Thursday, 2 July 2015

Trouble-makers in NPP won’t succeed - Karbo


Anthony Karbo NPP New
A Former Youth Organizer of the opposition New Patriotic Party(NPP), Anthony Abayifaa Karbo says the Party’s recent internal squabbles are largely due to what he says is the misconduct of some unscrupulous leaders.

The youth, he said, are not to blame for the upheavals that sometimes occur in the party, adding that some of the troublemakers served in Kufuor’s administration.

“Leaders who have assumed exaggerated influence of themselves are the ones causing a stir in the party”, Karbo told host Kwaku Owusu Agyei on Si Me So.

“How can you be insensitive to the party you’re seeking to serve,” Karbo lamented.

Karbo who’s also the Deputy Communications Director of the NPP says anybody in the party with an ill-intention to cause disorder in the party won’t succeed.

Parliament wants RTI Bill to cover private firms

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gentlelevelsblogspotcom/1404087416567762?sk=info&tab=page_info
Parliament has initiated moves that seek to widen the scope of access to information to cover private bodies that perform public functions with state funds.

A report of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on the Right to Information Bill, 2013, a copy of which is in the possession of Kasapafmonline.com, discusses that the bill in its current form is “too restrictive” and therefore, has proposed that coverage be extended to cover private bodies.

“The Committee has observed that the Bill is applicable to only information held by government agencies. The Committee sees it to be too restrictive and therefore the coverage must be widened to cover private bodies that perform public functions with public funds.”

“The Committee is of the view that the public should be able to have right of access to information in the custody of private bodies or agencies, especially, if the disclosure is in the public interest. It is a fact that in modern governance, non-state actors influence the destinies of millions of people and hence, the necessity to extend the coverage to private bodies.”

To ensure fairness, the Committee has proposed that the term “government body” running through the Bill be substituted with the words “public institution” as done in other jurisdictions.

“This is applicable to both South Africa and Liberia. In both jurisdictions, the right of access to information applies to private entities that receive public resources and benefits or engage in public functions or provides public services, particularly, in respect of information relating to the public resources, benefits or services,” Chairman of the Committee, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin argued in his report that was recently submitted to the plenary for consideration and adoption.

Ghana's electricity power problems 'not too bad after all' SethTerkper says

Seth Terkper Minister FinancePresident Mahama with Finance Minister Seth Terkper
The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has sought to clarify that even though Ghana is going through perhaps its worst power crisis, it is still a shining star in terms of access to electricity on the continent.

“Let us remember that even during the period that we coined ‘dumsor’ and all that, Ghana has a record, the country has 72% access to electricity,” he remarked.

Speaking at the Graphic Business-Fidelity Bank breakfast meeting in Accra on Thursday, the Minister was optimistic that the nation will find permanent solutions to the energy crisis soon.

He mentioned that when it comes to access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana is ranked second to South Africa “so we may not be too bad after all.”

For three years, Ghana has been forced to ration power to consumers due to power generation deficit and technical issues.

The situation degenerated and the effects on industry and the economy forced employers to lay off about 13,000 workers in various sectors.

Industry players have warned that if the power crisis is not resolved within the shortest possible time, more people will lose their jobs.

Presently, the government has signed contracts with some energy companies from countries including Turkey, Germany, USA, Russia, among others, to help with energy generation.

He added that when “we resolve our short-term and medium-term challenges, I believe the full benefits will be known.”

According to Mr. Terkper, “there are various power agreements and things that will go into this and the West African Gas Pipeline as well as our own gas processing plant has come on stream.”

In the face of the worsening economic challenges, Seth Terkper admonished Ghanaians not to focus only on the negatives, but also acknowledge the many successes the country has chalked.

“When we look at the economy, we should not look at it only on account of non-performance of Ghanaian managers including politicians,” he suggested.

“We should also look it at in the context of thee major shocks that the economy continues to go through in the last two years that we launched the recovery because often times, the conversation does not take account of these major shocks which in the past would have actually crippled the economy and therefore when we talk about decimal figures, even like a 3.5% growth or 4% growth, let us remember first that the base for the GDP itself has increased so a 3% is not the same as a 105 some years back.”

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