The Ministry has therefore called on the general public to disregard the news item suggesting it is doing this.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FQjnPrxb2mu4lFnMlpa0hCQC88cU6yvX”]Rumours were rife on social media over the weekend that the Ministry has enforced a new Communications Regulation that entails surveillance of calls and social media interactions by Ghanaians secretly.

But according to the Ministry, there was no such regulation.

A statement from the Ministry signed by Mrs. Adelaide Anno-Kumi, the Chief Director, said it would not undertake any such endeavour that amounts to an invasion of the privacy of citizens.

“The Ministry of Interior’s attention has been drawn to a news item making rounds on social media which is alleging that, the Ministry will be enforcing a new Communications Regulation which will entail surveillance of calls and social media platforms by the Ministry of Interior.

“The Ministry wishes to emphatically state that there is no such new communication regulation and thus calls on the general public to disregard the news item. The Ministry wishes to assure the general public that, no one’s communication device, be it mobile hand device, Personal Computer etc. is connected to any system at the Ministry of the Interior,” the statement said.

It added that “in as much as the safety, peace and security of citizens is our primary concern, we will not do anything tantamount to the invasion of the privacy of citizenry and an affront on the respect of the fundamental human rights of the citizenry.”

It further called on the general public to disregard any information within the public domain that suggests that it is secretly monitoring the conversation of Ghanaians.

“The Ministry, therefore, wish to state emphatically and unambiguously that, the news item is false and should be disregarded by the general public. The Ministry takes this opportunity to wish the general public happy Easter celebrations.”

Some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and lawyers, forced government to withdraw, review and resubmit a Bill before Parliament to enable a lawful interception of postal packets, and telecommunication messages for the purpose of fighting crime and suppressing organised crime.

The Bill, in its earlier state, was to empower the country’s security agencies to intercept messages linked to money laundering, terrorism, narcotic trafficking, identity theft and were generally for the protection of national security.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

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They decried the widespread of such practice at the 2016 elections and called for its total ban at future elections.

They argued that continuation of such practice has the tendency of marring the nation’s enviable democratic credentials.

“Citing the last presidential and parliamentary elections as a case in point some people took pictures of their thumb printed ballot papers as evidence to claim money and other inducements promised them by some unscrupulous politicians.”

“We the CSOs are hereby calling on the Electoral Commission to ban or restrict voters from carrying mobile phones and other devices that are capable of aiding them to take pictures in the polling booths in future elections.”

A representative of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Madam Luknia Joyce in a Citi News interview insisted that the EC should consider the phenomenon as affront to the electoral laws.

“There are watches, pens, necklaces and other devices besides phones that can be used to secretly take pictures. I want the EC officials to avert their minds to this happening in order to prevent any future election dispute.”
This concern was raised at a capacity building workshop organized by the Legal Resources Centre in Tamale.

It was sponsored by multi donor fund managers, STAR-Ghana as a follow up to a similar workshop ahead of the 2016 polls.

It sought to review the outcome of 2016 elections as means of consolidating good governance.

Project Officer of the Legal Resources Centre, Enock Jengre reaffirmed the centre’s determination to promote human rights by defending litigants who cannot afford to pay for legal services.
“Besides doing advocacy on law, justice and development we at the Legal Resources Centre offer services in the areas of health, education, food security, housing and employment among others.”

Enock Jengre urged the participants to collaborate with the Legal Resources Centre to promote fairness and transparency in the country’s electoral and justice systems.

The participants were from GNAT, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Department of Gender and Children, Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, the Ghana Prisons Service and the Council of Local Churches among others.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ban mobile phones use in polling booth – CSOs appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He explained that CSOs, which perform their roles well, stood the chance of receiving more support from governments, development partners and donors.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ohtjDVuwkzGuI4PQUNceDq47jshzSIo7″]Mr Bombande said CSOs need to have strong institutional and capacity credibilities, in order to continue enjoying support from governments, development partners and donors.

He urged CSOs to put in place strong institutional management structures and to develop a remarkable way of negotiating with governments, development partners and donors for funding.

Mr Bombande made these remarks in Accra during the inauguration of the head office complex of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP).

The event, which coincided with the launching of a book entitled: “Strides and Strains of Civil Society Organisations in West Africa: The WANEP Story”, was chaired by Mr Alain Marcel Da Souza, the ECOWAS Commission President.

In attendance were the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas and Dr Sam G. Doe, the first Executive Director and Co-founder of WANEP.

Mr Bombande, who is also WANEP’s Co-Founder and the second Executive Director, cited WANEP’s success story from a humble beginning to global reputable CSO.

He said WANEP was a leading Regional Peacebuilding organisation founded in 1998 in response to civil wars that plagued West Africa in the 1990s.

He said over the years, WANEP had succeeded in establishing strong national networks in each of the 15 Member States of ECOWAS with more than 500 member organisations across West Africa.

He noted that should Mauritania return to the ECOWAS bloc, WANEP would open a National Office there.

He said WANEP placed special focus on collaborative approaches to conflict prevention, and peacebuilding, working with diverse actors from civil society, governments, intergovernmental bodies, women groups and other partners in a bid to establish a platform for dialogue, experience sharing and learning, thereby complementing efforts at ensuring sustainable peace and development in West Africa and beyond.

He said CSOs might have internal challenges such as payment of staff salaries, but they must not pretend that the problems did not exist.

He said CSOs must be able to put in place measures to raise funds at both national and regional levels to execute their projects.

Mr Bombande encouraged CSOs to have strategic partners at both the national and regional levels.

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Source: GNA

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Addressing a press conference in Accra, the Executive Secretary of the coalition, Bismark Adongo, said even though they welcome the new management of SADA, government has to step up its support for the zone.

Mr. Adongo said, “we cannot pretend not to be fully aware of the controversy in respect of government and management shortfalls and the inappropriate implementation strategy and other serious challenges that confronted SADA under the whole leadership to which many Ghanaians saw SADA as a prey on national resources.”

According to Mr. Adongo, “the attitude of government towards SADA is not only seen by many as government abandoning the social responsibility to citizens simply because of challenges encountered; but also it is serious breach of the laws of Ghana especially article 46 of the 1992 constitution.”

SADA key to economic upturn

Mr. Adongo’s message to government was for the state to attach some seriousness and urgency to the development of the SADA zones if Ghana was to see the needed transformation.

He said, “if we really want to have Ghana attaining an upper-middle income status, there is the need to focus and focus well on the economic transformation of the northern savannah ecological zone.”

In this light, Mr. Adongo also advised that, “making an annual budgetary allocation to SADA is something that we will want political parties to come out and commit to.”

SADA urges patience

The Director of Corporate Affairs for SADA, Sam Danse, however urged patience saying a draft strategy for the development of the zone is to be expected by March 2017.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, he explained that, “SADA was set up to develop a framework for the zone” and that “for the greater part of this year, we have actually been focusing on the long-term framework, trying to make the zone more attractive for investors and investment and to make sure that we have a long-term robust framework that will allow us to transform the zone in the next 25 years.”

He maintained that, their role was “very critical if we want to transform the zone” adding that SADA has engaged other actors to “work in creating some concept plans in some key areas that will help us has to create the zone for transformation. So that is what we have been doing.”

About SADA

The Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), is a Government agency  responsible for coordinating a comprehensive development agenda for the savanna  ecological zones comprising the three northernmost regions and stretches of Brong Ahafo and Volta, that are contiguous to the Northern region of Ghana.

Its mandate is to assist in the development of agriculture and industry in the region to help lessen the disparity between its development and that found elsewhere in the country. Savannah Accelerated Development Authority was established by an Act of Parliament; SADA Act 805 on 17 September 2010 with its first Chief Executive Officer appointed in October 2011.

SADA will institute projects, programs and policies aimed at stimulating growth and addressing the human and social development needs of the target area. In the 2008 budget, the Government of Ghana mandated the preparation of a long term strategy to reverse decades of neglect of the northern part of Ghana and to set the pace for sustainable development.

SADA wasted funds

With a 5-year business plan which begun in 2012, and will end in 2016, SADA cannot boast of any significant achievement after some 32 million cedis allocated to it, failed to produce the desired results due to mismanagement and corruption.

This forced President John Dramani Mahama to replace its chief executive as well as the board, to steer the affairs of the agency.

The agency is expected to retrieve monies wasted and unaccounted for by the previous management, and possibly prosecute officials who caused the losses, but that is yet to happen.

Report on SADA’s expenses most disgraceful – Atta Kyea

At a recent sitting of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Samuel Atta Akyea, described as disgraceful, the high level of financial impropriety uncovered in the accounts of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) by the Auditor General in 2013 and 2014.

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

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