Daily Heritage July 24

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Quake Edition 114.qxp_Layout 1 7/21/17 9:05 PM Page 9 12 DAILY Politics WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH HERITAGE MONDAY, JULY 24, 2017 Dismiss frivolous and baseless petition – Charlotte Osei BY KOBINA WELSING THE CHAIRPER- SON of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mrs Charlotte Osei has described a petition by some unidentified persons of the EC asking for her removal as “frivolous, baseless” and actuated by “malice and ill will”. Some aggrieved staff of the commission on Wednesday July 19, 2017 in a petition to President Nana Akufo-Addo called for the removal of Mrs Osei because she lacks the managerial skills needed to lead the Commission. Also, they alleged that she “single-handedly” gave out contracts to the tune of $21,999,592 without going through tender contrary to the Public Procurement Act. They also claim that the EC boss has spent over one million Ghana Cedis on her residence. The presidency has since acknowledged the receipt of the petition which was subsequently forwarded to the Chief Justice for the necessary actions to be taken. But, a statement signed by Mrs Osei on Friday stated that all the allegations made against her are outright lies and an attempt to defame her. “The contents of the said ‘petition’ which has been widely circulated on social media and published by the mainstream media are frivolous, baseless and are actuated by malice and ill will. These allegations are in my view, the product of an overactive evil imagination, and do not deserve any serious attention. “I wish to state categorically that all the defamatory allegations are outright lies and without any merit whatsoever.” She also indicated that her response to the allegations will be made public once she is invited by the President to respond to the allegations against her. •Mrs Charlotte Osei, Chairperson, EC Below is the full statement: ALLEGATIONS AGAINST ME ARE BOGUS (Accra, 21/07/2017) My attention has been drawn to a litany of phony allegations made against me by a certain Maxwell Opoku Agyemang in a supposed ‘petition’ on behalf of unidentified person(s), asking for my removal from office. The contents of the said ‘petition’ which has been widely circulated on social media and published by the mainstream media are frivolous, baseless and are actuated by malice and ill will. These allegations are in my view, the product of an overactive evil imagination, and do not deserve any serious attention. I wish to state categorically that all the defamatory allegations are outright lies and without any merit whatsoever. I understand from the media that the Presidency has received the alleged petition. I have my full responses ready for each and every allegation made in the socalled petition. However, in deference to His Excellency the President of the Republic, for whom I have the highest levels of respect, I would respectfully wait to be formally informed by the Presidency before I make my responses public. I take the opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to the staff of the Electoral Commission, political leaders from the various political parties, and members of the general public for the overwhelming support shown to my family and I so far. I am absolutely certain that once again, history and the truth will vindicate the just. The political motive hunting would not serve the greater purpose. The ‘motiveless malignity’ behind this Petition are self-seeking and faceless individuals with the sole motive of satisfying their purely personal vendetta against my person and protecting illegal financial interests. Finally, the Electoral Commission is an independent governance institution, non- partisan and with full protections for its officials under the 1992 constitution of Ghana. I would wish that the political actors would respect the constitutional framework provided for the Commission and support in upholding the supreme interest of the Commission for the wider interest of our democracy. Thank you. Signed Charlotte Osei (Mrs) Chairperson Electoral Commission, Ghana 100,000 Jobs for Ghanaians; $400m in remittances in one year • CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 Taking a median salary of $500 a month, a remittance of 70% on the average translates to $350 a month per person. For 100,000 people employed in a year, this translates to a whopping 35 million USD per month or 420 Million USD (1.85 billion Cedis) per year in remittances to Ghana. If these same people through their remittances also cater for an average of 3 dependents each you kill many birds with a single stone: 1. Reduce unemployment by 100,000 2. Increase the standard of living of another 300,000 dependents. 3. Have a huge inflow of over 400 Million USD per year Increase the numbers to 200,000 and you get an inflow of almost one Billion Dollars a year from Ghanaians in The Gulf as inward foreign remittance in a single year! Other revenue sources and opportunities Each candidate, before he leaves the shores of Ghana to work abroad, goes through the Exit Permit process and pays 300 Cedis before being granted an Exit Permit. 100,000 workers in a single year will translate to 30 million Cedis in Exit Permit fees alone. With an airport tax of $50 per passenger, 100,000 workers will generate another 5 Million USD (22 million Cedis) in airport taxes. Since ALL workers to The Gulf go through mandatory thorough medical exams costing on the average 150 Cedis, our various medical laboratories would see a huge boost in business. Laboratories will share a market of about 15 million Cedis in one single year, plus other peripheral businesses also enjoying huge patronage. To stretch it a bit, even the newly proposed Ghana National Carrier will also benefit if it flies to just one central destination in The Gulf and has code sharing with a major airline there to transit passengers to other Gulf Countries. We are talking of an average of almost 300 passengers a day, 9,000 passengers a month, to make up to the target of 100,000 workers in a year. They can be structured to enjoy a large market share. Increase in export revenue from non-traditional exports One important benefit we often forget is how such a high concentration of Ghanaians in a geographical location will increase the export of Ghanaian goods and products tremendously. Gari, Shito, Palm oil, powdered fufu, corn dough, cereals like tom brown, local sponges, alata samina, Ghanaian movies, are some of the items that those already there continue to ask for. Many of these workers have free food, 3 times a day, but they often miss the local foods they are used to. Companies with Ghanaian workers I have spoken to are interested in being supplied with indigenous Ghanaian foods, to be cooked for Ghanaian workers. They already have employed Ghanaian cooks mainly for this purpose. The role of licensed, Ghanaian international recruitment agencies Many companies in The Gulf rely on the supply of workers from Recruitment Agencies that have been licensed by The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to recruit Ghanaians for jobs abroad. Each of these agencies has gone through a thorough criminal background check on its Directors and Principals by the CID of The Ghana Police, have had their offices inspected by The Labour Department, and have deposited 25,000 Cedis as deposit to be used for repatriation in case a worker is stranded abroad. They go through strict procedures to recruit workers for companies abroad, including having all contracts checked and the genuineness of the employer abroad and job opportunity verified by The Labour Department of Ghana before being allowed to undertake any recruitment. Recruited workers are briefed and documented before being issued Exit Permits to allow them to travel and work abroad. These agencies on their own travel to The Gulf to negotiate for, and secure jobs for Ghanaians, then come back to arrange interviews, selection and deployment of these workers under the STRICT supervision of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations through the Labour Department of Ghana. Threat to licensed agencies However the majority of recruitment of Ghanaians to foreign countries is being done by “connection men”, travel and tour companies which have no licence to undertake recruitment, and criminal human traffickers, hence many people who go through these illegal channels end up in serious problems, giving the whole industry a bad name. Some Ghanaian job seekers are made to travel on visit and tourist visas instead of residence and work visas. Others are promised one job and end up being coerced to do a totally different job which results in agitations and termination of their contracts by the companies. Fake and illegal agencies also promise huge salaries and false conditions of service which turn out to be false. These practices are almost impossible for a Licensed Agency to indulge in because their recruitment processes are supervised by The Labour Department on behalf of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
13 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE MONDAY, JULY 24, 2017 BY ABIGAIL ASARE ‘Comedy Fiesta’ comes off July 29 Paapa Yankson dies at age 73 BY HAGAR DONKOR BOADI THE SECOND edition of ‘Comedy Fiesta’ comes off on Saturday, July 29 at the Silverbird Cinemas, Westhills Mall in Accra. This month’s show will have performances from comedians like, MJ The Comedian, Lekzy, Warris, Foster Romanus and the queen of Ghanaian comedy, Jacinta. There will also be a poetry recital from Jewell king. The Chief Executive Officer of Romanus Empire, Foster Romanus told the DAILY HER- ITAGE in an interview that, the show is to showcase Ghanaian comedy and to give chance to upcoming comedians to get familiar of s with the industry. “We do this show to give platform to the new talents in Ghanaian comedy so they can be seen, recognised and as well as entertain our audience. We are always fishing for new talents all the time Ghana lacks matured highlife DJs–Kwaisey Pee HIGHLIFE ARTISTE Kwaisey Pee has bemoaned the lack of matured and popular highlife DJs in the country. According to him, the new crops of DJs do not represent the highlife music genre, observing that they rather prefer to play songs that appeal to their generation. Speaking to Empire FM, he said, “There are no more matured and popular DJs/presenters •Kwaisey Pee, highlife musician who represent the highlife music genre. Rather, there are too many young DJs in the industry at the moment who don’t enjoy classical/matured music”. The ‘Sha Ahwenea’ hitmaker blamed DJs and presenters for killing highlife music complaining that highlife musicians have been neglected. Kwaisey Pee accused Ghanaian DJs of choosing Nigerian songs over Ghanaian music adding that the proliferation of unprofessional DJs rendered young highlife musicians such as Kumi Guitar, Akwaboah, eShun and •Foster Romanus, Comedian that’s why it is a monthly show, he said. The first edition which featured Clemento Suarez, Foster Romanus among others saw comedy lovers full of excitement. others redundant. “They fail to realise where Hiplife or even the current Afro-pop originated from. The Davidos, Wizkids, Flavours are actually doing Highlife but because we’re considered old-school they don’t even pay attention to anything we produce,” he complained. He debunked assertion that the likes of K.K. Fosu, Kofi B and himself are fading out of the entertainment scene. GHANAIAN HIGH- LIFE legend Benjamin Paapa Kofi Yankson is dead. Mr Yankson died last Friday morning at his residence in Dansoman, Accra at the age of 73 after battling with illness for some time now. He performed at recent events in a wheelchair. He has composed many hit songs some of which have attracted national awards and nomination for awards. In 1997 his composition, ‘Yaaba’ won an award for Best Composition during the Komkomba Awards. His works, Wiase Mu Nsem, Show Your Love, Wo Yere Anaa Wo Maame, ‘Kokroko’, ‘Won Hye Ase’, ‘Jealousy’, ‘Abam Kofi’, ‘Abotar’, ‘Okukuseku’ and ‘Tena Menkyen’ are some of his great songs. Paapa Yankson has more than 15 albums to his credit and it is not surprising that some young hiplife artistes keep knocking at his door to feature him on their albums. He has taught and performed in many countries around the world including the United States of America, Canada, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Holland, Nigeria, Benin and Cote d’Ivoire. He was instrumental in the projection of music bands into critical national acclaim; ‘Western Diamond band’, ‘Gold Nuggets band’ and ‘Carousel Seven band’. He has lectured and performed in many countries around the world including the US, Canada, Belgium, Britain, Germany, Holland, Nigeria, Benin and the Ivory Coast. •Paapa Kofi Yankson, highlife legend
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Daily Heritage July 24

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