[contextly_sidebar id=”BCiEAKGbEOFNVDPLnhdXfH1Wr9cKXVhk”]He said the amount was among other things used to pay for rented cars and hotel accommodation for special guests who attended the anniversary celebration.

Responding to a statement by the Deputy Minister Finance, Kwaku Kwarteng in Parliament that more GH¢5.6m of government funds was used for various events as part of the year-long celebration, Ken Amankwah said the allocation was only a statutory payment to take care of the regular independence day parades.

“The budgetary allocation for the celebration actually went to the parade of the military and school children and other ancilliary which is a routine thing that happens every year. Ghana 60 years on is completely different from Independence day statutory provision which is always done. The independence parade, the flag raising and other ancillary things that occur is a statutory and mandatory money that comes from government every year. We have not touched that [GH¢5.6m] at all… Ghana 60 years on, everything that we have done is from the private sector,” he said.

Kwaku Kwarteng said in Parliament on Thursday that the government provided GH¢5.26 million for the year-long celebration.

According to him, GH¢3.1m of the amount was sourced from Government’s coffers while GH¢2.16m was sourced from the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).

The statement appeared to contradict President Akufo-Addo’s assurance that the government will source the GH¢20m budget cup for the celebration from the private sector.

But the Chairman of the committee which was constituted to plan and execute all events and projects associated with the anniversary said it did not benefit from the state money.

He said the committee relies solely on donations from the private sector for all of its activities.

He further described as untrue claims that some of the money was give to the Chief of Staff at the Ghana 60 years on secretariat.

“It is not true. It went to the Chief of Staff so that they can pay for the hotel bills of those who were invited by government to come to the celebration. The car rental charges and all that… that is what the Chief of Staff pays for… It has got nothing at all to do with Ghana 60 years on.”

Meanwhile, Ken Amankwah has said that the Committee is rigorously implementing various planned and unplanned projects as part of its mandate.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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In a statement signed by the chairman of the committee, Ken Amankwah, he said the committee went into an agreement with Chief that the fee he charged for their performance was not a fait accompli.

“I reminded him of our earlier discussions when he delivered his budget. There was the understanding that his budget was not a fait accompli. The Committee was entitled to sanitise and prune it down to reasonable amounts. He never came back for the budget hearing,” he said.

He also stated that Chief Moomen was in a hurry to stage his play and did not make time to sign a contract.

“Chief Moomen was a young man in a hurry. Before we could examine the details in his budget, he had mounted the stage and the musical was performed without an agreed contract,” he wrote.

In two separate Facebook posts last week, Chief Moomen had demonstrated his displeasure with the situation and had said all attempts to get the remainder of his money had proven abortive.

According to the poet and playwright, the committee’s indebtedness to him had put him into financial constraint, a reason his April show was called off.

Following the statement by the Chairman of the Ghana@60 Anniversary Planning Committee, Ken Amankwah, the producer and writer of the play Chief Moomen has issued a statement, disagreeing with some claims made by the chairman.

Read his statement below:

“Now that the Chairman of the committee has issued a response to my entreaties, I am now at liberty to put out the facts of the case. And I shall respond to his claims in greater detail.

1. He Claims our 213,000ghc budget to stage a WogbeJeke is whopping and excessive (The agreed amount was actually 200,000ghc) . By whose standards? We produced a 2hr 30mins production with a cast and crew of 170 people. This was inclusive of all related production and technical costs- remunerations, rehearsals, sound, lights, set, props etc. The only thing we were given is the venue (which is actually the Conference Center and not the Banquet Hall as he claims). Our remunerations budget alone was over 100,00ghc ( eg. @ an average of 500ghc*150 people= 75,000. @ 2000ghc to 5000ghc to directors of various units of the production= 35,000. Our technical costs averaging 20,000ghc and other costs like rehearsals, refreshment, transportation, props, costumes, etc averaging 20,000ghc. I will usually have to spend about 150 to 160,000ghc on every production period. So 200,00ghc charge for WogbeJeke is in no way excessive. Sir did you know Umoja charges 50,000 dollars for a performance of about 30 people and you still have to pay for all their technical costs. If I’m even to pay my cast and crew what they reasonably deserve for all the work they put into this, 300,000ghc will be my rate.
2. He claims, “Chief Moomen is a young man in a hurry. Before we could examine the details of his budget, he had mounted the stage and the musical was performed without an agreed contract.” That is quite a curious claim. So on what basis was WogbeJeke advertised on radio, television, newspapers and social media as part of the official programme for the anniversary? On what basis were invitations sent out to people, including the Vice-President and Council of State, to come to the Conference Center on Friday 3rd March, 2017 at 6pm to watch the production? On what basis was the first 100,000ghc given to me for the programme.? Yes I was not given a written contract, and I believe that no service provider for the anniversary celebrations was given one either. I , however, presented an invoice of 200,000ghc and a receipt covering the receipt of the first 100,000ghc.
3. He again claims, “But the moonshine of his presentation was the ruse that he had never been paid.” Now that is plainly not true. In my facebook post and in all my interviews I have always indicated that I was given half of the payment.
4. According to the Chairman, our budget is excessive because ten years ago, my own beloved lecturer Prof Martin Owusu put up plays for the 50th anniversary celebrations and didn’t charge that much. I won’t even bother to respond. It’s like walking into a boutique to buy a shirt and being told that it costs 200ghc only for you to claim that amount is excessive because you came to the shop ten years ago to buy a shirt that costs 20ghc.
5. He claims I was supposed to come for a budget hearing and I never turned up. That is also not true. I have availed myself to every single meeting that was required of me. Even after the performance, I have made several attempts to secure meetings. In fact, I have been to the seat of government these past months more than I have done in my entire life.
6. For the past four months I’ve been following up on this issue in what has been a really frustrating process. I have reached out to many people to intervene on our behalf with no results. My business indeed has been gravely affected. I finished my march shows with an amount of 56,000 to pay out which I have been trying to do. This debt has made it difficult for me to invest in my operations. I canceled my show in April because of the debts and was at the verge of cancelling my July show too. My angst and frustrations are very real sir. I’m in no way out of the woods. You may not care, but please don’t describe my sentiments as “ a contrived tearjerker”.”

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Boys Empowerment Project is pivoted on four thematic areas: Instilling Discipline &Responsibility, Self- Discovery, Vocational Empowerment and Mindset Renewal. This novelty initiative in the constituency is supported by the MP and organized by Junior Shapers Africa (JSA), a male child empowerment social enterprise.

JSA trained about 400 school boys drawn from various schools within the Awutu Senya West Constituency.

The MP said “This is in line with the Ghana@60 theme of Mobilizing for Ghana’s future, and our Manifesto theme of Creating Prosperity and Equal Opportunities for all.”

With this initiative, the MP hopes to engage the youth especially fresh voters and collect data, address basic welfare challenges, build a superior locally relevant and sustainable relationship with them, in order to empower them and change their mindset about politics and their personal role to make an impact in society.

In her opening address, the District Director of Education, Mrs. Anna Belinda Baidoo, was grateful to the Hon.MP and JSA, and urged the enthusiastic young boys to heed to the words of encouragement and advice from the Facilitators in order to become the change they seek for.

Mrs Ethel Marfo, the Founding Director of Junior Shapers Africa, which runs behaviour change programmes for children especially boys to help them explore the expectations placed upon them as future leaders, remarked that the boys were blessed to have an MP who is passionate about youth development.

She reiterated the importance of renewing their mindset in a bid to take advantage of the MP’s innovations and the Government’s agenda for the youth.

The interactions were interspersed with thought-provoking video documentaries and insightful presentations. There was also free medical screening for the boys which was coordinated by The Patients Friend Foundation.

In his presentation as The Host & Guest of Honour, Hon. Nenyi George Andah provoked the boys to believe in themselves and in Ghana. He broke the ice by challenging the boys to recite or sing the National Anthem without errors. An exercise he duly rewarded the few bold and action oriented boys who accepted the challenge and sang the Anthem.

He underscored the importance for these boys to properly position themselves to benefit from the numerous interventions he’s going to roll out for his constituents.

He added that, he was not only optimistic in the President’s vision of a transformed Ghana, but also very hopeful of a transformed constituency of responsible men and women pursuing their dreams.

He challenged the boys to be honest with themselves, hardworking and humble, stating that these qualities were important to becoming responsible men.

A JSA Faculty member and teacher at the St Martin de Porres School in Dansoman- Accra, Kodwo Baidoo and Francis Nunoo, founder at Mastermind Art &Technology, walked the boys through innovative presentations and the benefits of acquiring vocational skills.

The boys were encouraged to look within themselves to unearth and nurture their talents, dreams and passions.

“The corporate space is too crowded already and might no longer be able to accommodate them for which reason there is the need to rigorously pursue vocational and technical skills to become self employed in the nearest future” Kodwo advised.

The day was concluded with an insightful presentation on Temperaments facilitated by JSA Faculty Member, Pastor Claude Mann, who he helped the boys to discover their temperaments, their behavioural patterns and career choices with respect to their temperaments.

The District Coordinator of Education, Samuel Amoah, expressed profound gratitude on behalf of the Education Directorate and hinted of a possible repeat of the training program on Circuit basis for boys and girls.

He was assured of JSA’s full support in contributing towards the mobilization for Ghana’s Future.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The rationale for the campaign, Mr Amankwah explained, was to rally all Ghanaians to play a role in nation building.

“Before we can work together, we first need to commit to something that we all believe in. The pledge campaign encourages all Ghanaians to be supportive of the government and the country,” he explained when he addressed a news conference at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday.

He also unveiled a detailed programme of activities for the first phase of the year-long celebration, which started from February 9, 2017 with an evening with the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during which he hosted Corporate Ghana and also unveiled the logo for the anniversary.

The first phase is expected to end on March 12, 2017 with a festival by the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA).

Key activities

Throwing light on some key activities for the period, Lord Commey, the Chairman of the Sub-committee on Events, said there would be the launch of a Jubilee Technology Start-up Challenge for the many talented young Ghanaians whose innovations never saw the light of day because of lack of funding.

He said the competition would unveil innovations that boosted governance, business, health, education and other areas.

“This will be a competition to unearth talented innovators whose innovations will accelerate some strand of Ghana’s development,” he said.

Tales from yesteryears, a documentary featuring older people recounting their experiences and memories of the pre-independence struggle, independence and the post-independence era, would also be running on television.

Entrepreneur challenge

Lord Commey said a Jubilee Youth Entrepreneur Challenge would also be launched, predicated on the difficulty young people faced in raising capital and which prevented them from fully realising their potential.

The challenge would solicit business ideas from young people across the country and reward the most-likely-to-be- profitable ideas, he said.

There would also be a lecture on the theme: “Mobilising for Ghana’s future”, to herald a series of nationwide lectures outlined for the year-long programme.

Appeal to businesses

Lord Commey announced that there would be a national flag-draping campaign and appealed to businesses, as part of their corporate responsibility, to adopt the major roads near their offices and decorate them with flags, buntings, balloons and lights.

There would be a night of choral music, the highlight of which would be the launch by the National Symphony Orchestra of a rendition of the National Anthem using only local instruments, he added.

He said the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) would mount a photo exhibition depicting the colonial times, in view of which the board would transform parts of the Christianborg Castle, the former seat of government at Osu, into a museum space.

Legacy Project

Lord Commey said Ghana had had nine Presidents since independence but not much was displayed anywhere about them, except the country’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

As part of the celebration, he said, there would be the inauguration of a Presidential Museum which would be a legacy project to celebrate the country’s former leaders and also the 60th anniversary of the GMMB, which falls on February 5.

There would also be the ‘Know Your Ghana’ campaign, a domestic tourism campaign spearheaded by the Presidency, which would be launched at the photo exhibition, he added.

He explained that when the perpetual flame was lit on Independence Day, a torch would also be lit using the flame.

Relay torch for all regions

“This torch will embark on a relay throughout the whole of Ghana, region by region, and return to its starting point on March 6, 2018. Chiefs, opinion leaders, local celebrities and Ghanaians from all walks of life will be part of this relay,” he said.

He said the President would, within the period, cut the sod for the Presidential Legacy Project, while there would be the Masqueraders’ Festival and the National Festival on Culture where each region would be given an opportunity to showcase a part of its culture that was unique.

The Chairman of the Media Sub-committee, Mr Jefferson Sackey, throwing more light on the ‘I Pledge’ Campaign, said it would create awareness of the many things that Ghanaians could do differently to help raise the flag of the country higher.

The campaign, he said, aimed at spreading a broad change in attitude or mindset in all parts of the country with the view to getting the citizenry to pledge their support to help build a desirable nation.

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Source: Graphic.com.gh

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It said the logo, inspired by two adinkra symbols, ‘Mati Masie’ and ‘Tikoro nko agyina’, was designed by one Emmanuel Addo, a student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

[contextly_sidebar id=”Liqs3GBnci6uCUNqi2c2yK3PjBYcWidt”]At a press conference at the Flagstaff House in Accra, Mr Jefferson Sackey, Chairman of the Media Sub-Committee of the Anniversary Planning Committee, said the committee went through a deliberate and thorough process to arrive at the logo that was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last Thursday.

He said the committee invited and had over 50 proposals from artists and designers, out of which 20 designs were shortlisted.

He said the committee, with the help of some experts, further scaled down the designs to five before settling on the logo, which was unveiled last week, adding that the selection process would not lend itself to a plagiarized work.

Over the weekend, social media was abuzz with news that the logo for the year-long 60th anniversary celebration that starts on from the month of March had been copied from an Indian youth association emblem.

Various radio stations also took to discussing the issue, with discussants querying the Commission.

Mr Sackey told the media that that accusation was unfounded because “The issue of plagiarism is something that comes to us as a surprise.”

“The issue of plagiarism is something that comes to us as a surprise. It was a transparent process. People submitted their artworks, we ensure that we saw the process with which they were going through in designing their logos. At the national planning committee, they went ahead, selected 5 of the logos and we actually had to submitted these 5 logos to experts in the design and media industries to see if they can link the theme to what they have actually presented, and in doing that, we were able to get it,” Jefferson Sackey said.

He said the Committee’s investigation had revealed that certain interest hurriedly put together a website over the weekend with the same logo, ostensibly to “paint us in a bad light,” to upset the plans of the Committee.

He said that after intensive deliberations and scrutiny of the designs presented by the various designers, the Committee shortlisted five out of the 20 entries, and subsequently Mr Addo’s designed was eventually selected after consultations with experts in the creative arts industry.

The design, Mr Sackey said, captured the essence of the theme for the celebration. It comprises two Adinkra symbols and people holding hands with heads together in a circle, symbolising togetherness, duality of the essence of life, diversity in democracy and inter-dependency.

He said the elements in the design complemented the theme for the anniversary: ‘‘Ghana, 60 years on, mobilising for Ghana’s Future’’.

Mr Sackey presented the Committee’s nationalism project dubbed “The Pledge Campaign,’’ aimed at rejuvenating the Ghanaian spirit of patriotism, ingenuity and self-belief for sustained national development.

The campaign is intended to change the attitudes and mindset of Ghanaians geared towards building a desirable nation for accelerated national development.

In view of this, he encouraged Ghanaians to share short videos or pictures through the social or print media on how to support the campaign.

This, he said, could be demonstrated through social activities such as volunteering to donate blood, paying taxes to the authorities and keeping the environment clean, as well as eschewing bribes and corruption in society.

He, therefore, urged all Ghanaians to show interest and support the campaign in order to achieve a national ideological agenda.

Meanwhile, the Committee had urged corporate entities and philanthropic organisations to come to the aid of the Committee with financial and logistical support.

Mr Ken Amankwah, Chairman of the Committee indicated that the GH¢20 million budgeted for the celebration would not come from the national coffers, but would be sourced from donations by corporate entities and the general public.

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Source: GNA

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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo over the week disclosed that government intends to spend GHc20 million on the celebration with support from the private sector.

[contextly_sidebar id=”61ZjfdjqvtFNk5FdJddLH2r2OFyBFQhD”]But speaking on Citi FM’s News analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Franklin Cudjoe said the amount realized from auctioning a few of the vehicles could help raise funds for the celebration.

There has been controversy over some missing vehicles allegedly taken by some officials of the previous John Mahama government.

Whereas the New Patriotic Party administration insists that over 200 vehicles from the presidency fleet were missing, spokespersons of the former government argue that they handed over 641 vehicles before exiting office.

Franklin Cudjoe noted that “I pray that we find the cars because we could easily sell some of them.”

“For instance the Toyota Land Cruiser, 142 of them, we could get about GHc10 million, Toyota Avalon, there are 33 of them, we could get GHc9 million, Toyota Corolla, 58 of them, you could probably get GHc17 million. Toyota Camry, 75 of them, you could probably make easily make 30 million. Toyota Prado, 54, you can easily make some GHc4 million and the list goes on and on.”

“If you look at the cost of the cars and the maintenance cost of these cars, you are getting into dizzying heights. So my issue is if you are looking for GHc20 million for Ghana at 60, fair and square, let’s find 142 Land Cruisers… and do a mass auction at the Independence Square. You don’t need 641 cars at the presidency,” he explained.

NDC staffers purchased 271 salon cars at the presidency

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel George, who was also on The Big Issue explained that about 271 of the vehicles allegedly missing vehicles from the President’s vehicle pool were purchasedby some officials of the former government.

According to Same George, although he declined to purchase the vehicle allocated to him while serving as a Presidential staffer under the former government, some of his colleagues bought theirs after the vehicles were duly properly valuated by the State Transport Company.

“A number of my colleagues chose to buy their cars. I for personal reasons declined to buy my car and I returned it to the director of logistics at the Office of President. We put out a list of 641 vehicles. We handed over about 370 vehicles to the assets and logistics committee [of the new government] and these vehicles were physically inspected by the assets committee led by lawyer Ayikoi Otu,” he added.

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

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