According to the caucus, the early signs of the party in government have shown that it has failed to honour its pre-election campaign promises.

[contextly_sidebar id=”khVMGTMCihOjdEfDkV4lhMpPXZ6i8TXn”]Addressing a press conference at the Parliament House on Tuesday, [April 18, 2017], the Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi, said the NPP’s administration has been characterized by terror due to activities of pro-NPP vigilante groups, Invincible Forces and Delta Force.

“It is sad to say that, for a party that claims to have the men, they have been struggling to find their feet since that shameful inaugural address. They have so far been unconvincing about their mouthwatering campaign promises,” he said.

“They are not creating jobs for the masses, they are not alleviating hardships, same for the 110 ministers and deputy apparatchiks, but they are terrorizing Ghanaians by unleashing their several partisan para-military forces to achieve parochial gains,” he added.

But the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at a town hall meeting hosted by Accra-based Joy FM on Monday to mark the government’s first 100 days in office, noted said that although the government had not made any promises for the first 100 days in office, it has performed creditably well and has made 103 achievements within the period.

He noted that, the achievements were made in sectors including Health, Economy, Education, Finance, Local government, among others.

But according to James Klutse Avedzi, “the early signs of the government of our country under the NPP have been anything but impressive. Instead of an all-action approach towards rolling out their loftily politics and programmes, the initial steps in this government though tentative, gives cause for major concerns.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The government in its 2017 budget statement and economic policy indicated that it will cap all statutory funds at 25% to finance the one-district-one-factory and free SHS policies.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Qyp9kIdy8q7sXhEVADJn3wmKi9j4zNko”]This means that  7.5% of all total revenue of the country that goes to the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) will be slashed down to 5% if this is implemented.

But Cassiel Ato Forson believes 25% cap on statutory funds such as the District Assembly Common Fund would affect the release of funds to contractors handling various projects.

This he said would result in an increase in non-performing loans in the banking sector.

Speaking to Citi News, the Ajumako Enyan Essiam lawmaker said government should have consulted widely before reaching its decision.

“…If care is not taken we will see a new scenario where the banks are seeing a lot of government contractors not getting paid and therefore they are not servicing their debt. There is a likelihood that we are going to see a lot of non performing loans in the banking sector. ..that is why I said it was prudent for them to have engaged them and agreed on the moratorium…so they can have the revenue  and then use it to service those things because the impact on the economy might be very dangerous.. “

Reducing statutory fund allocations will slow dev’t – Avedzi 

Before the budget presentation, the Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament, James Klutse Avedzi, had kicked against the possible review of the law to reduce the allocation of statutory funds.

Mr. Avedzi had argued that, a likely downward review of allocations as they have gathered, would negatively impact development.

Mr. Avedzi, as an example, explained that “if you want to reduce the Assembly common fund from 7.5 percent to 5 percent, what it means is that about one-third of what is going to the assembly will no longer go there. So if the Assembly had 1.5 million, this assembly will only receive 1 million.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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Mr. Ofori-Atta, a cousin to the President, stepped down as head of Databank, to serve as the Director in-charge of fundraising for the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) 2016 presidential campaign.

Making the announcement of 13 people as the first batch of his ministerial appointments at the Flagstaff House on Tuesday, Nana Akufo-Addo said Mr. Ofori-Atta has the capacity to lead the finance sector that will ensure the transformation of the country’s economy.

About Ken Ofori-Atta

Mr. Ofori-Atta, co-founder of Databank was born in 1959 at Kyebi in the Eastern Region.

Ken had his education at Achimota School, and proceeded to have a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Columbia University (1984) and an MBA from the Yale University School of Management in 1988.

Ken founded Databank with Daniel Ofori-Atta, Keli Gadzekpo and Torgbui Afede in 1990. Ken serves as a director for numerous companies and member and some boards too.

He is a Director for Enterprise Group Ltd and Trust Bank Ltd of The Gambia of which he is Chairman. He is a Director at the International Bank of Liberia and is also a Board Member of the Acumen Fund.

Ken is a fellow of the Aspen Institute, and was adjudged as the 2nd most respected C.E.O in Ghana. Ken is a Donaldson Fellow at Yale University and a recipient of the John Jay Award from Columbia University.

Ken is married to Dr. Angela Ofori-Atta, a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Ghana Medical School.

First Batch of ministerial appointments (13)

Senior Minister – Yaw Osafo Maafo

National Security Minister – Albert Kan Dapaah

Trade & Industry – Alan Kyeremanten

Minister of Finance – Ken Ofori-Atta

Minister of Food & Agric – Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto

Boakye Agyarko – Minister for Energy

Dominic Nitiwul – Minister of Defense

Ambrose Dery – Minister of Interior

Shirley Ayorkor Botchway – Foreign Affairs Minister

Gloria Akuffo- Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Hajia Alima Mahama – Minister for Local Government & Rural Development

Matthew Opoku Prempeh – Minister for Education

Kwaku Agyemang Manu – Minister of Health
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Mr. Kwadwo Aye-Kusi, Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank, expressed concern over the growing concentration of their funds in financial institutions other than the Central Bank.

He warned that although these investments promised to be high yielding, unregulated concentration of funds in those institutions could lead to “an industry-wide liquidity crisis if any of such institutions experienced operational challenges.

He gave the caution in an address on his behalf at the 31st annual general meeting (AGM) of the shareholders of Amansie West Rural Bank in Antoakrom in the Amansie West District.

Mr. Aye-Kusi also spoke of significant levels of fraudulent activities by some staff of the RCBs and blamed this on the breakdown of the basic control structures embedded in the operations of the banks.

“Special mention can be made of the high level fraudulent activities associated with susu operations through which many of our banks have lost significant amounts of depositors’ funds.”

He called for the boards of RCBs to ensure that their operational controls were effective.

Additionally, prompt and stringent punitive actions needed to be instituted to deter everybody from doing anything criminal, he stated.

Mr. Aye-Kusi criticized the rise in non-performing loans, something, he said was indicative that their credit management practices were weak.

He said statistics from the RCBs performance report at the end of June, this year, showed that 99 banks recorded non-performing loans ratios above the five per cent benchmark, though the 13.27 per cent recorded by the RCBs industry was below the 18.77 per cent recorded by the universal banks.

He asked them to recognize that sound liquidity thrived on healthy credit management systems.

Mr. Isaac Otchere-Antwi, the Board Chairman, announced that the bank made profit before tax of GH¢1,464,556.00 on its operations, last year.

This compared with the previous year’s total of GH¢1,162,283.00 represented an increase of 26 per cent.

He said deposits also rose from GH¢35,306,237.00 to GH¢42,009,431.00 while total assets hit GH¢55,330,925.00 from GH¢47,752,247.00 during the period.

At the same time, the bank grew its investments to GH¢24,561,816.00 with loans/advances going up from GH¢12,786,607.00 to GH¢14,704,136.00.

He underlined the determination of the board and management to continue to work hard and strengthen its internal control systems to sustain the strong performance.

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Source: GNA

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