‘Ghana will meet conditions for MCC second compact funds’

A representative of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has expressed confidence in Ghana’s ability to meet the conditions for accessing funds under the second compact.

Despite suggestions by the Minority in Parliament that Ghana may not be able to access the second fund from the Millennium Challenge Account, Ms Deidra Fair James, the Country Team Lead at the United States Embassy in Ghana, has expressed optimism that the fund could be accessed.

She explained that the government had shown a commitment to implement the reforms needed to transform the country’s energy sector where majority of the funds under the compact are expected to be invested.

Project take-off
According to Ms James, depending on the government’s ability to put in place the necessary strategies required under the compact for the implementation of the projects, the first tranche of funding would be ready by mid-2015.

“It takes usually about nine to 12 months to constitute a board, start hiring, collect the baseline data, and ensure all the studies are completed so we can start. There is money available to facilitate project preparations.”

On the prime conditions that Ghana is expected to meet before accessing the fund, Ms James said apart from the exchange of letters, the government must be on track to repay arrears owed the ECG and complete consultations for public-private sector arrangements.

“We had a very good preparation with the government, as well as discussions for negotiations and this is what we agreed on. We are here to support the government in ensuring that we move forward,” she said.

Africa power initiative
President Obama, on June 30, 2013, launched a private sector-led initiative aimed at doubling electricity access in Sub-Saharan Africa known as Power Africa.

On August 5, 2014, at the recently ended US-African leaders’ Summit, President Obama announced a renewed commitment to the Power Africa Initiative pledging $300 million per year to expand power supply across the African continent.

Transforming Ghana’s power sector
At a press round table in Accra on Wednesday on the US-Africa leaders’ summit and the Millennium Challenge Corporation-Ghana Compact II, the US Ambassador, Mr Gene Cretz, commended the Ghanaian delegation for their valuable contributions during the three-day summit.

“I would like to highlight that President Mahama and his official delegation played an important role. Although economic issues grabbed the headlines the Ghanaian delegation participated in and made valuable contributions to discussions on a number of global issues including Climate Change, gender-based violence, trafficking of drugs and strengthening governance in Africa.”

Under compact II, up to $498 million would be invested over the next five years to support the transformation of Ghana’s power sector and stimulate private investment.

The government of Ghana also pledged to invest at least $37.4 million.

The compact included an initial investment of up to $149.6 million to put the country’s main distribution company, the electricity Company of Ghana, on the path to sustainability.

It would also help the ECG meet existing and future demands by improving oversight and management and upgrading infrastructure to reduce and improve service.

Insurers build data base to detect fraud

THE Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) is building a data base to detect and prevent fraud in the insurance industry.

The project, dubbed the Ghana Insurance Industry Data base (GIID), is aimed at providing a wide risk market  data to improve the service delivery of insurance companies in the country.

GIID is being sponsored by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in collaboration with the National Insurance Commission (NIC).

The data to be stored in a central repository will include information on existing policy risk and claim collected from all insurers.

Pilot
Speaking after the opening of a day’s seminar for operators in the life insurance industry, the President of the GIA, Mr Ivan Avereyireh, said the GIID would help the entire insurance industry to develop more robust and stable business models.

He said the project was currently being piloted in the motor insurance industry.

“Based on the success of the pilot, the project would be replicated to cover the entire industry in the next three years,” he said, adding that it was likely the life insurance business sector would be the next to pilot the GIID.

“The project would facilitate access to data on the insurance industry. Insurance depends on data, and with the data base, industry players would know where to go for information.”

With the full implementation of GIID, Mr Avereyireh was sure policy holders who migrate to other insurance companies when they owe their former insurers “would be identified easily and would be urged to go back and finish paying their premiums.”

Life business seminar
The seminar, which was attended by life insurance underwriters and claims expects, was on the theme, “Life insurance business: Shareholders’ expectations.”

Earlier, Mr Avereyireh urged players in the industry to improve their services to end the unfavourable perception of the public which accounts for the low level of insurance penetration in Ghana.

In a welcome address, the second Vice President and Chairman of the Life Council of the GIA, Mr Edward Forkuo Kyei, said the expectation of customers of the various insurance companies was critical and insurers needed to respond and manage those expectation to meet their companies’ objectives.

He said life insurers could meet the expectation of their clients by paying legitimate claims promptly.

Ghana Customs Seize 700 cars

Some of the impounded cars

More than 700 vehicles believed to have been smuggled into Ghana from neighbouring countries have been impounded by officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

Out of the number, 500 were confiscated from March to May this year, while more than 200 were seized in the ongoing exercise dupped ‘anti-car smuggling operation’.

The latest confiscation, effected from June 26 to date, involve expensive vehicles, including 4X4s, which were seized from their owners at the various customs points throughout Ghana for which duties were not paid by their owners or the importers.

Out of the 200 vehicles, officials of the Customs Division at the headquarters in Accra impounded 55 cars, while customs officials in Sunyani confiscated 45.

In Kumasi, 22 smuggled cars have been impounded, while the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in Accra and the Customs sector commands in Tema, Takoradi, Ho, Bolgatanga and Tamale confiscated about 10 cars each.

Dwindling revenue
In an interview in Accra yesterday, the Assistant Commissioner, Preventive Sector Commander of the Customs Division, Mr Czas N. Sabblah, said the anti-car smuggling exercise was embarked on after the division realised that revenue in relation to vehicle imports was dwindling.

Data at the Customs Division indicate that 21 per cent of the 45 per cent tax revenue collected by the Customs Division is generated from vehicle imports.

 “From intelligence, we gathered that vehicles were being routed into the country by road and that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol was being abused,” he said.

The ECOWAS Protocol allows citizens of member countries of the sub-regional body to temporarily cross over to other countries with vehicles for temporary use for a period of 90 days.

On arrival in the country, the vehicles must be registered with the Customs Division. Where there is the need to extend the period, the owners are expected to notify Customs officials for the necessary procedure.

Mr Sabblah said investigations showed that a number of car importers were importing vehicles from Ghana’s neighbouring countries where they managed to register them and obtained documents.

However, when the vehicles arrived in Ghana, the importers used dubious means to obtain false Ghanaian car number plates and either used the vehicles or sold them.

“Those in the car smuggling business patronise the services of some unscrupulous persons at the DVLA who are able to generate documents such as road worthy certificates and car registration plates for the smuggled cars,” Mr Sabblah said.

Overage vehicles
According to him, other smugglers also bought overage vehicles from  Lome,Togo, which has a duty free port.

“They do not verify the tax liability of the vehicles they purchase, as old cars attract higher taxes. They then register them with Togolese number plates and process them for temporary importation into Ghana, but they later change the number plates and sell them to unsuspecting people,” he said.

He said because the cars from Togo were overage, the importers usually tampered with their chassis numbers to correspond with the forged customs documents before selling them.

Expatiating on the anti-car smuggling operation, Mr Sabblah said the operation had been categorised into three phases and that the second phase would focus on trucks, while the third phase would dwell on saloon cars.

“We gave a public notice that from June 26, 2014, we will be going after smuggled cars and alerted all sector commanders and substations to ensure the exercise took place simultaneously throughout the country,” he said.

He said since the commencement of the exercise, “we have intelligence that some people intend to move their cars out of the country and we have asked our officials to check the tax status of every vehicle and also verify the authenticity of all their customs documents”.

Penalty
The minimum penalty for defaulters is 100 per cent of the tax evaded.

He said the division had started auctioning some of the vehicles impounded to recover the revenue, dispose of the vehicles before they deteriorated and “also create space for the new cars we are confiscating”.

Mr Sabblah said during the operation, customs officials carried laptops to enable them to link up to the database of the vehicles.

Vehicles suspected to have been smuggled were initially detained for 30 days, during which the owners were expected to produce the necessary documents and assist in investigations, and depending on the outcome the vehicles were released to the owners of confiscated, he said.

According to him when the 30 days’ grace period expired, the vehicles were then classified as seized cars and the owners had 30 days to appeal, after which the vehicles were put up for auction.

“At this stage, it is only the Commissioner of the GRA who can release a seized car,” he explained.

Mr Sabblah, therefore, appealed to potential car buyers to approach the nearest Customs office to verify the tax liability and the authenticity of customs documents covering the car and also for examination of the chassis number to determine the right age.

writer’s email: emelia.ennin@graphic.com.gh

Fire outbreak at Alajo burns toddler to death

A fire outbreak at Alajo in Accra has led to the death of a three-year-old boy.

The fire is said to have started at a location used mainly as mechanic workshops and trading posts about 8 p.m. last Tuesday.

A number of the wooden shops at the location near the Achimota-Accra rail line are occupied by squatters.

The mother of the three-year-old boy, Georgina Nti, said her son, George Blay, was sleeping when she left to have her bath in a public washroom close by.

When she returned, she saw the place on fire, with some residents trying to put out the fire.

The police said Ms Nti had lit a candle in the room and it was suspected that the fire could have been caused by the candle.




Victims speak
Firefighters from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) who received distress calls from some residents of the area had to use two fire engines to put out the fire.

For more than one hour, the firefighters tried to bring the fire under control, while policemen from the Kotobabi District Command controlled the crowd.

Properties, including cars parked at the mechanic shops and about 50 wooden structures in the area, have all been razed down by the fire.

When the Daily Graphic visited the scene, some of the victims said they could not retrieve any of their belongings, as the fire had been very ferocious.

One of the affected persons, Ms Akosua Asamoah, said she had her dressmaking shop close to where the fire started.

She said when she heard of the fire outbreak, she ran to the scene to find that all the shops in the area  had been burnt down.

"I don't even know what I will tell my customers who have their cloths with me. The cloths in my shop, both sewn and unsewn, are worth thousands of Ghana cedis, not to mention the knitting, sowing and embroidery machines that I had in there," she lamented.

An apprentice at one of mechanic shops, Alhassan Musa, said he was sleeping in a broken down car when he saw heavy smoke coming from one of the shops used for residential purposes.

"Suddenly, I heard people shouting and l rushed to the place. That was when l saw there was fire and it was spreading fast," he explained.

Police control crowd
The Kotobabi District Police Commander, Mrs Elizabeth Danquah, told the Daily Graphic that the police received information on the fire outbreak about 8:30 p.m.

"While fighting the fire, we discovered that we had one casualty — a-year-old boy had been burnt to death,” she said.

She said because the structures at the place were mostly wooden, it was easy for the fire to spread.

She noted that it was important for people to provide access routes when they constructed their homes, adding, “Because of the nature of the structures here, we had difficulty accessing the place.”


Advice for the public
The Deputy Accra Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ASP) Mr Timothy Yoosa Bonga, who visited the scene yesterday morning, sympathised with the victims.

He said because the place was used as a workshop and residence, it was important for the people to be cautious when they used fire.

He advised the public not to leave naked fires after they had been used for cooking or other things but ensure such fires were completely put out.

"When you use a candle, it must have a stand made of metal or glass. Lit candles should not be left on the bare floor or on a carpet," Mr Bonga said.

Writer's email: emelia.ennin@graphic.com.gh

Two Buildings collapse

PORTIONS of two buildings collapsed at different locations in Accra and at Nkawkaw this week, which left one person dead, while 70 people escaped unhurt.

In the first incident, about 40 tenants of a two-storey building were evacuated, following the collapse of portions of their house at Bubuashie in Accra last Wednesday.

A 90-year-old man, his over 80-year-old wife and a 13-year-oid girl who were transfered in the rubble were rescued by some residents.

In the second incident, a young woman, identified as Mavis Dede, was killed when part of the Assemblies of God Church collapsed at Accra Town, a surburb of Nkawkaw last Monday.

 Dede, was among 30 people who were having a youth meeting in the building about 8 p.m when incident occured.


Evacuation
When the Daily Graphic visited the scene at Bubuashie, a rescue team, comprising officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and the police, was busily helping more than 40 tenants to evacuate the about 50-year-old building.

Some of the victims of the collapsed building, popularly known as Jerusalem House, located at Ayigbe Town, Bubuashie, said they had distributed their personal effects among friends and family members.

Others who were seen parking their belongings into trucks said they were yet to find accommodation elsewhere.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear, although residents said they had heard cracking sounds in the early hours of the day.

Tenants escape
A daughter of the landlord, Hellen Tettey, said her parents, who were old, had been relocated, since they could not stand the shock of seeing their house collapse.

According to Ms Tettey, some tenants on the ground floor were also not at home at the time the building collapsed.

She said the 90-year-old man and his wife who were tenants in the house were sitting in their porch when the concrete roof started caving in.

“Because they were old, they could not immediately escape, but luckily they were not hurt,” she said.

Police prevent thievery
A neighbour, Betty Ayittey, told the Daily Graphic that she was passing by when she saw some tenants of the house run towards the gate.

“Then I saw the concrete that separates the ground floor from the first floor falling and part of the building coming down,” she said.

The Kaneshie Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Fleance Adika, said the police rushed to the scene immediately after hearing about the incident.

In the incident at Accra Town, Dede was reported to have sustained serious injuries and was rushed for treatment at the Holy Family Hospital in Nkawkaw but she was referred to the Komfo Anokye Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Other youth who were injured in the incident were treated and discharged from the Holy Family Hospital the same day.

Confirming the incident to the Daily Graphic, the Nkawkaw Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Seth Yirenkyi, said the body of the deceased had been deposited at KATH, awaiting autopsy.

He said Dede and the others were having a youth meeting in the church during a heavy downpour on that fateful day.

Mr Yirenkyi said the wall of a building close to the church caved in and exerted pressure on the part of the building where the youth were, causing that part to also collapse.

In Bubuashie, the occupants of this building had to be evacuted  

Stranded occupants of the Bubuashie building count their loses