According to Casely-Hayford, the Auditor General does not need such powers since the Attorney General’s office is already mandated to handle such cases.

[contextly_sidebar id=”dpQzeu0Wbwku0xeUZkzJfIp18JMHEKX3″]David Domelevo at a press conference on the back of revelations from a 2016 audit of the finances of the various ministries, departments and agencies, which revealed that some state agencies engaged in unlawful monetary practices, said “…if a fiat is given by the Attorney General to Audit Service just like it has been given to the police and others to prosecute…which I have actually applied for, you will see me in action.”

But Sydney Casely-Hayford stated that it would not be wise for the State Auditor to take up the mandate of the Attorney General and other agencies which already have prosecutorial powers.

His views contradict those of his Occupy Ghana colleague, Ace Ankomah, who backed the Auditor General’s request.

According to Ace Ankomah, this request, when granted, will empower the Auditor General to not only surcharge corrupt officials but also prosecute them.

“Right now, his powers are limited to disallowing and surcharging, but if you read the reports from the Auditor General from over the years, you will weep at the blatant theft, the falsification of certificates, the fraudulent practices in the Auditor General’s report,” he said on Eyewitness News.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, Casely-Hayford argued that “the Auditor General has a legal department as part of the service which is like an advisory arm to tell him to make sure that he is on the straight and narrow when he is dealing with criminality. What I think is happening is that, he does have a direct conduit to the Attorney General for the Attorney General to actually go and surcharge people as he finds them. So once he’s done his disallowance and he surcharges you, he produces a docket and that docket goes to the Attorney General and the Attorney General will now be the prosecuting arm.”

“I’m sensing that where he’s going now is the pace at which he wants to move is not in tandem with the pace that the Attorney General is putting forward. So he’s getting a bit frustrated that he’s doing all these work and he is not seeing the prosecution coming through as fast as he wants. So he wants to have the opportunity to do them himself so he could actually guide the pace. I don’t think that is the right thing to do. I think that it will develop into a different arm of administration within the audit service and that might not be the best thing. He has EOCO, Attorney General, all of those arms that he can use in order to prosecute his cases. And I’m inclined at this time to think that he does not need to be given prosecutorial powers. He should put a lot more pressure on the AG and expect that the AG will carry it through.”

He argued that, it would be better to strengthen and upgrade the capacity of the Attorney General’s Department to be able to handle more cases presented to it by the Auditor General instead of creating another prosecutorial body.

Surcharge officials  

The Supreme Court in June 2017 ordered the Auditor General to, with immediate effect; begin surcharging persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.

The order was secured after a suit filed by pressure group, Occupy Ghana in June 2016.

62 firms surcharged by Auditor General to cough up nearly Ghc9m

The Auditor General subsequently in December 2017, announced that it has surcharged 62 organisationsfor receiving payments from the state without any documentation as proof.

The surcharge certificates totalling GHc8,886,791.9101742 according to the Auditor General, was for the period between December 31, 2013 and December 31, 2015.

The companies, mostly private organisations, also included some state institutions and staff of some government agencies.

In a release by the Auditor General’s office, it said that efforts to track down the listed companies had been fruitless forcing them to publish their names.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, although Brogya Genfi, the Ashanti Regional Youth Organizer of the NDC was fronting the action, the likes of Tamale Central MP, Inusah Fuseini, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Chief Whip,Muntaka Mubarak, North Tongu MP, Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ketu South, Fiifi Kwetey were pulling the strings.

“They are a group of destructive citizens. Brogya Genfi led the whole thing but behind him is a whole arsenal in the likes of Inusah Fuseini, Haruna Iddrisu, Muntaka Mubarak, Okudzeto Ablakwa, Fiifi Kwetey. And all that team are there supporting what he is doing in a mischievous way to try and derail the progress of the country,” he said in Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue yesterday [Saturday].

[contextly_sidebar id=”7zgQuNLluCDoFEXgChN8Se5XdAc2VQhP”]According to Information Minister, Mustapha Hamid, Ken Ofori Atta has indicated that he is going to court to compel the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to overturn some of the declarations made against him following the petition submitted to the Commission by Brogya Genfi.

Genfi, in April 2017, petitioned CHRAJ to investigate the $2.25 billion bond issued by government, citing possible conflict of interest in the deal with regards to the Finance Minister and his alleged acquaintances, whom Genfi claimed had bought the bond at convenient rates.

CHRAJ, after months of investigations, said Ofori-Atta breached certain processes in the issuance of the bond but cleared him of all claims of conflict of interest.

Minority pushes for Ofori-Atta’s dismissal

On the back of the CHRAJ report, the Minority called on President Akufo-Addo to sack the Finance Minister, for breaching aspects of the law in the issuance of the bond

They have also suggested that the Finance Minister could alternatively resign over the matter.

“We serve notice that in the event that the President, Nana Akufo-Addo does not exercise appropriate judgment, we will initiate an action of censurship against the Minister. We in the minority feel strongly vindicated by the [CRAHJ] report… All of us must uphold the laws of Ghana including the Minister for Finance,” Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said.

Ofori-Atta won’t resign

But Casely-Hayford is sceptical over the call for the removal of the Finance Minister by the Minority.

According to him, such action won’t materialize as the President would not be willing to get rid of such a crucial member of his government.

“He will not resign. The president, his boss will not sack him. The motion of censure will not work. His boss has no desire to dismiss his Finance Minister. The whole thing is an exercise in futility and it will not work. They [Minority] know that it will not work,” he added.

I’ll join Ofori-Atta’s suit – Brogya Genfi
In a related development, Brogya Genfi, had said he will file a joinder application should Ofori-Atta drag CHRAJ to court over its findings on the issuance of the $2.25 billion bond.

“I am very interested in it and as an interested party, I am going to join anything that the Finance Minister will institute against CHRAJ because I sent the petition to CHRAJ,” Genfi said in a Citi News interview.

–

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They have called on the anti-corruption campaigner to retract and apologise for his comments which they described as “an insult to the values of the Ghana Institute of Journalism.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”AWAXrTjB34lhiVVZYJx5PqFvKBxeLpDF”]“Casely Hayford must apologize and retract his statement against female students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism. The SRC finds his statement to be very sexist, unfortunate, unwarranted, unguided, without basis and an insult to the values of the Ghana Institute of Journalism,” the statement from GIJ’s SRC said.

Speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Sydney Casely-Hayford advised students of GIJ to focus more on empowering themselves than on trivial things such as fashion.

According to him, most of the students at the University, a large number of whom are females, are more concerned about what they wear than their training.

“Go to the Ghana Institute of Journalism, GIJ, and look at the students who are coming out, majority of them are females and when you look at it, you will see that it is more of a fashion parade…so when we are talking about quality of journalism, they should tone down on the fashion and get a little bit more serious with the actual content,” he added.

Mr. Casely-Hayford made the remarks on the back of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s encounter with the media last Wednesday.

The President met some journalists in the country at the Flagstaff House where he was asked questions on a number of topics spanning various sectors.

Ghanaians subsequently lambasted some of the journalists, accusing them of asking irrelevant questions with a report by the Media Foundation for West Africa also questioning the relevance of some of the questions that were asked.

Below is the full statement from the GIJ SRC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Casely Hayford must apologize and retract his statement against female students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

The Students’ Representative Council of the Ghana Institute of Journalism has read a very unfortunate comment attributed to Mr. Casely Hayford of Occupy Ghana ( refer to image for details). The statement was said to have been made on Citi FM’s Saturday flagship program “The Big Issues” on 20th January 2018 and captured in several commentary on social media.

According to him, female students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism are more “interested in fashion parades than empowering themselves”.

The SRC finds his statement to be very sexist, unfortunate, unwarranted, unguided, without basis and an insult to the values of the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

Mr. Casely Hayford in his statement sought to suggest that GIJ female students are only interested in fashion and that should partially be blamed for the “falling” standards in Journalism in the country.

GIJ SRC rejects his assertion completely and would like to  call on him to do the honourable thing of apologizing and retracting his statement.

We would also like to use this opportunity to draw his attention to the following:

1. GIJ remains the topmost Journalism Institution in Ghana. Till date, GIJ has produced the finest of Journalists and Communication professionals who have served and continue to serve this country in various capacities. The media ecosystem is incomplete without the contribution of the Ghana Institute of Journalism and especially its female students and products. GIJ is still in the business of producing journalists who are very professional.
2. GIJ has a robust practical teaching and learning structure that is designed to ensure that students of the Institute come out ready for the inky fraternity. If Casely Hayford and other like-minded people who support such sexist comment care to know, much of the country’s finest female Journalists and Communication professionals have been trained at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. The list is a very tall and non-exhaustive one-the likes of;
3. Adjoa Yeboah Afari

2.Gifty Anti

3. Naa Ashorkor

4.Kate Addo

5. Mabel Aku Banesseh

and a host of others who are not “engaging in fashion parades” in the industry but are shaping the course of Communication and Journalism in the country.

The current female students of the Institute are embarking on similar paths these stalwarts took during their stay at GIJ as many of them are taking up internship opportunities and chasing excellence as far as the learning of the profession is concerned.

It is even more interesting to note that the comment by Mr. Hayford was about the performance of Journalists at the recent Presidential Press Encounter; an issue the SRC has already addressed and made recommendations on.

The said recommendations have been published widely on various online portals.

It is very unfortunate that an opinion leader like Casely Hayford would not use his platform and such opportunities to discuss the quality of the state of Journalism independent of schools and of gender. The quality of Journalism, he and others should be minded, is a product of many things in this county  and not necessarily the training Institute or the conduct of a specific gender. It borders on the vision of media houses, the ability of the media houses to employ professionals, enforcement of standards by regulators and stakeholders and several other contingencies. It is shocking that he, who is supposed to know better, would reduce the discussion to such sexist commentary.

Casely Hayford has to apologize for his misrepresentation of females in GIJ and GIJ at large.

Signed

Nathaniel Alpha

General Secretary

GIJ-SRC

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The Service reserves a five percent quota for students within communities High Schools are located in the country.

But speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Casely-Hayford insisted that the policy should be scrapped because it does its discriminatory.

“What kind of sampling is that? It is the argument that is being put forward that we are trying to do this computerized selection so that it is unbiased so that everyone has an equal opportunity, however, there are some people who are more equal than others and we have made allocation for such important people,” he said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”xTOIL9QgBrUz61IEDc43zfAOJrLz0luu”]According to him, per the policy, the computerized placement system is not different from the old system where parents go searching for schools for their wards.

“The computerized system is still doing the same thing. People are still manipulating the system and they are begging to be given a placement so you haven’t improved anything. Nothing has changed. They are telling us that they have leveled the playing field but they have not done that, so that part of the whole thing is a lie,” he argued.

But a private legal practitioner, Yaw Oppong who also featured on The Big Issue justified the protocol system.

According to him, the constitutions enshrines that students from host communities should benefit from the system.

“I think it is a good thing. The constitution provides for it and that won’t be discrimination because the constitution identifies it as an exception to the definition of exception. It [the computer placement system] is substantially in my view automated but there is that exception for other people especially those from the communities where the schools a situated,” he added.

Background

This comes on the back of some hitches the Computerized School Selection Placement System (CSSPS) which is supposed to post the BECE graduates to the various high school have encountered leading to the postponement of the deadline for four times with the new one being the end of September 2017.

Some BECE graduates who try accessing the online placement system are met with error notices.

But the government said these problems had been addressed, following the setting up of a new website.

The original website for the self-placement, www.myjhsresult.net, now contains a link that directs users to the new website, www.cssps.gov.gh.

The issues with the CSSPS began when the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) announcement of an extension for the placement of BECE candidates after it emerged that over 100,000 qualified candidates had still not been placed.

The GES later asked qualified students who were not placed to go online and select an option available during the extended window.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The extension also prompted critics to accuse the Akufo-Addo administration of being hypocritical as President Nana Akufo-Addo, as recently as July 2017, assured that his government would not extend the programme after it ended on December 2018.

[contextly_sidebar id=”PHF3xhvx5XuDyOLdP7heu31YDhuJZPUQ”]But the IMF, upon concluding its fourth review of Ghana’s programme in August 2017, extended the programme by one year and approved a $94.2 million disbursement.

Blaming gov’t unfair

First off, Mr. Casely Hayford noted on The Big Issue that it was “very unlikely that the government, in its isolationist’s view will go and say we want to extend the programme.”

Thus any criticism thrown government’s way would be unfair because “if the IMF suggested that we [NPP government] extend for one year then why are you blaming government for extending the progamme?”

He also expressed confidence in the current government to navigate this extension with prudent policies.

“The reason why we are doing what we are doing is because, we now think we have a credible government with a strong financial team which has a good financial team with good pragmatic solutions for solving the problems we are facing, and they are proving it.”

Per the IMF’s assessment, Ghana showcased a mixed macroeconomic performance, with significant external and domestic imbalances being attributed to policy slippages.

Economic growth in 2016 was at a low of 3.5 percent, though the IMF said improved growth was expected in 2017-18, owing to an increase in oil production, declining inflation, and lower imbalances with the right policy implementation.

According to Mr. Casely Hayford, failings holding the current government back should be attributed to the past National Democratic Congress government.

“… We have hanging deliverables, things that we were not able to complete during the previous government’s time. We’ve inherited it. You [the NPP government] must fix it and the IMF is saying; fix it as we go forward and you are saying; give me one more year and I will fix it.”

Extension was prudent

Aside from this, Mr. Caseley Hayford said the extension was simply “prudent business. That is what a sensible business person does.”

Expressing his argument in an analogy he said: “You go and borrow a 100,000 dollars from the bank and the agreement is that you will pay $10,000 every month for 10 months, including the interest. So you start paying.”

“Halfway through you say I can’t pay any more but somebody has offered me a certain amount of cash. Can we rearrange so that instead of $10,000 a month, I will pay you $6,000 a month and I will stretch it over the next two years? And the person who gave you the original money says, fine, no problem.”

“Why is that an embarrassment? How does that become a shame?” Mr. Casely Hayford quizzed.

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

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Kennedy Agyapong had alleged that Ursula Owusu-Ekuful disregarded a bid [he had interest in] for a contract to print NIA cards in favour of more expensive bidders who had paid her money.

[contextly_sidebar id=”iTAEBUWriTXvYaUpm2lt3BB2cxvg2p22″]Ursula, in a rebuttal, however dismissed these claims, saying Ken Agyapong’s comments were “born out of ignorance.”

The Minister, in a statement, dared Kennedy Agyapong to provide evidence to support his claims.

“I categorically refute the allegations of corruption made against me in relation to the award of the contract for the production of national identification cards by Mr. Kennedy Agyapong. They are patently false and I challenge him to come forward with evidence that corroborates his outlandish allegations,” she said.

Mr. Hayford, however, believes Ursula could use a much stricter approach if she is indeed not enthused about the MP’s allegations.

“If Ursula believes that she’s been defamed by Ken Agyapong, she should sue him. If you [Ursula Owusu] are feeling bad about it and you do not like it, do not just issue a statement… ,” Casely Hayford said on Citi FM’s News Analysis Programme, The Big Issue.

The CID is also looking into corruption claims by Kwame Asare Obeng, also known as Kwame A-Plus, against President Akufo-Addo’s two Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Francis Asenso-Boakye, and Abu Jinapor.

A-Plus had described the two Deputy Chiefs of Staff as thieves and called them stupid in a rant on Facebook, without backing his claims with evidence.

Francis Asenso-Boakye subsequently rejected these corruption claims made against him and Abu Jinapor.

A-Plus is expected to meet the CID on Tuesday after he failed to honour an earlier invitation by the department.

–

By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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According to him, EPA’s handling of the of the Exton Cubic Group’s bauxite deal has not been encouraging.

“We have an EPA that is coming across to me as very business unfriendly. This is a very unfriendly way of encouraging local business persons to move on,” he said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”gYqTm5XaspeXZPNVjne6Das5n8kTHwS3″]EPA had given the company the permit to prospect bauxite in the Tano-Offin Forest Reserve in the Ashanti Region but later asked the company to halt operations because Exton Cubic breached certain conditions in the permit.

Although the Lands and Natural Resource Minister, Peter John Amewu cleared Exton Cubic of any wrongdoing, the EPA insists the company has no right to enter the forest.

The Public Relations Officer of Exton Cubic, Sammy Gyamfi had said the company has so far spent $20 million dollars on the prospecting deal hence their current predicament has been a headache to their business partners.

Speaking on the Big Issue on Saturday, Casely-Hayford said EPA’s posture will deter other local businesses from growing.

“If a company has sank 20 million dollars already into this prospecting initiative and intends to do a lot more with a whole integrated aluminum factory coming up and presumably that will entail another 200 million before trying to recoup its investment, the least you can do is to give them all the support they need and encourage them in order to get things done and especially so when they are going to create employment of about 20,000 to the youth.”

“It’s time we stop doing this big person mentality thing that we do and get a little bit closer to the people who we are regulating and see what their challenges really are and how we can assist them to move the project forward,” he added.

Exton battles gov’t for trucks

In a related development, Exton Cubic is currently battling the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah and the Atwima Mponua District Chief Executive for confiscating trucks and equipment belonging to Ibrahim Mahama’s Engineers and Planners (E&P), a civil engineering company Exton engaged to help it prospect the bauxite in the forest reserve.

Although the regional minister insists that it will only release the equipment when he receive proper documentation from Exton Cubic, the company’s PRO has said Mr. Osei Mensah has refused to give meet them.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Kwaku Kwarteng had revealed in Parliament that government had allocated over 3 million cedis from its coffers, with an additional allocation of over 2 million cedis from the District Assembly Common Fund to the committee for the celebrations despite the President having said previously the celebrations would be privately funded.

[contextly_sidebar id=”MJDU8Fh1mXvTXaoAaz6TEw5ehYGK4E0s”]However, this was denied by the Chairman of the ‘Ghana 60 years on‘ Committee, Ken Amankwah, who said that the 5.26 million was spent on the Independence Day events and not Ghana@60 events.

According to Mr Casely-Hayford, the question from the North Tongu Member of Parliament, Okudzeto Ablakwa on why state money was used to finance the celebration was valid and that the seemingly ill-prepared Kwaku Kwarteng had not delivered convincing responses.

Speaking on Citi FM‘s news analysis programme The Big Issue, Casely Hayford said:  “I think Okudzeto Ablakwa was right in asking the question he did. This is what you said and yet we’re hearing something different. Unfortunately on the day the deputy Minister, Kwaku Kwarteng wasn’t ready and adequately prepared for the question and therefore he came across as rather porous.”

“I think in so many ways he goofed because he took his eye off the ball and didn’t have enough facts to be able to answer back when he was asked. But these are the learning grounds and Ministers have to be a little sharper in order for us to get where we want to go.”

He believes that the Ministers need to be better prepared given the increased vigilance of the populace with the growing influence of new media and greater scrutiny from the opposition.

“I think they sometimes forget that we are in the age of citizen journalism and those of us outside tend to have a lot more information and a lot more insight. We are able to exchange views and ideas with fellow citizens much easier and much quicker so we get on top of issues very quickly,” he added.

“Also the ‘babies with sharp teeth’ have had some time to sharpen their teeth even better so they are coming back at the government with more specific questions than necessary. It’s a hard task when you are asked such detailed questions and you haven’t got a piece of paper in front of you to be able to address all of them. ”

Health Minister ‘unprepared’

This isn’t the first time a government appointee under the current administration has been accused of being unprepared when they appeared before Parliament.

The Member of Parliament for Wa West, Joseph Yieleh Chireh suggested earlier this month that the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu was unprepared when he appeared before Parliament on Thursday to respond to questions on the debt at the National Health Insurance Scheme.

According to Mr. Yieleh-Chireh, the Minister did not make an attempt acquire the data required to answer the question despite the fact that the said request had been made two weeks prior to the encounter.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the former Health Minister stated that the current Minister’s unpreparedness led to a number of evasive answers when he addressed the House.

“My question to the Minister was for him to tell Ghanaians about what the government has done about outstanding payments to service providers. If he was prepared to answer the questions which it appeared he wasn’t he’d have told us the amount outstanding, the amount paid so far and what’s left. He didn’t any of this at all. The purpose was to get information,” he said.

“I don’t expect a Minister to have all this information in his head but this question was posed about two weeks ago. He could have asked the agencies responsible, to provide up-to-the-minute data on how much NHIS had paid to service providers.”

–

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Casely-Hayford who is noted for his frankness on topical issues, is reported to have said Members of Ghana’s Parliament make “stupid decisions.”

Mr. Casely-Hayford who is also a financial analyst is further reported to have said at a summit on “The Economic and Political Rise of Africa” that Ghana would have been better off without Parliament and if given the chance he will “break down” the law-making house and turn it into a tourist site.

[contextly_sidebar id=”05uXNJ1tPUS3yPzxVfBGpDkr9rLvNwpa”]“These people are sitting there, spending money like crazy, making stupid decisions, and passing stupid laws. They don’t read the papers that they are given, they don’t think through what the challenges are…The first thing I will do if I had the opportunity is to break down parliament. We don’t need it. Maybe if we break it down we are wasting money but maybe we can use it as a tourist attraction, we can say, this is what we used to do in the past, so come for a tour and then we should just poster it all so people can see,” he reportedly said.

Unhappy about Casely-Hayford’s comments, the Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak on Thursday called on the Speaker of the House to haul the anti-corruption campaigner before the House to justify the claims.

Meanwhile, the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Wusu who chaired the session referred the matter to the leadership of the House for consideration.

“I have a news report with caption: Ghanaian MPs only make stupid decisions and pass stupid laws by Sydney Casely-Hayford. Mr. Speaker in the said story the gentleman by name Mr. Sydney Casely-Hayford is reported and there is an accompanying video to the story where he is seen and heard making comments that affronts the dignity of this honourable House. Mr. Speaker not only are his comments an attack on the integrity of all members of Parliament, past and present but if one were to stretch it, it even borders on promoting  hatred and vandalism when he talks about breaking down parliament. Mr. Speaker we have a duty to defend and honour the integrity of this House.”

“Mr. Speaker if this nation cannot honour Members of Parliament, then we must not sit down for people to abuse both past and present members of Parliament who have and or are working tirelessly or striving for the best interest of the ordinary Ghanaians. The gentleman has indicted all of us here and those before us,” Ras Mubarak added.

Ras Mubarak further argued that if Casely-Hayford’s claims are swept under the carpet, “it will set a very bad precedent and create more room for people to impugn the reputation of members of this house.”

“So Mr. Speaker I wish therefore to call on this honourable house to call the gentleman to appear before the house to answer contempt charges,” he added.

Persons cited for contempt of Parliament

Parliament has in the past hauled several persons including radio personality, Blakk Rasta, Mark Anthony Vinorkor, a Daily Graphic reporter for contempt of the House.

Prof. Alex Dodoo, a lecturer at the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Ghana was also summoned to appear before Privileges Committee for allegedly attacking members of Parliament (MPs) over a suspended Ebola vaccine trial.

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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A BNI and National Security report, quoted by the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, exonerated the current head of BOST of any wrongdoing in the recent contaminated fuel saga.

[contextly_sidebar id=”F3DcpwfGCdQKqwNcET86qRkAlmY0o6Ys”]The Energy Minister stated at a press conference that “on the basis of previous practice, there was no wrongdoing at BOST on the sale of the 5 million litres of contaminated products.”

However, Mr. Casely-Hayford who had earlier expressed his belief that problems with contaminated fuel at BOST might have begun when the company was first set up, thinks a comprehensive investigation would help clear any lingering doubts about the activities of the company over the years.

“Why stop at the current MD. What about the previous one and the ones before? What about the whole BOST institution and the way it’s carrying on. If they [BNI] have taken the initiative and are doing an investigation, why not go all the way back?” he said on Citi FM‘s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday.

According to Casely-Hayford who is also a leading member of pressure group Occupy Ghana, the best way to deal with the issue at BOST is to set up an independent Commission to investigate the matter.

He added that the BNI could serve as a ‘contributory’ unit for the Commission but should not have the final say on the investigations.

“As usual in Ghana, nobody knows what the truth is. Whichever side you believe in depends on the political affiliation you want to push. We have a problem and the best way when you have a situation like we do now is to get an independent Commission that is non-partisan and has no linkages with the BOST executives and let them make the decision and do the investigation and let’s come out with a report that clears things once and for all.

“The BNI, unfortunately, should be part of the contributory units for the Commission in order for them to do their work. The [BNI] shouldn’t make the final decision….The BNI should send their confidential report to the Energy Ministry and let them decide what to do with it but not put it in the public domain and come to conclusions as to whether someone is guilty or innocent.”

The BNI report was criticised by several observer groups including policy think tank IMANI Africa and anti-corruption group Occupy Ghana, who described it as deficient.

Think-tank, CDD have also called for fresh, external investigations into the issue

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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