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Inside June 12, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 6/11/18 8:39 PM Page 7 11TH JUNE 2018 MONDAY CURRENCY PARIS CODE BUYING SELLING US Dollar USDGHS 4.4430 4.4475 RATES Pound Sterling GBPGHS 5.9452 5.9525 Euro GBPGHS 5.2473 5.2515 10 DAILY HERITAGE TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2018 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH Heritage Bank delights children of King Jesus Charity Home IN LINE with its community-oriented and people-centred approach to business, Heritage Bank Limited has brought smiles on the faces of children at the King Jesus Charity Home at Boadi in Kumasi. A delegation comprising staff of the Bank’s Suame and Adum branches in Kumasi paid a visit to the orphans of the charity home, which doubles as a school. They feted the children with a variety of goodies, interacted with them and served as guest-tutors and supervisors for the day. The entourage of about 20 staff members led by the Manager of the Suame Branch, Titus Beyuoh, indulged the children in a mix of fun and serious activities, including a mini-party, talent display, indoor games, a talk on good hygiene and a discussion on schooling and career choices. The highlight of the occasion was the generous presentation of assorted food items, drinks, clothes, toiletries and other essentials to the children. •Titus Beyuoh, Manager of Suame Branch, Heritage Bank handing a dummy cheque to Rev Kofi Owusu Afriyie, Founder of King Jesus Charity Home In addition to these, the Bank provided a cash token to the home. Thanking the Heritage Bank team, Rev Kofi Owusu Afriyie, the Founder and President of King Jesus Charity Home, Nungua, blessed the institution, saying, “Your most kind gesture has empowered our spirit to continue aiding and training more needy children. May the Lord Almighty continue to bless all your undertakings and grant you divine success.” Commenting on this gesture, Mr Beyuoh stated that the habit of identifying the needy and vulnerable in society and providing sustainable support initiatives to uplift them is an intrinsic aspect of the corporate culture at Heritage Bank. “Our mantra: ‘It’s Possible’ isn’t only relevant to our clients and other business interests. At Heritage Bank, beyond the business of banking, we believe that we are primarily in the business of making dreams come true for the needy and vulnerable within the communities that we serve. “This act of support for the King Jesus Charity Home is just one of many community-centred initiatives that the Bank will be rolling out across the country in the ensuing days.” It will be recalled that Managing Director of Heritage Bank Limited, Mr Patrick Fiscian, recently confirmed to members of the media that the Bank was firmly on course to meet the BOG’s minimum capital requirement well ahead of the stipulated December 31, 2018 deadline. Within a year of operations, the Bank has established seven branches, with four in Accra (Airport City, East Legon, Dzorwulu, Abbossey Okai), two in Kumasi (Adum and Suame- Magazine) and one in Tema. All branches of the bank offer extended banking services from 8:30a.m. to 6:00p.m. throughout the working week. The Bank also prides itself on some of the most efficient digital banking platforms and consumer asset finance loan offerings on the market as well as a host of other bespoke products. 100,000 on MTN Mobile Money pension scheme CLOSE TO 100,000 Ghanaians have subscribed to making personal pension contributions through MTN Mobile Money and United Pensions Trust personal pension scheme dubbed ‘My Own Pension.’ With over 80% of Ghana’s labour force being in the informal sector, ‘My Own Pension’, which is a tier 3 mobile pension and savings product, is expected to create an opportunity for more Ghanaians to have a structured pension system. ‘My Own Pension’ reiterates MTN Ghana’s commitment to engendering financial inclusion, social protection and the improvement of living standards for Ghanaians from all sectors and diverse economic backgrounds using technology. The service was launched in Accra in May in partnership with Fidelity Bank and Bora Capital Advisors. Commenting on the progress made so far after the launch, Mr Eli Hini, General Manager for MTN Ghana Mobile Financial Services, said, “We are very satisfied with the response received so far from the public, and this tells us that we are gradually achieving success with our quest to drive financial inclusion in Ghana.” “As the leader in the Telecoms Market, we will continue to collaborate with like-minded organizations to make our customers live a whole lot brighter,” he added. The Chairman for United Pensions Trustees, Mr Harold Awuah-Darko, encouraged persons who are yet to sign on to the scheme to do so and enjoy the benefits it provides. He said, “The more you invest in your pension, the more money you would have working for you and as a result you generate more returns.” Mr Awuah-Darko also commended MTN for sharing in their vision of •Mr Eli Hini, General Manager for MTN MoMo, and some invited guests at the official launch of My Pension Scheme making pensions available to everyone everywhere. The intervention by MTN Ghana, United Pension Trustees and the key partners was also applauded by the Director General of Management Development and Productivity Centre, Mr Kwaku Odame-Takyi, who spoke on behalf of the Minister for Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffuor Awuah, at the launch. He said, “Government is very supportive of any initiative that aids in fulfilling the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766) and drives inclusivity for everyone, especially those in the informal sector.” ‘My-Own Pension’ scheme is fast, easy and affordable and has optional products ranging from life, health and motor insurance, which can be arranged for interested clients.
Inside June 12, 2018 .qxp_Layout 1 6/11/18 8:39 PM Page 8 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2018 11 Politics Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself —Henry James IMANI throws light on five critical matters of state Man Dies in Car due to lack of hospital beds 1. MR. OBIRI Yeboah lost the dad last week because all major hospitals in the capital, Accra, could not find a bed for the ailing dad. Ghana, a population of nearly 30 million has only 15,000 hospital beds available. What is worse ONLY 54 ambulances are available for all Ghanaians. And yet $178m that could buy One million, seven hundred and eighty hospital beds is being given freely to a phantom project by your Communication Ministry. CitiNews; GVG saga: Gov’t sued over Common Platform for telco revenue monitoring 2. “Two citizens have sued the government over the traffic monitoring, revenue assurance and mobile money monitoring Common Platform. The two, Sara Asafu-Adjaye and Maximus Amertogoh, are seeking an order restraining the government from implementing the Common Platform. he key relief is “an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the respondents, whether, by themselves, their servants, workmen, hirelings, agents, privies or any persons claiming under or through them, whosoever described from implementing and operationalising the Common Platform until the final determination of this suit.” Joined to the suit are the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, the Ghana Revenue Authority, the National Communications Authority, along with three telecom communications companies.” KelniGVG Surfaces, Apparently. 3. A statement purported to have emanated from KelvinGVG said that has been testing their anti-fraud systems (over the CDRs) and that since the contract was signed in December 2017 only 3000 fraudulent calls were captured for the 5 main telcos with a total subscriber base of over 25 million. Only 3000 fraudulent calls were detected by KelvinGVG's monitoring machines. We need to ask; were all the 3000 international calls? If no, how many were international calls and how many were domestic calls? By law, international calls cost 0.19 cents per minute in Ghana. Assuming all the 3000 calls were international calls and each lasted for a minute, the total savings to the tax payer is only $570. If all the 3000 calls were international calls and lasted 60 minutes each, (which is unlikely), the total savings to the tax payer is $34,200. If they were yet to be connected to any of the networks, how were they able to come by the fact that 1938 fraudulent calls were made? By what mode or method were they testing. NB: The telcos detect and parry off 25,000 fraudulent each day. These calls are being made by fraudsters because it is lucrative to call Ghana from outside. The issue of fraudulent calls is a pricing issue, not machine monitoring at inflated costs. Imagine this will go on every month for the next 10 years, paying KelniGVG $1.5m every month for 10 years to return negligible value of unlikely $34, 200. 4. Of UNI-PASS, GCNet, West Blue and Paperless Ports IMANI has been studying the port systems, specifically the paperless port process, and would like to understand the implications of adopting UNI- PASS on the turnaround times and the costs. According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI), the introduction of UNI-PASS is expected to make the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) more comprehensive. In addition, the UNI-PASS system will include a clearance management system, a cargo management system, an information management system and an administration system. Questions: a. Are all these functions missing from the existing systems (GCNet and West Blue platforms)? How easily can they be added to the existing system and at what cost? b. The 2018 World Bank Doing Business index indicates that Ghana ranked 158 out of 190 countries in the trading across borders indicator, a four-point drop from 2017 rankings. How does the UNI-PASS system enhance trade facilitation in terms of the Cargo Dwell Times? c. How much percentage wise, are revenues likely to increase from the existing situation with the new system? Will this be large enough to offset the potential lost revenue from government shareholding in GCNet? d. The GCNet contract ends in 2023 while the West Blue contract expires in 2020. This means that there are still about 5 and 2 more years, respectively, for them to operate the single window system. e. Is the government going to abrogate these contracts and at what cost? f. If government does not intend to abrogate these contracts, how will all three companies operate on the single window platform? What is the implication for trade facilitation? g. What will the transition look like and what consequences will it have for trade facilitation and revenue mobilisation? h. What motivated MoTI’s decision to procure a new system instead of strengthening existing systems? We have written to the appropriate authorities for answers to the above and many more questions. 5. NEIP and later NABCO The National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP) is a flagship policy initiative of the government of Ghana with the primary objective of providing an integrated national support for start-ups and small businesses- Website. a. In the 2018 budget statement, the Finance Minister reported thus; ‘’The Ministry launched its flagship programme, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP) and the National Business Plan Competition. In addition, the Ministry procured Private Sector Implementation Partner for NEIP.’’ b. Building an Entrepreneurial Nation 787. ‘’Mr. Speaker, Government engaged a Private Sector Implementation Partner (PSIP) to manage the USD10million National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) and to raise additional funding from the private sector. This programme was launched by H.E. the President on 25th August, 2017. The Ministry for Special Development Initiatives advertised and received 5,500 applications from young Ghanaian entrepreneurs. These applications are being vetted and successful entrepreneurs will receive business advisory services.’’ c. The following were the bidders for selection of the PSIP. 1. African SME Oragnaistaion 2. CEPD Limited, 3. Fidelity Bank Consortium 4. Innohub Limited,5. Stanbic Bank Consortium,6. MDF West Africa,7. KNUST Short Course Centre,8. EMPRETEC,9. HCCL,10. Solomon Bondzi-Quaye,11. GBIIG,12. Kwaku Adu-Mensah d. We have been reliably informed that African SME Oragnaistaion won the bid to be the PSIP to NEIP and Ministry of Business Development. e. We understand that African SME Oragnaistaion begun work but was later sidelined by the Ministry of Business Development for unexplained business reasons. f. Which agency or company has the Ministry of Business Development been working with since it disowned African SME Oragnaistaion? g. What are the productive plans of NEIP beyond announcing the processing of 7,000 start-up applications? Are there really 7,000 applications? We shall return with further questions and a review of NABCO, the Nation Builders Corp. IMANI commiserates with the leadership of NEIP, the Ministry of Business Development on the recent loss of the former’s deputy CEO to careless medical care. EC impasse: constitutional crisis ahead – Asiedu Nketia BY KWAME ACHEAMPONG THE GENERAL secretary of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has predicted a constitutional crisis ahead of the country if the protracted tension at the electoral commission is not resolved immediately. According to him, the impasse at the election management body has obstructed the undertaking of crucial decisions and actions that should have been made after the 2016 elections. The EC boss Charlotte Osei and some of her deputies have been engrossed in public disagreement over how affairs are conducted at the institution. Both sides have accused each other of incompetence and financial impropriety. A petition sent to the president for the dismissal of the commissioners is being considered by a committee set up the Chief Justice as Ghana’s constitution demands. Addressing Members of the NDC AT Aflao in the Ketu South district of the Volta region, Mr Asiedu Nketia said the issues •Mrs Charlotte Osei, EC boss plaguing the commission must be a major worry to Ghanaians. “My fear is that we will get so close to the next elections and there will be too many things yet undone, and if we are not careful we are leading this nation into a constitutional crisis. We have been warned not to speak for fear of being cited for contempt. If there is anything leading us into crisis I will prefer to talk about it and risk being cited for contempt than to keep quiet. “Whatever is happening about the EC must be happen quick enough so they can look forward, anything and undertake their activities before the 2020 elections, the alternative will be a chaotic election. And Ghanaians are not ready for that. We demand that the results of the 2016 elections are gazetted,” he said. The NDC executive also appealed to the National Identification Authority to include more means of identity for the Ghana card instead of restricting themselves to passport and birth certificate.
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