Ghanaian News

The European Union (EU) has welcomed the ‘Ghana beyond aid’ agenda with a pledge to offer the needed financial and technical support to help translate the initiative into reality.

The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, left Ghana on Thursday, 18th October, 2018 to attend the Ghana Investment and Opportunities Summit, taking place in London, United Kingdom, from 23rd to 24th October.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has expressed appreciation for the FAO’s support for the government of Ghana’s shared growth and development agenda in the Agricultural sector.

The Attorney-General’s Department (AG) has released the documents it intends to use to prosecute the five persons accused of causing financial loss of more than $14.8 million (about GH¢67 million) to the state in the controversial SSNIT Operational Business Suite (OBS) project.

Reliable information reaching Joy Business indicates all four telcos in the country have now fully connected their networks to the government’s Common Monitoring Platform (CMP) to enable traffic monitoring, revenue assurance, fraud management and mobile money monitoring.

The platform, installed and managed by KelniGVG under a build operate and transfer (BOT) deal, had earlier sparked huge controversy over the $1.5million monthly cost to the taxpayer. There were also concerns regarding a possible breach of customer privacy and data security.

After a protracted jaw-jaw in the media and a legal suit by some citizens, the stakeholders have come to a compromise.

Currently, the system is undergoing various levels of testing with the respective telcos towards full implementation later this month.

Officials of the Communications Ministry have confirmed to Joy Business that barring any hitches, the platform would be officially launched on October 22, 2018 by President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo.

Some of the telcos also confirmed that indeed they are connected to the system and they have been informed by the Director-General of National Communications Authority (NCA) at a meeting that the platform will be launched on October 22, 2018.

But the telcos said they are yet to receive formal communication on the launch and take off of the platform. At least one telco, Glo Ghana confirmed that they are fully connected and completed all test so they are ready to go live any day.

They also stated that they are comfortable with the architecture of the KelniGVG system connected to their network and they do not have any concerns about interference with customer privacy.

The CMP contract with KelniGVG is for five years at a cost of US$89million. The contract is open for renewal for another five years if government feels the need to.

Its implementation is in fulfilment of the Communications Service Tax Law, which enjoins the Ministries of Finance and of Communications to establish a CMP for the purposes of revenue assurance, traffic monitoring, fraud management and mobile money monitoring to ensure the state gets the exact tax revenue due it from the operations of the telcos.

The system will monitor the billing platforms and communication traffic flow on the networks of the telcos in real time, without interfering with the content of the communication and with the personal details of customers.

KelniGVG has said that the system was built to conform with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2012, Act 843, so there is no cause for alarm.

Earlier, similar contracts with other companies did not deliver on the real-time partly because the telcos had always resisted attempts by government contractors to connect monitoring machines to their respective networks.

This is the first time a third-party company contracted by government has been allowed by the telcos to connect their real-time monitoring equipment to collect data for the purposes of revenue assurance.

Government is confident the CMP will guarantee the expected tax revenue from the telecom sector, but analyst believes government is on a wild goose chase with the implementation of the CMP because there is no guarantee the state will get any significant increase in revenue from the telecom industry.

Source : Myjoyonline

The case involving a former Director General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has been adjourned to December 14.

This was after counsel for the former DG, Ernest Thompson, prayed for more time to peruse the evidence the state intends to use against his client in court.

In court on Wednesday, the Director of Public Prosecution, Yvonne Attakora Obuobisa, told the court they had filed documents at the court registry and enquired if the defence lawyers have been duly served.

Mrs Obuobisa explained that the 127-page document including a pen drive with other documents was filed on September 24 at the Court’s registry.

However, all the defence lawyers said they had not received copies of the documents, a stand judge Henry Anthony Kwofie corroborated.

Lawyers for the accused persons insisted that given the volume of the documents, they needed three months to study them.

One of the defence lawyers, Thaddeus Sory, noted the Supreme Court decision on pre-trial disclosures did not say prosecution should just furnish the defence with documents but also give adequate time for preparation of trial.

Justice Kwofie, however, gave them eight weeks in his ruling for them to prepare.

The case follows investigations into the award of $72 million Operating Business Suite (OBS) contract for the development of the software to help SSNIT in its dealings with pensioners.

Ernest Thompson has since been charged with conspiracy to wilfully cause financial loss to the state, wilfully causing financial to the state, defrauding by false pretence, contravention of Public Procurement Act, possession of forged documents, authoring forged documents, among others.

Source: 3news

The lead operator of the country’s two premier oil fields — Jubilee and TEN — Tullow Oil Ghana, has announced a $10-million support for the free senior high school (SHS) educational programme.

President Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to today, Wednesday, 17 October 2018 commission recruits for the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) initiative.

The Deputy Director General in charge of Managerial Operations at the National Communications Authority (NCA), Dr. Isaac Yaw Ani, has told an Accra High Court that the former Board Chairman, Eugene Baffoe Bonnie, impressed upon him to make the transfer of some $4 million without documentation.

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stated that the New Patriotic Party government, under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has done more in 20 months over feats that would have taken several years to accomplish.