AGREEMENT ON FUNDING FOR TAMALE AIRPORT WORKS SIGNED.

THE Ghana Airports Company Limited, managers of the nation’s airports, has signed a $100-million commercial agreement with Queiroz Galvao, a Brazilian construction company, for the upgrading and expansion of the Tamale Airport to enable it to reach international standards.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Airports Company Limited, Mrs Doreen Owusu-Fianko, signed for the company, while the Managing Director of Queiroz Galvao, Mr Marcos Alexandre Silva, initialled it for his outfit at a short ceremony in Accra.

The first phase of the renovation will involve the construction of structures and the rebuilding of the runway from the current 2,500 metres to 4,500 metres to accommodate any aircraft from any part of the world.

Already, Parliament has given its assent to the loan and the project is expected to be completed within 18 months.

Giving the background to the project, the Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, said it was part of the government’s efforts at expanding opportunities in every part of the country and also ensure that Ghana positioned itself as the gateway to and hub of the West African sub-region.

She said apart from serving Ghanaians in the northern part of the country, the new Tamale International Airport would also provide services for other sub-Saharan regions, including Burkina Faso and Mali.

She said when the Brazilian company arrived in Ghana after a business tour of Brazil by President John Mahama, it expressed interest elsewhere but she “pleaded with the company to deal with Tamale for us first”.

Mrs Owusu-Fianko explained that because Ghana had only one international airport — the Kotoka International Airport — anytime there was a problem all flights had to be directed to either Nigeria or Cote d’Ivoire.

She added that the airport would serve those travelling to Mecca and also aid the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority in the export of perishable goods, especially fruits and vegetables, to Europe.

She said Tamale would also derive the benefits of being an aeropolis where skyscrapers would be built, coupled with other profits that came with the establishment of an international airport.

Mr Silva said 95 per cent of the workforce on the project would be Ghanaians.

ELECTION BODIES ADVISED TO COLLABORATE WITH MEDIA

Election Management Bodies (EMBs) in Africa have been advised to collaborate strongly with the media to ensure that electoral processes become sources of stability and launchpads for accelerated development on the continent.

The Special Advisor on EMBs for African Union Commission, Dr Kelechi Akubueze, who gave the advice, expressed worry that for the past three decades elections and democratic transition had been the major sources of instability, mayhem and displacement of people both at home and abroad, and that this situation, which had painted Africa as a dark continent, must be halted.

He was speaking at the opening of a week’s intensive training workshop for journalists and election managers from 25 countries at the plush Radisson Blu Hotel in Addis Abba, Ethiopia.

The writer, Donald Ato Dapatem, addressing colleagues during the training in Addis Ababa

The training was organised by Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE), under the auspices of African Union (AU), International Institute for Democracy and Election Assistance, with funding from the Australian government.

BRIDGE is a modular professional development programme with a particular focus on electoral processes.

It represents a unique initiative where five leading organisations in the democracy and governance field have jointly committed to developing, implementing and maintaining the most comprehensive curriculum and workshop package available, designed to be used as a tool within a broader capacity development framework.

Dr Akubueze explained that Africa’s rich natural resources and excellent human wealth must be tapped for the development and progress of the majority of its innocent citizens, who were wallowing in abject poverty and that one of the ways to ensure these resources benefited the people was to hold free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.

He noted that it was to forestall these unfortunate happenings in Africa that the AU, in collaboration with other stakeholders was building the capacity of EMBs and the media to adequately educate the populace to appreciate the urgent need to own the electoral process and guide them to a successful end.

In the past two years, AU and BRIDGE have trained over 40 election management staff who have been accredited full-time BRIDGE members in six countries. These BRIDGE accredited personnel are ambassadors in the various countries.

The Head of the International IDEA Office to the African Union, Dr Muna A. Abdallah, said the democratic process that was sweeping through the continent demanded that all the EMBs positioned themselves to deliver free, fair and transparent elections to ensure that the people enjoyed accelerated development.

She said it was incumbent on the media to ensure a level playing field for all shades of political parties to  share their aspirations with the people so that the electorate from an informed position would be able to select candidates of their choice and also be in a better position to demand accountability from their leaders.
By Donald Ato Dapatem/Daily Graphic/Ghana

Stakeholders reach consensus on tariff increase

The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) will soon announce an upward adjustment in electricity tariffs.

 This follows the general consensus among stakeholders for the commission to grant tariff increases.
Currently, the commission is at the stage of ‘interrogation’ where it is considering proposals by the utilities and their reasons for the adjustment.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah made this known to the Daily Graphic in Accra today.

The electricity producers made up of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the Volta River Authority (VRA) Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCO) are requesting for 166 per cent increase.

On the part of the Ghana Water Company, they are also requesting for 130 per cent, however since 30 per cent of the cost of the GWC is from electricity they had to wait for the electricity company to get their increases.

Under the interrogation stage, Nana Jantuah said the commission was considering the inputs of the utility service providers had been using and pledged to use in producing the electricity such as crude oil, equipment which were all procured in dollar denominations.

She said the 10 per cent annual demand for electricity which also a factor requiring expansion in the sector.

Create unit to check spending during elections -IEA says

THE Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), an independent  policy think tank, has called for the establishment of an independent, multi-partisan Parliamentary Budget Office to check what it calls “cyclical politically-driven” expenditure during election years by governments.

This, and the enforcement of the contingency and appropriations provision by parliament, it said, would save the country the unpleasant situation where after each election the economy was characterised by excessive expenditure which ballooned budget deficit to alarming levels.

A Senior Economist with the IEA, Dr J. K. Kwakye, made the call when he briefed journalists on ‘the true state of the economy,’ in the face of politically biased discourse on the issue by the main political parties.

“The economy was dealt a fatal blow in 2012 through the fiscal window. And we are currently suffering the fallouts of this cyclical, politically driven indiscretion. As a result of excessive expenditure, the budget deficit ballooned to 12 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, along with carry-over of substantial levels of arrears”, he said.

Dr Kwakye said “the economy is cash-strapped” and attributed the problem to the nation’s inability to collect enough revenue, lagging donor disbursement, arrears to contractors and non-payment of other statutory payments.


ECONOMY NOT BROKE
The IEA’s view runs contrary to that of the Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Terkper, who had stated emphatically that Ghana was not broke.

Although the minister admitted during interaction with journalists at the Peduase Lodge at Aburi early this month that the economy was facing some challenges, he contended that the country could not be described as being broke because of the challenges.

To address the challenges, he had enumerated that the managers of the economy think out of the box and come up with ways of taxing large income earners who had eluded the system, take a second look at tax exceptions, while at the same time enforcing tax compliance and reducing tax corruption.

ECONOMIC STABILISATION TAX
On the recently introduced economic stabilisation tax, he was of the view that it “is not such a good idea because it will further increase the cost of Ghanaian businesses and render them uncompetitive. This will further undermine domestic industralisation”.

Dr Kwakye said Ghana’s current export pattern which was raw material-based, had reduced exports receipts as against high demand for exports leading to a dwindling domestic industrial base.

“In 2012, the current account deficit was nearly $5 billion (13 per cent of GDP). Meanwhile, international reserves stand at just about $5 billion, which is less than three months of import cover. Given the country’s vulnerability to commodity shocks, a cushion of four to six months of reserves is required”, he contended.


EUROBOND
He said the government’s decision to float some Eurobond to generate funds to stabilise the economy, particularly to stabilise the currency, might not be a good idea because it would only be a stop gap measure and suggested that a long term stability of the currency hinged on addressing the economy’s weak fundamentals on a durable basis.





FACT SHEET
After rebasing of the economy in 2010, Ghana’s per capita GDP rose within the bracket of middle income countries.
Currently, Ghana’s GDP is about #$40 billion (GHC80 billion).
The per capita GDP is $ 1,500.

Write laws devoid of ambiguities – Attorney General

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, has challenged legislative drafters to write laws devoid of ambiguities.
She said clarity of laws would reduce the areas of misunderstanding and in turn reduce the incidence of litigation that arose out of interpretation.
Mrs Appiah-Oppong, who made the call at the opening ceremony of the 8th Commonwealth Legislative Drafting Course for African member states in Accra yesterday, observed that a badly drafted law may lead to the violation of liberties and untoward circumstances not intended by the drafters.
The 12-week course, being attended by participants from 18 African countries, is under the auspices of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Ghana School of Law and the Government of Ghana.
The Minister explained that such laws, which were devoid of uncertainties were easily understood by a larger number of people most of whom would obey and this would lead to fewer violations and reduced cases for the law courts to deal with.
Mrs Appiah-Oppong said the drive to uphold the principle of rule of law, the tenets of good governance and democracy could not be separated from the work of the legislative drafters, adding that one of the critical poles of democratic governance was the creation of institutions with the necessary legislative backing.
She told the participants that legislative drafting was an important exercise and their ability to assimilate the lessons and put them to good practice would influence the course of history and destinies of people in their various jurisdictions.

Mrs Appiah-Oppong noted that legislative drafting demanded hours of concentrated intellectual labour and was extremely onerous, exacting and highly skilled task that was expressed by a unique kind of writing.
She asked legislative counsels that in translating policy into legislation, they had to foresee what the policy maker failed to see and make recommendations to address this to avert preparing legislation that could be the subject of several amendments in the near future.
The Director of Legal Education of the Ghana School of Law, Mr Kwesi Prempeh-Eck, announced that after years of organising the course, stakeholders had agreed that it would be made a permanent course at the Ghana School of Law.
He said the course had been enriched based on criticism, suggestions and feedback from participants and the experienced lectures.
A representative of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mrs Job Oluwatoyin, described the work of legislative drafters as a silent job which had a great impact on the lives of most of the ordinary people in their various countries.

West Coast High speed rail project consultants meet beneficiary countries

Consultants working on the 1,178 kilometre West Coast High speed rail for the West Africa sub region yesterday presented technical details of the project to representatives of the beneficiary countries in Accra.
The work which has received the sanction of ECOWAS will start from Nigeria through Benin, Togo, Ghana and end up in Cote d I’viore.
The consultants of the project, HammcoBTB Engineering International Incorporated of Canada, met with the representatives of Ghana, Benin, Togo Cote I’dviore and Nigeria to brief them on the extent of work.
Ghana has already expressed interest but it is left with the commitment from the governments of Benin, Cote d’ Iviore and Nigeria for the commencement of work.
Mr Bimbo Siynbo of HammcoBTB said with a population of over 300 million people and a road network of 6.1 million kilometres, the sub region needed the rail line to ensure easy movement of its people and goods to accelerate sub regional development and integration.

He said most of the roads in the sub region were in a bad shape and bedevilled with blockages at the various international points, a situation that had hampered smooth intra trading among the people of  West Africa.
About the cost of the projects, he hinted that although it would be on the basis of public-private project, the consultants had received interest from the various private sector banks to provide the funding.
Mr Siynbo said his outfit was aware that the project was in the region of one per cent of the total gross domestic product of the entire West Africa, an amount which was even bigger than the entire national budget of some of the countries within the region.
For his part, the Head of Infrastructure for ECOWAS, Mr Kagnini Gogoua, stated that just as through private initiatives it was able to establish ECOBANK, Asky Airline and  ECOMARINE , it would provide the needed support for the realisation of the vision.
He said already heads of states of the region in their new vision of accelerated development through integration had started work on the  construction of a West African coastal road, and that they also had a vision for the rail line.
A Ghanaian representative of  MammcoBTB, Mr Divine Dzegbla, urged the technical people at the meeting to be well informed in order to get their governments approval at the yet to be organised grand summit of Transport Ministers in West Africa for the commencement of the project.
He commended Ghana’s Minister of Transportation for her singular role and support towards the realisation of the project.



FACET SHEET
The West Coast High Speed rail will cover 1,178 kilometres.
It will link Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana and Cote I’dviore.
West Africa has a total road network of 6.1 million kilometres

Killer gas found at Dunkonaa

A seemingly harmless gas that emits from the ground may be slowly and negatively affecting the health of people who live at Dunkonaa and its environs in the Ga-South municipality in the Greater Accra Region.
Known as radon gas, the fume, which is colourless, odourless and tasteless, is known to be a major cause of respiratory infections, blood poisoning and lung cancer where it is highly concentrated.
The National Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Kofi Portuphy, told the Daily Graphic on Monday that the emission was not a new phenomenon.
In 2000, studies conducted by a team of scientists, including scientists from the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, indicated that the gas coming out of the Dunkonaa area was highly concentrated.
The study found that the potency of the Dunkonaa radon gas measured 2,000 Becquerel per square metre.
 Internationally, the allowable amount of radon gas for residential areas is 200 Becquerel per square metre.
The United States of America (USA) has pegged 200 Becquerel per square metre as the permitted amount of emission for residential areas and even with that the structures must have enough ventilation.
 In the United Kingdom, the allowable amount is 150 Becquerel per square metre.
 Mr Portuphy revealed that following that study, NADMO discouraged the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) from building its estates in the area, although the association had laid infrastructure, including roads and drains.
He said NADMO became curious when some residents of the area started reporting about the emission of smoke from the area some years ago.
He further stated that after the 1939 earthquake in the then Gold Coast, scientists advised state officials that Dunkonaa was a weak zone, since it was an earthquake epicentre, a situation which allowed the poisonous gas to emit.
According to residents of the area, the name ‘Dunkonaa’ was an adulterated one. Originally, the place was called ‘Dun ko naa’, which in Ga meant ‘the edge of smoke’, because the ground always emitted smoke.
Scientific publications explain that radon is formed as part of the normal radioactive decay chain of uranium. Uranium has been present since the earth was formed and its most common isotope has a very long half-life (4.5 billion years), which is the amount of time required for one-half of uranium to break down.
Unverified information volunteered by some residents of the area suggested that the RLG Communications building project which was earmarked for the area, the City of Hope, might no longer be located at Dunkonaa for health reasons.
Currently, Mr Portuphy said, NADMO was putting together its experts to undertake research again to ascertain the impact of the gas on people who had been living very close to the emission centre.
He said the area was declared a reserved green zone not suitable for human habitation and that it was for that reason that former President J.J. Rawlings intervened in 1998 to halt the development of the area after he had been briefed and shown documents indicating that the place was an earthquake epicenter emitting radon gas by NADMO.
Last month, the Vice-President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS), Professor Aba Bentil Andam, raised a red flag over the high concentration of radon in some parts of Ghana which could cause lung cancer when inhaled for a longer period.
 She called for a national radon map to help identify the geographical areas where the population was most at risk of exposure above the reference levels established by the World Health Organisation.
A visit to Dunkonaa by the Daily Graphic yesterday indicated that a large tract of land had been developed.
Parts of the area had covered drains, well laid out and tarred roads, some of which were deteriorating over time. Various types of buildings, ranging from estate houses to stores and storey buildings, had also sprung up.
A resident, Richard Lamptey, said he had been in the area for the past 15 years and claimed that the thick smoke that was emitting from the ground was from a god, saying it stopped after some rituals had been performed.
Ms Roseline Amankwa, another resident, said she had never heard of any poisonous gas. Rather, she argued, stories about the emission of radon were strategies by some people to take away their land.
A leading member of GREDA contradicted the claim that they discouraged from putting up the estate because of a dangerous gas emission although it was raised at the time they decided to put up houses in the area.
He said  basically, government policy stalled the efforts of GREDA to put up the houses at Dunkonaa but added that GREDA officials raised the issue at housing exhibition in the USA at the time for advice.
He said the estate developers were told that if they decided to go ahead with their project, they should construct big manhole to trap the gas so that it will not cause harm to the occupants of the estates.
However, other sources say that even the trapped gas in the manholes could still find its way into the building and become injurious to the health of the occupants.

PUBLISHED: June 16, 2013