Power ship steams into Ghana port to help end blackouts

Power ship steams into Ghana port to help end blackouts  -Reuters.

TEMA, GHANA | BY KWASI KPODO

• A power-generating ship was officially welcomed at Ghana's main port on Sunday after arriving the previous day in what Power Minister Kwabena Donkor said was a bid to keep the country on track to end chronic blackouts.

Power has become a political issue, and anger over the blackouts, which can last for 24 hours at a time, threatens President John Mahama's chances of re-election next year. He has vowed to end the power cuts by Dec. 31.

The government contracted the ship from independent Turkish producer Karpowership to generate 235 megawatts of electricity daily to help offset a national supply deficit of around 500 megawatts.

"This is only one element in our solution, but it is a very useful element," Donkor told Reuters in the port of Tema, east of the capital Accra.

"It is a strong signal that we are on course to ending the blackouts and to restoring investor confidence in our economy."

Traditional chiefs welcomed the ship on Sunday by pouring alcoholic spirits onto the ground.

The power blackouts, which have been going on for three years, stem from insufficient rain to operate hydro facilities, obsolete equipment, inefficiency and a long-term failure to add capacity to the grid.

Irregular power has compounded a slowdown in economic growth in a country that until recently was a favorite with investors.

Ghana's economy grew strongly for years through its exports of gold, cocoa and oil, but lower global commodity prices have blunted that expansion and the government began an International Monetary Fund aid program in April.

The generating ship, Aysegul Sultan, should be plugged into the national grid by mid-December and is the first of two plants that will provide a total of 450 megawatts of power under a 10-year contract, Donkor said.

Donkor said an additional supply of up to 250 megawatts was coming next month from the Dubai-based independent producer Africa and Middle East Resource Investment.

Other projects should deliver about 1,000 megawatts starting next year that will give Ghana a power reserve, Donkor said.

Source: Reuters

Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/29/us-ghana-electricity-idUSKBN0TI0RZ20151129#yg7DR1tQ5d1gU7jW.99

 Turf War rages over Ghana’s 4G- LTE licensing

by Justice Lee Adoboe 

     

   ACCRA, Nov. 27   --  While Ghana’s National Communication Authority (NCA) is awaiting bids from prospective investors for the award of the rest of the 4th Generation (4G), Long Term Evolution  (LTE) licenses, some  industry players are engaged in a media war over the right to be awarded.

  

The telecoms companies which form part of the Chamber of Telecoms, insist that the process should be opened to all communications companies, whether foreign or national.

   A break-away group, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Chamber, wants the process to be reserved for only local investors.

   Ghana has awarded three 4G LTE licenses within the 2,600 Mega Hertz (2,600 mhZ) band  to Surfline, Blu Telecom and Goldkey, all which claim to be local Ghanaian companies, at the cost of about 7.0 million U.S. Dollars. 

   Eben Twum Asante, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of mobile telecom giants, MTN, however argued during an encounter with the Network of Communications Reporters (NCR) that government should consider the fact that time was no more on the side of Ghana in respect of the viability of the 4G Spectrum, and must expedite action on the award of the license.

   “Spectrum is one of the fastest perishable products because it is technology led,” Asante emphasized, urging that government must act on the licensing with dispatch so the country could reap the benefits of the technology before 5G sets in, and makes the 4G obsolete.

   The NCA has opened the bids for interested investors for the spectra available to the nation at the cost of over 60 million dollars.

   The NCA has made it compulsory that any company that wants to acquire the 4G license within the 800 MHz should have at least 35 percent local content.

   While Vodafone and Airtel, two of the six mobile telecoms operators in the country, have 30 percent and 25 percent Ghana government shares respectively, MTN is a wholly owned South African company.

   Twum-Asante said although supporting indigenous companies in any venture was critical, the national interest would not be served if foreign companies with the capacity to deploy a better service were sidelined.

   He therefore urged that the interest of Ghana must first and foremost be considered so that Ghanaians “can enjoy the best of speed available just as any other player in any advanced market as far as ICT is concerned”.

   According to him, MTN is in the process of meeting the 35 percent local content condition set by the NCA for the acquisition of the 4G LTE license.

   At a press conference on Thursday, Chief Executive Officer of Chamber of ICTs, Paul Adom-Okyere, challenged the government to consider national interest and reserve the rest of the 4G-LTE spectra to locals.

   "A local consortium will be able to raise the needed 35 million dollars that will ensure that Ghanaians own that spectrum so that MTN will buy capacity in that spectrum. Vodafone will also buy capacity from that spectrum,” Adom-Okyere stated.

   He accused the NCA of shifting the goalposts and going against an earlier promise to allocate the 4G LTE spectrum to only Ghanaian-owned telecom firms.

   “The posturing of the NCA could occasion significant loss of investment and loss of opportunity to create a giant Ghanaian ICT centre similar to what they have in the United States, England and South Africa,” the ICT Chamber Chief Executive had said.

   However, Director of Consumer and Corporate Affairs at NCA, Nana Dufie Badu, rebuffed the allegations on a television talk show - PM Express - late Thursday.

   According to her, the NCA over the past years had rather encouraged Ghanaian participation in the telecommunication space.

   She explained that the eligibility criteria for applicants in the 4G LTE spectrum auction stated clearly that bidding firms must have a minimum of 35  local Ghanaian participation or local Ghanaian ownership.

   This critical criterion was arrived at after several consultations with key industry players, including Ghanaian-owned firms, in the telecoms space, said Budu.

   The 800 MHz, which was reserved for broadcasting, became available as Ghana is taking steps on digital migration, and more would become available as TV stations migrate on to the digital terrestrial.

   An industry analyst, Nii Narku Dowuona, told this reporter  that the members of the ICT chamber were only fighting to fend off competition from the big telecoms companies over the provision of the 4G-LTE services, as they claimed they were yet to recoup their investments.  Enditem.

Source: Justice Lee Adoboe

ADB in senseless expenditure Part 2

ADB in senseless expenditure Part 2

by Justice Lee Adoboe

   ACCRA, June 1—Further  investigations have revealed more worrying information  about the wantonness of some levels of expenditure at the troubled Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).

   Some of these expenditure are such that they have imposed a high overhead cost on the bank annually, a cost it cannot sustain hence its current situation.

  

 A case in point is the fact that ADB has to cough up at least U.S $ 4000.00, allegedly to pay the Managing Director (MD)  Stephen Kpordzie for living in his own private residence instead of the bank’s official residence while working for the bank.

   As part of our investigations and inquisitions into the causes of the bank’s current position of non-profitability, it was discovered that, ADB had had its official residence for the MD which is  located at Roman Ridge allegedly disposed of in 2011.

   This investigative team was told by very credible sources that the process to sell that property began in 2010, barely a year after Kpordzie’s appointment as MD and was concluded in 20011.

   “The core function of the bank is banking, not property or estates management and so we must divest our interest in these landed properties and concentrate on our core mandate,” Kpordzie argued, according to our sources.

   Suffice it to say that instead of the sale of the bank’s landed property resulting in any spectacular annual performances,  the bank has  rather experienced dwindling fortunes, under the current MD’s watch, hence the attempt to raise capital through an IPO.

   The bank is saddled with an annual expenditure of a U.S $ 4000.00 or 15.200 Ghana cedis monthly rent which amounts to monthly rent of U.S $ 48,000 or 182,200 Ghana cedis rent for the MD alone.

Contrary to Kpordzie’s  belief and practice, managers of some state institutions have rather found the wisdom in investing in their own accommodation facilities to save such gargantuan costs in future.

   The Petroleum Commission which has a core mandate of regulating the upstream sector of the petroleum industry found it fiscally prudent to invest in its own office space along the N1 Highway.

 In a similar manner, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) which manages the health expenditure of its subscribers on behalf of the state, has also found it prudent to invest in its own office complex not only in the capital, but also in some districts.

   After working from rented premises since 1996 as Scancom Limited, operators of MTN is currently putting up a magnificent edifice along the Independent Avenue,  just close to Vanguard Assurance, adjacent to the ADB headquarters which Stephen Kpordzie and his Board of Directors have earmarked for sale for a paltry U.S $ 17 million.

   In the face of ample evidence  to demonstrate that it is more prudent for such institutions to own their office edifices, the ADB board and management have  rather chosen under very questionable circumstances to pay 12 million Ghana Cedis  annually working from the Accra Financial Centre (AFC) constructed by the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) of South Africa.

   The bank used to pay U.S $ 500,000 for the Citizen Kofi building situated between Danquah Circle and Labone Junction for the operations of some of the headquarters staff. 

   For the four other buildings rented for similar purposes: The St Kizito Catholic Church facility close to Nima Round-about; Ring Road Central (RRC) Branch and the Achimota Branch the bank pays  not more than U.S $ 300.000 00.

   Together with the U.S $ 500,000 for Citizen Kofi, the total rent charge for these four subsidiary headquarters operations at the current exchange rate works up to about 3.1 million Ghana cedis annually.

   Adding the  300.000 Ghana cedis  on maintenance of the headquarters building, ADB’s annual expenditure for its headquarters office accommodation totals  about 3.4 million Ghana cedis.

   However, the board and management have chosen to  dispose of the headquarters building for a paltry U.S $  17 million dollars and rather pay an annual rent for the four floors in the AFC, a building constructed on ADB’s own land which according to Mr. Kpordzie was valued at U.S $  2.4 million.

   Meanwhile, workers of ADB who are in the thick of agitations against the alleged mismanagement of the bank  have reported to UNICOF, their mother union that personnel of state security apparatus have started meddling in the purely internal  management issue.

   In a related development the Tema District Council of Labor issued a stern warning to the management of ADB last Thursday that they would resist any  attempt to sell off the bank to any foreign entity.

   They maintained that ADB is a brain-child of the Tema District Council of Labour, hence they would not sit down to have the place sold out. 

   More soon…

Source: Justice Lee Adoboe

ADB Senseless expenditure:Part I

ADB Senseless expenditure:Part I

by Justice Lee Adoboe

   Ongoing independent investigations by this reporter has revealed that the wanton disregard for fiscal prudence in some major decisions will cause the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) to subject hard earned finances to senseless expenditure.

   If not stopped, the bank which was established in 1965, by an Act of Parliament to meet the banking needs of the Ghanaian agricultural sector in a profitable manner will end up spending more than 250 percent what it currently spends housing  its headquarters alone.

   At the current inter-bank rate, the ADB would spend over GHc 8.6 million more in the new Accra Finance Centre (AFC) building annually than it currently spends housing the headquarters staff in its own building and three satellite headquarters buildings.

   The bank currently houses senior management staff and other staff at the ADB House (formerly Swiss Air building) along the Independent Avenue.

   It also leased the Citizen Kofi Building, situated  between Danquah Circle and Labone Junction, the Ring Road Central branch and a facility at the St Kizito Roman Catholic Church near the Nima Roundabout to host some of the headquarters staff.

   All three rented facilities costs the bank just about 800,000 dollars, which at the current market exchange rate of  Ghc 3.8759: 1 U.S Dollar works up to 3.100.720 (three million one hundred Ghana Cedis, 72 pesewas) annually.

   Conservatively, the bank may spend about GHc300, 000 (three hundred thousand Ghana cedis ) maintaining the ADB house in a year.

  However, if  the sum of GHC 1.0 million monthly rentals for the four floors at the AFC is anything to go buy, then  the ADB is set to spend not less than GHc 8.5 million more annually on headquarters accommodation than it would have been spending if it remained in its own building and the three rented facilities in the city.

   For a bank that has a mandate to finance Ghana’s agriculture sector, GHc 8.0 million is not money that can be dispensed with in such a wasteful manner.

   Meanwhile, the ADB is said to be a part owner of the building it is renting at such an exorbitant rate.

   While other tenants are paying 20 dollars per car for parking space at AFC ADB pays 100 dollars per car for the same measure of parking space, making nonsense of the bank’s    part ownership of the building, erected on a land owned by the bank in such a prime space.

   It will be recalled that the ADB management held a press conference to state the “facts” about the cost of the building they had moved into.

    Subsequently,  the board of the bank also came out with a  Press  Statement, seeking to contradict news items about the bad management practices at the bank.

   The board insisted that contrary to media publications, “the board and MD are not incompetent.”

   But in all these, the board could not give Ghanaians the comparison between what they spend on running their own ADB House Headquarters and the three rented facilities against what it is going to spend on the AFC.

   The board and management are rather hell bent on  selingl the bank’s own headquarters building with the adjoining plot of land behind it for a paltry 17 million dollars, and rent a place for GHc 12 million a year.

   Meanwhile, in Ghana the average peasant farmer needs just GHc 700. per acre to maintain a farm from plowing stage  to harvesting stage,  this the ADB has since the approval of the universal banking license for them three years ago, have failed to provide to peasant farmers in Ghana.

   “Even Stanbic Bank and micro-finance institutions have been financing agricultural activities more than ADB which was set up with a mandate to promote agriculture development in the country,” Charles Nyaaba, Programmes Officer of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) lamented in an interview.

   Governor of the central bank, Henry Kofi Wampoah has in a short interview assured this reporter, that these matters would be looked into to ensure the right thing is done.

 

   But attempts to speak to the ADB Management failed as the Public Relations Unit failed to answer messages sent to them.

Stay tuned…

Source: Justice Lee Adoboe

Australia leading the change for women in Ghana

by Justice Lee Adoboe

    An Australian-funded scheme is saving and transforming lives in Akuapem North District, Eastern Region, and in Shai Osu Doku District and Ablekuma Sub-Metro, Greater Accra Region.

    With funding from the Australian Government, WaterAid has provided more than 7,000 people access to safe and sustainable water, appropriate sanitation and safer hygiene practices.

    “Supporting vulnerable communities in Ghana to access safe drinking water in a hygienic environment has been a lifeline, particularly for women and children”, said Graeme Dickson, Acting Australian High Commissioner to Ghana.

   He observed that, the success stories shared through the Australian funded project show that communities are more able to drive their own development when they receive the appropriate tools, such as those provided through WaterAid.

    Australia’s support through WaterAid promotes an enabling environment so that people from marginalised communities, particularly women, children and people with disability have better access to water, sanitation and hygiene services and greater influence and engagement with decision-makers.

    In Ablekuma Sub-Metro, Shai Osu Doku and Akuapem North Districts, the construction of rain water harvesting systems, iron removal plants, and water kiosks has increased access to safe and clean water for more than 6,000 people. Over 1,000 children have benefitted with access to sanitation through the provision of institutional latrines at selected schools.

   The capacity of school children has also been strengthened through the school-based hygiene promotion activities, where school hygiene clubs are formed to provide peer learning among school children.

    “Initially we found it very difficult to get to potable and reliable source of water. We had to walk for miles before getting water to bath, which often made us late for school and we were sometimes punished by teachers without them having the slightest idea of how we managed to get water to bath to school.

   But there was a relief when we got the borehole and a rain harvesting tank by which we are able to store rain water to supply the community as well,” says Beatrice Munyo, a pupil in Okyerekrom village. “People have toilet in their homes now and good sanitation. We are now free from a lot of sickness”.

    Through the Endogenous Development (ED) approach, women from marginalised communities have also been empowered to identify and demand their rights as well as actively participate in development activities and contribute to community life.

    The ED approach has led to the installation of a queen mother and a youth leader in a new intervention community, Tadankro.

    The installation of a queen mother is very important because it demonstrates that women have the recognition of a community level institution that they control.

   The increasing recognition of queen mothers and female chiefs suggest that women are gradually gaining the respect and power to influence policy changes and practices at the communities and districts.

   The Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACES) is implemented in Ghana by WaterAid Ghana. 

mPedigree powers security check for African wax prints

by Justice Lee Adoboe

   ACCRA, March 4 -- mPedigree, the global leader in the use of web and mobile-based ERP and SCM technologies  to protect brand authenticity of manufactured products, has will power security seals for African wax prints owned by the Premium African Textiles (PAT), a release received here on Wednesday said.

   The new digital technology will enable consumers to instantly authenticate them via free Short Message Service (SMS) of a unique security code under a scratch panel on each pack.

   This was disclosed during the launch of a new campaign to empower its customers and Ghanaians in general to only patronize genuine textiles and to avoid fake and pirated versions of popular wax print and other African-inspired designs and fabrics.

   The campaign dubbed OGA – Original, Genuine, Authentic – cuts across PAT’s luxury brands such as GTP and should over time cut across its multiple markets in Africa too.

   PAT’s SMS-authentication program will be powered by mPedigree Network’s Goldkeys technologies such as Acodion and Signet.

   These technologies enable all the brand owner’s distributors to be enrolled in an electronic portal, and all textiles sent through the distribution networks to be tracked all the way to the consumer.

   Stephen Badu, Marketing Director of PAT, said in remarks at the launch of the program here that the technology would become a permanent mark of quality, distinguishing the company’s wares in a marketplace increasingly flooded by low quality fabrics.

   PAT’s campaign comes at a time of extreme social, business, and political concern over the serious spread of fake and pirated textiles in West Africa, with some analysts estimating more than 50 percent of textiles may in fact be of this fake variety.

   Governments, such as the one in Ghana, have been deeply troubled by the phenomenon and have set up taskforces to check the problem. But these taskforces have sometimes been accused of high-handedness and corruption.

   Meanwhile, the problems continue to compound, with the textile sector in the region shrinking every year and more than 80 percent of textile workers having lost their jobs in recent decades.

   Some public officials are also concerned about the activities of pirates and fakers in this sector because of the damage the fakes are doing to the unique local cultures that supply inspiration for the textile designs.

   As fakes decimate the local industry, the designers lose as much as the factory hands and the stock of native knowledge and skills consequently start to evaporate.

   mPedigree, headed by Bright Simons, a growing name in international technology innovations, also created security checks for the pharmaceutical industry which consumers can use to authenticate brands of pharmaceutical products.  Enditem.

   Source: mPedigree

BEIGE CAPITAL SUPPORTS GHASALC

BEIGE CAPITAL SUPPORTS GHASALC

   The BEIGE Capital Savings and Loans Company has partnered with the Ghana Association of Savings and Loans Companies (GHASALC) to host its first Business Roundtable event for CEOs of the Savings and Loans sector.

   The event which was attended by CEOS was to drive financial inclusion agenda for the unbanked in the savings and loans sector.

   BEIGE Capital’s support and partnership is to encourage members to join in fostering a stronger advocacy network and allow GHASALC to bring closer all stakeholders in the Savings and Loans sector.

   It is also to support GHASALC drive a common voice in their role for financial inclusion of the unbanked through periodic Business Round table discussions on the savings and loans sector.

   GHASALC is the umbrella body of Savings and Loans companies with a mission to build a solid platform for the enhancement of microfinance practice in Savings and Loans companies so as to ensure the sustainability and growth of those companies, and their customers for the ultimate development of the national economy.   

   The Chief Executive Officer of BEIGE Capital Mike Nyinaku commenting on the purpose of the partnership, said   the company is partnering GHASALC because he believes  that with  one voice , GHASALC can  implement strategies that will enhance the services of the Savings and Loans Sector

   “ We believe  with one common voice, we can strengthen the role  savings and loans companies play in taking financial services to unserved  and underserved areas” Mr. Nyinaku said.

   CEOs and representatives from Midland Savings and Loans, Global Access, Union Savings and Loans , Opportunity International , First Ghana , Bond Savings and Loans, Pacific Savings and Loans , Unicredit, Womens World Banking, Golden Pride, First Trust , Express Savings and Loans , First Allied , Sinapi Aba and BEIGE Capital participated in the event.

   Beige Capital is currently the leading Savings and Loans Company controlling 30% of the entire industry’s assets and liabilities and has branches in over 50 different locations across the country.

   BEIGE Capital , a subsidiary of The BEIGE Group, an investment firm in Ghana with interests in the Banking & Finance, Real Estate, and Mining and Hospitality industries.