Front Page: Daily Graphic, March 18, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
ALL is set for the take-off of Ghana’s migration to the use of biometric passports on Tuesday, March 23, 2010.
So far, the Central Operations and Productions (COP) centre and the two Passport Applications Centres (PACs) for Accra are all ready for the smooth take-off.
Within six weeks of the launch, the PACs in Kumasi, Tamale and Ho will also start receiving biometric passport applications for processing.
The PACs in Sekondi/Takoradi and Sunyani will also be ready to receive and process applications after those in Kumasi, Tamale and Ho have been installed.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that by the middle of this year, all the PACs would be on stream to facilitate the application and acquisition process.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has set April 1, 2010 for all member countries to commence the issuance of machine readable passports incorporating biometric data, while all non-biometric machine readable passports will cease to be accepted as regular travelling documents by other ICAO countries effective November 24, 2015.
That means that Ghanaians in possession of valid old passports can still use them until November 24, 2015.
Already, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has taken delivery of application forms and 750,000 biometric passport booklets ready for the launch.
Under the new regime, new passport fees of GH¢50 and GH¢100 will be charged for ordinary and expedited delivery services, respectively. It is expected that the new biometric passports will be issued between seven and 14 days.
The minister explained that the GH¢50 and GH¢100 covered the cost of the application forms.
Under the programme to migrate from the current generation of passports to biometric ones, seven PACs are to be initially established, with two in Accra and the rest in Tamale, Ho, Sekondi/Takoradi, Kumasi and Sunyani.
The PACs in Accra are located at the East Wing of the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Passport Office, where the COP centre, which will be the main point for vetting and issuance, is also located.
Ghana originally scheduled the take-off of the programme for July 2009 but that could not be done for various technical reasons.
Alhaji Mumuni attributed the delay mainly to the non-availability of suitable buildings which could accommodate physically challenged persons.
He said the buildings for the PACs in the regions had been identified and were being refurbished to make them disability friendly.
He appealed to Ghanaians, especially those outside Accra, not to rush to Accra for the biometric passports after the launch but wait patiently until a PAC was opened close to them.
The minister said if there was an urgent need for one to travel, then the person might have to come to Accra.
He said personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other security agencies, including the Ghana Immigration Service, had been trained to man the PACs.
Alhaji Mumuni said Ghana’s missions in London, Rome, Berlin and Washington had been identified to also issue the biometric passports until the time when it would be extended to other missions.
He said applicants would now have to personally submit their application forms at the application centres for their passport photographs to be taken with a high resolution camera, while fingerprints and signatures were also recorded.
“This means that instead of the applicant submitting photographs with a passport application form that is already thumb-printed somewhere, it will now be required that the photograph and the fingerprints of the applicants are taken at the application centres when he presents the forms. This is also intended to eliminate middlemen,” he said.
According to him, applicants would also send along their birth certificates and other documentation, including their national identification cards, to be vetted and scanned into the system at the PAC.
He said the information would be uploaded to the Central Operations and Production Unit of the Passport Office, where the details and certificates would be verified, during which all details would be vetted against the stop list.
Alhaji Mumuni said the forms would then be passed on to the directors for final vetting and authorisation to issue the passports, stressing that “all the processes, with the exception of the final vetting, printing and issuance, are expected to take place on the same day, thus enhancing service delivery”.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Housing project to create more jobs
Page 72: Daily Graphic, March 18, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
MORE than 75,000 jobs are to be provided under the government’s five-year national housing project, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Alban Bagbin, has disclosed.
“The construction of the various housing units will engage the services of contractors, artisans, consultants, building materials sellers and suppliers, food vendors, among others,” he added.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Bagbin said the project, which is to be implemented by STX Corporation of Korea, has a minimum of 30 per cent local participation which would ensure that Ghanaians actively participated in the project.
He said construction works on the 200,000 housing units was expected to begin in July, this year and indicated that the agreement between the Ghana government and STX Corporation was expected to be laid before Parliament next week for parliamentary approval to facilitate the take-off of the project.
He said under the first phase of the project, 30,000 housing units would be built for the security agencies as part of the government’s commitment to improve the acute accommodation situation facing the security agencies.
Mr Bagbin said the basic data collection and housing design under the 200,000 national housing project had already been completed.
He said STX Group of Korea, which would undertake the project, would build various industrial plants including a cement plant, rolling mill and autoclaved lightweight concrete plant, while IT would also seek the assistance of the Korean government to set up a training programme with Korea’s Knowledge Sharing Project to help develop Ghanaian human resources.
Mr Bagbin said the Ghana Police Service would benefit from 20,000 of the housing units for its personnel throughout the country in the next five years.
Mr Bagbin said the remaining 10,000 of the housing units allocated to the security agencies would go to the military and other security agencies.
He recalled that the Police Administration suspended enlistment into the service in June last year so as not to aggravate the already exacerbated accommodation problem, noting that the problems hindered recruitment and transfers in the security services “because it is not matched with provision of accommodation”.
Mr Bagbin said the construction of the housing units for the security services would not only help to separate the personnel from the civilian population but would enforce discipline, training and esprit de corps, stressing that “this will also help to mobilise personnel in case of emergency situations, which need urgent response”.
Story: Albert K. Salia
MORE than 75,000 jobs are to be provided under the government’s five-year national housing project, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Alban Bagbin, has disclosed.
“The construction of the various housing units will engage the services of contractors, artisans, consultants, building materials sellers and suppliers, food vendors, among others,” he added.
Speaking in an interview, Mr Bagbin said the project, which is to be implemented by STX Corporation of Korea, has a minimum of 30 per cent local participation which would ensure that Ghanaians actively participated in the project.
He said construction works on the 200,000 housing units was expected to begin in July, this year and indicated that the agreement between the Ghana government and STX Corporation was expected to be laid before Parliament next week for parliamentary approval to facilitate the take-off of the project.
He said under the first phase of the project, 30,000 housing units would be built for the security agencies as part of the government’s commitment to improve the acute accommodation situation facing the security agencies.
Mr Bagbin said the basic data collection and housing design under the 200,000 national housing project had already been completed.
He said STX Group of Korea, which would undertake the project, would build various industrial plants including a cement plant, rolling mill and autoclaved lightweight concrete plant, while IT would also seek the assistance of the Korean government to set up a training programme with Korea’s Knowledge Sharing Project to help develop Ghanaian human resources.
Mr Bagbin said the Ghana Police Service would benefit from 20,000 of the housing units for its personnel throughout the country in the next five years.
Mr Bagbin said the remaining 10,000 of the housing units allocated to the security agencies would go to the military and other security agencies.
He recalled that the Police Administration suspended enlistment into the service in June last year so as not to aggravate the already exacerbated accommodation problem, noting that the problems hindered recruitment and transfers in the security services “because it is not matched with provision of accommodation”.
Mr Bagbin said the construction of the housing units for the security services would not only help to separate the personnel from the civilian population but would enforce discipline, training and esprit de corps, stressing that “this will also help to mobilise personnel in case of emergency situations, which need urgent response”.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Two soldiers nabbed over assault
Page 31: Daily Graphic, March 16, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
TWO soldiers, one of whom allegedly stabbed a policeman on Sunday, were yesterday handed over to the Nima Police for further investigations.
Corporal Titus Quarcoo of the Recce Regiment and Corporal Dono Dickson of the 49 Engineers at Burma Camp were alleged to have assaulted someone in front of the Nima Police Station and when the police went to the rescue of the victim, Titus allegedly pulled a dagger and stabbed Corporal Prince Sutame of the Nima Police and absconded with his friend.
The Military Police, however, arrested and handed over the two soldiers to the Nima Police upon hearing reports of their conduct.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio Atinga, said a 23-year-old woman, Josephine Dela Gligo, who was at the centre of the controversy, allegedly sought the assistance of the two soldiers to retrieve her items from her ex-boyfriend.
She said Josephine and the two soldiers went to the residence of her boyfriend, Mr Kwame Sarfo, who is the complainant in the case, in a taxi.
She said when Mr Sarfo returned from church, the three visitors informed him of the reason for the visit.
According to DCOP Atinga, Mr Sarfo asked them to wait for his mother to return from church, as the items were in her room.
She said the soldiers wanted to ruffle Mr Sarfo so he quickly called a policeman to his aid.
The regional commander said when the policeman came, the two soldiers were still unrepentant in their behaviour, threatening to break into Mr Sarfo's mother’s room.
She said the policeman then asked Mr Sarfo to lodge a complaint at the Nima Police Station.
She said unknown to Mr Sarfo, Josephine and the two soldiers had already taken the lead to the police station while he (Sarfo) and the policeman were having their discussion.
At the police station, she said, the two soldiers became unruly, during which Cpl Dickson slapped a friend of Mr Sarfo’s.
DCOP Atinga said in the ensuing confusion, some policemen went to the victim’s rescue but Cpl Quarcoo pulled a dagger and stabbed Cpl Sutame.
Regrettably, she said, Josephine denied soliciting the assistance of the soldiers to retrieve her items from Mr Sarfo's house.
Story: Albert K. Salia
TWO soldiers, one of whom allegedly stabbed a policeman on Sunday, were yesterday handed over to the Nima Police for further investigations.
Corporal Titus Quarcoo of the Recce Regiment and Corporal Dono Dickson of the 49 Engineers at Burma Camp were alleged to have assaulted someone in front of the Nima Police Station and when the police went to the rescue of the victim, Titus allegedly pulled a dagger and stabbed Corporal Prince Sutame of the Nima Police and absconded with his friend.
The Military Police, however, arrested and handed over the two soldiers to the Nima Police upon hearing reports of their conduct.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, DCOP Rose Bio Atinga, said a 23-year-old woman, Josephine Dela Gligo, who was at the centre of the controversy, allegedly sought the assistance of the two soldiers to retrieve her items from her ex-boyfriend.
She said Josephine and the two soldiers went to the residence of her boyfriend, Mr Kwame Sarfo, who is the complainant in the case, in a taxi.
She said when Mr Sarfo returned from church, the three visitors informed him of the reason for the visit.
According to DCOP Atinga, Mr Sarfo asked them to wait for his mother to return from church, as the items were in her room.
She said the soldiers wanted to ruffle Mr Sarfo so he quickly called a policeman to his aid.
The regional commander said when the policeman came, the two soldiers were still unrepentant in their behaviour, threatening to break into Mr Sarfo's mother’s room.
She said the policeman then asked Mr Sarfo to lodge a complaint at the Nima Police Station.
She said unknown to Mr Sarfo, Josephine and the two soldiers had already taken the lead to the police station while he (Sarfo) and the policeman were having their discussion.
At the police station, she said, the two soldiers became unruly, during which Cpl Dickson slapped a friend of Mr Sarfo’s.
DCOP Atinga said in the ensuing confusion, some policemen went to the victim’s rescue but Cpl Quarcoo pulled a dagger and stabbed Cpl Sutame.
Regrettably, she said, Josephine denied soliciting the assistance of the soldiers to retrieve her items from Mr Sarfo's house.
Man, 32, held over arms
Page 31: Daily Graphic, March 16, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have arrested a 32-year-old physically challenged person, Moses Zametsi, for the illegal manufacture and supply of arms to suspected armed robbers.
Two locally made pistols were retrieved from the suspect’s house at Abor in the Volta Region last Friday.
He is currently in custody at the Accra Regional Police Command pending further investigations.
The Accra Regional Crime Officer, Superintendent Frank Adu-Fati, told newsmen in Accra yesterday that the police had information that the suspect was one of the manufacturers and suppliers of locally made pistols to suspected criminals.
He said investigations revealed that the suspect manufactured bangles but often manufactured the pistols on demand.
He said after a series of surveillance, the police swooped on Zametsi’s residence last Friday, March 12, 2010 and retrieved the two pistols.
Upon interrogation, he said, the suspect claimed he was not making enough sales from the sale of the bangles, hence his decision to manufacture the pistols on demand.
Supt Adu-Fati said investigations were still ongoing.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE police have arrested a 32-year-old physically challenged person, Moses Zametsi, for the illegal manufacture and supply of arms to suspected armed robbers.
Two locally made pistols were retrieved from the suspect’s house at Abor in the Volta Region last Friday.
He is currently in custody at the Accra Regional Police Command pending further investigations.
The Accra Regional Crime Officer, Superintendent Frank Adu-Fati, told newsmen in Accra yesterday that the police had information that the suspect was one of the manufacturers and suppliers of locally made pistols to suspected criminals.
He said investigations revealed that the suspect manufactured bangles but often manufactured the pistols on demand.
He said after a series of surveillance, the police swooped on Zametsi’s residence last Friday, March 12, 2010 and retrieved the two pistols.
Upon interrogation, he said, the suspect claimed he was not making enough sales from the sale of the bangles, hence his decision to manufacture the pistols on demand.
Supt Adu-Fati said investigations were still ongoing.
Monday, March 15, 2010
uniBank, Shareworld Travels sign pact
Page 57: Daily Graphic, March 15, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
SHAREWORLD Travels, a tour company that specialises in pilgrimage trips, has signed an agreement with uniBank Ghana Ltd under which the bank will offer financial support to prospective pilgrims to various religious sites.
Under the agreement, prospective pilgrims will have to make all payments to the bank directly, while the bank also offers soft loans to those who could not meet the cost. They would, however, be expected to pay back between one and 24 months.
The bank would also open a pilgrimage account for those who might want to make savings towards pilgrimage.
The Director-General of Shareworld Travels, Mr Isaac Kuffour, and the Chief Executive Officer of Unibank Ghana Ltd, Mr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, signed for their respective organisations, while Mrs Tali Tal, the Israeli Co-ordinator for Ghana and representative of the Israeli Embassy in Abuja, witnessed the document.
Mr Kuffour said since ancient times, pilgrimages had been a unique expression of worshipping God by the Israelites.
“Today, pilgrimages are one of the most important elements in our Christian life. When we go on a pilgrimage, we enter into the times and places of our Christian story and remember the events surrounding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Standing where our Lord was baptised, crucified, or buried connects us more intimately to our Christian faith,” he added.
For his part, Mr Owusu-Amoah explained that it was in the interest of the bank to assist in improving Christian pilgrimages so that spiritual obligations could be fulfilled.
“We are already in support and assisting the churches in terms of musical instruments, church buildings and other projects,” he said, adding that “we feel happy to be associated with the pilgrimage programme.”
Mr Owusu–Amoah gave the assurance that money deposited at the bank by pilgrims would not be paid to Shareworld until all arrangements for hotels and visas had been secured for the pilgrims.
He reminded members of the public that the programme had nothing to do with the so-called seekers of greener pastures advised those with such ideas stay away from the programme.
Mrs Tali commended Shareworld and uniBank for their good teamwork and said her office would assist them when the need arose.
Under a schedule of programme for March and October each year, pilgrims to Israel will visit and pray at sites like the Mountain of Temptation, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, River Jordan, Gethsemane, Golgotha, Upper Room, the tomb of Jesus, Tiberias, Nazareth, Western Wall, Mt. of Ascension, Mt. Olives, Mt. of Beatitudes, Cana, the Pool of Bethesda, Elijah and the Baal, 14 Stations of the Cross, Qumran, Capernaum, and Ela Valley – where David defeated Goliath.
Story: Albert K. Salia
SHAREWORLD Travels, a tour company that specialises in pilgrimage trips, has signed an agreement with uniBank Ghana Ltd under which the bank will offer financial support to prospective pilgrims to various religious sites.
Under the agreement, prospective pilgrims will have to make all payments to the bank directly, while the bank also offers soft loans to those who could not meet the cost. They would, however, be expected to pay back between one and 24 months.
The bank would also open a pilgrimage account for those who might want to make savings towards pilgrimage.
The Director-General of Shareworld Travels, Mr Isaac Kuffour, and the Chief Executive Officer of Unibank Ghana Ltd, Mr Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, signed for their respective organisations, while Mrs Tali Tal, the Israeli Co-ordinator for Ghana and representative of the Israeli Embassy in Abuja, witnessed the document.
Mr Kuffour said since ancient times, pilgrimages had been a unique expression of worshipping God by the Israelites.
“Today, pilgrimages are one of the most important elements in our Christian life. When we go on a pilgrimage, we enter into the times and places of our Christian story and remember the events surrounding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Standing where our Lord was baptised, crucified, or buried connects us more intimately to our Christian faith,” he added.
For his part, Mr Owusu-Amoah explained that it was in the interest of the bank to assist in improving Christian pilgrimages so that spiritual obligations could be fulfilled.
“We are already in support and assisting the churches in terms of musical instruments, church buildings and other projects,” he said, adding that “we feel happy to be associated with the pilgrimage programme.”
Mr Owusu–Amoah gave the assurance that money deposited at the bank by pilgrims would not be paid to Shareworld until all arrangements for hotels and visas had been secured for the pilgrims.
He reminded members of the public that the programme had nothing to do with the so-called seekers of greener pastures advised those with such ideas stay away from the programme.
Mrs Tali commended Shareworld and uniBank for their good teamwork and said her office would assist them when the need arose.
Under a schedule of programme for March and October each year, pilgrims to Israel will visit and pray at sites like the Mountain of Temptation, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, River Jordan, Gethsemane, Golgotha, Upper Room, the tomb of Jesus, Tiberias, Nazareth, Western Wall, Mt. of Ascension, Mt. Olives, Mt. of Beatitudes, Cana, the Pool of Bethesda, Elijah and the Baal, 14 Stations of the Cross, Qumran, Capernaum, and Ela Valley – where David defeated Goliath.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
'Give more support to NACOB'
Page 14: Daily Graphic, March 11, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE United States government has stressed the need for increased funding and logistical support for the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) so as to sustain the fight against drug trafficking.
While acknowledging successes in President J. E. Mills’s first year in office in the fight against drug trafficking, the US government expressed regret that Ghana’s own funding for NACOB and law enforcement agencies remained insufficient and warned that “unless the government remedies this situation and provides adequate resources to combat narcotics trafficking, little progress will be made quickly, and none sustained over the long term”.
These were contained in the 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), a report by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US State Department issued to the US Congress on March 1, 2010.
It made it clear that progress required strong and sustained political will and continued international assistance for Ghana to confront those difficult issues, giving an assurance that “the U.S. government will press Ghana to increase the resources and capabilities of those fighting illegal narcotics, money laundering and other international crimes”.
The report said the US government’s counter-narcotic and anti-crime goals in Ghana were to strengthen Ghanaian law enforcement capacity generally, to improve interdiction capacities, to enhance NACOB’s capacity, and to reduce Ghana’s role as a transit point for narcotics.
In line with those objectives, it said, in 2009 the U.S. supported Ghana’s counter-narcotic efforts and made plans for additional support in future years, adding that AFRICOM had provided approximately $500,000 toward the construction of an evidence storage and training facility at the CID headquarters in Accra.
When completed, the facility would store drugs collected as evidence in pending court cases.
Additionally, it said, AFRICOM had contracted to construct a security room at the airport to house a State Department-funded body scanner to detect drugs ingested by passengers and other contrabands concealed on or in a person’s body.
It said the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) had also provided more than $333,000 to fund a special prosecutor in the Ghanaian Ministry of Justice, stressing that the prosecutor would work with local prosecutors to improve Ghana’s capacity to investigate and prosecute organised criminal activity and to enforce its laws against narcotics trafficking.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE United States government has stressed the need for increased funding and logistical support for the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) so as to sustain the fight against drug trafficking.
While acknowledging successes in President J. E. Mills’s first year in office in the fight against drug trafficking, the US government expressed regret that Ghana’s own funding for NACOB and law enforcement agencies remained insufficient and warned that “unless the government remedies this situation and provides adequate resources to combat narcotics trafficking, little progress will be made quickly, and none sustained over the long term”.
These were contained in the 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), a report by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the US State Department issued to the US Congress on March 1, 2010.
It made it clear that progress required strong and sustained political will and continued international assistance for Ghana to confront those difficult issues, giving an assurance that “the U.S. government will press Ghana to increase the resources and capabilities of those fighting illegal narcotics, money laundering and other international crimes”.
The report said the US government’s counter-narcotic and anti-crime goals in Ghana were to strengthen Ghanaian law enforcement capacity generally, to improve interdiction capacities, to enhance NACOB’s capacity, and to reduce Ghana’s role as a transit point for narcotics.
In line with those objectives, it said, in 2009 the U.S. supported Ghana’s counter-narcotic efforts and made plans for additional support in future years, adding that AFRICOM had provided approximately $500,000 toward the construction of an evidence storage and training facility at the CID headquarters in Accra.
When completed, the facility would store drugs collected as evidence in pending court cases.
Additionally, it said, AFRICOM had contracted to construct a security room at the airport to house a State Department-funded body scanner to detect drugs ingested by passengers and other contrabands concealed on or in a person’s body.
It said the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) had also provided more than $333,000 to fund a special prosecutor in the Ghanaian Ministry of Justice, stressing that the prosecutor would work with local prosecutors to improve Ghana’s capacity to investigate and prosecute organised criminal activity and to enforce its laws against narcotics trafficking.
3 Arrested over fake currency
Page 48: Daily Graphic, March 10, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THREE members of a family, including a father and his son, were yesterday arrested for allegedly dealing in fake dollar notes.
A bag containing some of the fake dollars in $100 bills and dollar-size plain papers were retrieved from the residence of the three at Abossey Okai in Accra.
The suspects, Robert Gokeh Mensah, 37, his father, Robert Kwesi Mensah, 53, and Nyamikeh Mensah, 50, are currently in custody at the Accra Regional Police Command for further investigations.
The three were picked up about 2:30 a.m. yesterday when operatives of the National Security Secretariat had a tip-off that some persons were transacting business at the residence of the three and that the transactions were suspected to border on cocaine.
A source close to the operations team told the Daily Graphic that when the team got to the house, the bag containing the fake dollars was found in one of the rooms.
It said Gokeh claimed the bag had been given to him a month ago by a cousin of his whom he identified only as Kwame.
It said when Gokeh was asked if he knew the contents of the bag, he said he did not know.
The source said Gokeh claimed Kwame had promised to come for the bag when need be but that he had since not come for it, although Kwame visited Gokeh often.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THREE members of a family, including a father and his son, were yesterday arrested for allegedly dealing in fake dollar notes.
A bag containing some of the fake dollars in $100 bills and dollar-size plain papers were retrieved from the residence of the three at Abossey Okai in Accra.
The suspects, Robert Gokeh Mensah, 37, his father, Robert Kwesi Mensah, 53, and Nyamikeh Mensah, 50, are currently in custody at the Accra Regional Police Command for further investigations.
The three were picked up about 2:30 a.m. yesterday when operatives of the National Security Secretariat had a tip-off that some persons were transacting business at the residence of the three and that the transactions were suspected to border on cocaine.
A source close to the operations team told the Daily Graphic that when the team got to the house, the bag containing the fake dollars was found in one of the rooms.
It said Gokeh claimed the bag had been given to him a month ago by a cousin of his whom he identified only as Kwame.
It said when Gokeh was asked if he knew the contents of the bag, he said he did not know.
The source said Gokeh claimed Kwame had promised to come for the bag when need be but that he had since not come for it, although Kwame visited Gokeh often.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)