Daily Heritage June 16 : 2017

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Quake Edition FEB 92.qxp_Layout 1 6/15/17 9:38 PM Page 9 12 DAILY News WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH HERITAGE FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2017 Help me retrieve looted state cash – Auditor-General BY MOHAMMED AWAL THE AUDITOR- GENERAL (AG), Daniel Domelevo has called for the backing of Ghanaians as he prepares to recover every penny siphoned from state coffers. His appeal came barely 24 hours after a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday ordering him to immediately initiate process of surcharging any person found to have misappropriated state funds. Also, the panel headed by Ghana’s Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo directed that where applicable, criminal action should be instituted against the accused persons by the country’s Attorney General. Declaring his readiness to recoup the monies looted from the state yesterday on Morning Starr, which pressure group, Occupy • Daniel Domelevo, the Auditor-General Ghana said is well over GH¢ 40 billion, Mr Domelevo appealed to all and sundry to come on board. According to him, the task ahead is an arduous one and that he is oblivious of the amount of evidence that will be required “before we can do the surcharge.” “So let me say that I am happy you say Occupy Ghana has a figure which I know of. It is not just Auditor General, it a collective responsibility. I’ll appeal to Occupy Ghana and all Ghanaians to let us do this together,” he pleaded. He continued “if you have any evidence to support it, because what is written in the audit report you may have to go back to the first document and establish that… this is the evidence because people will challenge our disallowance and surcharge and that will go to court. “If we go to court we must provide the evidence. So I’ll appeal to Occupy Ghana and Ghanaians that it is a collective responsibility to protect the public funds which is in the interest of all of us.” We’re coming for our cash He said with the backing of the Ghanaian populace nothing will discourage him from executing the Supreme Court’s order to the letter and that “wherever there is outright embezzlement of state funds, we will go for it.” This, he explained extends to private entities and individuals found to have siphoned the state’s coffers. The ruling, he said is resounding giving great clarity to the provisions of the constitution. Hitherto, there were two schools of thought; one school was of the view that as longs the Auditor General produces the annual report to Parliament and mentioned in there infractions and irregularities in financial management that was enough…which is the old school.” “However, there is another school of thought which I belong to which is of the view that the constitution is very clear that in the course of the audit, if you come across any expenditure which is contrary to law it must be disallowed and whoever is responsible to be held accountable.” The Supreme Court ruling was necessitated by an action instituted against the Attorney General and Auditor General by pressure group Occupy Ghana for refusing to surcharge persons who are said to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state to the tune of over GH¢ 40 billion. 3 months Jail term for false fire Alarmists BY EDWARD ADETI JUST ONE wrong move of deliberately calling the attention of firemen to a false fire outbreak anywhere in Ghana will earn you a minimum of one-month jail term or a maximum of three-months if caught, government has announced. The notice, contained in the latest Local Governance Act 936, 2016, was made public this week when the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council called stakeholders together at Bolgatanga, the regional capital, to sensitise them on some new developments inside the local governance law book. “A person who knowingly or without lawful authority gives or causes to be given a false alarm of fire commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than one hundred and twenty-five penalty units and not more than one hundred fifty penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than one month and not more than three months or to both the fine and term of imprisonment,” the Act states. Among the participants were municipal and district coordinating directors, presiding members, senior staff at the coordinating council and representatives of civil society organisations in the region. False fire callers too many in Upper East Checks done the Upper East Regional Headquarters of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) immediately after the sensitisation programme revealed that the headquarters receives at least three anonymous false alarm calls every two-months. “We have a lot of contact lines to those false alarm callers. We’ve gone to the offices of the network service providers to track them but they asked us to pass through the police. The police also say they are also experiencing those things. They (the false alarm callers) call them that there is an armed robbery incident here or there; you go and there is nothing. Most of them call at midnight,” the Deputy Regional Commander, DOI Ebenezer Mensah, told Starr News. He stated further: “It has been so for a long time. It has serious effects on us. Even fuel alone. We fill the tank to our fire engine with fuel- and the tank in the ambulance, because always we go with ambulance in case of casualties. The most recent one was when we received a call that there was fire around the Timber Market (near Zuarungu). We combed everywhere that night for hours and it turned out that it was a false alarm.” Meanwhile, development watchers have remarked that the penalty cited in the new Act 936 is “not punitive enough” to discourage such deceitful calls. Participants held deliberations on the new Act • A cross section of the stakeholders at the programme New law exempts Private Cemeteries from Property Rate The omission of private cemeteries in the new Act with regard to the collection of property rate attracted a sharp attack from the Assistant Dean of Studies and Research at the Institute of Local Government Studies, Abdul-Moomen Salia, who facilitated the programme alongside the Upper East Regional Coordinating Director, Alhaji Abdulai Abubakar. “The law says schools, hospitals, cemeteries are exempted. For me, it raises an issue. Cemeteries in other areas are big businesses. We now have people operating private cemeteries. And the number of years the grave stays there depends on how much you are willing to pay. “These are private people, who are operating the cemetery business, making income. I think that we should look at that law. If we are talking about public cemetery, it’s agreed. If somebody is operating a private cemetery, you shouldn’t exempt that person whilst he or she is making profits,” Mr Salia strongly stated. Upper East Regional Coordinating Director, Alhaji Abdulai Abubakar, asked municipal and district coordinating directors to adopt the new Act as their ‘Holy Scriptures.’ His position on the property tax was backed by former Upper East Regional Economic Planning Officer, Issaka Sagito, who said “private schools are now businesses and they make big money. “And I don’t think they even pay any income tax. If you start a private school in a room, in the next three years you would see a storey building financed by the Parent Teacher Association. All the buildings are all from parents but in the end they are the property of the owner of the school.” Whilst making a presentation on “Financial Matters of District Assemblies”, the Chief Internal Auditor at the coordinating council, Daniel Atompoya, observed that despite a significant rise in the number of private buildings put up in recent times across the region, the assemblies still looked bankrupt as they had failed to stand firm on their demand for the
13 WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH DAILY HERITAGE FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2017 I’m ‘King’ of the East – Ennwai HIPLIFE ARTISTE and member of defunct group ‘Dobble’, Ennwai, has announced he has taken over the Eastern Region as the ‘King’ of music. According to the versatile musician, who hails from Jejeti in the Eastern Region, declaring himself as the ‘King’ means he is not going to disappoint the region. For him, it is also a huge challenge to live up to expectations. Ennwai told Starrfmonline.com •Ennwai that “I’m going to make sure I work hard to maintain this title as the ‘King’ of music as far as the Eastern Region is concerned and I strongly believe that success is awaiting me and very soon Ghanaians will testify to that.” Ennwai’s recently released songs, which include ‘Halle Halle’, ‘Give Thanks’, and ‘Jah Over Everything’ are receiving massive airplay after his breakaway from ‘Dobble’. MULTIPLE AWARD- WIN- NING teen actor Abraham Attah and the Hero Film crew have donated a number of Toms shoes to underprivileged schoolchildren in the Northern Region. The donation was done on June 14, 2017. As part of the youngster's regional tour of the north, his foundation (Abraham Attah Foundation) partnered with the Hero Film Project to make such donations worth thousands of Ghana Cedis to needy schoolchildren in Tamale International School and SOS Children Village among other schools. According to Mr Attah, he received a courtesy call from a young actress in Tamale, Vanessa Dokurugu, who appealed to him through the Hero Film management about the conditions of some underprivileged schoolchildren in the north. Attah quickly responded to the call of young Vanessa, who happens to be the lead character of the much-anticipated social responsibility movie ‘The Hero’, to embark on a tour in the Northern Region. The schoolchildren from the various schools were very excited and overwhelmed to see actor Attah Abraham Attah, Hero Film crew donate to Tamale schoolchildren and their own Vanessa. The children and their patrons expressed their appreciation to Attah and the Hero Film crew kind gesture. Later in the evening, there was a special dinner organized by the Hero Film crew for Attah and Vanessa at the Modern City Hotel in Tamale. Attah took the opportunity to motivate the young actress to continue in the direction she had taken so she •Abraham Attah (M) donating the items to the schoolchildren could serve as a motivation to other young ones. He added that he would send more Toms shoes to other schools in the region through Vanessa. ‘Feeling’ music video was shot on $20,000 budget - Bisa Kdei AWARD-WINNING high life artiste Bisa Kdei has finally disclosed the amount involved in shooting the video for his collaboration with Nigeria's Reekado Banks in a statement copied to the DAILY HER- ITAGE. Bisa Kdei said the total cost for shooting of the highly rated music video was $20,000 As to what really went in for the 100,000 Ghana-cedi budgeted video, Bisa Kdei says it's up to the director to disclose that. The song, which is titled ‘Feeling’, is expected to be on Bisa Kdeis upcoming album; ‘Konnect’. The video was directed by Yaw Skyface. The statement stated that “After watching the video and seeing the expensive cars, beautiful models and other casts featured in, we believe the video is indeed an expensive one. “Also, flying and hosting a top Nigerian artiste like Reekado Banks in Ghana for the shoot is another budget we must look at.” •Bisa Kdei •Reekado Banks, Nigerian musician
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Daily Heritage June 16 : 2017

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