Mr. Kofi Sekyere chairs a reconstituted nine-member board which includes Mr. Yaw Owusu Brempong, MD of the Venture capital Fund, the Hon. Fuseini Issah,  the Member of Parliament for Okaikwei North constituency, Madam Efua Asabea Asare, Mr. Peterson Ekow Afedzie and Dr. John Kofi Mensah. The others are Mr. Franklin Owusu Asafo Adjei, Mr. Brian Frimpong and Mrs. Efua Apenteng.

Mrs. Abena Osei Asare, Deputy Minister of Finance, who administered the oath of office at the inauguration of the new Board recalled that: “Over time, various management issues have been cited in the Auditor General’s report from wrongful payments of millions of dollars, wrongful acquisition of a property, gratuity payment to the board without approval, granting huge loans without due diligence and others.”

Mrs. Osei Asare charged the Board to focus on their mandate, clean up the sunken image of the Fund and strengthen the capacity of its management and staff to be more innovative.

Mr. Kofi Sekyere thanked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the opportunity to serve the country and pledged the Board’s commitment to work hard to adequately resource and empower the SMEs.

“Personally, I fully appreciate the enormity of the task of steering the Venture Capital Fund in the best direction to enable it to fully actualize those critical objectives for which the fund was set up and as an avowed team-player, I wish to vocalize the collective commitment of this board to work diligently and assiduously to ensure that the mandate before us is executed with precision and without blemish,” Mr. Sekyere said.

The Board Chairman said as it has been evidently proven in developed economies, SMEs are the ‘indisputable engines of growth’ and that apart from propelling the national economy forward, the empowerment of SME’s and private sector ventures will be highly supportive of the government’s vision of One District, One Factory and a sure way of generating employment and upgrading the quality of life of Ghanaians.

He lamented that over the years, access to credit and equity funding for small and medium scale enterprises even for those operating in acknowledged priority sectors of the economy has been a major challenge.

“It is this challenge that I and my good colleagues on this Board will set out to rectify and work to enable our SMEs play that crucial role they should be playing in the growth and development agenda of our dear country,” said Mr. Sekyere.

The Fund was established in 2004 by the Venture Capital Fund Act 680, with the mandate of providing financial resources and equity funding for the development and promotion of venture capital financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in specified sectors of the Ghanaian economy.

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Source: Neo Bantu

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He pleaded guilty and was jailed 10 years; in addition the court asked him to pay GHC 8,785 as compensation to the complainants.

The facts of the case as presented by chief inspector John Amponsah  at the Nsuta circuit court presided over by Mr David  P.W.Amedior were that, in 2013, the accused person posing as a Police C.I.D personnel posted from Accra to Kumasi Police Training School at Patase, defrauded Apeadu Benjamin Freduah of GHC 1,135, Kwabena  Kyere, GHC 800,Theresa Mensah, GHC 6,250 and Rose Owusu, GHC 600 at different dates and different places.

The prosecution said, after collecting the monies, the accused person vanished and all efforts by the complainants to get in touch with him failed as he kept on changing his mobile numbers,  or busied himself  having meetings with the Inspector-General of Police.

The accused person continued to play tricks on his victims until May 6 this year when one of the complainants spotted him at Kofi’s in the Mampong Municipality and reported the case to the police.

The police arrested him and upon a search on him, retrieved a police C.I.D. identity card bearing the name of one Nana Frimpong and various passport pictures.

The prosecution said after investigations, the accused person was charged with the offence.

Source: GNA

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Kwesi pleaded guilty to assault.

Prosecuting Police Chief Inspector, Charles Anku told the court, presided over by Mrs. Florence Okai Otu that February 1,  Esi who forgot to carry her purse to the  market, went back home to pick it but could not find it  after  a long search in her room.

He told the court that Esi then went to the convict’s room to ask him if he had seen her purse which contained GH¢550.00, but this infuriated Kwesi and resulted in an argument between them.

Chief Inspector Anku said Kwesi angrily took a pair of scissors from his tools box and threw it at her and threatened to stab her if she did not leave his room.

He said Esi out of desperation opened the drawer beside the bed in the room and saw the purse but before she could retrieve it Kwesi stabbed her in the stomach.

Esi was taken to the Central Regional Hospital by their mother who heard her scream for help and later reported the incident to the police.

Kwesi, who had gone into hiding was arrested after 35 days.

Source: GNA

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