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GOOD TIPS FROM THE POLICE

Editor — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:58:09 +0000

This is a good reminder for all of us. You can never read this too many times!!

1. Tip from police: The elbow is the strongest point on your body.

IF YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO USE IT, DO!

2. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM . Toss it away from you….chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you and he will go for the wallet or purse.

RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car: Kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won’t
see you but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their car after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their check book, or making a list, etc.), DON’T DO
THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you
where to go.

AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.

5. A Few Notes About Getting Into Your Car In a Parking Lot, or Parking Garage:

A. Be aware: look around you; look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat.

(And check out under the car as you approach.)

B. If you’re parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while
the women are attempting to get into their cars.

C. Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may
want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out.

IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY.

(And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot).

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ, RUN!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP IT !

It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women? He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked “for help” into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought
it was weird. The police told her “Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.” The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, “We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.” He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby’s cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they heard baby cries outside their doors when they’re home alone at night.

Please pass this on! and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby.

This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on: America’ s Most Wanted in 2007 when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana .

Please forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle.

Rumpus Over Jubilee Oil

Editor — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:01:08 +0000

…Is Ghana Getting Shortchanged?

Watchers over Ghana’s oil have sounded the alarm bells, upon learning that ultrasonic export metres, installed on FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, the Jubilee Field production vessel, were not functioning properly, and therefore currently, the major means of determining volumes of crude oil exported was by tank dipping. Notwithstanding the fact that the Jubilee Field has metres right from well heads, through the storage tank of the FPSO, which has the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) seals, the news of the dysfunctional export metres has raised suspicions even though the alternative method, which is tank dipping, is internationally recognized and accepted as a means of measure.

The export metres, measure the flow of crude oil from the storage tank of the FPSO to loading tanks. However, before discharging crude from the Jubilee FPSO storage tank, a tank dip measure is recorded and repeated after discharge, to strike the difference. A dip of the loading tank is also taken before and after loading to ensure that the volume of crude oil that it has received is equivalent to what has left the FPSO storage tank.

Manual dipping is done by inserting a measuring tape that has chemicals smeared on each side and it changes colour at the point that it meets the surface of the oil

This method, according to industry experts, is what is generally used and have expressed surprise at the seeming rancour over the matter. The Business Analyst gathered that tank dipping is captured in the agreement among the Jubilee partners as an alternative means of measuring the export volumes. Mr. Yaw Agyemang-Duah, Managing Director of GOIL Limited, who has close to thirty years experience in oil trading, has cautioned against jumping to conclusions on the matter.

“We should be careful; unless there is clear evidence of cheating there is no need to raise alarm,” Mr. Agyemang-Duah stated.

“The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST), National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and oil marketing companies, all use tank dipping as the means of measuri ng volumes of crude oil and other petroleum products,” he disclosed.

He said just as dipping had some degree of tolerance, so was metering, adding that when the metering system failed it was normal to fall on tank dipping as the next alternative means of measuring crude volumes.

According to him, even metres use to fail, and that was why they are calibrated periodically.

An oil sector revenue monitoring officer with the GRA, Mr. Basil Kondoh, is of the view that there are teething challenges facing state institutions that ought to be addressed quickly to facilitate efficient and effective monitoring. “The upstream-midstream petroleum industry is a new sector in the country so all institutions having anything to do with it are currently building capacity in the handling of their various obligations even as the industry is already operational; challenges are therefore to be expected,” Mr. Kondoh argued. According to him, there was the urgent need to build up the capacity of officers of the GRA to enable it carry out its functions efficiently and effectively. Speaking exclusively to The Business Analyst, Mr. Kondoh said logistical constraints facing Ghana Standards Board (GSB) has not made it possible for that institution to confirm the calibration of the measuring instruments on FPSO Kwame Nkrumah.

Responding to specific questions raised by this paper, Mr. Kondoh said even though there were communication challenges at the initial stages of operation on board the FPSO, “after about a month, reliable communication was restored.” He said communication on the FPSO is much better now except that though our officer can make a call from his cabin he cannot receive calls directly there since in-coming calls go to the Mooring Master.

He said the real problem with communication has to do with VHF system used by Tullow, which is not suitable for GRA’s purpose and therefore was considering acquiring satellite phones, both on the FPSO and the tanker.

Mr. Kondoh said “GRA is using electronic tracking device to monitor the status of revenue locks installed on critical pipelines, including the main export pipeline … to ensure that anytime the seal is opened to allow for the use of the pipeline, other people on-shore also get to know about it so as to raise issues when in doubt” adding that “The Operator has raised electronic security issues (i. e. virus) about it and the threat it posed to the entire installation should anything go wrong.”

On the importance and interest of the GRA knowing the quantity each partner lifted and the sales value, Mr. Kondoh said these have implications for determining the partners’ profits and therefore corporate tax liabilities. “The FPSO is a customs area, such as the port, bonded warehouse, the refinery, petroleum depot, factory, etc. and therefore the presence of GRA on the FPSO is to secure the revenue interest of the country, which comes in various ways,” the GRA official explained.

He said the two systems for determining quantities of oil released from the FPSO, comprising the use of metres and secondly, dipping of the tanks before and after the release, serve as a check on the other.

He confirmed a statement by Director of Exploration and Production of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr. Thomas Manu, that the Jubilee Field Operator had ordered for export metres to be calibrated and delivered by July 2011.

Mr. Kondoh concluded that “in the absence of the meter, the dipping is a good substitute and it does not significantly affect the quality of the measurement though the use of the metres as the first choice is preferable.”

Both the Jubilee Field Operator, Tullow Ghana Limited, and GNPC, who, at the time of going to press were finalizing a press statement with the other partners, on the subject matter, assured that there was no cause for alarm. Meanwhile, a former deputy minister for Energy, Mr. K. T. Hammond, has called for the suspension of production from the Jubilee Field in the light of the concerns raised, since he said Ghana could be losing revenue due to the absence of functioning export metres. J.atokobbie@yahoo.com

Rumpus Over Jubilee Oil

Editor — Thu, 19 May 2011 07:58:15 +0000

…Is Ghana Getting Shortchanged?

Manual dipping is done by inserting a measuring tape that has chemicals smeared on each side and it changes colour at the point that it meets the surface of the oil

“We should be careful; unless there is clear evidence of cheating there is no need to raise alarm,” Mr. Agyemang-Duah stated.

According to him, even metres use to fail, and that was why they are calibrated periodically.

Is University Education Still Worth It?

Editor — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:28:48 +0000

Two Pew Research Center surveys conducted in the U.S.A. in March 2011 indicate that almost 57% of Americans now believe that university education no longer provides “good value” for the money that students and their sponsors expend. The preceding statement may discourage any 18-year-old, right out of high school, who is determined to go to college – but here is the good news: a whopping 86% of college graduates who completed 120 credits for a bachelor’s degree believe that their educational investments were worth the money spent. In fact, these same college graduates believe that, because of their college and university degrees, they make about $20,000.00 more per year than their counterparts with only a high school education. And recent U.S. Census Bureau data corroborate the $20,000.00 difference in the median incomes of college-educated and high school-educated citizens, so higher education has its pecuniary benefits.

But college education provides so much more than an anticipated financial boon. Undoubtedly, a college education prepares an individual for tougher personal and intellectual challenges in life, which means that anyone lacking a college degree is unlikely to be offered certain opportunities in the workplace. Collaborating with people from different countries and cultures, a staple of a modern college campus, helps mold an individual for the challenges of a global community, which is getting smaller each day because of technological advances. Ghanaians are now enrolled in many universities around the globe, and these experiences will, undoubtedly, be vital to our wellbeing in a global economy, provided we harness the benefits. Unless we train our citizens to both compete with and learn from others in a very competitive world, we will remain trapped inside suffocating walls of mediocrity, never able to escape our self-inflicted “garrison” to bring prosperity to the ordinary Ghanaian.

There are instinctive qualities that guide some people to make good decisions – finding and selecting the right spouse, and choosing the right career, are two examples – but knowledge gained in the classroom is practical, irreplaceable, and enduring. The capacity to analyze and interpret statistical data, for example, has to be acquired in school – there is simply no other way for such knowledge to be properly imparted to a person. In fact, the Pew Research Center figures that I have shared in this article were obtained through a type of survey methodology that reduces the margin of error in data collection to acceptable standards, without which the assessment of the views of a few citizens, extrapolated to the rest of the population, will lack reliability and validity.

Perhaps, one of the most important reasons for a college education is the expert training that individuals receive in their chosen fields. A dearth of genuine experts in Ghana has been detrimental to the nation’s development over the years, with the available few overworked and underpaid. For example, sending a high school graduate to an economic summit for the world’s top economists looking to solve the world’s economic problems will not augur well for Ghana’s economy. Similarly, sending a high school graduate to a summit for seismologists looking to identify fault lines in the Accra region will serve no collective purpose for the citizenry. These two examples, in a nutshell, are metaphorical depictions of how poorly we have run the country since independence, with the country’s leaders never making education a priority as a matter of public policy.

College-educated citizens are generally more interested in politics, more politically savvy, and better informed about politicians and policies than high school-educated citizens, so a better educated population will demand and obtain greater accountability from the nation’s leaders. Even in the 21st century, Ghanaian politicians still take truckloads of farm equipment, bicycles and bags of rice to certain communities one week before a major election to “buy” votes, a sad reflection of where we are intellectually as a nation. Is this activity illegal? Unethical? Maybe the nation’s journalists can discuss it with the Ghanaian people on radio and television!

A college environment teaches young men and women how to manage time and effort directed at a singular goal: academic success. The capacity to stay in school for four uninterrupted years soon becomes an important asset in the work environment, where on-the-job learning and the need to commit long hours to an employer become indispensable. It comes as little surprise, therefore, when the statisticians who carried out the aforementioned Pew Research Center surveys tell us: 94% of parents expect that their children will eventually go to college, even if these parents dread the financial obligations associated with a college education.

For many years, Ghana had only three universities – University of Ghana, Legon; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi; and University of Cape Coast – but a few more were later established. Today, many universities – both public and private – adorn the country’s educational landscape, making university education accessible to many who would otherwise not have gained admission to the three “flagship universities.” That the Government of Ghana has allowed the founding of several private universities in the country to cater to the educational needs of the citizenry is very commendable, as long as these schools have met the rigorous accreditation standards and provided the meticulous curriculums befitting a noteworthy university.

In fact, most Ghanaians take great pride in the secondary schools from which they obtained their high school diplomas, but we quickly forget that the textbooks we used while secondary school students were written by college-educated people – Ghanaians and foreigners alike – who were able express their thoughts logically and succinctly. Have we ever wondered what would happen to Ghana’s economy if the nation suddenly stopped producing knowledgeable college graduates?

Formal education is a necessity, and obtaining at least a bachelor’s degree is vital for success in many of life’s pursuits. Interestingly, some of the Pew Research Center survey respondents say that a college degree teaches “work-related skills and knowledge,” while others indicate that it helps a “student grow personally and intellectually.” Both sets of respondents are right in their assessments. Encouraging our children to stay in school is unarguably one of the best gifts that we can offer them. Some penurious parents may not have the resources to send their children to the university, but there are other options these days, such as scholarships and grants. Even in Ghana, resource avenues include corporations and well-heeled private citizens who are willing to sponsor poor students. Communities can also come together to sponsor brilliant, but needy, students.

If the recent assessment by Mr. Stephen Adu, the Deputy Director of the Ghana Education Service, regarding Ghana’s dire educational situation does not alarm us, then I do not know what else will. According to Mr. Adu’s report, 64% of the nation’s pupils cannot read and write, yet this serious hydra-headed crisis that needs to be tackled from several fronts now before it becomes an irreversible calamity means very little to our politicians and policymakers. What exactly is wrong with us as a nation?

That some BECE students are unable to spell their names correctly on examination papers, according to the Ghana National Education Coalition, a body dedicated to the educational wellbeing of Ghanaian pupils, is a testament to the putridity of academic standards in the country. Echoing what Professor Anamuah-Mensah, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, said in response to Mr. Stephen Adu’s regrettable report on education in Ghana, current university students ought to sacrifice some of their summer holidays each year to help pupils and high school students in their communities. Parents must also exhibit sustained devotion to the academic welfare of their children. We are facing a national crisis, and the sooner we jettison the drowning ambivalence and take swift action, the better it will be for our nation.

A concerted effort is needed to reverse the ever-falling standards at all educational levels. We cannot address university education if there are no qualified students to send to the nation’s universities. And without an educated society, we have little chance of competing with other nations, or improving conditions at home. Unless we take a stand against myopia and intellectual embolism, our politicians will slowly sink the ship of state, with all of us trapped in it and unable to escape. Ghana needs a radical change of course, and if the current crop of politicians will not superintend this effort, then we ought to replace them, via the ballot box, with those who have the wellbeing of the nation at heart. I am worried about Ghana’s future, and so should you, dear reader.

The writer, Daniel K. Pryce, is pursuing a doctoral degree in Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University. He holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the same university. He is a member of the national honor society for public affairs and administration in the U.S.A. He can be reached at dpryce@cox.net.

How virtuous and Hospitable is the Ghanaian today?

Editor — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 06:10:11 +0000

By Samuel Donkor

Once upon a time, before the second republic,the nation Ghana was noted for her
moral values, disciplined society,spirituality and virtuousness; a people of
intelligence and wisdom, hard working, communually spirited and noted to have
the best civil service, high educational standards, best health service delivery
system, a disciplined Armed Forces and Police service and a better
infrastructure in black Africa, is today a demoralised and fragmented nation.

The people have become devalued in morals and spirituality and have become
rather very ego-centric and without virtues. Their once envied hospitality
values, fellow feelings, compassion, close external family ties and that virtue
of being a brother’s keeper, are all missing in the Ghanaian today.
These attitudinal changes and non commitment to patriotism, nationalism and
traditional and religious values, is the basis for the present economic and
social ruins the nation is experiencing and which is also at the mercy of
today’s global economic dictates, without any hope of salvaging it.

The loss of these values in the Ghanaian today and the present economic mess,
coupled with under development, is also the result of the Ghanaian crave for
quick riches and material gains through whatever means, hook or crook.This has
led the people becoming so greedy and unscrupulous in whatever they do. Honesty,
fairness, justice,circumspection and moral values are things of the past.

In this quest for quick riches, wealth and public fame, the Ghanaian has become
so self-centered that, his actions and behaviors, without circumspection and a
sense of humane, is shown in whatever he does.There is therefore the tendencies
of overacting, which many at times interfere public interest and also violate
individual interest and human rights one way or the other. These are some of the
causes of indiscipline, lawlessness, disorder and corruption rampart in the
present system of things.
Today the youth have no idea about moral values, civic responsibilities,
patriotism and other social values, like etiquette and public manners etc,
because they are no more taught in the schools. The present behaviors of the
people, both young and old in public, shows the long years of neglecting social
and traditional values, which has led this nation into disorder and lawlessness.

The absence of these values and the ego-centric life-style of the Ghanaian will
continue to retard progress in development if this behavior is not changed. It
is a product of Greed and the cause of corruption and mismanagement with a
negative impact on development.

Today, Ghana needs a new type of personality, a dedicated, selfless, patriotic,
spiritual, compassionate, pragmatic and incorruptible.
A personality who is committed to nationalism, moral values, achievements and
supportive to positive national agenda.
For a better Ghana agenda to succeed, there should be intensive exercise by the
center for civic education to educate the public on moral values and civic
responsibilities, likewise in the schools, like in the 1st republic.The nation
Ghana needs a re-shaping exercise,to borrow this phrase from Oman FM. In the
absence of any positive pragmatic national exercise to re-shape this nation’s
mind-set, behavior and life-style to pro-activism and patriotism, this country
will remain where it is or head for doom.

I write you the truth, ‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, For whatever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap’.

‘ Be Vege, Go Green 2 Save the Planet’.
Samuel Donkor. email: samdonkies@yahoo.com Mob. 233 242 809352

Ghanaian Government must partner the Private Sector to deliver developmen

Editor — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:52:30 +0000

By Liana Bran, Intern, IMANI

With the combined efforts of the World Bank and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) hosted the Stakeholders Forum on Draft National Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Policy for Ghana on September 16, 2010.
While participants questioned the validity of the current attempt in light of the 2004 PPP policy guidelines which remain ineffective, the forum set forth a clear objective to develop a policy framework for National PPP which would facilitate implementation of Ghana’s PPP agenda. The urgency for its production derives from the dearth of critical infrastructure and effective provision of public services which PPP projects propose to address.
Even as the chairman of the NDPC has yet been identified as Ghana’s PPP Champion, the demand for such a document grows; infrastructure drives productivity and economic growth but is also essential to the physical well-being and security of the population. Beyond its more superficial, albeit undesirable, manifestation in one’s daily commute, lack of infrastructure has much more serious implications. Chairman P.V. Obeng notably cited the loss of seventy lives in the Northern region due to inadequate flood-management capacity. Still, as the chairman himself asserted, “The infrastructure [deficit is] such that the government cannot ‘do it’ alone,” and further explained that to do more would only incur more debt. Fortunately, PPPs offer a potential solution as the public sector shares not only the benefits but the risks in partnership projects with its private counterpart. Thus, if the government of Ghana is to take full advantage of the proposed scheme, the current policy framework should advance legal and regulatory guidelines that will promote an enabling environment for PPPs and transparent institutional arrangements to monitor them.
In order to comprehensively assess the various sections of the policy document, the forum was divided into syndicates to discuss PPP background and objectives; institutional roles and responsibilities; legal and regulatory environment; and the PPP process. Upon reconvening, many of the groups made recommendations which merely reinforced pre-existing elements of the draft or further advocated increased clarity in those stipulations which will follow from the policy framework. For example, emphasis was placed on coordination among Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) as contracting authorities with shared interests. Furthermore, it was suggested that the PPP might benefit from the establishment of a regulating body independent of these ministries. The latter prescription recalls another point of contention regarding the potential for granting MOFEP too much power and the risk of creating a bureaucracy; it was agreed, however, that MOFEP should maintain its “gatekeeper” role, as one representative of the World Bank remarked that it can only be as strong as the other MDAs allow it to be.
While initially one member suggested that projects should be brought to the level of the presidency, such a proposal was deemed unfeasible; additionally, participants felt that as projects will inevitably extend across administrations, they should be insulated as much as possible from the political agenda of the presidency.
Indeed, in order to attract the private investment necessary to the execution of PPPs, the policy framework should limit the role of politicians and ensure consistency across the mechanisms of the PPP process. It is important, then, that projects originate from the National Infrastructure Plan to identify infrastructure and public service priorities. The forum determined that in the absence of this document, which is currently being developed, the NDPC should be given authority to identify projects that serve the larger strategic plan. However, participants stressed that the approval process should be stringent, and there remains the need for specific policies to address unsolicited bids from the private sector, mechanisms for dealing with conflicts, and clear guidelines for project qualification based on viability and affordability. On this last point, a consensus that feasibility and pre-feasibility studies should be funded by the government was reached, as those emanating from the private sector again involve vested interests. Because PPP projects inherently have many possible implications for the future as well as the present, environmental and social impact assessments should also be made a priority at this stage.
Evidently, as the recommendations made by forum members suggest, the draft National PPP Policy for Ghana was a strong document to begin with, and only minor specifications regarding the roles of certain bodies and emphasis on the clarity of future PPP process guidelines were necessary. Capacity building among MDAs and MMDAs (Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies) to navigate the PPP process is also essential, but the time to move past the failed implementation of the 2004 policy guidelines is now. Given the deficit of infrastructure and its centrality to the development and well-being of Ghana’s constituents, the materialization of PPP policy and the complementary National Infrastructure Development Plan can no longer be delayed.

By Liana Bran is a student at University of Illinois at Chicago and currently interning with IMANI Center for Policy & Education.

*Franklin Cudjoe is head of Ghanaian think tank, IMANI, a non-profit, non-government organization dedicated to fostering public awareness of important policy issues concerning business, government and civil society. He is also editor of AfricanLiberty.org The Foreign Policy Magazine named IMANI, the fifth most influential think tank in Africa in 2010. Franklin was named Young Global Leader 2010 by the World Economic Forum.

Lessons From Norway’s Oil Fund Investment Losses

Editor — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:30:08 +0000

NII MOI CALLS FOR LOCAL CAPACITY

…To safeguard oil wealth

By J. Ato Kobbie, Managing Editor

A leading Ghanaian Economist, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, has called for an
accelerated skills development in anticipation of the new challenges that the
country’s emerging oil producer status presents.

Speaking to The Business Analyst in the wake of recent losses suffered by
Norway
in its oil fund investments, Dr. Thompson said it was important that training
and education for those in responsible positions and those needed, as far as
the
country’s emerging oil economy status was concerned, to be accelerated to
enable
them measure up to the tasks required of them.
In this direction, he said there was the need to encourage young men and women
in tertiary institutions, to enter the various fields where their services
would
be most needed, in order for them to attain the necessary expertise and
experience to meet challenges.
Dr. Thompson said this was necessary to overcome the challenges that come up,
such as happened to Norway, an oil economy that lost hundreds of millions of
dollars because it relied on the expertise of ‘international experts’ to
analyse
and advise on its oil wealth investment.
He said it was important that the country develops the local capacity to
determine not only where to invest the country’s oil wealth, but also monitor
the performance of such investments and advise appropriately.
He said Government and sector participants must collaborate to have such
training countrywide, for instance, in a northern sector-southern sector
approach to create an even field for all Ghanaians.
Norway, touted as one of the world’s best examples of best practice in oil
revenue management, for which reason many watchers of Ghana’s oil sector have
advocated for Ghana to learn from that country, is fighting to recover losses
to
its oil fund.
The Norwegian Central Bank, Norges Bank, has dragged Citigroup Incorporated of
the United States of America (U.S.A.) to court, accusing it of providing
“untrue
statements and non-disclosure of material information to investors,” which led
to losses of about 835 million dollars to the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund.
The sovereign fund is the fund into which Norway invests its oil wealth for
future generations and its $459 billion Government Pension Fund Global, the
world’s second-largest, after Abu Dhabi’s, is managed by the Central Bank.

Ghana’s version of the Norwegian ‘Oil Fund’ for future generations has been
christened ‘The Heritage Fund,’ in the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill, which
is before Parliament, and already, some analysts have been advocating for
investing that fund on the international bonds market.

It is not clear however, how a clearer knowledge of the depth of the impact of
the financial crisis that hit the international bond market, would influence
the
debate on where and how best to invest Ghana’s ‘oil fund’ when it takes off.
First significant commercial oil production from Ghana’s Jubilee field is
scheduled to kick-start in November-December this year.

The Norwegian suit names 20 of Citigroup’s current and former executives and
directors, including: Chairman, Richard Parsons, current chief executive Vikram
Pandit, and his predecessor, Charles ‘Chuck’ Prince.
“Norges Bank lost in excess of 735 million dollars on its investments in
Citigroup common shares and in excess of 100 million dollars on its investments
in bonds and preferred shares,” stated a September 17 lawsuit, filed in a
Manhattan federal court.
The suit continued that due to the defendants’ repeated material untrue
statements and non-disclosure of material information to investors, plaintiff
purchased Citi securities at inflated prices (between January 2007 and January
2009).
The Norwegian Central bank argues further that “When the market slowly learned
the truth of Citi’s financial condition, Citi came close to insolvency, and
plaintiff lost a substantial amount of its investment.”

“Citi’s near-demise” according to the Norwegians, “had its genesis in the
company’s increasing willingness to take on risk for the sake of profit,
without
regard for — and without disclosing — the magnitude of the downside exposure
it faced if those risks materialized.”
The fund lost 23% of its value in 2008 when global markets took a dip, posting
a
record 633 billion kroner ($107.6 billion) loss in 2008 thus wiping out gains
made since the fund started investing the country’s oil revenue in 1996.

The oil fund had a 26 percent return last year.
“We believe the suit has no merit and will defend ourselves vigorously,” was
the
response from Danielle Romero-Apsilos, a Citigroup spokeswoman in a statement.

‘The case (title) is Norges Bank v. Citigroup, 10-cv-07202, U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan)’.
Source: Business Analyst

Ghana, the home of cocoa, has very little chocolate

Editor — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:28:11 +0000

Source: STEVE MBOGO
There are few countries in Africa where one finds the most famous local produce or mineral readily available or affordable.

In South Africa, you don’t get to see gold easily. In Kenya, very few people can afford a cup of quality coffee; in fact coffee houses are exclusive and the consolation for most people is tea.

In Sierra Leone, famed for its high quality diamonds, most citizens only see the precious stone in pictures.

Ethiopia and Uganda are the few exceptions. In Ethiopia, home-roasted coffee is a way of life as is matoke (bananas) in Uganda.

It is therefore not a surprise that in Ghana’s capital Accra, a country known for cocoa, getting a cheaper and better quality chocolate is almost impossible.

There are more chocolates on supermarket shelves in Nairobi than there are in Accra.

Though a coastal city with a climate comparable to Mombasa, Accra can only be described as humble.

Starting from the small and unattractive Kotokoto Airport — the hustle and bustle associated with airport taxis in most African cities hardly exists.

Accra is far from a modern city, but it is orderly.

The public transport system is a mixture of old rickety vehicles — similar to the Fords that dominated Nairobi’s Industrial Area route in the 1970s – 80s — saloon taxis and modern buses used under the city’s Rapid Transport System.

But Ghana’s cedi currency is strong, exchanging at 1.4 to the US dollar. In Kenya, it goes for Sh56 at current rates.

In 2007, Ghana devalued its unit by 100, leading to a confusion that still lingers.

It is not strange to ask for a product’s price and be told it goes for 10,000 cedi, yet it costs 100.

Speaking of money, if one wants tidy returns from the money market, Ghana is the place to invest in now.

Interest rates for one month fixed deposits is nine per cent and goes up to 14 per cent for three month fixed deposit.

hana is receiving its first payment for oil this month, which is exciting the people and government.

Debate now revolves around the new wealth and how the proceeds will be put to use.

One of the suggestions is to channel the money into funding the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which is similar to Kenya’s National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).

The oil revenue is expected to hit Sh80 billion every year.

There are concerns that the US has warmed up to Ghana to get priority access to oil.

President Barack Obama has visited Ghana and the country receives funding under the Millennium Challenge Account, a US scheme to reward Third World countries that embrace democratic governance and the rule of law.

Ghana has formed the Millennium Development Authority, an agency that implements projects financed by the kitty.

Just like many countries in Africa, Ghana has recovered from a turbulent past dominated by coups between the 1960s to 80s.

Penalty headache

On a light note, Ghana is yet to recover from the World Cup penalty miss by famed striker Asamoah Gyan at the extravaganza in South Africa.

If he scored in the extra time penalty against Uruguay, Ghana would have been the first African country to reach the semis in the history of the tournament.

“On that day, people moaned across the country. The city was deserted for two days. You would think it was the days of the military coups when people stayed indoors,” said David Abugri, a retired government driver who now operates a car hire business in the city said.

Why Good Governance Matters More in Africa Than Aid

Editor — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:42:36 +0000

Franklin Cudjoe, Heritage’s Foundry.

Heads of state from across the developing world arrived in New York last
two weeks for the annual United Nations meetings. Heading up the agenda
this year was a summit examining the U.N. Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). These leaders – generally clad in expensive suits and heading
enormous entourages – again shamelessly moaned and complained over the
lack of adequate progress on the MDGs as if they and their governments
were helpless bystanders in whether or not the MDGs are met.

There is nothing egregious about the eight MDG targets. Halving poverty,
increasing education, and reducing maternal and child mortality are
desirable outcomes. The only problem is that in the poorest countries the
goals will not be met because they are based on a failed development model
of relying on external aid rather than internal policy change to
facilitate economic development and growth. And internal policy change is
resisted fiercely by the very leaders expressing anguish over the lack of
progress because they and their families, friends and allies benefit
richly from the current system, which focuses on securing foreign aid from
Western nations to be spent on thousands of carefully schemed but wasteful
interventions undertaken locally, in apparent pursuit of the MDGs.

Such complex interventions, with little transparency and accountability on
donor spending, means few credible audits have been conducted on the
billions of aid money spent over the years. Such expenditures should have
resulted in development improvements, but have only served to entrench the
very governments and policies that impede development.

African leaders in particular have been doing the math on how much they
need to perpetuate their loot… um, I mean finance the MDGs. As the
argument goes, “They ask why can’t the rich Western countries provide $70
billion annually to meet the MDGs? It’s only a fraction of their annual
GDP. They can easily spare it, but it would mean so much in the developing
world.” Western aid advocates do their part by painting gory pictures of
famine and disease in Africa to justify the demand.

Yet, some way, somehow, African leaders have been able to squeeze close to
$150 billion per year from their poor, developing countries to enrich
themselves. This figure didn’t diminish even with the global financial
crisis or following former Nigerian President Obasanjo’s admission of this
habitual theft by African leaders and mock lamentation of corruption at
the G-8 summit in Gleneagles five years ago.

In other words, African leaders have made a habit of stealing 25 percent
of the continent’s GDP and squirreling it away for their benefit rather
than the citizens of their countries. As if that is not enough, wasteful
spending, legal plunder, prohibitive business environments, and entrenched
cronyism can be found even in the Africa’s most acclaimed democratic
success stories such as Ghana.

Ghana’s democratic foundation is built on the politics of Grand National
development plans which are presented to win voter support. These plans
are largely sustained by aid, which demands little or no accountability.
Voters continually fall for promises, by both political parties over the
past two elections, that if elected they will guide Ghana toward middle
income status. These promises are slippery with target dates first of 2015
and then 2020 and, doubtless, 2025 soon.

Ghana has seen an increase in aid during the tenure of these political
parties. But the result has been depressing. Ghana slipped five places
from (the 87th position to 92nd) on the World Bank’s Doing Business 2010
Index and dropped in global competiveness from 110th position in 2009 to
114th out of 139 countries in the 2010-2011 rankings by the World Economic
Forum Global Competitiveness Index (GCI).

A government’s development agenda informs its macroeconomic policies, its
private sector development strategy, its posture to taxation and tariffs,
and its orientation to financial regulation and oversight, and public debt
management among other issues. These matters are crucial to serious
investors considering Ghana – or, for that matter, Africa – as a
destination for significant investment. These critical policies, however,
become secondary considerations to governments focused on keeping aid
money pouring in.

For instance, in 2005, 80% of Ghana’s debt was canceled. This was intended
to give the country a fresh start and more independence to focus financial
resources on development priorities rather than debt service. It allowed
Ghana to borrow $750 million from the international financial markets in
2007. But in 2008, all of that was squandered. Determined to chase votes,
the government approved a spending deficit equivalent to 20% of the
country’s GDP. This was a world record – even more than Greece’s 10%
deficit. In the end, the government was voted out of office, but left a
legacy of debt and lower economic growth from an impressive 7.3% growth in
2008 to a disappointing projection of 3.5% for 2010.

And remember, Ghana is a model performer in Africa. Imagine what the less
exemplary countries are doing.

At the MDG summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a balance
between aid and good governance as a necessary condition for attaining the
MDGs. Unfortunately, African governments generally prefer an imbalance
with more aid and less accountability. Donor nations need to understand
this reality and get away from platitudes like the MDGs and aid targets
and insist that African governments enact policies that will unleash the
entrepreneurial spirits of Africans to create wealth and support national
governments through taxation. Aid may help governments that have already
begun to tread this path, but providing ever-more aid in hopes that they
will only perpetuates the status quo.

*Franklin Cudjoe is head of Ghanaian think tank, IMANI, a non-profit,
non-government organization dedicated to fostering public awareness of
important policy issues concerning business, government and civil society.
He is also editor of AfricanLiberty.org The Foreign Policy Magazine named
IMANI, the fifth most influential think tank in Africa in 2010. Franklin
was named Young Global Leader 2010 by the World Economic Forum. This
article was originally published by the Heritage Foundation’s Foundry.

Untangling Central Africa for business

Editor — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:25:26 +0000

By Chofor Che

As the proper role of government continue to debated in much of the free world, Africans, and in particular Central Africans can only wish they lived in relatively free economic and political environments, instead of the increasingly morbid fear that characterise their daily lives.

Ideally, the true role of government in a free society is for it to make it possible for individuals and businesses to go about their lawful duties unhindered through outright plunder or exorbitant taxes, while exacting penalties through the right institutions for wilful disregard for the law.

Central African governments seem much removed from the above principle. No wonder only a fraction of individual economic activities get to cross borders within the region, making a mockery of the Central African trading zone which benefits very little from the eleven-member sub regional trading bloc, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

However, ECCAS plans to live up to its mission; to create a good economic, social, political as well as legal environment for her citizens. In May 2010, national leaders of ECCAS met to help clean the books of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), which had been plagued by heavy corruption and set new forward-looking managerial codes for the new employees. Secondly, the meeting discussed the possibility of setting up a regional airline which would serve all member countries and thus create an opportunity for goods and citizens to travel freely within ECCAS.

But we have heard these lofty ideals and plans all before, with little progress. The idea of a common regional airline is very ambitious for a country like Cameroon. Due to the self-inflicted economic crises in the 1960s, Cameroon closed all her domestic airports leading to massive jobs cuts. Today, despite some improvement in the economy of Cameroon, the airports still remain closed. Moreover the lone state-run airline company, Cameroon Airways (CAMAIR), which was subsequently privatised, albeit haphazardly suffered heavy losses due to corruption. So, the fact that Cameroon has yet to reopen her local airports for domestic flights and improve on the bankrupt CAMAIR should be worrying to observers when it now wants to nurse ambitions of having a common airline with members of the ECCAS zone.

Clearly, although the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is not in it self fully integrated economically, compared with ECCAS, it stands taller when it comes to free movement of goods and persons. Travel experience within ECCAS is usually nightmarish – vigorous passport checks and physical manhandling from security forces ostensibly enforcing law and order. A Cameroonian travelling to neighbouring Gabon or Chad needs to acquire an entry visa when all countries are members of ECCAS. What is worse, a secured visa doesn’t guarantee one freedom

from sub-human checks and extortion. All these stifle the very purpose of the role of government in a free society, the ideal Central African countries purport to create.

Moreover the taxation system in the ECCAS zone is at best prohibitive. Entrepreneurs still suffer from exorbitant taxes in Cameroon, Chad, Central Africa Republic, all requiring citizens (according to the World Bank’s doing business report 2010) to part with 121%,176.1%, 244 % of their gross national income in order to start a business. This situation is also true with oil-rich Equatorial Guinea which charges 100.4% from ordinary citizens who wish to start a business. The picture for after profit tax is equally depressing; 50.5% in CAMEROON, 60.1% for Chad, 203.5% for Central African Republic, 59.5% for Equatorial Guinea and 322% for Congo DRC.

Instead of leader of the ECCAS zone dreaming about ambitious projects, they should focus on doing the little but significant things that will help unleash the entrepreneurial abilities of their citizens. Business is a moral remedy from poverty. If these countries want to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty by 2015, then they should begin untangling the many ropes around the necks of individuals and businesses.

Chofor Che was AfricanLiberty.org’s 2010 Frédéric Bastiat Anniversary Essay Competition and an associate of AfricanLiberty.org