Monday, December 6, 2010

Welcome!


 

With the complements of

OFFICE OF THE ODIKRO 
a companion of the black star 
Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odikro



Dear Visitor,

I have been instructed by the Odikro to extend to you his fraternal greetings!

In this blog we shall seek to provide information on hot topics doing the rounds in the country as we monitor the emerging ones. It is our intention to create a platform that could be drawn upon and expanded to help provide a comprehensive, alternative, objective and factual perspectives on the hot topics of the day and to help create their archives.

The blog is also intended to double as a campaign platform for the identification, defence and the advancement of the interests of the ordinary Ghanaian as opposed to those of big multinational corporations.


HOT TOPICS OF THE DAY:




General News of Thursday, 9 December 2010
Source: Joy Online

Mills' record appalling - NPP


Campaign Mascots
While the ruling National Democratic Congress is basking in the glory of the book Top 50 Achievements of the Prof. John Evans Atta Mills led Government in his first two years in office, the opposition New Patriotic Party says those so-called achievements are phantom “barefaced lies that need telescopic eyes to sight them.”

The Ministry of Information as part of efforts to trumpet the achievements of the government published a 39-page book in which it chronicles sector by sector achievements of the government.



Konadu Squeezes Mills

THE OFFICE of the President has been boxed into a corner, unable to fathom how to handle former First Lady, Nana Konadu’s ambition to succeed Prof. Atta Mills as President of the Republic of Ghana.

While it has become clear that Nana Konadu is on a serious campaign to become the flag-bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), her position as wife of the party’s founder and incumbent first national chairman of the party makes her a thorny subject to deal with.
Nana Konadu may not have uttered a word in public but an official website rallying support for her campaign to become the 2012 Presidential candidate of the NDC has unnerved the Presidency, with Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, aide to the President, throwing his weight about that nobody in the party could beat President Mills in a presidential primary.
Aside Nii Lantey’s brag, the rest of the Mills loyalists in government have gone dumb and the Presidency is said to be instigating the party to get Nana Konadu to distance herself from the ongoing campaign till nominations are opened. More...

 

Konadu for 2012 website outdoored

 The raging debate as to whether former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings will contest the ticket for the NDC presidential candidate seems to have taken a new twist as a website endorsing the former first lady's bid has been outdoored.

Latest information gathered by The Chronicle indicates the website was designed by the controversial group, Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR) who in recent past have embarked on campaign tactics to project the former first lady as the viable option for the NDC presidential candidate in the 2012 general elections. More...



Rawlings Ready For Police

Kofi Adams, aide to former President Jerry John Rawlings, has finally stated the position of his boss on President Atta Mills’ directive that investigations be re-opened into the serial murders of some 34 women prior to the 2000 elections, saying Mr. Rawlings thinks it is a step in the right direction. More...

 

Wikileaks: State Dept. wants intel on African acceptance of GMOs

Source: Tom Laskawy
International | 
The Wikileaks release of U.S. State Department classified diplomatic cables may be problematic, but it has been quite a trove of information on the workings of our diplomatic corps. For the most part, the dump has confirmed things that we already knew about U.S. policy -- and that seems to be the case regarding the one mention of agricultural policy in these thousands of emails and documents (no doubt there are more) to which I was alerted. More:

Foreign Ministry Studies Report On STL

Company with Zero Construction experience, renovating our embassies
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has began a comprehensive study of all reports on the operations of Superlock Technologies Limited (STL) an Israeli company which was awarded a contract for the renovation of three of Ghana's missions abroad.

The contract of US$16,746,682.00 was for the renovation of Ghana's missions in New York, Washington DC and Ottawa.

Interestingly, Superlock Technologies Limited has no construction experience.

Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Insight that the Don Arthur report on the renovation of the missions as well as all media reports are being studied for serious action.

A report prepared by a Ghanaian team headed by Dr Adu Arthur of the office of the President says the contract was awarded without regard to the Public Procurement Law (ACT 663). More...
 


LIST OF HOT TOPICS
INFORM YOURSELF
SUGGEST TOPIC
VISIT OUR FORUM

HOT TOPICS GHANA
'FATHER OF THE NATION'
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
OIL REVENUE
NPP, USAFRICOM HEADQUARTERS AND MILITARY BASES IN GHANA
'AGENDA 2016' AND THE NPP
ELECTION 2012
'FEAR AND PANIC' IN GHANA
CLIMATE CHANGE
THE JUBILEE OIL
GNPC AND KOSMOS
SOVEREIGN LAND-GRABS

OTHER TOPICS IN CONTEMPORARY HISTORY:
A HISTORY OF GHANA
THE PRE-COLONIAL ERA
THE AGE OF MERCANTILISM
SLAVERY
COLONIALISM
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
KWAME NKRUMAH
J. B. DANQUAH
PAA GRANT
WILLIAM OFORI ATTA
J. A ANKRAH
AKWASI AMANKWAA AFIRIFA
KOFI ABREFA BUSIA
S.G. ANTOR
S.D. DOMBO
BARFOUR OSEI-AKOTO
EDWARD AKUFO-ADDO
HILLA LIMAN
J. J. RAWLINGS
THE AFRC
THE PNDC PERIOD
ALBERT ADU BOAHENE
j. A. KUFOUR
PRESIDENT MILLS
MR. ADDO DANQUAH AKUFO ADDO
SAMIA NKRUMAH
NANA KONADU AGYEMAN RAWLINGS
KWESI PRATT, JNR.
ALAN KYEREMANTENG
DANQUAH INSTITUTE
THE NPP
THE NDC
THE CPP
'TRIBALISM'
MONEY TRANSFER
DIASPORA
FESTIVALS
SPORTS
EPA
AGOA
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
ENTERTAINMENT
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
HEALTH
EDUCATION
UNEMPLOYMENT
YOUTH POLICY
AGRICULTURE
BRAIN-DRAIN
WORLD BANK
IMF
CHINA
WATER AND ELECTRICITY
HOUSING AND ACCOMMODATION
FOOD AND CLOTHING
MINING INDUSTRIES

I avail myself of this opportunity, to extend to you, on behalf of the Odikro, Nana Akyea Mensah II, the assurances of our highest consideration.


Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!


Sincerely,


Pur'gu Saarpe!
Secretary to the Odikro, Nana Akyea Mensah II,
Twitter: /twitter.com/TheOdikro,


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Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!! 
Cheers!
Nana Akyea Mensah Follow this user

Nana Akyea Mensah

a political analyst, commentator, and an experienced ghost from an unmarked grave!

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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Foreign Ministry Studies Report On STL

General News of Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Source: The Insight

Foreign Ministry Studies Report On STL

Company with Zero Construction experience, renovating our embassies
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has began a comprehensive study of all reports on the operations of Superlock Technologies Limited (STL) an Israeli company which was awarded a contract for the renovation of three of Ghana's missions abroad.

The contract of US$16,746,682.00 was for the renovation of Ghana's missions in New York, Washington DC and Ottawa.

Interestingly, Superlock Technologies Limited has no construction experience.

Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Insight that the Don Arthur report on the renovation of the missions as well as all media reports are being studied for serious action.

A report prepared by a Ghanaian team headed by Dr Adu Arthur of the office of the President says the contract was awarded without regard to the Public Procurement Law (ACT 663).

There were no consultants engaged for the procurement of the works and no applicable contractor-selection procedure was adopted.

The report claims that statutory processes and procedures were completely ignored and basic documents normally submitted for building works are not available.

Conspicuously absent from the contract documents are offer and acceptance correspondence, technical specifications, bill of quantities and activity schedules.

The scope of works for each contract was given only in narrative form without any Bills of Quantities specifying the exact quantum and quality of each item of work to be executed.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Kufuor and by extension the state was pushed into contracts the limits of which were not clearly defined.

The lump-sum quotations submitted by STL were accepted by the Ministry without any negotiations.

Payment schedules were exclusively time bound and did not take into account, quantum and quality of work done.

Superluck Technologies Limited was incorporated in Ghana over 20 years ago to sell security locks and doors.

In 2003, the company was re-lunched with two Ghanaians, a man and wife listed as owners with Mr. Yaron Tal as Managing Director.

In June 2008, the Company's ownership changed. The Ghanaian couple sold their shares to a Swiss Company whose directorship remains undisclosed.

An important event marked the change in the fortunes of STL.

On Wednesday, November 11, 2003, Hajia Alima Mahama, then Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and PSI publicly announced that “Superlock Technologies Limited would serve as good ambassadors for Ghana and attract foreign investments from Israel and other developing countries.”

A strategic partnership had been established between the Kufuor administration and STL which has since reflected in the fortunes and influence of the Israeli company.

Since then STL through a system of political patronage has become the largest single provider of Data Communication services and surveillance systems to public institutions in Ghana.

The institutions include, the Ghana Commercial Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, National Health Insurance Authority, the Electoral Commission and the National Security Council Secretariat.

STL has carefully cultivated strategic relations with influential members of the dominant political parties in Ghana including the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Source: The Insight Newspaper http://www.insightnewspaper.com/

 

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Wikileaks: State Dept. wants intel on African acceptance of GMOs

Wikileaks: State Dept. wants intel on African acceptance of GMOs
Source: Tom Laskawy
International |

The Wikileaks release of U.S. State Department classified diplomatic cables may be problematic, but it has been quite a trove of information on the workings of our diplomatic corps. For the most part, the dump has confirmed things that we already knew about U.S. policy -- and that seems to be the case regarding the one mention of agricultural policy in these thousands of emails and documents (no doubt there are more) to which I was alerted.

Buried deep in a document that outlines priorities for intelligence gathering in the African "Great Lakes" countries of Burundi, the Republic of Congo, and Rwanda is a list (for the most part, very reasonable) of what the State Department would like to know about the region's agricultural policy. Things like government policies on food security and food safety top the list, for example, along with information on the impact of rising food prices in these countries. Agricultural yield statistics, infrastructure improvements, data on deforestation and desertification, water issues, and invasive species are included as priorities for "reporting" as well.

But also getting its own line item on the intel priority list is this:

Government acceptance of genetically modified food and propagation of genetically modified crops.

Sigh.
Tom Philpott has reported on the State Department's biotech-loving science adviser Nina Federoff and her industry ties -- and certainly USDA Chief Tom Vilsack believes that genetically modified foods are an answer to world hunger. So this revelation hardly counts as a surprise. But it's still a shame to see that our spymasters are actively engaged in efforts to make the world safe for Monsanto. Aren't there better things for them to do?
Source: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-11-29-wikileaks-state-dept-wants-intel-on-african-acceptance-of-gmos
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THE AMBITIONS OF THE RAWLINGSES

Source: Chronicle - Ghanaian Chronicle

The raging debate as to whether former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings will contest the ticket for the NDC presidential candidate seems to have taken a new twist as a website endorsing the former first lady's bid has been outdoored.

Latest information gathered by The Chronicle indicates the website was designed by the controversial group, Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR) who in recent past have embarked on campaign tactics to project the former first lady as the viable option for the NDC presidential candidate in the 2012 general elections.

The website, www.fonkar.org has a large portrait of Nana Konadu with the slogan “Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings…The Presidential Candidate for 2012” boldly scripted next to the portrait.

The website also catalogues the various schools the NDC founder's wife attended, and her political achievements. Part of the CV reads: "As first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings accompanied her husband, President Jerry John Rawlings, on official and state visits. In 1995, she travelled with President Rawlings on his extensive tour of the United States to promote investment and trade.

As part of the visit, President Rawlings and Mrs. Rawlings were awarded honorary degrees from the Lincoln University, alma mater of Ghana's first President, Kwame Nkrumah. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in Social Science by a University in Pennsylvania for her exemplary work in championing the cause of women empowerment."

All attempts by The Chronicle to contact the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, to ascertain whether the out-dooring of the website to promote Konadu's 2012 presidential agenda contravenes party rules and regulations proved futile, as his mobile phone had been switched off.

Mr. Kofi Adams, who speaks for the Rawlingses, could also not be reached on his phone.

Though President Mills has publicly declared his intention to seek re-election, the founder and his wife appear not to be amused, and have resorted to underground work to torpedo him.

Mr. Rawlings has on many occasions harshly criticised the President for failing to jail former New Patriotic Party (NPP) functionaries.

Mills has also come to state that as a Professor of law, he had no power to send the said functionaries to jail, without taking them through the due process of the law.

The Chronicle is keeping an eagle eye on the drama as it unfolds, and will keep readers informed.

Rawlings Ready For Police

General News of Thursday, 2 December 2010
Source: New Crusading Guide

Kofi Adams, aide to former President Jerry John Rawlings, has finally stated the position of his boss on President Atta Mills’ directive that investigations be re-opened into the serial murders of some 34 women prior to the 2000 elections, saying Mr. Rawlings thinks it is a step in the right direction.

In an interview with the New Crusading Guide newspaper yesterday, Kofi Adams said, “we all thought it (murders) was serial until we detected in the latter part of the administration that it was political,” and to that end, his boss thinks, “it is a good move to re-open investigations into an act he (Rawlings) said was political.”

Even in the light of the trial and sentence of Charles Quansah, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the murders, aide to the former president said, reinvestigations were important especially in the absence of any thorough work on the on the case.

On the question of whether the Police, who were instructed to conduct the investigations, have contacted the ex-President in respect to the fresh investigations, Kofi Adams said no such communication had been extended to the former President.

He went on to say that Mr. Rawlings was ready to cooperate with the Police whenever they needed his assistance and was prepared to provide them with any proof at his disposal in order that a concrete conclusion is reached on the killings of some 34 Ghanaian women in the run-up to the 2000 elections and thereafter. . When Mr. Rawlings in 2003 met with some senior Police officers on the same matter, he told the investigators he would not disclose the names of the alleged culprits without the government’s acceptance of the principle of subjecting those persons to a chemical interrogation and truth serum test, since he had learned his lessons from the way the government handled the murder of the Ya Na.

He stated that he did not want the truth about his knowledge of the 15 to be massaged by the then government’s ‘propaganda team’

It would be recalled that the President, John Evans Atta Mills, sometime this month ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to reopen investigations into the killing of 34 women in the latter parts of the Rawlings administration and early parts of the Kufuor administration.

The directive though is believed to be coming on the back of pressure from the ex-President who has on countless occasions accused some senior cabinet ministers of the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration of being behind the killings of women.

The Former President in 2003 alleged during an open lecture to mark the "June 4 Uprising," that 15 Ministers of State of the NPP Government were implicated in the killing of the women.

During a recent tour of the Northern Region, Mr. Rawlings again said that, "if while we are in office we do not take advantage of this situation and re-investigate properly and deal with those who masterminded it (murders), not just the subordinate personnel that were used, then we are leaving for them the power and the right to think they can do it again. And they know it. .. we all know it. It is incumbent on us for the sake of justice. In other words if NPP were to win an election again or if NDC were to continue none of us must have the power to think we can kill any human being and get away with it," Rawlings said.

Meanwhile, the former President is reported to be away in Suriname to join the people of that country in their Independence Day celebration, on an invitation by the Government. When he returns and is duly contacted by the Police, his aide is in no doubt that his boss would willingly comply and volunteer information to help unravel the mystery.
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