SARPONG'S BLOG

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Total revenue of the 30 district assemblies in the Ashanti Region witnessed appreciable rise over four year period, increasing from GH¢94,996,260.54 in 2012 to GH¢124,267,878.09 in 2013 and to GH¢159,292,965.70 in 2014.                                         Hon. Collins Dauda, Local Government Minister This comprised of Internally Generated Funds (IGFs), Common Fund allocations, Government Grants and Donor funds and it represented nearly 70% revenue growth over the three year period. This was contained in the Auditor-General’s report on the accounts of District Assemblies for financial year ended 31 December 2014. All the 30 assemblies in the region prepared and submitted their financial statements for audit validation in compliance with Part VII Sections 77 and 78 of the Financial Memoranda for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies ...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The National Biosafety Authority (NBA) which oversees the regulation of biotechnology in Ghana has extended the country’s trials period of the genetically modified (GM) crops to another three years. The extension was to allow the institutions engineered to conduct the trial go into detail of the field trials. The authority has, therefore granted them additional three year permit to finish the trials and the current permits will expired in November 2018.                                                              Cowpea The institutions engineered to conduct the trials were initially given three year permits to finish the trials, however they requested for additional period because they were not able to finish assessing the trials within the three year period. The institutions in charge of t...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of Ghana has maintained the policy rate at 26% due to high inflationary rate. The policy rate is a benchmark the central bank lends to the commercial bank. It is base on the policy rate that the commercial bank also fix their lending rates. At a news conference on Monday, the committee led by the Governor of the central bank, Dr. Henry Kofi Wampah said the committee expects the slower pace of price changes to continue and steer inflation down towards the medium target band of 8+2%. According to Dr. Wampah, there are upside risks to the inflation outlook which include uncertainties regarding the second round effects of the unanticipated petroleum price adjustments, exchange rate developments as well as worsening external financing conditions. “These risks would however be moderated by lower crude oil prices, and improvements in the energy situation,” said the Governor. In assessing the econom...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The Bank of Ghana (BoG), the regulator of the banking industry is adopting measures to ensure that the country’s financial system remains strong and stable. This includes the strengthening of the legal framework for supervising and regulating the financial system in the country. According to the central bank, the formulation of the new Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions Bill and the Ghana Deposit Protection Bill are part of the measures been put in place to ensure strong and stable financial system. The regulator said these bills have been submitted to Parliament and once approved, the BoG will develop regulations needed to fully implement these laws by June 2016, with assistance from the long-term IMF advisor. This is part of a memorandum update submitted by the Government of Ghana, during the second review of the performance of Ghana’s economy by the International Monetary Fund. “A special diagnostic external audit of com...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Government is to clear a total arrears of GHc5,130.0 million owed by the utility companies and other state-owned-enterprises (SOEs) by 2017, Daily Express has learnt. The amount also includes statutory funds and the pension fund. Government said it will first clear GHc2,313.2 million in 2016 and clear the remaining GHc2,816.8 million arrears by 2017. This was announced by the government in a memorandum updates and reports developments on Ghana’s economic and financial policies for 2015–2017, submitted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of IMF review of Ghana’s economy. This is part of a memorandum update submitted by the Government of Ghana, during the second review of Ghana’s economy by the International Monetary Fund. According to the government, this form part of its commitment to its medium –term arrears clearance plan. However, the government has made provision of GH¢800 million for the repayment of potential arrears th...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The Ho Polytechnic’s returns on Internally Generated Funds (IGF) submitted to the Controller and Accountant General for 2013 was understated by GH¢489,698.78, according to the Auditor-General’s. The department recommended that revenue figures should be properly reconciled and fully disclosed on returns to the Controller and Accountant General and other stakeholders as required by Regulation 19(1) of the Financial Administration Regulations (FAR) 2004 (L.I. 1802). The report also said the Polytechnic paid GH¢22,000.00 to a student who brought a suit against the Rector and Registrar for the wrongful declaration of his examination result and failing to rectify the error when notified. It also recommended compliance with the Polytechnic Act so that, matters of such nature could be resolved amicably to avoid further embarrassment to the Polytechnic. Also, the lecturer whose action resulted in the loss should be surcharged with the amount. The repo...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The Minister for Petroleum, Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah paid a visit to the Platon Gas Oil Ghana Limited in Tema as part of his official work visit to various petroleum industry players in the country. The Minister’s visit was to update him on progress made by the company and others after they were issued with the required licenses to operate. The Platon Gas Oil Ghana Limited is a fast growing oil refinery in Ghana dedicated to supplying quality Diesel, Petroleum and Residual Fuel Oil to clients within the West African sub-region. A statement from the Petroleum Ministry and copied EnergyMedia.com said the Hon. Buah applauded the company for making Health, Safety, Security and Entertainment (HSSE) a key part of their business and also commended the company for their contribution in developing Ghana’s downstream sector. The minister emphasized that government is keen on ensuring full participation of Ghanaians in the oil and gas industry he...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) bounces back after it was close down a year ago for restructuring, Daily Express has learnt. Mr. Awuah-Darko gave the assurance when the Minister for Petroleum, Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah paid a visit to the company. The Minister led a delegation from his ministry and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to TOR and other refineries to know what is going in his sector. According to Mr. Awuah-Darko TOR is running at a low capacity, however the company is ready to be on it fit to commence operation. There are numerous benefits the nation can derive from TOR. The sector Minister, Hon. Buah announced Governments effort to revamp the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) back to its former glory. The delegation was received by the Board of Directors of TOR and both parties discussed the progress of work done so far with respect to the comprehensive restructuring process currently being carried out at the company. The Min...

By: Mathias Amoah- Daily Express with files from GNA The African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), an energy policy think tank said Newmont Ghana is enjoying a lot from the country because Ghana has not been able to capture adequate share of the mineral value over the years. The energy policy think-tank made this observation at a launch of a report titled: “Golden Days for Newmont.” Mr. Ismael Ackah, Head of Policy Unit, ACEP who led the discussion said according to Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Newmont is taken advantage of the country’s inability to capture values of gold product produce by the company. He said this is very serious because government had lost an estimated US$90 million in 2011/2012 as a result of mining stability agreements and US$387 to US$1168 million from non- optimisation of royalty receipt from 1990 to 2007. Mr. Ackah said from 2010 to 2013, the country’s average share of the total value for gold production was 7%, whi...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express The DKM Diamond Microfinance Limited is the owner of two newly illegal financial institutions in the Brong Ahafo Region, Daily Express can confirm. The two illegal financial institutions are Care for Humanity International and Financial Giants and they are referred to as fun clubs. These two illegal financial institutions are based in Nkoranza and Techiman and the Board of Directors are the same as those behind DKM Diamond Microfinance Limited. The DKM Diamond Microfinance Limited started operating Care for Humanity International and Financial Giants, after the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has placed a moratorium on its operations, Daily Express can report. These two illegal financial institutions (fun clubs) are operating illegally, as per the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 (Act 612), the Non-Banking Financial Institutions Act, 2008 (Act 774) and the Banking Act, 2004 (Act 673) as amended. The Daily Express also discovered that after the Bank...

PRESS RELEASE                                                              05/01/2016 PERFORMANCE OF MINISTERS, MPs AND CEOs OF SOEs- 2015 FAKS Investigative Services , a Ghanaian r esearch and background investigative company conducted a survey to assess the performance of Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Regional Ministers, Members of Parliament and the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) for the year 2015. This survey usually takes place between the months of October and December every year. FAKS uses these three month period to seek opinions from Ghanaians as to which of the people listed above have done exceptionally well and need to be recognized. The 2015 project was the 4 th Edition since FAKS started assessing the per...