According to Spokesperson of the Committee, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, the Committee will hold no further public hearings.

Speaking to Citi News’ Parliamentary Correspondent, Duke Mensah Opoku, Buabeng Asamoah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Adenta,  indicated that they would work hard to meet their extended deadline of 31^st January, 2018.

[contextly_sidebar id=”JZVpoDgCNxBIyWLax3L6lKqLjWf9Yr8j”]“Happily, the public sitting and all the sittings have come to an end; we appear to have collected sufficient information. The Committee will now go into the backroom, sit down and sift through the evidence and go to the business of report,” he added.

The Committee over the past few weeks has been probing the alleged payment of cash by the expatriate business community to sit close to the President at an Awards ceremony.

Others interrogated

So far, the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak-Muntaka, North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremateng as well as officials from the Millennium Excellence Foundation, organizers of the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards, and the Controller and Accountant General, have all appeared before the committee.

Committee’s timeline extended to January 31

The Committee had earlier been given a one-week extension after they requested for additional time which meant that they will now present the report to Parliament on January 31, 2018, instead of the original date of January 24.

Committee ‘secretly’ interrogates expatriates

The committee also secretly grilled some members of the expatriate community in-camera.

According to Citi News’ Duke Mensah Opoku, the expatriates appeared before the Committee on Tuesday, and were grilled for close to three hours.

Duke stated that the content of the interrogation was unknown, and may only be available when the Committee finally presents its report.

Background

The Ministry of Trade, which partnered the event organizers, Millennium Excellence Foundation, is alleged to have charged between $25,000 and $100,000, to enable expatriates to sit close to the President at the awards ceremony.

The allegation was first made by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The allegation was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter clarified that an amount of GHc2, 667,215 was realized from the event. This was made known only after the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had asked the Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen, to investigate the matter and report to him.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President, and that the amount was raised from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

Parliament subsequently formed a five-member bi-partisan committee to investigate the matter.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post ‘Cash-for-seat’ C’ttee sittings over, report to be ready on Jan. 31 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This comes after the Committee hosted the organizers of the event, Millennium Excellence Foundation on Monday, to provide details about how the event was organized and circumstances under which monies were collected from some of the expatriates.

The Chairman of the Committee, Kwasi Ameyaw Cheremeh, told Citi News that the Committee is not certain about the number of expatriates appearing before it.

He however said they are ready to listen to the submissions of as many of them that present themselves.

It is alleged that the expatriates paid between $25,000 and $100,000 to sit close to President Akufo-Addo at the event which was also used to award some of the expatriate businesses.

The Trades Ministry, under whose auspices the event was organized has denied allegations of wrongdoing, while the organizers, Millennium Excellence Foundation have also debunked claims that expatriates were forced to pay monies to sit at the high table and to receive awards.

Key witnesses in the matter including Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, and his colleague Minority MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen, and officials of the Millennium Excellence Foundation  have already made appearances before the Committee.

Background

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, first made the extortion allegation in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry initially dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter, clarified that an amount of GHc 2,667,215 was realized from the event.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President, and that the amount raised was gotten from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.]

The Minority moved a motion in Parliament for a further probe into the matter, and this forced the Speaker to recall MPs from their recess, leading to the formation of the Committee.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Expatriates take turn before ‘cash-for-seat’ C’ttee today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Kyeremateng said those who sat by the President were 17 in number, ranging from top business executives to key political figures.

The Trade Minister gave the list when he appeared before the five-member Parliamentary committee investigating the matter.

Below is the full list of persons on the President’s table at the awards night:

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Trade Minister, Alan Kyeremateng

Carlos Ahenkorah, Deputy Trade Minister

Mr Ashim Morton, President of Millennium Excellence Foundation

Mr. Amarh Hari, Chief Executive of IPMC

Mr. Ashok Mohinani, Chairman of Mohinani Group

Mr Salem Kalmoni, Chief Executive of Japan Motors

Jerry John Rawlings and his wife

Mr. Saied Fakhry, Executive Chairman of Interplast Ghana Limited

Ms. Roshi Motman, Chief Executive of AirtelTigo Ghana

Mr. Jim Ovia, Founder and Executive Chairman of Zenith Bank Group

Mr Bhagwan Khubchandani, Chief Executive of Melcom Ghana.

Mr. David Haper, Chief Executive of Geodrill Ghana

Mr. Mike Tacwani, Chief Executive of B Pipe Plus Ghana

Yofi Grant, CEO of GIPC

Yeo Ziobeieton, Chief Executive of Unilever Ghana

Ishmael Ashitey, Greater Accra Regional Minister

No wrongdoing

The Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremateng also said his outfit did no wrong in the infamous cash for seat scandal.

According to him, a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry and the organizers of the event clearly spelt out which party was responsible for soliciting for sponsorship and collection of monies for the awards ceremony.

Making his submission to the committee probing the matter in parliament today, Mr Kyerematen said the Millennium Excellence Foundation, who were the event organizers, handled all issues of sponsorship.

Background

The allegation of extortion against expatriates at the awards ceremony was first made by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry initially dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter clarified that an amount of GHc 2,667,215 was realized from the event.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President and that the amount was raised from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

Ablakwa, Muntaka face committee

The Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Muntaka appeared before the committee in its first public sitting on Thursday to provide further details on why they called for the probe.

–

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

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The 5-Member Committee chaired by Majority Chief Whip, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, commenced ts public hearings on Thursday receiving submissions of the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who first made the allegation, and North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Muntaka defended his allegation before the Committee, but told Citi News that he felt some of the Committee members sought to discredit him by their style of questioning.

Okudzeto Ablakwa also firmly justified his claims that indeed the Ministry extorted monies from the expatriates. He called for an independent audit of the accounts used by the organizers of the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards (GEBA) ceremony, which was held in December 2017.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Vqr4ajo6tgvoRAo7jvFZa5KYNj1HO5yq”]The Committee has up to the 24^th of January to submit its report.

The Trade Ministry, which is at the Center of the allegations has on previous occasions denied any wrongdoing in the matter. However, they are expected to make their case formally known before the 5-member committee

A Member of the Committee and MP for Adenta, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, who speaks for the committee said it is unclear how many witnesses the Ministry will present to make their case.

Background

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, first made the extortion allegation in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry initially dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter, clarified that an amount of GHc 2,667,215 was realized from the event.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President, and that the amount raised was gotten from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Expatriates saga: Trade Ministry to face parliament c’ttee today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Parliament is being reconvened early after the Minority wrote to the Speaker urging him to call for an emergency sitting over claims that  expatriates were charged huge amounts by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in order for them to sit close to the President at the recent Ghana Expatriates Business Awards in Accra.

[contextly_sidebar id=”lVco1A7zEyNXBtapfDl68DmhP3htsPDL”]Days after the Minority’s letter to the Speaker, a memo has been issued calling on Members of Parliament to report for sitting in the first week of January, well ahead of the expected resumption date much later in January.

The memo said, “In pursuance of article 112 (3) of the constitution of the Republic and Orders of Parliament, I Right Honourable Professor Michael Aaron Oquaye, Speaker of Parliament, do hereby summon Parliament to sit on Friday, the 5^th Day of January, 2018 at twelve o’clock noon, at Parliament House, Accra.”

Although the Speaker did not state the reason for the emergency call, the acting Director of Public Affairs in Parliament, Kate Addo, said that the sitting was to consider the Minority’s letter to the Speaker earlier this week.

According to the Minority, expatriates at the Awards event were charged between $25,000 and $100,000 to sit close to the President.

Background

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, first made the allegation in Parliament.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue has further been reinforced by Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Okudzeto Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has already dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement, said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post MPs summoned to emergency sitting over ‘extortion’ of expatriates appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Ministry was alleged to have charged between $25,000 and $100,000 to enable expatriates to sit close to the President at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards.

[contextly_sidebar id=”7uPvFEK5fhoVSdPRZlvOZfZCRx50CYgX”]Following a query to the Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, demanding answers from him over the allegations, a statement from the government has said “the facts, as reported to the President, do not disclose any wrongdoing on the part of the Minister of any government official.”

In view of this, the President has “therefore asked the Minister to put those facts before the Ghanaian people.”

The Trade and Industry Ministry, and the President of the Millennium Excellence Foundation, which organised the awards, has already denied the allegations, which first came from the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak.

The foundation, however, stated that donations were actively solicited for the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards with the help of the Trades Ministry, and the highest donors were expected to get preferential treatment.

Minority’s call for ‘proper’ probe

But the Minority has maintained that, there was some wrongdoing by the two parties, and has indicated that, it is ready to appear before any investigative body to provide evidence of extortion from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said he is prepared to make available receipts proving the alleged extortion at the appropriate avenues.

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, also wants Parliament to set up a committee to probe the alleged extortion.

He said an investigation will establish the veracity of the allegations, and put the matter to rest and allow Parliament to redeem itself.

Find below the full statement

–

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

The post No wrongdoing by Trade Ministry in expatriates saga – Nana Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has been accused of charging expatriates between $25,000 and $100,000 to enable them to sit close to the President at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards on December 8.

[contextly_sidebar id=”p23Kz5I27IAKCD3PxMuEkI5TRtEJRpl6″]This allegation has since generated controversy, resulting in a brawl in Parliament between two Members of Parliament, Carlos Ahenkorah and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Speaking to Citi News following the turn of events, Muntaka Mubarak said the investigation will establish the veracity of the allegations and put the matter to rest.

“Only when you investigate them and get to the very bottom that you get to know who might have been doing this because if someone says that pay $100,000 or $75,000 and apart from this meeting you are going to be also having an exclusive meeting with the President, this is the biggest opportunity for Parliament to redeem itself. Investigate this!”

How it started

The allegation was first made by Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak, who said it was inappropriate.

The Asawase legislator argued that the fees charged at the event were not the kind of fees approved by Parliament, and that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The Ministry however in a statement challenging the claims, said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event.

It added that, it only facilitated the implementation of the new initiative [GEBA], by the Millennium Excellence Foundation, an entity noted for organizing world class events.

“As a Government that believes in the private sector as the engine of growth, the Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry welcomed the initiative to collaborate with the Foundation to see to the birthing of the initiative. The Ministry consequently signed an MoU with the Foundation that spelt out the roles of both parties. Resource mobilization to ensure that the event was organized at no cost to the taxpayer was the sole responsibility of the Foundation”.

“The Ministry only wrote letters to introduce the Millennium Excellence Foundation to sponsors and solicited support whilst the Foundation prepared the sponsorship package kits and presented it to potential sponsors at a later date. It is very worrying for people who are expected to know better (especially if some happen to be leading members of the august House of Parliament) to conveniently join the streets wagon in pursuit of petty partisan parochial interests to churn out deliberate falsehood to perpetuate the fallacy that access to the President has to be secured with financial inducements,” excerpts of the statement said.

This was however disputed by the Minority in Parliament, who in a statement issued through Okudzeto Ablakwa, insisted that the Ministry’s own letter dated October 23, 2017, confirmed that it went beyond facilitation, to actually collect monies from the expatriates.

It said that letter also directed that interested expatriates were to direct their cheques to the accounts office of the Trade Ministry, although such monies were not accounted for by the Ministry

President Akuffo Addo subsequently wrote to the Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, demanding answers from him over the allegations.

We’re ready to provide evidence – Ablakwa

Meanwhile, Mr. Ablakwa has indicated that the Minority is willing to submit evidence of extortion in the allegations against the Trade and Industry Ministry, and the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

The President of the Foundation, Ashim Morton, had refuted the extortion allegations leveled against the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

But speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Ablakwa said Mr. Morton was only trying to be clever with his response.

“He [Mr. Morton] says that of the funds collected, nobody paid before the event. He is choosing his words, playing smart with us by saying that nobody paid before the event because he knows we have receipts that we will be putting out of people who paid and the dates the receipts were issued. He is trying to play clever saying that nobody paid before the event, so how about after?”

Money collected from expatriates was for fundraising – Organizers

But even the claims by Mr. Morton, somehow contradicts the accounts of the Chairman of the Millennium Excellence Foundation, Victor Gbeho, who said monies were given willingly as sponsorship for the event, and that cannot constitute extortion.

“All our ceremonies are based on funds that we realise. We have no other source of money except what we raise for each occasion and in this case, we asked the Ministry of Trade and Industry if it was going to be our partner, and give us an introduction to the business community,” Mr. Gbeho explained.

Because of the variance in the donations received, he said it was only right that the higher donors were favoured.

“In some of the awards [ceremonies], there is the platinum, then gold and then the silver [categories], all for protocol, if we come to you and you give us GHc 20,000 and somebody else gives us GHc 150,000, it will be the highest form of perversion of principles if the one that gave GHc 20,000 is going to be given more special treatment than the one who gave GHc 150,000.”

“It doesn’t mean that anyone was being compelled. Those who gave [donations] gave of their free will knowing very well the categories that we had,” Mr. Gbeho added.

–

By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The MP, who had been called on Eyewitness News on Tuesday after a near-fight encounter with the Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs in Parliament, showed no remorse for his conduct, claiming that Okudzeto threw the first punch by tagging his government corrupt, following reports that some expatriates were made to pay between $25,000 and $100,000 to sit close to the President at an awards event.

The allegation was first made by Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak, who said it was inappropriate.

The Ministry later issued a statement explaining that, it was only a facilitator of the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards event, and that the Millennium Excellence Foundation, an entity noted for organizing world class events, took the payments.

This was however disputed by the Minority in Parliament, who in a statement issued through Okudzeto Ablakwa, insisted that the Ministry’s own letter dated October 23, 2017, confirmed that it went beyond facilitation, to actually collect monies from the expatriates.

It said that letter also directed that interested expatriates were to direct their cheques to the accounts office of the Trade Ministry, although such monies were not accounted for by the Ministry

Mr. Ablakwa, who was addressing journalists at Parliament on the matter on Tuesday, was interrupted by the Deputy Trades Minister, who angrily rained insults on him, calling him a “liar” and a “thief” among others.

On Eyewitness News, Umaru Sanda first asked the Deputy Minister, if he did not find his choice of words and conduct dishonourable. He repeated his words, and said he stood by them.

He replied by saying“…Calling me corrupt and describing my person and my activity as corrupt. On the floor of parliament, it’s a different ball game. I will not allow anybody to denigrate myself or my ministry or my minister and just go scot-free. If you say that, I have to pay it back to you, especially when these people were in government, they just looking down upon everybody and calling our president names, this time we will not allow” he noted.

“A person like Okudzeto Ablakwa can never ever tag me as corrupt when he himself cannot account for some of his practices when he was in government. And I take serious exception to anybody trying to tag me in that manner. What was so unprintable of the language that I used? I did not say anything that was not true. He is a thief. He took money to go and do Campus Connect” he alleged.

When he was reminded that he could not call someone a thief publicly without evidence, he responded by saying “So calling somebody corrupt without having the basis to call him that is appropriate?”

When he was reminded that two wrongs don’t make a right and that he was not supposed to respond in that manner, the Deputy Minister said “I am not paying sin with sin, but it is high time we let these people understand that we are in power. They are not in power. When they were in power, they were doing anything that they wanted. Now at least we have to let them understand that no more, we will not take that thing from them anymore. Just understand me that anything that I said, I chose my words very carefully, and I think that I can stand by it.”

Asked whether it is his personal position or the position of the Majority side in Parliament to descend into the gutter with minority MPs, he said “I don’t think that’s what we want to do; we rather want to expose them where they are. We rather want to expose them in the gutter where they belong” he stated.

I didn’t insult him – Ablakwa insists

Also speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa said he never used any unprintable language on the MP to warrant the rather harsh reactions that came from him.

“We have put out a statement, and I haven’t said anything different from our statement we issued. I have been saying that, you cannot use the office of the President for profiteering; it is unethical and immoral. I have said as the position of the Minority that the fees and charges Act, has been breached. We have said that the sums that have been extorted should be refunded to the expatriates, and we have said that an apology is owed the people of Ghana, and if the President didn’t know about this scam, he deserves an apology because his name was used, where you pay 100,000 dollars to sit at his table. This is what I said today; and the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, a public official decides to descend on me”.

Carlos wanted to beat me – Ablakwa

According to him “He [Deputy Minister], was so furious and wanted to beat me. He was screaming and using very unprintable language. I mean for an honourable MP and a deputy Minister of state, this is how you think that you can present your side of the story if you think that the facts we are presenting are not right, is that how to go about it? To use insults to denigrate me when we have been engaged in a civil discourse on this matter? He’s seeking to claim provocation that he decided to descend into the gutter with me. Every Ghanaian has heard me, and I have been speaking on this matter, I was in no gutter. If he wants to create his gutter and swim in that gutter, he should do it” he opined.

Mr. Ablakwa expressed shock at the Deputy Minister’s reminder to him that, they [NPP] are in power, admonishing him to know that power is transient, and that he cannot abuse his office, when he is rather supposed to serve the citizenry.

“These are matters that we will leave it to the people of this country to judge. If you listened to him carefully, his mind-set is that, he must show us that they are now in power and we are in opposition. So it is just show of force and abuse of power. He should just remember that power is very transient; you will not be in power forever, so if you think that you are in power so you must denigrate, intimidate, insult and pour venom on your colleague who’s just doing his work as a Member of Parliament. Facts have come to our attention and we are putting it out”.

He reminded that the NPP of their days in opposition, and how critical they were of the then NDC government, saying “You did your work when you were in opposition. Remember when they had concerns about the Ford car scandal, what didn’t they say about Mahama? What didn’t they do? They summoned Parliament from recess, called Mahama incompetent, corrupt, declared the CHRAJ investigation bogus and all of that. Who insulted them? Who set out to beat them? Speak to the journalists in Parliament, he wanted to get physical, he wanted to beat me up. Does it have to come to that? He tried to beat me up, and I just had to walk away from him because of the respect I have for my constituents” he lamented.

God is my Judge – Ablakwa

Asked whether he may take up the matter further to seek redress, Ablakwa said “I am still thinking about it. I am normally someone who leaves matters into the hands of the Almighty. In my upbringing, I don’t believe that you should seek vengeance or try to pay people back or get people to account now. There are always ways by which the Almighty deals with these matters. So don’t be surprised if I don’t make much of it, and I will not also be intimidated” he noted.

I won’t apologize to Ablakwa – Carlos

Asked whether he would apologize to Okudzeto Ablakwa for his comments, Mr. Ahenkorah, who was still fuming after listening to Ablakwa on the other side of the telephone line on the show, insisted that “Ablakwa is a liar. I didn’t touch him. Of course, it’s the case that when I am arguing under pressure I have to shout. That doesn’t mean I am angry. Is he going to apologize to me? He is supposed to apologize to me for calling me corrupt. I was standing there when Okudzeto was raining insults calling us corrupt. If he apologizes to me, I will apologize to him. As I was saying, the Millennium Excellence Foundation has called him [Ablakwa], to tell him that they organized the programme, did the collection, raised the fund and everything, and yet he’s still going around peddling lies.”
–
By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who made this allegation, had indicated that the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not the kind of fees approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

[contextly_sidebar id=”853mgTXh8exxX2c1UE3nsVpil55JfhwV”]“Mr. Speaker, I have worries about the IGF of the Ministry and how they go around, mobilizing resources on the IGF, and secondly Mr. Speaker, this item that I am going to mention in the breakdown of the Ministry’s IGF, was not included, yet they are bringing the budget excluding that collection. On 23rd September, 2017, the Ministry wrote to Ghana Expatriate Business Community for them to be informed that they are planning to organize an award ceremony for expatriate businesses that are in Ghana, and Mr. Speaker, shockingly enough, part of what was said was that, if you want to sit with the President, you have to pay 100,000 dollars. If you want to sit behind the President you have to 75,000 dollars. If you want to sit on another table called red circle, you have to pay 50,000 dollars. If you wanted to sit on the yellow circle, you have to pay 40,000 dollars, and if you wanted to sit on the green circle, you have to the 25,000 dollars.

“Mr. Speaker, this is very worrying because so far as I am concerned, the fees and charges that we approve in this house did not say that if we wanted to interact with the President you have to pay 100,000. Mr. Speaker, this gives credence to all that we have been hearing in the media that access to the President is very difficult,” Mr. Muntaka said on the floor of Parliament.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement, however rejected these claims, saying it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event.

The Ministry clarified that, it only facilitated the implementation of the new initiative [GEBA] by the Millennium Excellence Foundation, an entity noted for organizing world class events.

According to the Ministry, it had no hand in resource mobilization for the event, as it had been decided that the Foundation would take that responsibility.

“As a Government that believes in the private sector as the engine of growth, the Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry welcomed the initiative to collaborate with the Foundation to see to the birthing of the initiative.The Ministry consequently signed an MoU with the Foundation that spelt out the roles of both parties. Resource mobilization to ensure that the event was organised at no cost to the taxpayer was the sole responsibility of the Foundation”

“The Ministry only wrote letters to introduce the Millennium Excellence Foundation to sponsors and solicited support whilst the Foundation prepared the sponsorship package kits and presented it to potential sponsors at a later date. It is very worrying for people who are expected to know better (especially if some happen to be leading members of the august House of Parliament) to conveniently join the streets wagon in pursuit of petty partisan parochial interests to churn out deliberate falsehood to perpetuate the fallacy that access to the President has to be secured with financial inducements,” excerpts of the statement said.

The full text of the statement is below 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO THE BASELESS ACCUSATIONS RELATING TO THE GHANA EXPATRIATE BUSINESS AWARDS (GEBA) 2017

1. The Ministry of Trade and Industry has learnt with disdain the baseless allegations flying in the media (including social media platforms) that the Ministry charged expatriates between 25,000 and 100,000 dollars to offer them seats close to the President at the recently held Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA).
2. The GEBA was the brainchild of the Millennium Excellence Foundation, an entity noted for its prowess and credibility in the organisation of world class events such as the Millennium Excellence Awards and the Accra Marathon.
3. Upon the conception of the novel idea, the Foundation informed the government, through the Presidency and further sought partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the organisation of the first ever award event targeted at recognizing and rewarding the contributions of the expatriate and naturalised expatriate community to the socio-economic advancement of the country over the decades. For the avoidance of doubt, this is the first of its kind in Africa.
4. As a Government that believes in the private sector as the engine of growth, the Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry welcomed the initiative to collaborate with the Foundation to see to the birthing of the initiative.
5. The Ministry consequently signed an MoU with the Foundation that spelt out the roles of both parties. Resource mobilisation to ensure that the event was organised at no cost to the taxpayer was the sole responsibility of the Foundation
6. As a serious and experienced event organiser, the Foundation came up with a sponsorship programme as would be done by any serious-minded event organiser which included series of fundraising dinners and sponsorship packages.
7. Non-mischievous minds with a basic knowledge of event organisation will know that as is the case with all fundraising activities, there are different sponsorship categories and packages with their attendant benefits. As to how one chooses to categorise them (whether presidential circle or platinum down to the least package) is only a matter of semantics, nomenclature and ingenuity.
8. It is very worrying for people who are expected to know better (especially if some happen to be leading members of the august House of Parliament) to conveniently join the streets wagon in pursuit of petty partisan parochial interests to churn out deliberate falsehood to perpetuate the fallacy that access to the President has to be secured with financial inducements
9. The two documents being paraded in the social media and some other platforms, that is the Ministry of Trade letter and the Millennium Excellence Foundation Package have nothing in common as they were not presented to sponsors at the same time. The Ministry only wrote letters to introduce the Millennium Excellence Foundation to sponsors and solicited support whilst the Foundation prepared the sponsorship package kits and presented it to potential sponsors at a later date.
10. Without any show of disrespect or attempt to tag individuals and organisations as not being corporate responsible, on the so-called “for sale Presidential Table “ were the Award winning MD of Tigo/Airtel (Roshi Motman), Amar Hari (IPMC), Salem Kalmoni (Japan Motors), Ashok Mohinani (Polygroup), H.E. Jerry John Rawlings, Hon Alan Kyerematen, Amb. James Victor Gbeho, Hon Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, Mr. Yofi Grant of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and Amb. Ashim Morton who did not pay a pesewa to be seated on the “for the highest bidder Presidential Table”.
11. People who know or ought to know better should desist from mischief and propaganda and rather learn to commend individuals and institutions that come up with initiatives such as the GEBA that has the capacity to boost the country’s FDIs.
12. It is gratifying to us as partners that all the wild and unsubstantiated falsehoods has not included anything to the effect that any company that won an award did so by virtue of its ability to pay – a testament to the commendable work of the event validators, the reputable KPMG.
13. A technical team defined the criteria for evaluating the award categories. This technical team consisted of personnel from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, the Registrar General’s Department, the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Private Enterprises Federation, the Ghana Free Zones Board and the Millennium Excellence Foundation.
14. KPMG acted as an independent party to evaluate, analyse and validate the data to determine the winners. Their role as Event Statisticians required them to ensure that the defined criteria and process for determining the winners were strictly adhered to. KPMG concluded that the award winners won on the basis of the criteria and process defined by the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards Technical Team.
15. The GEBA has come to stay as an event to be held every other year to appreciate the contributions of the expatriate and naturalised expatriate community to the growth of the country. An investigative report by a competent security agency of the country has put to rest the spurious allegations that one has to pay his or her way to have access to the Presidency. Let no one attempt to resurrect a dead issue through GEBA.
16. The Ministry of Trade and Industry as one of the major drivers of the industrial transformation agenda of government will continue to endorse and support worthy initiatives as GEBA that is championed by proven credible individuals or organisations to help accelerate socio-economic advancement of Ghana.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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Mr Alan Kyeremanten, the Sector Minister, receiving the vehicle at a ceremony in Accra, said the initiative was to encourage Ghanaians to buy made in Ghana products to boost local production.

Mr Kyeremanten said the gesture was part of government’s vision to support local enterprises and initiatives to expand production and create jobs for the citizenry.

He said the Kantanka brand had distinguished itself in developing local skills and new technologies and called for support from institutions to ensure the technologies produced get international recognition.

The Minister urged the public to buy the vehicles and other made in Ghana products to increase local enterprises in the country.

Mr Kwadwo Safo Junior, the Chief Executive Officer of Kantanka Automobile, commended the government for taking the initiative to purchase the vehicle, saying it would boost public confidence to patronize their products.

He said the company had the capacity to produce more vehicles and that it manufactured 70 per cent of its products while importing 30 per cent.

Mr Safo Junior said the company had been involved in the assembling of vehicles in the country some years ago in a bid to help improve the automobile industry and allow for competition on the international scene.

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Source: GNA

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