Mr. Boakye Agyarko, who was answering questions before Parliament’s Appointments Committee, explained that he had never at any point held a US citizenship, although he stayed in that country for 25 years.

“I went to the US as a political refugee and qualified as such. In a matter of two years, I was able to upgrade my status from a refugee to that of a resident permit holder. This is because I had a number of equity situations namely; my sister could apply for me to hold a green card as well as my mother, who had become a naturalized American citizen. Throughout the period, I stayed in America on a Green card, and at no point in time did I become a citizen of the United States.”

When asked by committee member Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, whether he’s able to the return to the United State, he responded in the affirmative.

Narrating PNDC experience

Explaining a two-year gap on his CV between 1984 and 1986, Mr. Agyarko said “I was employed by Management and Investment Consultants in 1980 after my national service. In June 1983, for those who will recall, there was a mutiny led by lance corporal Halidu Giwa. I was picked up by the Military and sent to the Airforce Station and put against the wall and shot. I almost lost my life, and through the intervention of Monsieur Le Veloire and my two sisters who are seated behind me, I was able to leave Ghana through London to France, and then settled in the United States under very difficult circumstances. So for that period, I was close to being an invalid; and I didn’t do any work. Even though I left officially in 1983, Management and Investment Consultants wrote to me officially saying that as at the end of 1984 I was no longer employed with them, so my employment with them ended in 1984, and the next two years I was going through a series of surgeries and recuperation.”

The committee member and MP for North Tongu, who solicited the information from the nominee, sympathized with him.

“My sympathies for a rather touching story,” Mr. Okudzeto said.

About Boakye Agyarko

Boakye Agyarko is 60 years old. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon; an Advanced Professional Certificate in Banking from the American Institute of Banking and an MBA in Financial Economics from the Pace University, New York.

He held a Vice President position at the Bank of New York, in New York, and in over 20 years at the Bank, he worked at senior levels in various departments, including Operations Management and Analysis, Product Development, Global Network Managements, International Banking and Asset Management and the Y2K Management Group.

His responsibilities in these various departments and positions included international trade finance, loan syndications, asset securitization and structured finance.
He is a member of the American Economic Association, and an Associate of the American Institute of Bankers.

He served as the National Campaign Manager of the New Patriotic Party for the 2012 Elections and served as Policy Advisor for the President’s 2016 electioneering campaign.

He is a Consultant to Capital Economics and Investments, a start-up economic analysis, and investments group in Accra, Ghana.
–
By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post I was shot in 1983 – Boakye Agyarko narrates PNDC ordeal at vetting appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, his hands are tied because Ghana currently is under a constitutional regime hence it would be difficult to take such action.

[contextly_sidebar id=”BXQ35t70INqqVDBHaDi4fBLYluy8sH1w”]“People want me to arrest everybody who’s been accused of a crime and lock them up because they did it in PNDC time. Yes; I would have locked them up; but we didn’t have a constitution then and if we didn’t have a constitution and I was a dictator, if you are accused of corruption I will catch you and lock you up and wait until you are proven guilty or innocent then release you. But we cannot eat our cake and have it. People have to go through the process and the process is very slow. Everybody knows,” he added.

President John Mahama has been accused of condoning corruption in his government despite boasting of efforts in fighting the canker.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), has consistently blamed government for the misappropriation of funds that characterized social intervention programmes such as GYEEDA and SADA.

But speaking on Wednesday at the Presidential encounters hosted by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), President Mahama insisted that, his government is prosecuting persons accused of corruption in his government.

He claimed that government has been able to retrieve about GHc40 million from officials who siphoned taxpayers’ money in the National Service scandal.

“These GYEEDA prosecutions started in 2012; and we are in 2016; but I can’t go and catch them and lock them up on the presumption that they are guilty. The NSS case how many years is it? Three years now. People inserted ghost names in the national service payroll and got millions of Ghana cedis, we’ve retrieved GHc40 million from them. Some of them have pleaded guilty and offered a refund so we’ve gotten back GHc40 millions of taxpayers’ money.”

“But those that are under criminal investigations it’s been going on for three years now. But we just must have patience with the process because we cannot go back to unconstitutional system,” he added.

–

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

The post I would’ve jailed corrupt officials if we were in PNDC era – Mahama appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

They said Dr. Grant would greatly be missed because she had great ideas on the development of Ghana and touched many lives.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the family of Dr. Grant, who passed away on September 18, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings said Dr. Grant’s “impatience” and strong desire to get things done was the major motivating factor, which encouraged President Rawlings to want to work with her.

The former First Lady said Dr. Grant had interests in health, sanitation and drainage issues and was always pushing to get such projects implemented.

The late Dr. Mary Grant was a former member of the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC); and former member of the Council of State.

She passed away at age of 88 at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra. She left behind two of her own children, and four adopted ones. President John Dramani tweeted about her death, describing her as a “great woman of our modern era.”

Dr. Mrs. Mary Grant was appointed in 1989 among the last batch of PNDC members until the PNDC was dissolved on the 7th of January 1993. She was in charge of general affairs.

While with the PNDC, Dr. Grant held many positions including a Deputy Minister of Health, and later became the Minister of Education and Culture and also a Member of Council of State.

She was until her death considered as one of the people who later fell out with Mr. Rawlings.

In 2012, she was awarded at the Ghana Women Awards, the premier awards ceremony aimed at celebrating the success of women of excellence in various facets of the society. Her award was presented to her by Mr. Rawlings.

Family life

Dr. Mary Grant is a sister to the late Paa Grant, a merchant and politician in the Gold Coast, who has been called “the father of Gold Coast politics”. Paa Grant, a political activist, was a founder and the first president of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in 1947, with the goal of achieving self-government.

Professional career

Dr. Grant, an old student of Wesley Girls, is the first Wesley Girls High School Alumni to be a medical doctor. She has led Ghana’s delegation to several international conferences such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) General Assemblies in Geneva, World Bank Meeting in Africa Health,WHO Regional Conferences in Africa, Cairo Conference on Population and Development among others. She was among Ghana’s delegation to the Beijing Conference on Women’s Rights.

At the 39th Annual General Conference in 1997, the Ghana Medical Association awarded her a Certificate of Honour for her concern for welfare of doctors. As a medical practitioner, she had been critical of health workers who embark on strikes at the expense of human lives. In May 2007, she told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that health workers must see themselves as members of a health brigade with the sole mission of saving lives but never as death squads.

“The health profession is different from all others, since it deals with diseases and health, life and death. Therefore, anyone who does not feel strongly that what he/she has to do is to help people recover from illnesses and to prevent people from dying unnecessarily must not enter the health service.

At all times health workers must place the love and affection for the patient above their self-interest”, Dr Mary Grant said in the interview. She was however concerned about the poor remuneration for medical practitioners at the time, and chastised successive governments for lacking the will to deal decisively with the problem.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Mary Grant was “a formidable woman” – Rawlings appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Family sources say she died on Sunday afternoon September 18, at the 37 Military Hospital. She left behind two of her own children, and four adopted  ones.

President John Dramani tweeted about her death, describing her as a “great woman of our modern era.”

Adieu Dr. Mary Grant.
A great woman of our modern era.
Rest in Peace, mummy.

— John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) September 19, 2016

Dr. Mrs. Mary Grant was appointed in 1989 among the last batch of PNDC members until the PNDC was dissolved on the 7th of January 1993. She was in charge of general affairs.

Whiles with the PNDC, Dr. Grant held many positions including a Deputy Minister of Health, and later became the Minister of Education and Culture and also a Member of Council of State.

She was until her death considered as one of the people who later fell out with Mr. Rawlings.

But in 2012, she was awarded at the Ghana Women Awards, the premier awards ceremony aimed at celebrating the success of women of excellence in various facets of the society.

Her award was presented to her by Mr. Rawlings.

Member of NDC’s vetting committee

She was part of the NDC’s vetting committee that grilled Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and Dr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah, when they entered the race to contest the late President Mills in the NDC’s presidential primary in 2011, ahead of the 2012 elections.

In August 2015, she was part of about 100 former government officials of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who were hosted at the Flagstaff House by President John Mahama.

Family life

Dr. Mary Grant is a sister to the late Paa Grant, a merchant and politician in the Gold Coast, who has been called “the father of Gold Coast politics”.

Paa Grant, a political activist, was a founder and the first president of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) in 1947, with the goal of achieving self-government.

Professional career

Dr. Grant, an old student of Wesley Girls, is the first Wesley Girls High School Alumni to be a medical doctor.

She has led Ghana’s delegation to several international conferences such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) General Assemblies in Geneva, World Bank Meeting in Africa Health,WHO Regional Conferences in Africa, Cairo Conference on Population and Development among others.

She was among Ghana’s delegation to the Beijing Conference on Women’s Rights. At the 39th Annual General Conference in 1997, the Ghana Medical Association awarded her a Certificate of Honour for her concern for welfare of doctors.

As a medical practitioner, she had been critical of health workers who embark on strikes at the expense of human lives.

In May 2007, she told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that health workers must see themselves as members of a health brigade with the sole mission of saving lives but never as death squads.

“The health profession is different from all others, since it deals with diseases and health, life and death. Therefore, anyone who does not feel strongly that what he/she has to do is to help people recover from illnesses and to prevent people from dying unnecessarily must not enter the health service. At all times health workers must place the love and affection for the patient above their self-interest”, Dr Mary Grant said in the interview.

She was however concerned about the poor remuneration for medical practitioners at the time, and chastised successive governments for lacking the will to deal decisively with the problem.
–
By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AfanyiDadzie

The post Senior citizen Dr. Mary Grant passes on at 88 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.