Mr. Cudjoe argued that some of the existing ones are struggling and that government should have put measures in place to boost their capacities instead of bringing new ones on-board.

“There’s basic geographic information that tells you that even if you want to do these type of division, at least look for some agglomeration of activity. You assume that you have to create it before the activities come, no. The districts are barely $1.5 billion worth averagely. You need to build the capability of the existing ones,” he noted.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Qqm6uwDlfrJI5ujF8GoDH14TaSzwJKy6″]Franklin Cudjoe made the remark on Saturday on  Citi FM’s current affairs and news analysis programme, The Big Issue.

Government last Thursday, [March 15, 2018], simultaneously inaugurated all the 38 new districts including others that had been elevated to municipal status across the country.

The Local Government Minister, Hajia Alima Mahama, had explained earlier that most of the new districts were existing constituencies, but were only carved out from their mother assemblies to make them stand alone.

But Franklin Cudjoe insisted that if government had done feasibility studies on the revenue generation capabilities of the existing districts, “they [government] would have seen that there is no need to add more to it.”

“With proper information…we would have seen that we probably don’t need to do all of these. I was driving from Kumasi all the way to Tamale and I was amazed at the vast expanse of lands I was seeing lying idle. Then I asked myself, 38 new districts have been inaugurated, possibly some of these districts will fall within this vast expanse of lands. There will be human beings supervising vast waste lands. And we will be paying the person so they will be DCEs over nothing,” he remarked.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Mpiani said the country could miss out on some competent persons by limiting the pool of potential presidents to persons over 40.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OysZcYXH6Ql6OmEeQr2DkZ85wJvmIbPa”]“Let’s find out why they decided on 40. Are the reasons valid? If in other places, people below 40 are able to offer themselves to be elected as Prime Ministers, Presidents and they do well, why can’t we do this in Ghana? Are we depriving ourselves? Maybe there are exceptional youth in the country who can become Presidents and maybe perform well. I really don’t fancy the idea of putting in this limit.”

The former Chief of Staff was speaking after former President John Dramani Mahama said he is in support of such calls.

Speaking at the Commonwealth Africa Summit in London on Wednesday, Mr. Mahama said young people were still capable of acting as legislators in Parliament but were restricted from contesting for the Presidency.

Mr. Mpiani added that the electorate ought to have the ultimate say as to who should become President regardless of the person’s age.

“…It will be left to Ghanaians to decide whether such a person is qualified to be a President or not… Why don’t we leave this to the electorate or we think the electorate is not fit enough to determine who is capable of being a President? I think we should leave it to the electorate,” he said.

Give voters the power

The IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe, also believes the electorate will ultimately determine whether a person is qualified to be President regardless of age.

“It is a welcome idea. Globally, we are seeing younger people who are beginning to take the mantle of leadership… Presumably, however young someone is on the campaign trail, if a person is making a lot of sense and giving practical solutions to the problems, I am sure the older voters will make the decision.”

Mr. Cudjoe also noted that, a leader will also be as successful as the people he or she is surrounded by.

“A smart leader is the one who surrounds himself with smarter people to advise him or her so once you make that determination, that someone is eligible to stand and the voters allow that to happen, I’m sure the other aspects of maturity to rule will be secondary.”

Ghana’s president’s under the Fourth Republic

Under the Fourth Republic, the average age of the presidents when they began their terms has been 59.

Jerry John Rawlings was 45 when he was elected President in 1992.

His successor, John Kufuor, was 61 when he became President in 2001 after the first civilian change of power.

He was followed by John Atta Mills, who was 64, John Mahama who was 54, and the current President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who was 72 years of age, the oldest of the lot.

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Following the upsurge in armed robbery cases in Ghana, Ambrose Dery said government is in the process of acquiring some helicopters to help the police deal with the robbers.

He said government will  procure “about three helicopters… and they will be stationed in Accra with the police and they will help in the backups.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”vsw4DL32sF9yaPdTMyCLFnuSXwp6RM1C”]But speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Franklin Cudjoe advised the Minister to shelf such dreams and put the supposed GHc800 million budgetary allocation to the Police Service to better use.

He insists that despite the negligible allocation, the Police could still greatly improve their visibility on the streets to deter criminals.

“We’ve heard about some GHc800 million that will be given, the good thing would have been to find out where the GHc160 million allocated last year went. I can say that it’s useful but that is nothing because it is about 0.2% of the entire budget for the year 2018. The GHc800 million that will come, please we beg the Interior Minister; he should stop entertaining these dreams of helicopters,” Franklin Cudjoe added.

“The police service ought to be properly resourced but when they’ve been so resourced, they shouldn’t use it the way they want. They have to be visible on the streets,” he added.

GHc800m for police

President Akufo-Addo during the State of the Nation Address in February 2018, indicated that government will allocate some GH¢ 800million to the Ghana Police Service to ensure improvement in its operations.

He said the amount will be used for the procurement of modern policing equipment and gadgets including helicopters and drones to enhance the capacity of the service in dealing with crime in the country.

“The police, the prosecution services and the judiciary owe it to all of us to make us feel and be safe. I do not need to repeat that crime wears no political colours, and I am certain that message has gone down to all…The law enforcement agencies will crack down very hard on all those who would disturb the peace of our nation…We will give the Police the resources they need to do their job,” Akufo-Addo added.

‘Wave of robbery’

There appears to be a heightened wave of robbery attacks in the country in recent months with some of the worst cases reported in the last few weeks.

A number of incidents have involved brazen attacks by the robbers on individuals organisations in broad daylight.

A Lebanese was shot and killed at Tema Industrial Area this week with the assailants making away with GHS 200,000 he had withdrawn from a bank minutes earlier

‘We’re in control’

Meanwhile, the Ghana Police Service has given indications that it is in control of the situation and will go every length to protect the citizenry.

Following the recent developments, the government, together with the various security agencies, announced new steps and directives to address the situation.

The measures include an order for forex bureaus and financial institutions to install CCTV cameras at their workplaces as well as improved police visibility in crime-prone areas.

The top hierarchy of Ghana Police Service has also been reshuffled by the IGP, David Asante-Apeatu with a number of notable changes including George Akuffo Dampare, Director General of Police Operations, being reassigned to head the Police Research and Planning Department.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post ‘Stop dreaming of helicopters for Police’ – IMANI to Interior Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“…If we are looking at the office of the government machinery for instance in the last 12 years, you would see consistently that it has been the most wasteful and actually the source of corruption as well. That is why we are saying that if you want to fight corruption, let’s start from the office of government machinery because they put up all these portfolio of agencies that are duplicatory and not needed,” he added.

[contextly_sidebar id=”20ea9K28krKpbe5mFWeBZSK249szWoiz”]Mr. Cudjoe made the remark on Citi FM’s news analysis programme The Big Issue on Saturday during discussions on the vetting of Mr. Amidu last Tuesday.

The vetting, which lasted more than seven hours saw members of Parliament’s Appointment Committee quiz Mr. Amidu his plans for the Special Prosecutor’s Office and how he intends to carry out his mandate of fighting corruption.

Although Mr. Cudjoe said he is not alleging corruption within the government machinery, he said there have been several instances of wastages in the system, thus warranting his call.

“I’m just saying that the root causes of corruption lie within the political establishments that we’ve created for ourselves. We’ve always said that there are…a lot of examples of how odious expenses are made all from government machinery for instance. Look at the instance of the Ministry for Special Development Initiatives trying to create a website for close to $200,000. These are not necessarily stealing, but it is attempted waste and somehow attempting to waste and actual stealing may be the same,” he said on.

‘Turn up heat on Procurement Ministry too’

The IMANI Africa boss also called for the establishment of a special department under the Special Prosecutor’s Office which will be in charge of interrogating the cost of projects that come to the Procurement Ministry and the Public Procurement Authority to ensure that such projects are value for money.

He suggested that a special commissioner could be appointed to head that department in order to assist the Special Prosecutor to protect the public purse.

“The office must have some commissioner of sorts who can do proper due diligence on projects and they should start with the Procurement Ministry and the Public Procurement Authority,” he added.

‘Be wary of political mafias’

A private lawyer, Dr. Rainer Akumperigya, who also spoke on The Big Issue, charged Mr. Amidu to brace himself to face stiff opposition from persons with political and economic interests within and outside government.

Dr. Akumperigya explained that Amidu’s task will be a tough one since Ghana’s democracy itself is built on what he termed as “corrupt proceeds.”

“Martin cannot be naïve to think that no one will interfere with his office. He will be tempted. If you look at it from 1992, our Constitutional and multiparty democracy system have been built on corrupt proceeds, most of the party activities especially during general elections, where you require massive resources, where do such resources come from? If we want to be sincere with ourselves the system itself has been based and financed by pieces of corruption. So he is an individual, he now has the singular opportunity; he’s done it in the past as an individual now he is a public officer. He has to fight this, but he has to be aware that all the political actors and economic interests that prevailed prior to his appointment still prevail,” the lawyer added.

Parliament to approve Amidu on Tuesday

Meanwhile, Parliament will consider the report of the Appointments Committee on the nomination of Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor on Tuesday, February 20, 2018.

According to the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, they may either approve Amidu that same day or defer it to the following day.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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“When I heard the comparison between the NDC and the NPP in terms of procurement figures, I wasn’t particularly sure what the basis of the comparison was,” Mr. Cudjoe noted on The Big Issue.

[contextly_sidebar id=”XyWePxz0zDTNEddLGnWiTfQJAPTydjsp”]He also downplayed the significance of the reduction in sole-sourced contracts because there was still a lack of transparency as far as citizens were concerned.

President Nana Akufo-Addo, speaking to the Media in January, first revealed that his government had saved about GHc 782 million from sole sourcing and restricted tendering processes within its first year in government.

He was keen to note that this was in sharp contrast to the zero savings made from sole sourcing in 2016 under the National Democratic Congress.

The drop in sole-sourced contracts is noted to be 37 percent from 2016.

He reiterated this point during his State of the Nation address where he outlined that 394 sole sourcing requests were made in 2017, out of which 223, representing 56.6 percent, were approved, and 171, representing 43.4 percent, were rejected.

No change from NDC era

Despite President Akufo-Addo’s assertions, Mr. Cudjoe expressed some misgivings with the fact that goods were still being sole-sourced as he asked “whether we would ever do anything significantly different from what we have seen in the past.”

“Even if there was 90 percent approval of sole sourcing under NDC and we now have 50 percent approval under the NPP, the point I am trying to make is that there is no basis for this kind of comparison because, first of all, we don’t even get to see, as ordinary people, what exactly is being procured,” he said.

Per the IMANI Africa President’s understanding, sole sourcing “must be rare” thus, leading him to wonder whether the over 200 approved sole-sourcing requests were “from Mars.”

“If you look at the functions of various public agencies, those that are executing projects, what are they buying? Roofing sheets, cement, branding buses? What is so special about the [agreements sole sourced]?”

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

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The contract for the purchase of the cars, which arrived on a Global African Airlines cargo plane, was awarded by the John Mahama administration barely a week before they left office in 2017.

[contextly_sidebar id=”kjgtlE1bwJH0GxEJ3WJNVpGMG1Pv0czf”]Although the initial number of cars ordered was 43, the New Patriotic Party administration, which had attempted to cancel the entire contract but failed due to certain clauses, said it reduced the number to 34.

The government said the reduction in the number of vehicles to 34, consequently reduced the initial cost of 9 million dollars by about $300, 000.

The Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid told the media that government had not abrogated the contract because of the fear of incurring a judgement debt adding that the money saved from renegotiating the contract was used to procure a hundred cars for the Police Service.

Franklin Cudjoe, however, believes that though the move is commendable, the government must publish full details of the contract to allay doubts over its credibility.

“It is better for the government to publish exactly what contracts they are reviewing, the sums of those contracts and let us know what decision they are making thereof from those contracts. It is one part saying you have reviewed the contracts and it is another saying in view of that, you have used some of the gains to purchase some cars for some other parts of government [in this case the Police], which is good news by the way but if you do not ease the schedule of these reviews that you are undertaking people may start poking holes into some of the responses.”

Franklin Cudjoe further tasked government to put in place effective procurement mechanisms at the presidency to prevent the recurrence of contract reviews by successive governments.

“It will be better for us to get proper procurement procedures in place especially at the Flagstaff House. The challenge with some of these issues is because a lot of these decisions are taken at the seat of government, IMANI has always argued that dealing with waste and corruption starts at the office of government machinery… We need to have a very serious process of procurement from the office of government machinery.”

Background

Citi News had reported that Government over the weekend took delivery of 34 cars for the presidency, ten of which have bullet resistant exterior.

The contract for the presidential fleet was awarded by the John Mahama administration barely a week before they left office.

The original number of cars ordered was 43. The New Patriotic Party administration, which had attempted to cancel the entire contract but failed due to certain clauses in the contract, managed to reduce the number to 34.

Back in June 2017, some NDC officials accused the NPP administration of playing double-standards, after news about the presidential fleet emerged, despite an order by President Nana Akufo-Addo, halting the purchase of new vehicles.

The government then explained that it could not be blamed for the presidential fleet because the order had already been placed by John Dramani Mahama administration before they exited office after the elections in 2016.

‘NPP wanted the cars’

Former NDC appointees including Dr. Clement Apaak, who worked at the presidency, suggested that the cars were ordered upon the request of the NPP government during the transition period, a claim the government vehemently denied.

Dr. Apaak noted that, the Mahama administration agreed to the request by Nana Akufo-Addo’s side of the transition team because they had raised concerns about the incoming President’s security.

While the parties argued over the matter, Citi News sighted a letter signed by the then Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, authorizing the purchase.

This letter was signed two days before then-President; John Mahama, inaugurated the Presidential transition team, which he co-chaired with then President-elect, Nana Akufo Addo.

This revelation contradicted the NDC’s claims that the NPP made the request during the transition period.

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

The two-paragraph letter authorizing the purchase was dated December 9, 2016, whereas the transition team was officially inaugurated on December 11, 2016.

The letter noted that, the deal was authorized by the outgoing Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, to take note of the decision to purchase the 43 vehicles “for necessary action accordingly.”

The letter also clearly stated that, the outgoing government had “decided to acquire some vehicles for the incoming administration”.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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In 2007, the TTCSP developed and launched a global index of think tanks called Global Go To Think Tank Index, which serves as a framework for publishing the Global Go To Think Tank Index Reports annually. 

The Index and Reports are designed to identify and recognize centers of excellence in all the major areas of public policy research and in every region of the world. It is the result of an international survey of over 1,950 scholars, public and private donors, policymakers, and journalists who helped rank over 6,500 think tanks using a set of 18 criteria.

The rankings have in the past been co-launched with the Foreign Policy Magazine, the United Nations University, other top-rated Universities and think thanks.

Out of 90 think tanks ranked across the sub-region in the 2017 Report, IMANI came third whilst occupying the first position in Ghana.

Also, IMANI featured in 11 Ranking Categories, details of which are as follows:

Top Think Tank in the World (Non- US)

Position: 72 out of 142 globally

Top Think Tank in the World (US and Non-US)

Position: 111 out 173 globally

Top Think Tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa 

Position: 3 out of 90 across Sub-Saharan Africa

Top Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks

Position: 59 out of 140 globally

Top Education Policy Think Tanks

Position: 57 out 61 globally

Best Think Tank Network

Position: 68 out 85 globally

Best Use of Social Media and Networks

Position: 51 out of 84 globally

Think Tank to Watch in 2018

Position: 17 out of 105 globally

Think Tanks with the Best Use of the Internet

Position: 38 out of 60 globally

Think Tanks with the Most Significant Impact on Public Policy

Position: 36 out 60 globally

Top Think Tanks with Annual Operating Budgets of:

Less Than $5 Million USD

Position: 8 out of 48 globally

With far less than $5M USD annual operating budget, IMANI employs a variety of tools including research, advocacy, media, events, and internet technology to challenge and influence public policies in ways that positively impact the larger populace.

In the last four years of the index, 2014-2017, IMANI has missed the first position on the sub-Saharan African ranking to South African, Kenyan, Senegalese and Batswana think tanks. This is how IMANI fared on the Sub-Saharan list in the last four years- 2014- (2^nd), 2015- (2^nd), 2016- (4^th), 2017- (3^rd). Since 2012, IMANI has been ranked the most influential think tank in Ghana.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, people who have no jobs hide behind vigilante groups to perpetrate heinous crimes in the country because those groups get the backing and protection of the political elite.

[contextly_sidebar id=”O7KY9r8VHARd2WPPwUGubtNZJxMIrySb”]Mr. Cudjoe made the remark on Citi FM’s news analysis programme The Big Issue on Saturday when he and the other panelists on the programme, discussed the suspension of the Upper West Regional Minister, Sulemana Alhassan, for allegedly shielding some youth of the governing New Patriotic Party who vandalized the office of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) in that region.

He stated that it was crucial that the government focused on creating jobs for the teeming youth in order to ensure that such incidents are tackled permanently.

“…Because of the absence of jobs, they probably would want to be known as vigilante groups. It’s part of a problem we have as a developing country where we have serious challenges with unemployment and I think the root cause is what we should be looking at. In order for these not to rear their ugly heads again, it is important to have a very long-term view on how to deal with these matters.”

“For me, the vigilante issue is one part of a very big conversation we should be having on unemployment in this country,” Cudjoe added.

Addressing the suspension of the Regional Minister, the IMANI Africa president stated that Sulemana Alhassan should have been sacked instead for his action and utterances.

“Giving his own comment which sought to justify the actions, this obviously does not augur well for any civilized country,” he added.

Youth attack NADMO office’

About 30 angry youth affiliated to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) besieged the NADMO office on Wednesday.

When they attempted to break into the Regional Director’s office, the group was initially prevented by his aide but they eventually overpowered him.

The Police were later called in to intervene but they were reportedly prevented from effecting any arrest by the Regional Minister.

President Akufo-Addo later on Thursday suspended the Regional Minister.

Five arrested

Five people believed to have masterminded the attack were subsequently arrested and hauled in court.

The Wa circuit court presided over by Justice Baah Forson Agyepong on Friday, February 2, 2018 remanded the five persons into police custody.

Meanwhile, staff of NADMO in the region who were on strike in protest of the attack have subsequently called off the action.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Speaking on The Big Issue, Franklin Cudjoe said the Service was in need of serious help if they are to execute their mandate of protecting the citizens.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bBsKzdQGXExGPYXZ6Tiv7K6UxDcJqfff”]”I don’t think we have a proper police service… of course, it is the doing of successive governments. I am told reliably, with figures, that we are supposed to have about 52,000 police personnel. As we speak, we have about 38,000 and this year, they are only recruiting 4,000,” he said.

Mr. Cudjoe noted that, the lack of support for police operations from the state over the past two years.

“The politicians have been paying lip service. Did you know that in 2016, the NDC government gave zero cedis to the police service for its operations of the entire elections? They got zero, nothing… and in 2017 again, they go zero again from the NPP government for their operations,” he said.

The IMANI President’s comments were in relation to concerns over the recent high profile crime-related incidents, including the attack on the Kwabenya police station which resulted in the death of a police officer after he was shot by the assailants.

Seven suspects were set free from the cells in the attack, three of whom have since been rearrested.

Poor resources, lack of concern for welfare

Mr. Cudjoe also described the police armoury as a “second world war armoury” to highlight the service’s lack of resources, whilst also highlighting the challenges relating to the remuneration of the officers.

“It is seven police personnel to a single weapon… I think it is worrying. We don’t have to belabour the point that the Police Service itself has not been treated properly. The welfare of the police is a serious matter. As we speak, only 6,200 of them are properly accommodated out of the 38,000 and over.”

“Clearly, we don’t have a Service that is befitting to even take care of themselves before we can even begin to expect that they take care of us,” he stated.

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

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According to him, it is standard international practice to offer table sponsorship packages to attendees of such an event in order to raise funds.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RH7WKVVNFhiFAiKpn8hxI1nlN9lqu3tu”]Mr Cudjoe, however, added that it would be wrong if the expatriates were compelled to pay those amounts in order to get seats at the event.

He noted that the reason the issue became a public discussion is that the Trade Ministry did not handle the whole process well.

“My personal opinion is that the Trade Ministry handled this thing quite poorly. Secondly, I have to also say that if you organize a formal programme with business people, there is actually nothing entirely wrong if they paid for tables…unless of course, those sums were indeed extorted. We have to differentiate the two.”

Franklin Cudjoe argued that “if the sums were not extorted and to the extent that it was a business meeting, and people wanted to sit close to the president there is nothing wrong.”

“I would have thought that if the tables were sold in a manner that made people feel that I’m being made to pay a sum that I don’t like, that’s the difference here. It’s standard practice but I think it was poorly executed by the Ministry, of course that is what I feel,” he added.

The IMANI boss made the remark on Citi FM’s new analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday when the issue came up for review in relation to the setting up of a five-member Parliamentary Committee to investigate the matter.

Background

The Ministry of Trade allegedly charged expatriates between $25,000 and $100,000, to enable them sit close to the President at the awards ceremony, which was organised by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

Despite the President clearing the Trade Ministry of any wrongdoing in the matter, the Speaker of Parliament recalled the House on Friday, January 5, 2017, to consider a motion submitted by the Minority Chief Whip in Parliament, Muntaka Mubarak for the setting up of the adhoc committee which was then tasked to probe the claims.

The Committee has until January 25, 2017 to submit its report.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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