The National Lottery Authority (NLA), Hollard Group (a leading insurer), and the state-owned oil and gas marketing company, GOIL PLC, have pledged sponsorship for the much-anticipated 2024 Heritage Caravan.

The annual 8-day road trip, scheduled from March 3 to March 10, provides participants with a unique experience to explore Ghana’s cultural heritage.

Head of Events and Partnerships, Frema Adunyame, expressed gratitude to the sponsors for their involvement in making the road trip a memorable experience.

“We have sponsorships from the National Lottery, GOIL, Hollard; these companies came in, and they really understand what it means to represent your company. They come in with all the excitement, and they have done this continuously. GOIL is the same; I’m not surprised GOIL is always with us because we need the state fuel company to support us in doing this. They always come through for us, and then we also have NLA coming in. Sponsors, we are very grateful to you for coming in to support us. We know there are a lot of sponsors who are coming on board.”

She stressed, “Yes, more sponsors are coming. If you are interested in sponsoring, this is the time before we have sponsors also sold out. If you are a company, and you want to be associated with Heritage Caravan, this is the time to do so; you can still call 0205973973. We say a great thank you to our sponsors.”

Frema Adunyame also reiterated that the 2024 Heritage Caravan is officially sold out.

“Sold out means sold out. You know, at Citi FM/Citi TV, we don’t believe in sensationalism. We don’t believe in unnecessary hyping and all those kinds of things. What people are forgetting is that we are also interested in getting the money. If there are seats, why would we turn people away?”

“The truth of the matter is we are sold out. Currently, if you are interested in becoming part of the 2024 Heritage Caravan, it cannot be possible. We don’t have any seats, not even one for patrons; that’s the unfortunate bit about it. Those who have booked their seats, they’re going to have fun, and they are secured,” the head of Events and Partnerships at Citi FM and Citi TV said.

She mentioned that all preparations had been made towards the trip.

“Hotels are ready, buses are ready; Citi FM/Citi TV as an organization, we are ready,” Frema Adunyame stated.

Embarking from the vibrant Greater Accra Region, the Heritage Caravan will traverse the picturesque terrains of Volta, Eastern, Bono, Ahafo, Bono East, Upper East, Northern, Savannah, North East, Ashanti, Western North, Western, and Central Regions before returning to Greater Accra.

The Heritage Caravan offers a unique road trip experience, providing participants with an intimate encounter with Ghana’s cultural heritage.

Since its inception in 2016, the Caravan has explored every region, visiting iconic sites such as Mole National Park, the Military Museum, Bonwire Kente Exhibition, the Slave Memorial at Assin Manso, Elmina Castle, Larabanga Mosque, Nzulezu village, and the crocodile pond at Paga, among others.

As a flagship initiative of Citi TV and Citi FM, the Heritage Caravan is held annually in March as part of the Heritage Month celebrations.

The Heritage Caravan 2024 is powered by Citi TV with support from 97.3 Citi FM. It’s proudly sponsored by the National Lottery Authority, Goil PLC, and Hollard Insurance.

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According to him, the decision to hire the services of his private company was not a rubber stamp decision by him, but was decided by the entire board together with the procurement authority.

[contextly_sidebar id=”KVmN4CPWL1lbRoH1qcCZjR4er6j7ohD3″]His claim comes on the back of allegations by a group calling itself the Concerned Voters Movement, who accused him of awarding contracts of the NLA to his own company, LOTS Services to the tune of GH¢89 million Ghana cedis between 2013 and 2017, while serving as an external lawyer for the NLA and at the same time, the Chairman of the entity Tender Committee of the NLA.

Leader of the group, Razak Kojo Poku, said the president must urgently cause an investigation into the matter to ensure the country does not lose money through the “dubious contract”.

Mr. Razak Poku also alleged that Kojo Graham was peddling falsehood against the current Managing Director of the NLA, Osei-Ameyaw, after the latter tried to cancel the dubious contract.

But speaking on the Eyewitness News on Wednesday, Kojo Graham said although the positions he held may have appeared to be in conflict of interest, there was no conflict of interest.

“There could be an appearance of a conflict of interest because of the position that I was an external solicitor and a board member, but you cannot, as a matter of fact, come to a logical conclusion that because I was in these positions, anything that happens amounts to a conflict of interest… I never asked to be external solicitor for the NLA…There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a board member and being an external solicitor for the NLA,” he said.

Mr. Graham said the selection of his private company (LOTS Services) for a contract with the NLA, was not taken by the board of NLA while he was serving on it, but by the Public Procurement Authority.

“The Entity Tender Committee is not a rubber stamp, this is a high-level committee made up of 3 board members, senior directors from the NLA as well as a senior state attorney from the AG’s department. In any case, the decision to award contracts are not made by the Chairman of the Entity Tender Committee. It wasn’t the NLA Entity Tender Committee that awarded contract to LOTS, the contract was awarded by the Public Procurement Authority,” he said.

My interest in LOTS was after NLA contract

Mr. Kojo Graham further denied that, his interest in the LOTS Services, was only after the NLA had signed the contract with the company.

“My interest in LOTS Services came in way after the contract had been awarded,” he said.

‘I gave $60,000 loan on humanitarian grounds’

It is alleged that Mr. Kojo Graham gave a bribe of $60,000 to the new Director–General of the NLA, after learning of the latter and the new NLA board’s plan to be more stringent in payments to LOTS services.

But according to Mr. Graham, the money was a personal loan which he gave on “humanitarian grounds” to the new Director General.

We are open to a probe

He said his company was ready to cooperate with state agencies should there be a probe into the case.

“He who alleges must prove. Our doors are as open as the heavens,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Mr. Kojo Graham, who doubles as an external lawyer and Chairman of the entity Tender Committee of the NLA, is reported to have awarded contracts of the NLA to his own company, LOTS Services to the tune of GH¢89 million Ghana cedis between 2013 and 2017.

President of the group, Razak Kojo Poku, told Citi News that he cannot fathom how an individual will make more money from the NLA than the revenue the entity pays into the consolidated fund.

He alleged that Mr. Graham was peddling falsehood against the current Managing Director of the NLA, Osei-Ameyaw, after he tried to freeze the ‘dubious’ payments.

“Graham had a 15-year contract with the NLA, and he had the contract under a very strange circumstance when he was a board member of the NLA, Chairman of the Tender Committee of NLA, and external lawyer for NLA, and he awarded a 15-year contract to his own company, it doesn’t make sense,” he said.

“Why should an individual receive more money on monthly basis than the money the NLA pays into the consolidated fund…? If you are a Director General and you believe in the vision of the president of avoiding some of these reckless and wastage of financial resources, and you decide to block this money from going to the individual, clearly speaking, they will stage a conspiracy theory against you and that is exactly what Kojo Graham is doing to Osei Ameyaw,” Razak Kojo Poku said.

He further called on President Akufo-Addo to urgently investigate the matter since he is committed to fighting corruption in the country.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He emphasized that, attaining departmental and individual set targets, prudent management of resources, and most importantly, staff motivation, are contributory factors to achieving these.

[contextly_sidebar id=”KuFnYzRmZ3XRJ7pHAQ1WOxhOlq8MviMw”]The Chairman, who is also a member of the Council of State, said this when he addressed a staff durbar on Thursday 12th October, 2017 at the Breman Hall of the Authority, after members of the 4th Board of Directors were formally introduced to staff by the Director-General of NLA Kofi Osei-Ameyaw.

The other members are: Mr. Philip Aning, Mrs. Adelaide Anno-Kumi, Mr. Henry Yentumi, Mrs. Helen Awo Ziwu, Kofi Osei-Ameyaw and Ms. Joana Frances Adda.

The Chairman announced that, the Director-General had forwarded outstanding operational, administrative and welfare-related issues that needed urgent attention to the Board.

However, in order to make upright judgements and appropriate decisions, there was the need for the 3-month old Board to have some orientation on the institutional background, hence; it has been going through files to be abreast with issues.

Torgbui Nyonyo added that, from the records, staff did not meet their 2016 set targets, a critical determinant for either paying or not paying bonus.

“Administratively, staff do not qualify to earn bonus, however, considering the fact that there was a success in operational excellence, notably an increase in revenue despite the challenging economic environment and unstable electricity supplies amongst others that affected businesses, the Board will approve and make payment of 2016 bonuses to staff by end of October.”

He was however quick to caution that the 2017 bonus will be paid only upon achievement of set targets.

A good working relationship and commitment to work is a powerful ingredient to corporate successes; the Chairman, therefore, encouraged management to get closer to staff through informal social activities.

He assured staff that the Board will interact with their counterparts in the other regions.

Reforms

The Chairman hinted that, the Board will introduce reforms in the operations of the lotto business with a view to protecting the public purse, expanding the markets, and also pursue the President’s vision of creating employment and mobilization of lottery funds for national development.

He however noted that they are mindful of the law on causing financial loss to the state, and so all hands must be on deck.

According to some elated staff, this is the second time a Board has been introduced to them.

The first was in 2006 during the Kufuor government, and they see this act as a sign of respect for staff.
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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They believe that, the move by the National Lottery Authority to legalized their operations by registering all illegal and unlicensed operators in the country will better place them in their business.

The National Lottery Authority recently embarked on a series of activities to rope in unlicensed operators popularly called “Banker to Banker.”

The latest of such innovations was a stakeholder consultative forum between the Authority and the lotto Operators.

Some of the participants, who spoke exclusively to Citi News, expressed their willingness to embrace the proposals of the NLA in sanitizing the lotto business.

The Chief Executive Officer of one of the illegal lotto companies, Super 4 Intelic David Offei Agyekum said his outfit will gladly admit the scheme of the NLA.

“Super 4 Interlic is a private lotto company and we operate illegally but with the opportunity, NLA has offered us, I believe very soon our license will be issued, then we operate within the law,” he said

He further called on his counterparts in the illegal business to take advantage of the opportunity availed them by NLA to legalize their operations.

Mr. Offei Agyekum however, cautioned the Authority to do due diligence to issuing licenses to prospective companies.

The Director-General of the National Lottery Authority Kofi Osei Ameyaw who spoke to the media on the sidelines of the stakeholder’s forum said, the engagement between the NLA and the operators has generated positive results so far.

He said the Authority will roll out more platforms to interact with the operators to ensure that a greater percentage of them are formalized.

He added that “we will have to do our background checks, so that those who have been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction won’t not be suitable to be issued a license.”

The forum was used to register over two hundred illegal lotto operators at the national level while efforts is also made to register more at the regional level.

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By: Anass S. Seidu/Citifmonline.com

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The directive follows recent allegations that National Lottery Authority (NLA) paid over GHc150, 000 to facilitate a meeting over the Lotteries Bill that failed to pass last year; a revelation that has called the integrity of Parliament into question once again.

[contextly_sidebar id=”z3enygjIQZN4t55M3hGE8kNkl5YDnmSx”]Following agitations from some Members of Parliament (MPs) on the floor on Friday over the matter, the Speaker indicated that this was an opportunity for Parliament to take a holistic look at the relationship between the committees of Parliament and parastatals and other bodies that have legislative concerns.

“… I trust that in a week we should have some directive, some common position on which we can act on the matter. No one is sleeping over it at all. All parliaments’ issues must be seriously examined,” he added.

Meanwhile, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has suggested the restriction of all stakeholder consultations within the precincts of Parliament.

This he said would block out the allegations of corruption that crop up anytime parliamentary committees move outside the capital on weekends for deeper insights on the bills they work on.

CSOs call for independent probe into NLA bribery claim

Three anti-corruption civil groups; the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition have called for an independent probe into the bribery allegations involving the NLA and members of Parliament’s Finance Committee.

A joint statement by the three anti-graft bodies noted that Parliament’s integrity was gradually coming into question hence their call for a probe.

“This revelation, coming on the back of the unsatisfactory handling of Honourable Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central’s bribery allegation presents a further challenge to the already dented image of Parliament and growing eroding trust in politics and the political class in the Fourth Republic,” they noted in a statement.

‘MPs take bribes’

The MP for Nadowli/Kaleo, Alban S.K. Bagbin, in 2014 alleged that some MPs take bribes to articulate the views of some individuals and organisations on the floor of Parliament.

Although he came under a wave of attack from some MPs, Alban Bagbin insisted that evidence to that effect existed and added that the practice had persisted because of the lack of laid-down rules and ethics on lobbying in the country.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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[contextly_sidebar id=”5aeq2cSmM85BcBTIyDyJYGiUGIQcXxcl”]Supporting calls for a probe into the development, the Executive Director of the ACEPA, Dr Rasheed Draman said broadening investigations to explore why payments are made to MPs will help find a lasting solution to the problem.

“I think that the probe is in order but we must also widen the scope of that probe to look at why is that over the years Parliament has abdicated this responsibility of ensuring that it has enough resources to enable its committees to do their work effectively because that is the root cause. What we are seeing with regards to the Finance Committee is just a manifestation of symptom of that structural problem so we should investigate that as well because that is what will put a stop or find a solution to the problem.”

The calls from ACEPA comes days after three anti-corruption bodies called for an independent probe into the bribery allegations made against both the NLA and Finance Committee.

It has emerged that the NLA spent about one hundred and fifty thousand on members of the Finance Committee in the previous Parliament to facilitate deliberations on the amendment of the National Lottery Act, 2006.

In a joint statement, the three anti-graft bodies noted that Parliament’s integrity was gradually coming into question hence their call for a probe.

“This revelation, coming on the back of the unsatisfactory handling of Honourable Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central’s bribery allegation presents a further challenge to the already dented image of Parliament and growing eroding trust in politics and the political class in the Fourth Republic,” they noted in a statement.

They recommended “the setting up an independent body outside of Parliament possibly chaired by someone of the reputation of Mr. Emile Short, former Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) or someone of similar standing, to look at the alleged bribery case, to investigate this issue, review the payment practices in Parliament and make clear recommendations for regulating these processes.”

They also urged the leadership of Parliament not to sweep these allegations under a rug and “pretend there are no problems with the image and integrity of our Parliament.”

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By: Marian Ansah & Eugenia Tekorang/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to the authority it will rather use the opportunity to sanitize the lottery terrain.

Former Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Woode, inaugurated about 11 lotto courts across Ghana in June to aid the prosecution of all lotto-related offences.

The courts include Circuit Courts one and eight in Accra, Circuit Courts B in Tema and Koforidua, Circuit Court 4 in Kumasi, Circuit Court one in Cape Coast, and Circuit Courts in Tarkoradi, Ho, Tamale and Wa.

Addressing the media at the authority’s headquarters, the Director General of NLA, Kofi Osei Ameyaw said though there are laws available for prosecution, his outfit will adopt dialogue and negotiations to harmonize all other lotto companies in their operations.

He said that “it (the court) is not to witch-hunt anybody, this happened previous. In the previous administration there was an executive instrument for prosecution. That is not to say that because we have the laws, the courts and the prosecution, everyone should be prosecuted.”

Mr Osei Ameyaw also seized the opportunity to call on all lotto operators in the country to legally register with National Lottery Authority to enable the m contribute their quota towards natonal development.

“I am calling on everyone engaged in the lottery business to come forward and obtain their license so that they can pay their due share of taxes and revenue for government so that we use the money to develop the country.

Those that are lawfully working and paying their taxes feel that they are being cheated by those who are not paying their taxes and are doing the business clandestinely, this restricts the revenue base of the country” he added

The authority however indicated that it will ensure that the law is strictly enforced after six months.

The Director General said “ When the chief justice announce the eleven lotto courts throughout the country, I made a plea and a  pledge that there will be an amnesty period of about six month moratorium, all those engaged in the illegal lotto activities should come forward so that we can deal cordially.

“The law courts may be there but we don’t have to utilize it, prosecution maybe there but we don’t have to utilize it. Please let’s work together so that we can all feed our families, we are not trying in any way to deprive anybody of their daily bread or livelihood.”

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Anass S. Seidu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Lotto courts not to persecute illegal operators – NLA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

NLA rewarded the overall winner, Harrison Nukpor with a brand new Hyndai Ascent car worth about GHc87, 000 while the first runner up won for himself a two week paid-for holiday trip to Dubai.

The second runner up was also given a 40 inch LED TV.

The lucid process saw thirty people winning Samsung J2 mobile phones.

Over 300,000 Ghanaians participated in the promotion while observers were given the opportunity to electronically select winners.

Speaking to the media after the program, the Director General of the National Lottery Authority Kofi Osei Ameyaw said the lucky hands promotion was instituted to give a second winning chance to their clients who couldn’t win in the weekly draws.

“If you don’t win for the first time do not despair, you have another opportunity to win. We are trying to rope in people for a second chance,” he added.

Mr Osei-Ameyaw further encouraged the public to patronize the regulated and legal system of lottery to be able to enjoy the company’s incentive packages.

He said “if you stake the lotto with any other person or instrumentality either than the NLA, you wouldn’t have this second opportunity, let’s focus on legality and not illegality, it gives people the opportunity to stake the lotto with the National Lottery Authority but not any other lotto where it’s not permitted by law to do so.”

Clearing the minds of the public on all doubts and misconceptions on the selection processes, the NLA boss said as far he is concerned “the process used was equitably accountable and transparent, that’s why we called the public to come and invited the media, the process was fair to all.”

In a separate interview with Citi News, the Marketing Manager of National Lottery Authority Kwabena Opoku Boakye hinted that the company is embarking on a massive public education, costumer awareness creation and some other prudent steps to bridge the technological gap between their products and clients.

“We are doing massive public education, our sales and marketing people are also interacting with our people and retailers. So going forward, some of the things that we may be doing are to shorten the code to simplify the process,” he said.

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By: Anass Seidu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The visit by CLAAG stems from the call by Hon. Osei-Ameyaw to all lottery operators who are not licensed by NLA to come on board.

The Executive Secretary of CLAAG, Kwaku Duah-Tawiah stated that the over two hundred thousand lotto agents can contribute huge sums of revenue to the consolidated fund if they are properly regulated and provided with Point of Sale Terminals to work with.

Members of CLAAG, he mentioned are not nation wreckers and are willing to work with the Authority particularly on the Authority’s agenda to make its presence visible and accessible in every nook and cranny of the country.

The Director-General of NLA, Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw reiterated that NLA is not out to witch-hunt the illegal lottery operators but only want them to operate within the National Lotto Act, 2006 (ACT 722) which mandates NLA to regulate, supervise and conduct National Lotto, and its related matters.

He also stated that NLA is able to access and provide Point of Sale Terminals for all members of CLAAG and asked them to submit a proposal for further discussions.

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Source: NLA

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