President John Dramani Mahama has received an investigative report on alleged financial malfeasance at the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency.

He said the recommendations contained in the report will be studied carefully and a review of the GYEEDA’s operations immediately conducted.

President Mahama said, “it is our intention to review and restructure GYEEDA radically based on the report that you have presented to ensure that the objectives for which it was set up are met and met in a timely and efficient manner and in a manner that ensures that the resources that government is committing to it give us value for money.”

Joy News’ reports on plain stealing and financial misappropriation of funds at GYEEDA occasioned an investigation by the government.

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, set up a five-member committee to investigate the reports.

The committee chaired by Ferdinand Gunn, identified widespread maladministration at the Agency which Mr. Gunn summed as “breakdown in the governance structure” of GYEEDA.

Read below the comments of the president after he received the report as posted on his website.

Let me start by thanking the Committee for a very good work you have done in the period that you were required to do so and expeditiously carrying out the assignment that we gave to you.

We know that GYEEDA was set up as a flagship project to provide skills development for young people to prepare them for the world of work.

One of the major problems our country has faced is that a lot of our young people graduating from the educational system are not equipped with the skills that can readily find them a job in the labour market.

That is what brought about the concept of GYEEDA. GYEEDA was supposed to be a quick training programme that equipped these young people with skills and provided them even with the materials with which they could go and start to earn a living.

Unfortunately in recent times there has been an outcry by individuals, by media institutions, by integrity organisations and other think tanks about the way GYEEDA was managed. The Minister was asked to set up a committee to go into the whole setup and as the chairman of the committee read, the terms of reference were quite clear and as a result of that this report has been presented to us today.

Government will go into the report, and especially, study your recommendations carefully and it is our intention to review and restructure GYEEDA radically based on the report that you have presented to ensure that the objectives for which it was set up are met and met in a timely and efficient manner and in a manner that ensures that the resources that government is committing to it give us value for money.

Government is willing to invest in equipping our young people with skills and it is a good thing to do but it must be done in a way that the resource of the nation and the hard earned taxpayer’s money is used efficiently to be able to achieve that objective.

Government is willing to partner with the private sector because government alone cannot undertake all the training that is required for young people. And so it is ready to partner with the private sector but it must be done in a way that ensures that it is done with accountability in mind and probity.

We are going to study the report and in the next few days, weeks, begin to implement those recommendations in a very firm manner.

I will want to thank you very much for the work you have done and to assure you that the product of your work will be a GYEEDA that is more efficient, a GYEEDA that is better managed, a GYEEDA that is accountable to the people of Ghana and a GYEEDA that has governance practices that are up to date with modern times.

Source: Myjoyonline.com 

President John Dramani Mahama has made a number of nominations for appointment as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.

A statement from Flagstaff House in Accra mentioned the nominees as Mr Jasper Jatoh Moayi for Kpandai, Alhaji Seidu Amidu for Nanumba South, and Mr Adolf Ali John for Saboba district.

The rest are Mr Ali Kassim for West Gonja, Mr Seidu Abubakar for Tolon and Mr Albert Akoka for Garu-Tempane district.

The statement said the nominations were announced by Mr Akwasi Opong-Fosu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, in accordance with Section 243 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, and Section 20 (1) of the Local Government Act 1993, Act 462.

Source: Flagstaff House

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan on Monday told the Supreme Court hearing the election petition challenging the outcome of the 2012 presidential election that he was not familiar with what Portable Document Format (PDF) is.

His answer followed his disagreement with Mr. Philip Addison, lead counsel for the petitioners that an extract of a voters register produced by the latter was the same as what the EC used to conduct the elections.

PDF is an electronic file format invented by Adobe Systems which allows the reliable reproduction of published material and is capable, among others, of containing clickable links and buttons, form fields, video and audio.

Addison was leading evidence on alleged double registration in the voters register used for the election and pointed out that a number of some duplications were captured in the register as handed the New Patriotic Party for the election.

But Afari-Gyan insisted the extract could not have come from the official register because the arrangements were different from what the petitioners had produced as extracts.

Mr. Addison however pointed out that unless the Electoral Commission gave the NPP a register different from what it gave other parties, the extract was from the very one the EC issued which he said was in a pdf format and therefore could not be altered.

“My Lords this is not the register we used for the election,” Dr Afari-Gyan pointed out when Mr. Addison sought to tender the extract.

Addison: This is the register given to the New Patriotic Party.

Afari-Gyan: This is not the register we used for the election

Addison: Is this not the register given to the New Patriotic Party?

Afari-Gyan: I cannot confirm that.

Addison: By what process do you confirm that this is the register given to the New Patriotic Party?

Afari-Gyan: We, we gave exactly the same register to everybody. The same register to everybody.

Addison: You did not give hard copies, you gave a soft copy.

Afari-Gyan: Well the soft copy will be the same, to everybody.

Addison: And the soft copy is in pdf form which cannot be altered. Do you know as a fact that it was in pdf form and it cannot be altered?

Afari-Gyan: We gave you a register, I don’t know what the form it was in.

Addison: I’m suggesting to you that it was in pdf form and it cannot be altered.

Afari-Gyan: Your suggestion may be correct, may be wrong, I cannot confirm that.

After a back-and-forth between counsel and witness on whether the register given the NPP was the same as was used for the election and Dr. Afari-Gyan’s insistence that he needed to verify with his office what format of the register was given the NPP, the bench stepped in with Justice Rose Owusu asking Dr. Afari Gyan whether he knew what a pdf format is, to which the EC chairman said ‘no’.

Mr. Addison has been leading evidence on Monday on petitioners’claims that there were duplicate polling station codes which could not have represented results from the special voting exercise as well as claims of instances of double voter registrations for the 2012 elections.

Source: Daily Graphic

A former deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Alex Segbefia has said the ongoing election petition case before the Supreme Court is negetively affecting the economy of the country.

According to Mr. Segbefia, the challenges facing the economy can partly be blamed on the election petition. ‘’Our business cycle is affected by the political cycle; investment is dealt with on confidence.’’

He said investors will only bring their monies to Ghana when they can be sure of political stability in the country. ‘’We have a situation where anybody who is holding his money to invest, to re-invest or increase investment is holding on to his/her money to watch and see what will happen [in the Supreme Court case].’’

“The court case has had an economic effect on businesses, how people relate and what is happening in our economy without a doubt…,’’ he noted.

The former deputy chief of staff said this on Citi FM’s news and analysis program, The Big Issue when he made submissions to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) press conference on the current management of the economy by the ruling NDC.

The NPP on Tuesday, June 9 held a press conference to accuse the governing NDC of mismanaging the economy.

Source: citifmonline.com

Parliament was on Friday nearly drawn into a verbal altercation between the Majority and Minority of the House when the Member of Parliament (MP) for Atwima Mponua, Mr Isaac Asiamah, stated that the Legislature was “broke”.

The MP said that the committees of the House were not functioning effectively because of the lack of funding for their activities, saying that those committees would not be able to carry out their supervisory roles if the situation persisted.

The revelation drew the displeasure of some members on the Majority side, who immediately demanded that the member withdraw that statement because it was not a reflection of the situation on the ground.

Mr Harunah Iddrisu, Minister for Trade and Industry and MP for Tamale South, said the assertion was not true because all the committees of the House were working well, demanding a withdrawal of the statement by the member.

The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho said though the House had challenges, it was certainly not broke.

He said that all financial releases due Parliament had been received except for that of June, which was being currently processed.

The Speaker charged Mr Asiamah to withdraw the statement and directed that the issue be discussed in a closed sitting of the House.

Mr Asiamah reluctantly withdrew the statement and replaced the “broke” with “financially challenged”, explaining that those releases made to the House were not reflecting on the work of the committees.

Source: GNA

Security personnel in the Upper West Region have arrested eight persons involved in the illegal small scale mining business, at Danyaw Kuraa in the Wa East District.

They were arrested by the Regional Security Committee (REGSEC) led by the Regional Minister, Dr. Ephraim Avea Nsor in an unannounced visit to the area.

Police say all the suspects, aged between 14 and 36 years, hail from neigbouring Burkina Faso.

The miners are said to have moved to that part of the country as a result of the determination of the Inter-ministerial Taskforce rid the country of illegal (Galamsey) miners.

The taskforce is said to have made significant inroads by flushing the illegal miners from the Western and Ashanti Regions.

Upper West Police Regional Commander, ACP Ampofo Duku told JOYNEWS Rafiq Salaam, the suspects were using “very sophisticated chemicals” in their illegal operation.

“They were not using any machine but the technology they were using is very superior” to what their Ghanaian counterparts know.

ACP Duku said they were amazed upon realizing that the miners had virtually taken over the entire community.

They had “mounted sheds and had almost everything there, rearing fouls; we were quite dumbfounded,” the Commander revealed.

The Regional Minister Dr. Avea Nsor declared his determination not to allow the region to be used by those who have been flushed from “Obuasi and Tarkwa”.

“…we are going to flush them out like water out of a fast flowing pipe,” he warned.

Source: Myjoyonline

The Police have arrested two persons in connection with another fire outbreak at the Tema Community One market Friday.

They are Aaron Adomako and and Florence Adomako; both siblings.

The team of security men made up of police, Fire Service and Tema Metropolitan Assembly Security Guards; say they acted swiftly to prevent the fire from spreading.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the structure that caught fire is a container used as a book shop.

This is the second time in ten days that sections of the same market have caught fire.

Director of Public Affairs of the Police Service, DSP Cephas Arthur told JOYNEWS Anna Agyapong that the suspects, who have been charged on two counts – unlawful entry and causing damage – have been remanded in police custody.

They are to reappear in court on July 18, 2013.

Source: Myjoyonline

Students in some communities in Nanumba North District walk long distances of about 16 kilometres daily to access basic education.

Mr Issahaku Iddrisu, Head teacher of the Juo Primary School told journalists that all pupils who completed Juo, Juasheiyila and Salinayila primary schools, travel to Bimbilla for Junior High School (JHS) education.

He said the only three-classroom primary school block for the Juo community was built in 1989 until ActionAid Ghana and Songtaba both NGOs, provided the facility with additional classroom block.

Mr Iddrisu explained that the community was provided with a JHS only on paper, since there is no structure for the school.

He said some parents who could afford, send their children to stay in Bimbilla township in order to access basic education.

Mr Iddrisu the situation does not auger well for the positive and holistic development of the children.

He said due to poverty in the area parents who cannot afford the expenses of their wards are discontinuing their education.

Source: GNA