Gabby Otchere Darko, Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, has said Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) can profit immensely from the live telecast of the Presidential Election Petition despite revelations by its Director-General Major Albert Don- Chebe (Rtd) that it losses about $66,000 a day.

The election petition was filed at the Supreme Court by three leading members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). They are Jake Obetsebi Lamptey (Chairman) Nana Akuffo Addo( 2012 Presidential Candidate) and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia (2012 Vice-Presidential candidate).

The petition is challenging the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as the winner of the 2012 presidential election.

The hearing of the election petition began on the 16th April 2013. It is heard on working days at the Supreme Court from Monday to Thursday. It entered day 24 on Thursday May 30.

The Director- General of GBC who was appointed recently has said the Corporation lost about $66,000 from the physical movement of technical resources such as OB Vans and stationing technicians at the Supreme Court the whole day.

He added on Multi Tv and Joy FM’s Top Story that there was transmission cost with its huge energy component and losses in revenue from adverts and sponsored programs that have been taken off air.

His human resource base was also suffering. He said because of the focus on the petition, some staff could not do anything else.

The Director-General agreed that the live telecast was of colossal importance in enhancing Ghana’s democracy but it also presented an opportunity to address serious financial challenges facing GBC because, he said, “we can’t sustain this forever”.

He also argued, it was time for the nation to confront the reality that Ghanaians have to start paying TV license fee if the state broadcaster is to play its public service role effectively.

“A TV license fee that was fixed 18 years ago at 30 pesewas” he said should be a concern for civil society organisations, government and the general Ghanaian public.

He said there was “a beautiful law” supporting the payment of TV licenses to improve the financial state of the Corporation and yet “almost everybody seems to have forgotten about that”, he lamented.

Democracy would suffer if GBC continues to suffer, the D-G warned.

But speaking on Multi Tv and Joy FM’s Top Story, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko said the live telecast of the petition has increased the viewership base of GBC by about “10 folds” . “Nobody can begrudge them” if they decide to make profit from this, he said.

“Isn’t there some commercial value that can be leveraged and hasn’t been leveraged?”, he asked.

He said unlike the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which operate solely on taxes from the public, GTV had the opportunity to commercialize its operations.

He said that prior to the coverage of the election petition which runs from 10am to 4pm each day, very few people watched programs aired by GTV.

“Without this, what would GTV be doing?, it would be showing certain things nobody would be watching”, he said.

According to the Executive Director, the hearing of the election petition had gotten to “a peak” and could end in three weeks, he claimed.

He appealed to the D-G to continue the live broadcast if they have “come this far”.

He said although he shared concerns about TV licenses raised by the D-G, it was the responsibility of management of GBC to ensure that the fee is increased and collected.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has made an upward adjustment to prices of some petroleum products effective June 1.

Both Petrol and diesel from tomorrow will be selling at GH¢9.50 per gallon.

A statement from the National Petroleum Authority say this is in line with Government of Ghana’s policy directive to achieve full pass-through petroleum products.

The current ex-pump price of petrol (premium) 204.96 pesewas per litre, has been adjusted to 211.11 pesewas per litre or GH¢9.50 per gallon representing 3 per cent increment.

The price of diesel (gas oil) would move from 206.83 pesewas per litre to 211.11 pesewas per litre or GH¢9.50 per gallon making a difference of 2 per cent .

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has also been increased by 3 per cent. The current price is 194.85 pesewas per kilogram but will sell at 200.00 pesewas per kilogram or GH¢25.00 for 12.5Kg Cylinder from June 1. 25.00

However prices of products such as kerosene, residual fuel and marine gas, remained unchanged.

Chairman of the Electoral Commission has explained in court his refusal to grant a request by the Chairman of the New Patriotic Party intended to postpone the announcement of the 2012 presidential election results on grounds of detected irregularities.

On December 9th 2012, NPP Chairman Jake Obetsebi Lamptey reportedly wrote to the EC to request for two things.

The letter read in court called for:

1. Cause an audit of the verification machine to ensure it tallied with what happened.

2. Order a recollation of ballots at the constituency level to establish the true credibility of the results being declared.

Dr. Afari Gyan who is also the returning officer in the 2012 presidential elections said soon after receiving the said letter, the NPP chairman and other unnamed officials of the party came to his office.

He said in the presence of his two deputies a meeting was held to allow the NPP chairman who is also the third petitioner to explain his request.

In his response, Dr. Afari Gyan said he told the NPP Chairman that auditing verification machines would take months to complete. This meant the announcement of the results would be delayed.

“What you are asking me to do will take months at the earliest to do,” he reportedly told Jake Obetsebi Lamptey.

He added that because there were no protests at the various polling stations it was going to be difficult to honour the request.

The witness said soon after, the Chairman of the Peace Council called him and requested another meeting to further examine concerns by the NPP Chairman.

He revealed it “was not a small meeting”. It involved a “rather big” delegation of the Peace council, all his seven commissioners, senior party officials of all the parties and persons unrelated to the parties.

He said the Chairman of the Peace Council asked the NPP Chairman to lay bare his complaints.

The NPP chairman provided pink sheets for seven constituencies as evidence of allegations of discrepancies.

The seven commissioners then retired to consider the legitimacy of the evidence presented.

Every constituency is supposed to have a number of pink sheets to make up total results of the constituency.

But he said in five constituencies, the pink sheet produced were less than the total number of polling stations in those constituencies.

In the case of the other two constituencies they brought more pink sheets than there were in those constituencies.

Dr. Afari Gyan said after scrutinizing the evidence the commissioners came to the conclusion that the allegations of discrepancy was “not sufficient”.

On that basis “I will go ahead and announce as soon as the results are ready”, Dr. Afari Gyan said.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

The returning officer for the 2012 presidential election, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan has admitted that some officials contracted by the Electoral Commission on the day of election committed some errors in the discharge of their duties.

Dr Afari Gyan saw the mistakes as not unexpected, according him they were committed due to the enormous pressure these officials go through on the day of election.

Dr Afari Gyan who is the chairman of the Electoral Commission made the concession at the day 24 of the ongoing election petition hearing at the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The respondents have pleaded that what the petitioners have described as irregularities are at best “clerical errors”. The petitioners have rejected this description.

For instance, the issue of pink sheets without signatures of presiding officers and “omissions” in the filling of the pink sheets are in contention and the petitioners want votes from these polling stations where those pink sheets come from annulled.

But in defence of the “errors”, Dr Afari Gyan told the court only a miracle would cause the officials not to commit errors.

He said getting the right calibre of persons is not easy, particularly in the remote parts of the country. It is also impossible to discern whatever political leanings they may have.

“It would be a miracle if some of them (electoral officers) did not commit mistakes,” he stressed, “so mistakes would not be unexpected”.

He further explained that since the officials are not permanent staff of the EC they are hired during election and therefore the Commission does not have enough time for their training.

Usually a presiding officer works for a period of four months, he said, adding that other officials are only hired for about four days.

“As soon as the period ends they are no longer officials of the EC,” he maintained. He also pointed out, “We don’t have permanent returning officers as exist in other countries.”

Later, he gave examples of errors that are bound to occur during election, which he said is termed “transposition error” in electoral language. They can occur in two forms at the collation centre.

One, he said, there is a situation where there is an exchange of results: where one candidate’s result is given to the other. Also, there are instances where figures are mixed while scores are being picked from pink sheets onto the coalition sheet.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

President John Mahama is leaving Paris France today, Thursday, for the Japanese city of Yokohama to attend the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

The June 1 to 3 Conference is bringing together a number of African leaders as Japan promotes dialogue and mobilises support for Africa’s development initiatives.

Launched in 1993, TICAD has evolved into a major global framework for the facilitation of initiatives promoting African development under the “dual principle of African ownership and international partnership”.

Accompanying the President is his wife, Lordina, who will join other first Ladies in a number of programmes including a symposium on HIV & AIDS and eliminating Mother to Child Transmission.

Finance Minister Seth Terkper and Foreign Minister Hanna Tetteh are also expected to join the President in Yokohama.

Source: Myjoyonline.com

President John Mahama and French President Francois Hollande have agreed on a number of projects to be financed under the French Development Agency’s support for Ghana.

The two presidents, in a meeting in the Elysee Palace, discussed trade and development assistance to Ghana.

They also talked about ways to improve military cooperation, security and democracy in Africa and the need for Ghana to take advantage of its presence within a Francophone block to enhance the teaching and learning of the French language.

President Hollande, who just marked his first year in office, observed that Ghana’s economic progress has been widely recognised, noting that Ghana is one of the few countries in Africa with huge potential for growth a time of global economic recession.

President Hollande said he supports the new phase of his country’s relationship with Ghana, explaining that his invitation to President Mahama is aimed at enhancing that relationship and to familiarise better with development in Ghana.

The two presidents agreed to more French support in the area of tertiary education and support with French technical instructors and training of more Ghanaian French teachers in September.

On the crisis in Mali, President Hollande thanked Ghana for showing its support during the deployment of troops into the troubled African country. He was also grateful that Ghana provided engineering contingent to support in flushing out terrorists in Mali.

President Mahama thanked his host for the invitation and for sending a high level team to the funeral of the late President John Atta Mills.

He also acknowledged the growing presence of French businesses in Ghana, thanking the French government for its decision to keep Ghana among its 14 priority countries earmarked for support by the French Development Agency.

The President told journalists that his visit to Turkey and now France have had significant impact.