bank issue that the government hinted some time past, must be pursued with all seriousness to enable farmers to acquire land at a reasonable cost.
Alhaji Akate was also concerned about the high lending rates and said that was preventing many farmers from accessing credit from the banks, and therefore, suggested that a special interest rate on agricultural borrowing must be introduced in the country.
Alhaji Akate further called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to take steps to support mechanised farming because it was only through it that people could take up agriculture as a business venture.
Notwithstanding his deficiency in formal education, the best farmer knows how important education is.
Alhaji Akate has taken keen interest in the education of his children. Currently, three of them are in universities in Malaysia and China, undertaking Information Technology, Business Administration and medicine. A fourth child is about to enter the university.
Mariam, his wife, known as Mary Dimbie in his days with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), also said she had never regretted abandoning his employment with the GBC in 1989 to support her husband in his business.
March 27, 2008
THE reigning national best farmer, Alhaji Abdul-Salaam Akate, is someone who always seeks for fresh challenges in his chosen career.
The award, conferred on him in December, 2007, seems to have gingered him to enter into other bigger activities in his farming business.
Just three months after being crowned the best farmer, 54-year-old Ahaji Akate has taken a giant step to enter into serious mechanised farming to widen his production base.
He has ordered a combine harvester and more tractors from Europe to beef up the company’s stock to facilitate a major mechanised crop farming on a three-mile square land he has acquired at Amantin in the Brong Ahafo Region.
“I am not resting at all. This award (best farmer), which I received, has re-ignited my spirit and I am going to work even harder to improve agriculture in this country,” Alhaji Akate stated.
“I have encouraged my workers to see the award as theirs so that the company will grow from strength to strength,” he said.
When this reporter visited the main offices of the Akate Farms in Kumasi, Alhaji Akate, in the company of his wife, Mariam, a journalist by profession and now an administrator of the company, was busily putting heads together on the new initiatives of the company.
He recalled that momentous day, Friday, December 7, 2007, when he won the coveted award at Wa, and stressed that “when my name was mentioned, I became emotional, especially as everybody on the dias wanted to touch me”.
“It was a proud moment for me, as it happened in my home region before a huge assembly of dignitaries, including the Vice-President and some respected citizens of my region”, Alhaji Akate said.
Alhaji Akate hails from Bawiesibe in the Upper West Region.
His prize was a fully-furnished three-bedroom house to be constructed at a place of his choice. Alhaji Akate has decided that the building, to be financed by the Agricultural Development Bank, be put up in Kumasi for use by some of his workers.
The decision is borne by the fact that it was in Kumasi that it all started and it is also appropriate that the workers who have supported him in building the company enjoy the fruits.
Tracing the history behind his successful story as a farmer, Alhaji Akate said some people erronously thought that he received the prestigious prize on a silver platter.
“It is a long history of a terrible beginning, tough and hard,” he stressed.
Alhaji Akate, who lost his father when he was in primary two, had to abandon his education to join his aunt at Asante Bekwai. He could not continue schooling anywhere, neither could he learn any trade.
Between 1973 and 1974 he joined the then Cocoa Marketing Board (CMB) as a labourer at Bekwai and was later transferred to Obuasi.
While with CMB, Alhaji Akate was doing some petty trading in cigarretes but later his employment with the CMB was cut short and he had to concentrate on his private business.
Eager to venture into other areas of business, Alhaji Akate said he bought the land where the main company yard is located in Kumasi, in 1981, at a cost of GH¢700 and started his poultry business with 1,500 layers, whilst continuing with his cigarrete business.
Today the poultry section of the farms has as many as 450,000 birds.
Despite his little knowledge in formal education, the fledgling poultry farmer kept records of his operations and later realised that he could take poultry farming as a full-time business.
“A brother of mine introduced me to the Social Security Bank, which advanced ¢1 million (now GH¢100) loan to me, and I paid off the loan in ten months after which the bank gave a further ¢2.5 million (GH¢250) and then ¢5.5 million (GH¢ 550),” he said.
According to him, even though he remained a committed customer, he had problems with his bankers and was later introduced to the Barclays Bank by a friend who had since 1988 given him all the neccesary assistance to progress.
Even though Barclays Bank is not into mainstream agriculture financing, Alhaji Akate says they have remained failthful partners in development which he thinks other banks should emulate.
The national best farmer said the selection of the award winners was very transparent and until the age of the first runner-up was mentioned, he did not know he was the winner. “When the members of the selection committee came to my office to interview me, they refused to take even water and this tells you the seriousness and openess which they attached to the job assigned them,” Aljaji Akate emphasised.
On what must be done to improve agriculture in the country, Alhaji Akate said even though the government was doing its best, there was still a problem with land acquisition.
He, therefore, suggested that the land bank issue that the government hinted some time past, must be pursued with all seriousness to enable farmers to acquire land at a reasonable cost.
Alhaji Akate was also concerned about the high lending rates and said that was preventing many farmers from accessing credit from the banks, and therefore, suggested that a special interest rate on agricultural borrowing must be introduced in the country.
Alhaji Akate further called on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to take steps to support mechanised farming because it was only through it that people could take up agriculture as a business venture.
Notwithstanding his deficiency in formal education, the best farmer knows how important education is.
Alhaji Akate has taken keen interest in the education of his children. Currently, three of them are in universities in Malaysia and China, undertaking Information Technology, Business Administration and medicine. A fourth child is about to enter the university.
Mariam, his wife, known as Mary Dimbie in his days with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), also said she had never regretted abandoning his employment with the GBC in 1989 to support her husband in his business.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
4 ARRESTED FOR PAYSLIP FRAUD (BACK PAGE)
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu, Kumasi
THE police at Manso Nkwanta have arrested four persons, two of them teachers, believed to be members of a gang allegedly using the payslips of teachers on study leave in various universities to access loans from a micro-credit company that has entered into an agreement with the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department.
The suspects had, within the last six months, managed to fraudulently secure loans totalling GH¢50,000 from various branches of the company, Noble Character Enterprise, agents of City Investments Company (CIC) of Accra.
The police gave the names of the suspects as Charles Kojo Fosu, 29, a teacher of the Kasoa D/A Primary School; James Leeford Yevutse, 30, a teacher of the Agona Nyakrom D/A JHS; Kwame Nkrumah, 27, a farmer at Agona Duakwa, and Kwabena Kanin, 35, a Space-to-Space operator at Kasoa.
They were arrested at a police barrier at Antoakrom in the Amansie West District in the Ashanti Region just after securing another fraudulent loan facility at the company’s newly opened branch at Manso Nkwanta last Thursday.
A fifth suspect, whose name was given as Joe, a former pupil teacher, escaped arrest and the police have mounted a search for him.
Their modus operandi is to secure the payslips of the teachers without their knowledge, make fake voter identity cards bearing the names of the said teachers but with their (suspects) pictures and use them to secure loans from the company’s offices located at Mankessim, Ejumako, Elmina, Akim Oda and Nsawam.
At the end of every month, deductions are made from the salaries of the said teachers, while the suspects enjoyed their booty.
On their arrest, the Manso Nkwanta Police were informed by their colleagues at Mankessim that the suspects had been arrested for a similar offence at Mankessim and were due to appear before a court in Saltpond yesterday.
The Amansie District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Isaac Kwadwo Asante, said his outfit would team up with the Mankessim Police to go into the matter in order to establish how the suspects managed to get the payslips of the teachers.
He said about 1.00 p.m. on April 10, 2008, the suspects, using a taxi allegedly hired from the Central Region, had gone to the Noble Character Enterprise office at Manso Nkwanta where they produced applications for loan facilities covering GH¢37, GH¢28 and GH¢500.
DSP Asante said the first two applications of GH¢37 and GH¢28 went through but the Amansie Rural Bank Limited, where they cashed the cheques, did not have enough money for the payment of the GH¢500 loan and they were, therefore, asked to come the following day.
He said the Assistant Manager of Noble Character at Manso Nkwanta, Ms Christiana Amoah, who had written the cheques, later detected that the voter identity cards attached to the loan applications were fictitious and consequently rushed to inform the police.
DSP Asante indicated that the suspects had then left in the taxi and the police quickly telephoned their Antoakrom station to arrest the taxi and its occupants.
According to him, when the taxi got to the Antoakrom Barrier, the four were arrested, but the fifth person escaped through the bush.
The suspects have since appeared before a court at Asante Bekwai where they were remanded in prison custody to appear again in a fortnight’s time.
Officials of Noble Character Enterprise told the Daily Graphic that the activities of the suspects had nearly crippled the operations of the company and commended the police for their efforts at arresting them.
THE police at Manso Nkwanta have arrested four persons, two of them teachers, believed to be members of a gang allegedly using the payslips of teachers on study leave in various universities to access loans from a micro-credit company that has entered into an agreement with the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department.
The suspects had, within the last six months, managed to fraudulently secure loans totalling GH¢50,000 from various branches of the company, Noble Character Enterprise, agents of City Investments Company (CIC) of Accra.
The police gave the names of the suspects as Charles Kojo Fosu, 29, a teacher of the Kasoa D/A Primary School; James Leeford Yevutse, 30, a teacher of the Agona Nyakrom D/A JHS; Kwame Nkrumah, 27, a farmer at Agona Duakwa, and Kwabena Kanin, 35, a Space-to-Space operator at Kasoa.
They were arrested at a police barrier at Antoakrom in the Amansie West District in the Ashanti Region just after securing another fraudulent loan facility at the company’s newly opened branch at Manso Nkwanta last Thursday.
A fifth suspect, whose name was given as Joe, a former pupil teacher, escaped arrest and the police have mounted a search for him.
Their modus operandi is to secure the payslips of the teachers without their knowledge, make fake voter identity cards bearing the names of the said teachers but with their (suspects) pictures and use them to secure loans from the company’s offices located at Mankessim, Ejumako, Elmina, Akim Oda and Nsawam.
At the end of every month, deductions are made from the salaries of the said teachers, while the suspects enjoyed their booty.
On their arrest, the Manso Nkwanta Police were informed by their colleagues at Mankessim that the suspects had been arrested for a similar offence at Mankessim and were due to appear before a court in Saltpond yesterday.
The Amansie District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Isaac Kwadwo Asante, said his outfit would team up with the Mankessim Police to go into the matter in order to establish how the suspects managed to get the payslips of the teachers.
He said about 1.00 p.m. on April 10, 2008, the suspects, using a taxi allegedly hired from the Central Region, had gone to the Noble Character Enterprise office at Manso Nkwanta where they produced applications for loan facilities covering GH¢37, GH¢28 and GH¢500.
DSP Asante said the first two applications of GH¢37 and GH¢28 went through but the Amansie Rural Bank Limited, where they cashed the cheques, did not have enough money for the payment of the GH¢500 loan and they were, therefore, asked to come the following day.
He said the Assistant Manager of Noble Character at Manso Nkwanta, Ms Christiana Amoah, who had written the cheques, later detected that the voter identity cards attached to the loan applications were fictitious and consequently rushed to inform the police.
DSP Asante indicated that the suspects had then left in the taxi and the police quickly telephoned their Antoakrom station to arrest the taxi and its occupants.
According to him, when the taxi got to the Antoakrom Barrier, the four were arrested, but the fifth person escaped through the bush.
The suspects have since appeared before a court at Asante Bekwai where they were remanded in prison custody to appear again in a fortnight’s time.
Officials of Noble Character Enterprise told the Daily Graphic that the activities of the suspects had nearly crippled the operations of the company and commended the police for their efforts at arresting them.
CHAMBER OF MINES & SMIDO COLLABORATE IN ICT DEVELOPMENT (PAGE 29)
(PUBLISHED ON MARCH 18)
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu, Kumasi
The Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO) has entered into successful negotiations for an economic partnership with the Ghana Chamber of Mines to make the Suame Magazine an industrial service centre for the mining industry in the country.
The partnership forms part of a process to build the capacity of SMIDO to advance the technological prospects of Suame Magazine to respond to both the immediate and future technological needs of the mining industry in the country.
In a move to broker this partnership, the Ghana Chamber of Mines invited SMIDO to the Expanded Council Meeting of the chamber at the Elmina Beach Resort to explore areas of economic co-operation.
The partnership is expected to serve as a strategy for reducing poverty in the country.
The Development Planning Consultant to SMIDO, Mr Nyaaba Aweeba Azongo, told the Daily Graphic in Kumasi that SMIDO had had the opportunity to present its case to the chamber.
Mr Azongo said the seeming policy indifference towards the larger informal sector and the Suame Magazine in particular stemmed from the conceptual and operational crises of the Public-Private Partnership framework at the micro levels of the economy.
He said in such situations, the only strategic alternative to reach out to the informal sector where poverty was pronounced, was through what he described as the vertical integration between the macro level and the micro level players to pull micro economic entities or service centres along strategic paths of development through a systematic Macro -Micro Private Economic Partnership(MMPEP).
He emphasised that MMPEP was an alternative necessity for the vertical integration to trickle down the benefits of macro-economic developments to the micro-levels.
Mr Azongo, therefore, described the SMIDO-mining industry collaboration as holding the best prospects for piloting a case of vertical private-private sector integration operational framework for national development.
Copies of the SMIDO policy blueprint prepared by Mr Azongo and launched in Kumasi by the Chief Executive of the Chamber, Ms Joyce Aryee, were made available to members of the chamber.
Recounting his presentation to the chamber, Mr Azongo proposed a paradigm shift from the popular Social Corporate Responsibility (SCR) system, which he described as lacking a definite sustainable conceptual underpinning required to promote development in poverty-stricken economies.
The SCR concept, he noted, built a dependency culture that engendered maintenance and sustainability crisis.
In the local community support, SMIDO proposed to develop its technological centres in the mining communities to offer artisanal engineering training to young men and women of local mining communities as well as alternative livelihood sources for galamsey operators.
These centres will be integrated into the institutional system of SMIDO to create the right social harmony for the mining industries to operate in the local communities.
On the economic partnership front, SMIDO would be outsourcing contracts on behalf of its members and ensure the application of state-of-the-art technology, the development and use of common facilities for better finishing product. SMIDO’s emblem would be embossed on products from the Suame Magazine as evidence of quality by the organisation.
In the area of human resource development, SMIDO proposed to support the establishment of Suame Tech Automatics Engineering Institute (STAEI) in Kumasi to offer domain expertise to meet the practical needs of the mining industry.
The STAEI will serve as the centre for institutionalised retailing of technological transfers in the Suame Magazine and the artisanal engineering sector as a whole.
Mr Azongo said the members of the chamber were highly impressed with the proposals and felt that could be a major turning point for industrial development in the country and that the chamber would not shirk its responsibility of supporting SMIDO in the pursuit of such a noble cause.
The chamber resolved to undertake a familiarisation visit to SMIDO to explore the range of products at Suame Magazine to further boost the partnership, whose benefits would impact positively on the development of the small and medium enterprises in the country.
Story: Kwame Asare Boadu, Kumasi
The Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO) has entered into successful negotiations for an economic partnership with the Ghana Chamber of Mines to make the Suame Magazine an industrial service centre for the mining industry in the country.
The partnership forms part of a process to build the capacity of SMIDO to advance the technological prospects of Suame Magazine to respond to both the immediate and future technological needs of the mining industry in the country.
In a move to broker this partnership, the Ghana Chamber of Mines invited SMIDO to the Expanded Council Meeting of the chamber at the Elmina Beach Resort to explore areas of economic co-operation.
The partnership is expected to serve as a strategy for reducing poverty in the country.
The Development Planning Consultant to SMIDO, Mr Nyaaba Aweeba Azongo, told the Daily Graphic in Kumasi that SMIDO had had the opportunity to present its case to the chamber.
Mr Azongo said the seeming policy indifference towards the larger informal sector and the Suame Magazine in particular stemmed from the conceptual and operational crises of the Public-Private Partnership framework at the micro levels of the economy.
He said in such situations, the only strategic alternative to reach out to the informal sector where poverty was pronounced, was through what he described as the vertical integration between the macro level and the micro level players to pull micro economic entities or service centres along strategic paths of development through a systematic Macro -Micro Private Economic Partnership(MMPEP).
He emphasised that MMPEP was an alternative necessity for the vertical integration to trickle down the benefits of macro-economic developments to the micro-levels.
Mr Azongo, therefore, described the SMIDO-mining industry collaboration as holding the best prospects for piloting a case of vertical private-private sector integration operational framework for national development.
Copies of the SMIDO policy blueprint prepared by Mr Azongo and launched in Kumasi by the Chief Executive of the Chamber, Ms Joyce Aryee, were made available to members of the chamber.
Recounting his presentation to the chamber, Mr Azongo proposed a paradigm shift from the popular Social Corporate Responsibility (SCR) system, which he described as lacking a definite sustainable conceptual underpinning required to promote development in poverty-stricken economies.
The SCR concept, he noted, built a dependency culture that engendered maintenance and sustainability crisis.
In the local community support, SMIDO proposed to develop its technological centres in the mining communities to offer artisanal engineering training to young men and women of local mining communities as well as alternative livelihood sources for galamsey operators.
These centres will be integrated into the institutional system of SMIDO to create the right social harmony for the mining industries to operate in the local communities.
On the economic partnership front, SMIDO would be outsourcing contracts on behalf of its members and ensure the application of state-of-the-art technology, the development and use of common facilities for better finishing product. SMIDO’s emblem would be embossed on products from the Suame Magazine as evidence of quality by the organisation.
In the area of human resource development, SMIDO proposed to support the establishment of Suame Tech Automatics Engineering Institute (STAEI) in Kumasi to offer domain expertise to meet the practical needs of the mining industry.
The STAEI will serve as the centre for institutionalised retailing of technological transfers in the Suame Magazine and the artisanal engineering sector as a whole.
Mr Azongo said the members of the chamber were highly impressed with the proposals and felt that could be a major turning point for industrial development in the country and that the chamber would not shirk its responsibility of supporting SMIDO in the pursuit of such a noble cause.
The chamber resolved to undertake a familiarisation visit to SMIDO to explore the range of products at Suame Magazine to further boost the partnership, whose benefits would impact positively on the development of the small and medium enterprises in the country.
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