OccupyGhana® Condemns Assault Of Woman By Police At Midland Savings And Loans Company Premises

OccupyGhana® Condemns Assault Of Woman By Police At Midland Savings And Loans Company Premises

21st JULY 2018

OCCUPYGHANA® PRESS STATEMENT

OCCUPYGHANA® CONDEMNS ASSAULT OF WOMAN BY POLICE AT MIDLAND SAVINGS AND LOANS COMPANY PREMISES

OccupyGhana®, like several Ghanaians, is horrified at the videos showing the senseless assault and battering of a woman simply on account of her alleged refusal to leave a banking hall, insisting on being paid her money.

We are gratified to read the statements issued by the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Bar Association on the matter, and we do not intend to repeat any of the matters they have stated.

We would however add other comments and observations on the matter, particularly on the role of the Midland Savings and Loans Company and its officers.

First, the Company, as the occupier of the property where the harm was caused to the lady, should not escape blame and sanctions. We believe that the Company owes a duty of care to the lady and all those who visit those premises, whether invited or permitted, to ensure their safety while on the premises. Thus even if the Company was not directly involved in the harm caused to the lady, it should be liable to compensate her for the harm caused to her while on its premises.

Second, and worse, it appears the lady was assaulted as a result of an instruction by the Company’s officers to the offending police officer to remove her from the premises. Then they either stood by while she was subjected to the beatings or only made half-hearted attempts to stop it. That suggests that the Company and its officers, at the very least, instigated, facilitated, encouraged or promoted the policeman’s offences. Without meaning to show the police how to do its work, we believe that the ongoing criminal investigations should also explore bringing abetment of crime charges against the Company and its officers.

Third, we are concerned that the underlying cause of this matter was the failure or refusal of the Company to return to a depositor, funds to which she was legitimately entitled. In the wake of the recent administrative and other actions and sanctions taken against banks and deposit-taking entities by the Bank of Ghana, involving the possible endangering and misuse of depositor-funds, we are extremely worried that the Company was unable to refund to a depositor, an amount that was less than GHS300. We believe that the Bank of Ghana ought to investigate the circumstances surrounding this. Maybe this criminal beating of the lady, masks or portends some financial danger where that Company is concerned.

Fourth, and as a general comment, we wonder whether poor Ghanaians are still being subjected to such gross human rights abuses by law enforcement agencies. It is important that servants of the state who are provided with the force of arms that are supplied with our tax monies primarily for our protection are continuously trained in the rudiments of respecting the human rights of the citizen.

Ghana is not and cannot be allowed to be a lawless nation.

Yours in service of God and Country.

OccupyGhana®

REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE DISPOSAL OF GOVERNMENT VEHICLES

July 17, 2018

His Excellency the President
Office of the President
Jubilee House
Accra

Dear Sir,

REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE DISPOSAL OF GOVERNMENT VEHICLES

Upon your assumption of office as President, a lot of issues came up with regards to the sale of government assets, especially vehicles allocated at the seat of government. Based on these, OccupyGhana® decided to take the issue up and ascertain how these vehicles were disposed of, and whether they were done in accordance with laid down procurement laws.

We therefore wrote to the Chief of Staff and the Administrator-General on 28th March, 2017 with ref no. OG/2017/001. Our letter demanded answers to the following, under our constitutional right of information under Article 21(f):

1. Were any government assets, particularly vehicles, disposed of between the 7th December 2016 election and the handover to the new government?
2. If so, is there a list of those assets, showing the persons to whom the assets were sold and for how much?
3. Was a Board of Survey convened with respect to those assets, and if so, who were the members?
4. Was a Technical Report on the assets to be disposed of prepared for the Board of Survey, and if so, may we have a copy?
5. Did the Board of Survey prepare and submit a report on the assets and the best method of disposing of them, and if so may we have a copy?
6. Did your office complete a Board of Survey form, and if so may we have a copy?
7. Were the Board of Survey’s recommendations approved by your office, and if so may we have a copy of the written approval?
8. Were any of the assets deemed unserviceable for reasons other than fair wear and tear, such as through accident or expiry, and if so was a procedure established by the Board of Survey for handling losses, and was that followed before the assets were disposed of?
9. Were any assets classified as “obsolete and surplus”, and if so were they;
a. transferred to other government departments or public entities, with or without financial adjustment, or
b. sold by public tender to the highest tenderer or public auction subject to a reserve price; and if so, may we have evidence of those disposal processes?

When we did not receive a response from either office, we sent reminders on January 30, 2018, with ref. No. OG/2018/004.

This time we received a response from the Administrator-General on 7th February 2018 with reference number SCR/OAG/LSP/008/V.1/P.42 providing us with a schedule of vehicles sold, who they were sold to and how much they were sold for. He however stated that he could not provide information on whether the mandatory procedure for the Disposal of Stores, Vehicles, Plant and Equipment under Part 8 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) was followed, and asked us to seek answers to this from the Office of the Chief of Staff. We have not heard from that office.

We are concerned because with almost every political transition, vehicles belonging to the government have been sold rather cheaply to political office holders, without regard to the procedure laid down by law for the disposal of government assets. Prior to 2016, the claim was that “vehicles” were not specifically covered under the mandatory procedure under sections 83 and 84 of Act 663.

It was to address this apparent lacuna in the law that section 83 of the Act was specifically amended, and section 83A specifically introduced, by sections 44 and 45 respectively of the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914), so that the mandatory disposal procedure would without doubt apply to vehicles.

We would find it unbelievable that within months of this amendment, government vehicles would still be disposed of without regard to the law. We do not believe that persons working for the government would dispose of, and others would acquire, vehicles under circumstances that would make them liable to prosecution under section 92(1) of Act 663.

While expressing our disappointment that we have not received the information we require on whether the procedures were followed, we have cause to suspect that the non-responsiveness is because the procedures were breached.

To ascertain this, we respectfully request that a full scale investigation be launched into how these vehicles were disposed of, with explanations on whether our Procurement laws were followed, and that these findings should be made public.

Yours in the service of God and Country

Kwaku D. Segbefia,
For: OccupyGhana®

Cc:

1. Office of the Vice-President
Jubilee House
Accra

2. The Speaker
Parliament of Ghana
Accra

3. The Administrator-General
The Castle, Osu
Accra

4. The Special Prosecutor
Office of the Special Prosecutor
Accra

REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATIONS INTO REPORTED PETROLEUM PRODUCT SMUGGLING, RE-EXPORT AND PREMIX DUMPING, UNLAWFUL PROFITEERING, TAX EVASION AND FINANCIAL REPORTING INCONSISTENCY AT BOST.

July 13, 2018

The Chief of Staff,
Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana
Jubilee House,
Accra.

Dear Madam,

REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATIONS INTO REPORTED PETROLEUM PRODUCT SMUGGLING, RE-EXPORT AND PREMIX DUMPING, UNLAWFUL PROFITEERING, TAX EVASION AND FINANCIAL REPORTING INCONSISTENCY AT BOST.

OccupyGhana®️ has received and studied the 2017 industry report of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD). The report, which we believe has been submitted to the Offices of the President and Vice-President as well as Parliament alleges over a dozen infractions and breaches of the law by, and indicts unnamed officials of National Security, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Office of the President.

We note with concern the alleged revenue losses amounting to GHS 1.4 billion in the loss of over 800-thousand metric tonnes of subsidized fuel. If true, this is completely unacceptable. Also worrying is the allegation that about GHS 5.2 million was lost to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) from diversions of 230 illegitimately subsidized premix trucks.

The CBOD alleges losses due to increased smuggling activities along our coasts, under-invoicing, illegal tax and regulatory margins, ESLA under-reporting, Special Petroleum Tax (SPT) transfer pricing, deliberate inefficiencies and illegalities at BOST, unlawful profiteering, tax evasion and export dumping. But what we find even more troubling is the claim that these are happening with the connivance and complicity of officials in the Office of the President, in National Security, and in GRA.

In the interest of the principles of probity, accountability and transparency, we write to request that full scale criminal and highly forensic investigations are conducted into the alleged findings in the CBOD Report. If any persons are found to have engaged in these acts we would urge the prosecution of all criminally culpable elements within the petroleum value chain to the full extent permissible by law, no matter who these culpable elements may be.

Yours faithfully,

D. Kwaku Segbefia,
For: OccupyGhana®️

Cc:
1. Office of the Vice-President
Jubilee House
Accra

2. The Speaker
Parliament of Ghana
Accra

3. The Minister
Ministry of Energy
Accra

4. The Chief Executive Officer
National Petroleum Authority
Accra