• Ghana gets IDA Credit
• Ghanaian 'Investor' Lied to Rwandans
• Killers Of Journalist still at large
• 52 Ghanaians deported from U.S., Canada
• Korean miners destroy farms at Kutukrom
  

52 Ghanaians deported from U.S., Canada

Fifty-two Ghanaian deportees, including two women, were flown into the country yesterday aboard a chartered aircraft.
The deportees were made up of 46 from the United States of America and six from Canada.

Also on board the aircraft was an undisclosed number of Nigerian deportees.
Two officials from Ghana’s missions in New York and Ohawa accompanied the deportees. They gave reasons for the deportations as drugs related offence, overstaying, fraud, photo substitutions in passports and illegal entries.

Some deportees narrated their ordeals to the Times.
Joe Amoako, 51, who had been in the USA for three years said he was arrested, kept in jail for sometime, and beaten.
Showing his tattered clothing, he alleged that he was manhandled, while going to board the aircraft.
When the Times arrived at the airport, the deportees had already gone through arrival formalities and officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation were providing them with money for transportation to their various homes.

Source:
Ghanaian Times

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 Korean miners destroy farms at Kutukrom

Kutukrom (W/R),30.03.2007, GNA

 - Hakimi, a Korean small scale mining company operating at Kutukrom near Prestea, has destroyed farms in the area without paying compensation.

A visit to the mining site showed that the office of the company is in a tent and its security office is under bamboo shed. Fura stream, which serves as a source of drinking water, has been polluted.

Kutukrom is a farming community in the Nzema East District. Prince Amoako, a farmer and a citizen of the town, said Korean company has destroyed his three-acre cocoa farm without paying compensation.

Workers who talked to GNA said the Koreans are taking undue advantage of lack of employment opportunities to under pay them. "The work is dangerous and the pay is not up to the nation's minimum wage. The company does not contribute to SSNIT."

An official of the company who gave his name as Mr. Wan and said he did not understand English told the GNA reporter to come another time because his boss one, Mr. Die, was not around.

Source:
GNA

Killers Of Journalist still at large
.. we are closing in on the killers -Minister

As the months roll by on the quiet, official assurances of an imminent arrest of the killers of the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists' Association remains the clearest achievement.

Minister Albert Kan Dapaah is the latest to disclose that the police are close to bursting the gang that shot Samuel Ennin to death in broad day light.

"We are following some leads that look very encouraging," The Heritage newspaper quotes the Interior Minister as saying.

“He declined to elaborate”, according to the paper.

According to him, "it would not be helpful at this stage to give details as such disclosures tend to alert perpetrators and complicate investigations".

Saturday March 31, the body of the murdered 42-year-old journalist will be buried at his hometown Jacobu - near Bekwai in the Ashanti Region. But the police are tight-lipped on their investigations so far. The Ashanti Regional Crime Officer, ACP Bright Oduro said that the police were still investigating the case and were close to finding the killers. He was full of confidence that they would soon expose those men, corroborating what the Interior Minister said.

An earlier information by the police administration that it would soon find the killers was taken with a pinch of salt by some residents of Kumasi who believed the information was premature.

The Heritage said investigations have however revealed that soon after the search started for the perpetrators of the heinous crime, the police got a tip-off on some key people who could have committed the act and therefore kept a close watch and trailed them up to a point. A shoot-out ensued between the suspects and the police after which one person was arrested. But that man was released after interrogation because the police realised that he had nothing to do with the murder. This happened in the area where the late Samuel Ennin was killed.

The acting Chairman if the GJA in Ashanti, Atta Yaw said with the passage of time the fear that engulfed Kumasi Metropolis following the death of Samuel Ennin has minimized but for him in particular whenever he is alone he fears that he may suffer the same fate. "I am speaking from personal experience; anytime I am alone, the fear comes back and I am not able to work as freely as I used to when the late Ennin was alive".

Another senior journalist in the regional capital said since the death of Samuel Ennin, there have been all sorts of rumors flying around the Kumasi Township.

She recalled that sometimes ago, a man came to her with information that he suspected a visa contractor might have hired the killers of the late Samuel Ennin.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the lady says the late Ennin was approached by a man whose son had allegedly been swindled by a visa contractor. Ennin himself did not set out to compile a story on it; he had a meeting with the two men involved in the case (the alleged visa fraudster and the man who had been swindled). Though the anonymous reporter was not privy to what took place at the meeting, she said she was aware that Ennin gave the fraud victim numbers of some media houses to be invited to cover the case when it was prosecuted in court.

Because the visa fraudster feared that the matter would be made public, he might have organised the men to kill Ennin for wanting to expose him. She added that she performed her civic duty by handing the informant over to the Ashanti Regional Police Command to assist in their investigation. The suspect has since been arrested and is in Police custody for the visa fraud.

Source:
The Heritage

Ghanaian 'Investor' Lied to Rwandans

Joseph Kingsley Annan, the man who promised to prospect for gold and other minerals in Rwanda, may have told lies about his company's status in Canada, it has emerged.

Jean Chris Safari, a Rwandan in the US who claims to be... familiar with stock exchange business in the US rubbished assertions by the Ghanaian geologist, indicating that his Canadian-based mineral company, Gold Coast Resources Inc., features on the US' NASDAQ stock market.

"Being a Rwandan and a professional investor in the U.S stock market, Annan's statement prompted me to carry out some research, only to find out that this company is not listed on the NASDAQ but rather in the Pink Sheets.

"Pink Sheets are very small stock markets mainly for worthless stocks, completely unable to be listed on the NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange [NYSE] or the AMEX," Safari, who said he is a resident of Johnson City, New York, US and a Green Card holder, wrote to The New Times.

He was responding to Annan's assertions published in The New Times of March 19 under the title: 'Rwandans sleeping on gold, says expert.'

Annan had then said he is the founder and majority shareholder of Gold Coast Resources Inc also said he has 100% ownership of Luxor Group, another Canadian-based exploration firm, where he is President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

And, while responding to a question as to whether he was not the type who make empty promises before disappearing, Annan said then: "Funds are not a problem to me. For instance, Gold Coast Resources Inc. lists on NASDAQ stock exchange."

He said he would invest Frw13 billion (US$23m) in mineral exploration in the country.

According to Kingsley Annan, his Ghanaian friend John Annan, who is based in Ruhengeri, Northern Province, encouraged him to invest in Rwanda.

But Safari's findings have cast doubt over the 'millionaire's assertions.

Indeed, Safari claimed that he dug deep only to find out that Gold Coast Resources Inc (GSRS.PK) is a company that has 'no financial statements, no records and no operational details with the Securities and Exchange Commission'.

And Safari, who described Annan's assertions as 'naked lies' insisted: "If Mr Joseph (Kingsley) Annan refutes my comments, I am ready to provide you with all the sources and information."

Interestingly Safari's findings were corroborated by John Annan (the man who wooed Kingsley Annan to Rwanda).

"It is true Gold Coast Resources Inc is listed in Pink Sheets not NASDAQ. But it has capacity to even list on a bigger stock market like NASDAQ or NYSE."

However, Kingsley Annan was steadfast in his assertions and strongly refuted what both Safari and John Annan said.

"It is very important to understand people to do business. In regards to Gold Coast, it is not a reporting company under SEC Law [Securities and Exchange Commission]. I hope I would have an opportunity to start my exploration and time will judge me. I have no further comments," he said by e-mail. Annan said he was in Ghana but was due to leave for Canada on March 28 (yesterday).

In the recent past a string of people have come under the guise of investors and promised 'diamond', only for it to emerge that they lack financial muscle to execute their promises.

Meanwhile, some government officials have denied meeting Annan, as opposed to what he and his friend John said.

Both Ghanaians insist that a fortnight ago that they had met with officials from the Department of Mines and had been given a go-ahead for the exploration.

"The mines department has so far shown me where explored mineral sites and prospective minerals are. I have meanwhile also commissioned an expert to come up with a photographic map to demarcate our extent of exploration," Kingsley Annan said.

However, the Mines officials have dismissed that.

"That's not true. May be he met with the minister," a source at geological department that preferred anonymity, said.And when contacted, the State Minister for Water and Mines, Prof. Bikoro Munyanganizi also refuted the Annans' claims. He said he last talked to a Canadian mineral exploration firm (whose name he couldn't recall) last year.

"I have not met with an (official) of Canadian firm recently. I met one last year and they promised to come last month [February] but haven't come. In fact if they are around direct them to my office," Prof. Bikolo said on phone.

Prof Bikoro said Annan (Kingsley) cannot start exploration before his company signs a contract with the minerals ministry.

But John Annan insisted by telephone yesterday that: "I swear we met that Minister and I can prove that if we [me and you] met him again."

John further claimed they have already sent a copy of the contract to the ministry. "It is amazing if they haven't even seen the contract we sent them." Both Annans said an exploration expert would arrive in the country on May 15 to start the job.

Kingsley Annan said he would use his own money to carry out the explorations.

While in Rwanda, Kingsley said he did not visit Rwanda Investment and Export Promotion Agency (RIEPA).

"Where there are investments potentials, an investor will always find them by himself, no matter the barriers," he wrote in the e-mail.

Source:
The New Times (Kigali)

Ghana gets IDA Credit

Three West African Countries Receive Assistance for Improved Agricultural Productivity Program
WASHINGTON, March 29, 2007 -- The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approve three International Development Association (IDA) credits The credit is provided on standard International Development Association (IDA) terms, with a commitment fee of 0.35 percent and a service charge of 0.75 percent over a 40 year period of maturity which includes a 10-year grace period.

of a total US$45 million equivalent in support of the first phase of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) in three West African countries: Ghana, Mali and Senegal.

The three approved IDA credits will provide the Republic of Ghana with US$15 million equivalent, the Republic of Senegal with US$15 million equivalent, and the Republic of Mali with US$15 million equivalent to generate and disseminate improved agricultural technology in these countries? top priority areas that are aligned with regional priorities, as identified by the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research (WECARD/CORAF). The three countries have committed to provide part of the credit proceeds for a total of US$3 million equivalent to CORAF to help coordinate the regional project.

The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) will generate and disseminate improved technologies in the participating countries focusing on roots and tubers in Ghana, rice in Mali and cereals in Senegal.

?The WAAPP will mainly focus on making agriculture more productive and sustainable and promote regional integration initiatives in the agricultural sector. It reflects the Bank?s commitment to Africa?s regional cooperation in agriculture and will be one of the Bank?s key contributions to the implementation of broadly supported agricultural strategies Africa-wide,? said Mark Tomlinson, Director of the Regional Integration Department.

The food and cash crops whose production the WAAPP sets out to boost provide the greatest contribution to the region?s agricultural growth and to producers? incomes. Sustained productivity is critical if the region is to significantly raise agricultural yield, which are so important in meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving extreme poverty by 2015.

"The region's consumers, particularly those affected by extreme poverty, are the ultimate beneficiaries of the WAAPP. Agricultural producers and agribusinesses, as users of the improved technology, are the primary beneficiaries of the program," said Ismael Ouedraogo, the World Bank Task Team Leader of the Project.

The WAAPP is a sub-regional program shared by all fifteen member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ? Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d?Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Source:
www.worldbank.org/afr