Barclays introduces Aba Pa account for masses

Accra, April 16, GNA -

Barclays Bank on Monday introduced a new product dubbed: "Aba Pa" savings and current accounts to encourage more Ghanaians to access bank services.

The product, which targets the employed with low-income levels below 500,000 cedis and the agricultural sector, offers customers low initial deposits and transaction costs to grow their savings balance on a graduated scale.

Briefing the media in Accra, Mr Elly Odhong, Retail Director for Barclays Bank, said "Aba Pa", which required a minimum opening balance of 40,000 cedis, would also provide funeral insurance cover, a Visa Electronic Debit card and access to loans for all its customers. According to him, the Bank had adopted flexible requirement measures to open the account in order to ensure that their customers were not overburdened with excessive documentation.

Mr Odhong stated that "Aba Pa" would help erase perceptions that Barclays was a bank for the elite and create understanding that the Bank believed in equal access to world class banking and financial services. Mrs Margaret Mwanakwatwe, Managing Director, Barclays Bank, said it was unfortunate that banking had become a preserve for some segments of society and only 10 per cent of the Ghanaian population had bank accounts.

She said the percentage was even not encouraging on the continental level, since 92 per cent of people in developing countries still lacked access to financial services compared with the figure of almost five per cent in the United Kingdom.

Mrs Mwanakwatwe said it was important to note that today's imperatives no longer supported arguments that shut out the population from accessing banking products and services, since banking was essential for poverty alleviation. She expressed optimism that Barclays would open more branches in Accra and Kumasi in order to bring banking to the doorsteps of the general public.

The Managing Director challenged banks to be more innovative and develop different banking products for different segments, saying, "no matter one's limitations, social and economic circumstance there should be something of interest to that person in the bank".

Source:
GNA

Headmaster appeals for help

Larteh, April 16, GNA -

The Headmaster of Larteh Presbyterian Secondary Technical School (PSTS), Mr Emmanuel Mac-Asare, has appealed to the government to provide the school with adequate infrastructure. The Headmaster, who was addressing the 22nd anniversary and fourth speech and prize giving-day of the school on Saturday at Larteh, said if nothing were done the new education programme to be effected from September would suffer in the school.

"Part of the lessons are held under a shed, rented premises serve as a boarding facility for boys and a second-hand pick-up is used for administrative and educational purposes."

The theme for the day was "bridging the gap between the developed and the developing schools: a collective responsibility". He said because the school was a community school, fees were used to run the school and this had put the finances of the school in very difficult position and called on other stakeholders to assist.

Mr Mac-Asare said since the school rents private premises for it's boarders, the rent kept soaring and the school could face ejection soon for non-payment of rent.

He said despite all the challenges, the school robs shoulders in both the academic and sports fields with the well-endowed schools in the region due to discipline and perseverance on the part of the students. The school was first in the regional 50th Anniversary Competition, won the handball competition for the second time and in athletics came second in both boys and girls' categories.

Mr. Mac-Asare said out of 65 candidates presented by the school at the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination for 2005, 45 passed in all 7 subjects and 10 of them gained admission to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The guest speaker Dr Nicholas Siaw, the D ean of Students of the Koforidua Polytechnic, said it was high time gaps between well and less endowed institutions were bridged if quality education was to be accessible to all.

He said the trend where some schools had facilities in abundance while others could not boost of even a school truck was an indictment on access to quality education in the country.

Dr Siaw, who is an alumnus of the school, called on the community and the Presbyterian Church to be moved by the plight of the school to raise the standard to an appreciable level.

He told the students that conditions in the school were not satisfactory, yet many were those who had passed through it to become able men in the society and urged them to focus on their studies. The General Manager of Presbyterian schools, Rev. Samuel Mensah, thanked the headmaster and staff for their services that had sustained the school in the face of huge challenges He said the Presbyterian Church was enthused about the delivery of vocational and technical education and would therefore ensure that the school had the necessary facilities to learn. Thirty-one students and nine staff members were awarded prizes for their performance in various fields and service to the school. 16 April 07

Source:
GNA

Ministers’ Signatures Being Faked

Intelligence personnel close to the Ministry of Harbours and Railways have uncovered the activities of a fraud syndicate operating in the Ministries and defrauding unsuspecting businessmen of sums running into several millions of cedis.

The syndicate, whose operations are carried out by designing letter heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) also go as far as forging the signatures of Ministers, Chief Directors and other high profile personalities in the public service.

Investigations by The Independent newspaper have established that the modus operandi of such fraudulent syndicates is the forgery and faking of official stationery to convince the unsuspecting businessmen and thereby enable them (the fraudsters) to swindle them of huge sums of cash in the name of doing official business with them.

One of the ministries that has been hardest hit in recent times by the activities of this cartel of professional fraudsters, The Independent has learnt, is the Ministry of Harbours and Railways, where there have been a great deal of behind the scenes activities towards the revamping of the railway sector. The Independent during its investigations sighted a letter dated February 5, 2007 on the letterhead of the Ministry of Harbours and Railways with the signature of the Minister, Professor Christopher Ameyaw Ekumfi duly signed but both the letterhead and the signatures are forgeries.

The letter which bears the title of "Finance and Supplies" sought to create the erroneous and false impression to unsuspecting businessmen who the fake documents are intended to hook that an Accra-based construction company had been given the authority to dispose of all metal rail scraps amounting to some 400 metric tons. The forged letter, which is addressed to the Managing Director of Shelfron Construction Company Limited, and which is purported to have been written by the Minister for Harbours and Railways, is said to have empowered one Dr. Dosey Asumah as an auctioneer to sell used rail as metal scrap in the stead of Shelfron Company.

Meanwhile, efforts by the Independent newspaper to find the whereabouts of Shelfron Company through the communication information it has provided hit a brik wall and their own letterhead – on which they had made certain offers to their prospective clients – are full of inaccuracies. The company, which claims to be located in Awoshie gives two telephone numbers on its letterhead, but the numbers that are to be used in contacting them (028-708761 and 0244-01165 ) clearly have only nine digits each instead often digits.

It was the same problem with Shelfron's fax number (0246-81644); it also has nine digits instead of ten. The Independent newspaper said it can also confirm that there are other unscrupulous characters that have also jumped into this scrap business making all kinds of moves to swindle unsuspecting people. Another case in point uncovered by The Independent is the move by a Ghanaian-based company called Oak International Company that claims to be Importers and Exporters, Contractors, Marketing Consultants.

Oak International has made an offer to sell 2.6 million metric tons of rail scraps to Global Black Star Trading Company Limited. Oak International, according to Mr. Tod D. Sims, the Business Owner of Global Black Star Trading Oak International, claimed to have legal rights to sell the used rail scraps, and in accordance with best business practices, he decided to cross-check the fact with the ministry before signing the contract. "But for that move by Mr. Tod D. Sims to verify the authenticity of the deal, the man would have been defrauded of huge sums of-money," said an official at the Railways Ministry who was speaking to The Independent.

The paper said its investigations also uncovered a letter dated December 12, 2006, purportedly signed by the Chief Director of the Trade Ministry and creating the erroneous impression that the company, Oak International has been duly authorized by the Trades Ministry to transact such business. Oak international attached certificates to commence business and of incorporation to a very detailed document it sent to Mr. Ted Sims all in an attempt to convince him on the authenticity of the deal.

Checks to find out who are behind this second company proved fruitless, as the cell phone number provided Mr. Ted Sims happened to be that of a business centre located at Taifa in Accra. Meanwhile, The Ministry of Harbours and Railways has in a letter of February 23, 2007 officially lodged a complaint with the Ghana Police Service to investigate the Oaks International.

The letter signed by I. W. Dodd, Chief Director of the Ministry and titled "Railway Scraps", states "We wish to bring to your esteemed attention an e-mail from Global Black Star Trading Company, an American Company, which has been approached by OAKS International Company Ltd., Accra, in connection with the sale of railway scraps." The letter which is addressed to the Inspector-General of Police, continues, "We believe that the Oaks International Company Ltd is engaged in a fraudulent activity in connection with railway scraps, because there is currently a ban on the sale of railway scraps.

Furthermore, no organisation has been given the contract to purchase or dispose of any railway scraps. Therefore OAKS International Company's claim that it has been given the contract to dispose of railway scraps is fraudulent and deceitful." It therefore requested the IGP to institute a probe into the matter and bring the company to book.

Source:
The Independent

$25 Million Loan To Strengthen Parliament


A 25 million-dollar loan is being arranged by the government from various sources to restructure the Parliamentary Service to enable it to play a more effective role in the country’s democratic desperation.

With the money, the service would be able to employ research assistants and other officers for the Parliamentarians to make more meaningful contributions to debate on the floor of the House.

President J.A. Kufuor announced this on Saturday when he received at the Castle, a delegation of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the African Carribean and Paafu/European Union (ACP/EU) led by Mr Glenys Kinnockd and Mr Reme Redembino, Co-Presidents of the Joint Assembly.

He did not give details of the loan but indicated that it was part of the government’s programme to deepen democratic rule in the country.

He said in order that Parliament will effectively enact laws and put government on its toes, there was the need for it to be adequately resourced.

President Kufuor referred to the joint assembly as a pacesetter in a world that should move ahead on the common values of respect for humanity and commitment to the improvement of others.

You are advocates trying to achieve evenness in the world and that is how the world should be without any discrimination", he said.

Commenting on the economic partnership agreements between the developed and developing countries, the President said they could only be relevant when there was universal acceptability of the principles underlying it.

He said it was not proper to have a partnership between two bodies, one of which is better than the other.

President Kufuor said partnership should seek to bring up the "handicapped" to some level, if not at par with the other, on the basis of common humanity, adding that "we don’t want to be beggars in partnership".

He urged developed nations to help African countries to build their muscles to effectively compete on the world market.

"If this is not accepted, then it will be a mockery and that will not be a partnership," he stated, adding "we should accept that theagreement should be forged on equality".

Explaining the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), President Kufuor said "Africa of today is determined to lift itself up but needs the support of the developed world."

Under the programme, he said Africa is seeking the support of the rest of the world to add value to its numerous natural endowments.

He said that although colonialism had dealt a great blow to Africa and its people, the continent was gradually getting out of it, especially with the resolution of almost all conflicts.

Earlier, Mrs Kumock expressed the hope that President Kufuor, as chairman of the African Union (AU), will help to achieve the ideals of Pan-Africanism.

She said they were on a three-nation tour of Ghana, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire to find out how the partnership could be of help in building the capacities of the Parliaments of the countries.

She commended the government and people of Ghana for consolidating democracy in the country.

Source:
Ghanaian Times