Dr. Apaak is of the view that the agreement needlessly opens Ghana up to the risk of terror attacks.

[contextly_sidebar id=”jxL3OJsTHswR7vP5EfQCtpw6u8tlwOOI”]“They should come clean. We will not sit by and let them mortgage our future, our security and our role as a leading light in the nonaligned movement,” he told some journalists in Parliament.

He however said the people of Ghana could count on the Minority in Parliament to be transparent in deliberations on the argument.

“We will scrutinize it [the agreement]. We will carry the good people of Ghana along. We will let them understand the implications of what this government is trying to commit us to because what we do today will have implications for future generations and we the members of Parliament of today should not make that mistake of mortgaging our sovereignty and our future and exposing ourselves as an easy target for extremist groups.”

He also questioned what Ghana stood to gain by entering into the agreement.

“There is no reason why we should be entering into this type of agreement when we have nothing to show for it. Those of you who have seen the leaked copy, tell me what section in that agreement benefits the good people of this country? Have you seen any? It doesn’t exist. What is their motivation? We want to find out.”

Cabinet approved the Memorandum of Understanding on March 8, 2018, and recommended that Parliament ratify the agreement to allow the US forces and their equipment unhindered access in Ghana.

Details of agreement

Per the agreement, the US military is, among other things, to be exempted from paying tax on the equipment to be brought into Ghana.

They will also be given the chance to set their own telecommunication system, although they will be allowed to use Ghana’s radio spectrum free of charge.

The document supposedly sent to Parliament by the Minister of Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, had an introductory letter signed by Cabinet’s Secretary, Mercy Debrah-Karikari.

US forces and their contractors will be allowed to undertake construction activities to make alterations and improvements to agreed facilities and areas.

They are also authorized to control entry to the facilities meant for the exclusive use of their forces.

Ghana will also furnish without rental or similar costs to the united states all agreed facilities and areas including those jointly used by the United States Forces and Ghana.

No military base

It is unclear what the full extent of the US’ operations will be, but Dominic Nitiwul, the Defense Minister, has said that the US government was not building a military base in Ghana.

“It’s not a military base. We don’t even have enough space in the agreed area for them to put up big structures. It’s just around the airport area,” he stated.

According to Nitiwul, it is only a facility to camp US soldiers in the country saying “they will not be stationed here.”

Gitmo 2 row

This comes on the back of the camping of two former Guantanamo Bay detainees, Umar Bin Atef and Khalid Al-Dhuby in Ghana; a decision taken by the previous Mahama administration that was widely criticized  by individuals and groups including the then New Patriotic Party [NPP] in opposition.

Although the agreement for hosting the two elapsed on January 6, 2018, it later emerged that the former detainees have been given refugee status.

The US government subsequently said they ceased taking responsibility for the two after the agreement ended.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Speaking to Citi News after the announcement in Parliament on Friday, Dr. Apaak said the processes prescribed by law were inconveniencing several MPs.

[contextly_sidebar id=”dVbsIaPiYyxxm4CxWPcimtKrCUnNLLre”]“As I speak to you, myself and many of my colleagues have engagements and activities in our constituencies and we are to leave, and yet we are expected to come back to the House at 8:30 am to swear in the Speaker as President. I don’t think it is sustainable.”

The MP said the government needs to provide some clarity on the matter to legislators.

“… So it is entirely the responsibility of the government of the day to come clean so that we can understand the conditions that would warrant us to make the kinds of sacrifices that we are expected to make. As it is now, we don’t understand the full story and a lot of us don’t feel that it is justified to always come in at the nick of time, as they did today, for us to come in tomorrow and swear in the Speaker as the acting President,” Dr. Apaak added.

Nana Addo heading for AU Summit

The swearing-in on Saturday, which is mandated by Article 60 (11) and (12) of the 1992 Constitution, has been necessitated by President Nana Akufo-Addo’s expected trip to Addis Ababa for the AU Summit.

The Vice President, Dr. Bawumia, also left Ghana for the United Kingdom on Friday night on medical leave after he took ill earlier in the day, and was undergoing medical checks.

According to Article 60 (11) and (12) of the 1992 Constitution, “(11) Where the President and the Vice-President are both unable to perform the functions of the President, the Speaker of Parliament shall perform those functions until the President or the Vice-President is able to perform those functions or a new President assumes office, as the case may be.” “(12) The Speaker shall, before commencing to perform the functions of the President under clause (11) of this article, take and subscribe the oath set out in relation to the office of President.”

Controversy over swearing-in

The law concerning the swearing-in was breached by a former Speaker of Parliament, Doe Adjaho in 2014, when he refused to take the oath of office as acting President at a point.

Both President Mahama and his Vice Kwesi Amissah-Arthur had traveled outside the country at the time.

This compelled the Managing Director of Citi FM, Samuel Atta-Mensah, and a United States-based Ghanaian lawyer, Prof. Kwaku Asare, to file a suit at the Supreme Court, to among other things, seek an interpretation of Article 60 (12) of the 1992 Constitution, which requires that the Speaker takes the oath of office each time he is to act as President.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, declared that the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, violated Article 60 (11)-(12) of the 1992 Constitution when he declined to be sworn in to act as President.

The nine-member panel, presided over by Justice Sophia Akuffo, also averred that the “Speaker of Parliament shall always, before assuming the functions of the Office of President when the President and the Vice-President are unable to perform their functions, take and subscribe to the oath set out in relation to the Office of President”.

Some political scientists have challenged the interpretation of the constitution and argue that when the elected President, Nana Akufo-Addo is still acting in his capacity as President outside the country, it is unnecessary to swear in an acting President.

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Apaak criticizes another swearing-in of Speaker as President appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A former Presidential staffer in the Mahama administration, Dr. Clement Apaak, had claimed that his government ordered the vehicles a few days before leaving office, upon the request of the incoming Akufo-Addo administration.

[contextly_sidebar id=”TF4RHitYsO9BHT6tzrf8k9zmQQrQhdo3″]But the Akufo-Addo administration subsequently denied these claims, saying it had no hand in placing the request.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Mr. Cudjoe said the NPP administration has no business paying for the cars if it did not indeed order them.

“If the current administration is insisting they cannot be blamed for this then they simply should not pay for the cars. In any case the cars are meant for the state but as we are now told, there was no agreement …the current administration did not make any request..”

He also charged the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to offer explanations on “why they should not be saddled with the debt.”

Potential judgment debt

Documents sighted by Citi News revealed that the contract for the new cars for the Presidency was awarded by the Mahama government on the 3rd of January, 2017, to Amalgamated Security Services LTD.

However, the contract is in limbo following the recent moratorium placed on the purchase of new vehicles by President Akufo-Addo.

Checks by Citi News reveal that the said vehicles have already been purchased and are currently in Dubai, and there are fears government could pay a judgement debt if it cancels the contract.

Apaak struggles to prove claims NPP requested for new cars

Meanwhile, the former Presidential staffer, Dr. Clement Apaak has failed to prove his claims that the John Mahama government ordered the new vehicles for the presidency few weeks before leaving office, on the behest of the current government.

Mr. Apaak, the Buila South MP, who first made the claim on Citi FM’s ‘Big Issue’, had promised to provide further evidence to back his claims.

But when he was called back on Eyewitness News on Monday after a Deputy Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah had denied his claims, he failed to back down, and insisted he was right because some sources gave him that information.

Dr. Apaak’s account of events is even more questionable, especially as Citi News has sighted a document which suggests that an approval was given for the purchase of the car by the then Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, even before the formation of the transition team.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Dr. Apaak, the Buila South MP, who first made the claim on Citi FM’s ‘Big Issue‘, had promised to provide further evidence to back his claims.

But when he was called back on Eyewitness News on Monday after a Deputy Information Minister, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah had denied his claims, he failed to back down, and insisted he was right because some sources gave him that information.

[contextly_sidebar id=”uYpUpvG3bPTOqgJdmYld6HkIeWgexYbG”]According to him, his “sources” confirm that, that was what happened and not what is being suggested by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government that they bought the cars on their own accord.

Dr. Apaak’s account of events is even more questionable, especially as Citi News has sighted a document which suggests that an approval was given for the purchase of the car by the then Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, even before the formation of the transition team.

Dr. Apaak’s attempt to justify his position on Eyewitness News did not appear convincing as he failed to indicate whether or not the request by the current government was documented.

“My sources have indicated very strongly that the said request was made to our side by the current senior minister and the minister for finance, and indeed if they want to deny, they may do so, but I say this on authority and I believe from my sources as well that it was on that basis that the letter giving authorization was written by the former Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah,” he said.

He claimed the transition team of the then incoming NPP government made the request  even at some of the transition team meetings.

Dr. Apaak said the fact that the record of such transaction was available to the current government indicated that, it was aware it being undertaken by the former government.

He challenged the government to take “remedial action” on the matter if it is dissatisfied about the transaction and deny they did not authorize it.

While contributing to the subject on The Big Issue on Saturday, Dr. Apaak said the previous government did nothing untoward in signing the agreement for the supply of the sophisticated cars.

“It’s indeed true that the said vehicles were ordered, but the request was made to our side during the transition. So if indeed the vehicles have been procured, I can say on authority that it was part of the request which was made by the incoming government,” he said.

But a deputy minister for information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told Citi News in a separate interview that the Akufo-Addo administration’s side of the Transition team had no hand in the ordering of the 43 new vehicles as the former presidential staffer alleged.

“In all the transition meetings that we attended and in all the matters that we discussed, I had never heard of this matter….The first step when somebody makes a claim like this will be to ask him whether or not he can back this verbal claim he is making… with some sort some proof that indeed shows that this request was made before we escalate it to this level of conversation.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Apaak struggles to prove claims NPP requested for new cars appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Mahama government has been accused of procuring 43 new vehicles for the presidency four days before leaving office at a cost of over nine million dollars.

But speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Dr. Apaak insisted that they did nothing untoward.

[contextly_sidebar id=”n9ZaXVbtDfSrTOc2OZiFh6zEQxvDCWUV”]“It’s indeed true that the said vehicles were ordered, but the request was made to our side during the transition. So if indeed the vehicles have been procured, I can say on authority that it was part of the request which was made by the incoming government,” he added.

Dr. Apaak, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Builsa South constituency on the ticket of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), further argued that they couldn’t have on their own accord, procure the vehicles for another person’s to use.

He added that, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), would be compelled to release documentary evidence if they feel victimized by the current government because they believe there was “nothing fishy” in the deal.

“…What would have been the motivation to place an order for these vehicles for use by the office of the president? I don’t want to mention names but I know that in the coming days if this issue of trying to make sure that governance is a continuum at the request of an incoming government is used to try and tag our government as corrupt, we will have no choice but to provide documentary proof to confirm the fact that this request was made during the transition process by the current government. So there is nothing fishy about it and I think the timing itself should make Ghanaians know that it wasn’t President Mahama who was going to be in office after January 7^th so what was the need to procure this kind of vehicles when we were leaving office?”

Dr. Apaak also noted that, the NDC government at the time acceded to the request by the NPP because they felt that the security of the incoming president was very important.

“The security of the president is very important and if a request had been made that those vehicles be procured for use by the incoming government and that was done, I don’t see why we should quibble about it,” he added.

Apaak’s claims untrue

Meanwhile, the NPP MP for the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency, Emmanuel Agyarko, who was also on the programme, refuted Dr. Apaak’s claims.

He said “as far as I know, nobody from the current Govt asked for any vehicle…Why would this government ask the previous one to procure vehicles when they were about to take over?”

Vehicles in limbo

Documents sighted by Citi News reveal that, the contract was awarded by the erstwhile government on the 3rd of January, 2017, to Amalgamated Security Services LTD for the purchase of 43 vehicles for the Presidency.

However, the contract is in limbo following a recent moratorium placed on the purchase of new vehicles by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo–Addo.

The President,  in March 2017, banned the purchase of new cars until further notice.

Checks by Citi News revealed that the said vehicles have already been purchased and are currently in Dubai. There are fears government could pay a judgement debt if it cancels the contract.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post 43 new cars were purchased on NPP’s request – Apaak appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Appianin was suspended by the President last Thursday and asked to hand over to the deputy Central Regional Minister, for making some comments considered derogatory following the lynching of the military officer in his district.

The DCE had accused the military officer and his colleagues who were deployed to fight illegal mining in the area, of protecting illegal miners.

[contextly_sidebar id=”BIj1f6hFAhu9ru0GmSJC5aXldrVyE3BG”]But speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Clement Apaak, who is a former Presidential staffer, charged the President to sack the DCE as a matter of urgency.

“The president himself has admitted that his comments were distasteful. Every Ghanaian who had heard him quite clearly had raised eyebrows and questions about his comments…I’m calling for the president to dismiss the DCE probably by the end of the day or within an hour; I think he will get a lot of accolades from the people of this country,” he added.

He argued that the DCE’s comments were reckless especially coming from someone who is supposed to be representing the president in the district.

“What really breaks my heart is the reckless comments made by the District Chief Executive. The DCE is actually the president of that district and he then seeks to make comments to the effect that the late Capt. Mahama was there protecting Chinese galamseyers. I just couldn’t believe this. I think that the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces has demonstrated weakness and indecisiveness in this case because there is no reason why this DCE should not have been fired.”

“If these are the types of people who are going to represent the president at the local level then God save this country. It’s simply unbelievable. Is he not aware of government policy; is he not aware of the fight against galamsey? Is he not the head of DISEC? Suddenly he had no clue or idea that the detachment were there to execute a national policy. So for me, I think that it is not too late, I think the DCE deserves the sack. There shouldn’t be any room for suspension because leadership has to be held accountable,” he added.

DCE vacates post
Meanwhile the embattled DCE, Daniel Appianin, has finally vacated his post and handed over to the Deputy Central Regional Minister.

The Deputy Local government Minister, O.B Amoah, confirmed this to Citi News on Friday.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Capt. Mahama’s murder: DCE must be sacked not suspended – Apaak appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the diplomat deliberately leaked a letter he sent to the Speaker of Parliament informing him of the UK’s decision to slap a travel ban on 4 parliamentarians, including a former member for allegedly engaging in various forms of illegal immigration practice.

“What is the import of putting this in the public domain if indeed Jon Benjamin respects our country as a sovereign nation? Who else could have done it? Work was being done to remedy this situation. We [Parliament] have the mechanisms and processes of correcting whatever wrong and investigating whatever accusations would have come against us. And I can guarantee you that, I will find it very difficult to suspect anyone of us [MPs].”

“You know he [Jon Benjamin] has the knack to be involved in any aspect of national discourse in Ghana… Simply put, he is a media whore. He wants the limelight. His time is due and I think this is the last thing that he wants to do and quite clearly he could not have found any other entity to malign than the august house of Parliament,” he said.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Friday, Clement Apaak, who is also the MP for Builsa South Constituency, said the allegations by the High Commission against the legislators cannot be held as sacrosanct and therefore must be independently investigated by Parliament itself.

“Just because the British High Commissioner has leveled an allegation against 3 sitting Members of Parliament and one former Member of Parliament does not mean his allegation is sacrosanct. Of course he is a diplomat, he has a role to play and he also represents a country, but we are also a sovereign nation… This has come up, those who have been accused have refuted in their own commentaries one way or the other that the allegations leveled against them and the punishment meted out to them certainly is not justified,” he noted.

He further revealed that, the Speaker of Parliament has attached importance to the issue and is determined to look into it to unravel the truth.

According to him, the Speaker while addressing first-time MPs of the new Parliament in January this year, said he was ready to investigate it, and thus cautioned the new MPs to conduct themselves in a manner that would not bring the name of the house into disrepute.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifimonline.com/Ghana

The post Jon Benjamin is a “media whore” – Apaak appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, Dr. Bawumia prior to the New Patriotic Party’s victory in the December 7 polls accused the Mahama government of ignoring solutions he proffered to Ghana’s ailing economy and the cedi adding that now is the time to make a difference.

“…Before he became the Vice President, he had engaged Ghanaians both home and abroad as well as the international community on a series of lectures largely about the economy and what he and his party had perceived was not going well. And the impression we all got including many Ghanaians was that they had the solutions to the challenges we were facing. So if on the basis of these arguments persuasively, he and his boss, the President, are now in charge of the affairs of this country, then logically we have every reason to expect that he would be able to arrest the cedi as he has said on numerous occasions,” he argued on Citi FM’s News analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday.

[contextly_sidebar id=”v8OgicRsOaQXPYaWUoGVpQbVwmTC7Bx6″]There have been several complaints from some financial analysts concerning the health of the cedi which has been depreciating in the last few months.

Figures available to Citi News from the Bank of Ghana as well as some forex bureau across the country show that the cedi has depreciated by about 5.4 percent between January and February this year on the interbank forex exchange market.

Some financial observers including the GN Research have also described the cedi as “the worst performing currency on the African continent” in recent times.

The Minister Finance presented the 2017 budget statement to Parliament last week, however, the Minority in Parliament claimed that the document does not have a clear roadmap in stabilizing the cedi.

Mr. Apaak explained that although they [NDC] recognize the fundamental issues affecting the Ghanaian economy as well as implications on the performance of the cedi, the NPP disregarded their explanations when they [NPP] were in opposition.

“That is not to say that we don’t recognize…that there were some fundamental issues that go to the core and foundation of our economy which has implications on how well our currency performs vis-à-vis other global currencies particularly the dollar. We had always explained that we are largely an import dependent country, we don’t produce much of what we consume, we are also affected by global turbulence in terms of price vacillations. We had made all these arguments but they [NPP] said no, and that it was as a result of incompetence. Well we now have a competent team in place so arrest the cedi. That is the argument we are making,” he added.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post We expect Bawumia to ‘arrest depreciating cedi’ – Apaak appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.