Police arrest $150,000 internet fake lovers

The Police CID has arrested Edmund Ametepey, alias Nana Kofi 23, and Alexander Quarshie 22 for Internet fraud. The two defrauded their victims based in the United States of America of huge sums of money. Edmund is unemployed and lives at Santa Maria, while Alexander is a Trader living at Tantra Hills, all suburbs of Accra. A source at the Police Headquarters told Public Agenda that in January 2006, the accused (Edmund) posed as a single lady (Nancy Osei) who was looking for a Christian man to marry on a dating site. The complainant became interested and began corresponding with her (Edmund). Later, she informed the complainant of her decision to join him in the USA. ‘She’ then demanded money for the trip, and the complainant transferred an amount of $3500 to her. After receiving the money, the complainant received a call from one Kennedy Smith, an alleged travel agent, who said Nancy had been arrested at the Kotoka International Airport, for illegally carrying 33kg of gold. He then demanded an amount of $2000, which was transferred to him, towards her release. After that, the accused persons told the complainant stories after stories about Nancy’s trip, which made him transfer a total of $150,000 to them. In August 2006, the complainant came down to Ghana with the view of tracing his fiancée, only to realize that he had been defrauded. He therefore consulted a law firm to take up the matter. In January 2007, he received a call from a lady who said she was Nancy and she stated that she had been kidnapped for the past few months. She then demanded money to purchase a new phone and asked complainant to transfer $300 to her in the name of Alex Quarshie a supposed pastor’s son. On January 15, 2007 the amount of $300 was transferred and Alex Quarshie picked it up, records at the offices of the money transfer agency have shown. The supposed Nancy acknowledged receipt of the money and asked for another $300. The complainant sent the money but informed the police. On January 23, 2007 Alexander Quarshie was arrested when he went to the money agency to collect the money. During interrogation, the accused Alexander Quarshie admitted receiving $300 earlier by money transfer but stated that he was only sent by Edmund Ametepey. Investigations led to the arrest of Edmund Ametepey on January 25, 2007. He confirmed Quarshie’s claim, and added that he had contact with the complainant through his friend by name Michael, who is now in China. A search on the accused persons revealed foreign numbers and when questioned both accused persons further admitted that they normally visit the Internet and posed as ladies and demand monies from people who will show interest in them.

Police CID hunts for gay fraudster

One Raman Adams is being wanted by the Police CID for defrauding a foreign national of a huge sum of money through the internet. A source at the Police CID Headquarters told Public Agenda that Raman established contact with his victim domiciled in Sydney, Australia through a gay dating site. Raman eventually feigned love and expressed interest to join his unsuspecting victim in his country since homosexuality is illegal in Ghana. The source said Raman started demanding huge sums of money from his new found lover to enable him to process the necessary documents to join him. The same Raman posed as a travel agent and sent messages to his victim about the price of travel arrangements, but after every payment Raman came out with another story.The police source said after his victim suspected foul play, he contacted the Police Service. However, Raman has since last year refused to report to the Police CID after persistent calls to his mobile phone number 0244-247023. The police is through this publication calling on the public to assist it fish out Raman.

ALARMING DIVORCE CASES IN 2006

Divorce lawyers were into brisk business for the best part of 2006 as divorce cases reached record high in Accra, with dire consequences for children.Statistics available at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly on customary marriage indicate that a total of 633 marriages were dissolved last year, (2006), out of the 1,714 marriages registered, while others are pending. Preliminary information this newspaper gathered at the High court indicate an alarming trend of divorce cases, but the actual figures were not forthcoming at the time of going to press due to bureaucracy at the Judicial Service. A breakdown shows that in 2005 the number of registered marriages was 2, 199, while divorce cases stood at 484.In January 2006, 55 out of the 119 registered marriages were dissolved. The month of February saw 66 dissolutions out of 152 registered marriages. The Registrar of Marriages at the AMA, Mr. Emmanuel A. Tettey, blamed the rate of dissolution on interference of in-laws and other family members. “Parents think that once they have children, they continue to remain so under their protection. Therefore, in the least quarrel they intrude and drag the issue to an unexpected end”, Mr. Tettey apparently explaining why many marriages were crumbling. This he explains happens often when the couple and the in-laws live together in the same house, saying people must try as much as possible to avoid that. Mr. Tettey emphasized the need for partners wishing to come together in marriage to get to know each other well. “People must learn to walk into marriage and not jump into it. In the past, people used to conduct comprehensive investigations about their supposed spouses or partners before they come together. The youth of today must follow such example”, he advised. He said when couples file for dissolution, they are granted some amount of room to think through their intended action. “Even when people file for dissolution at the court it takes two years before the court grants a hearing to the issue.”The registrar continued, “The idea is to give people time to think it over.” He cautioned that there is no need for individuals to hesitate in marriage. Rather, he said what is needed is sustainability. “We must come to the realization that no human being is perfect. Both must learn to say sorry for their offences in order not to prolong issues.”Public Agenda also hit the streets to talk to Ghanaians about the issue.Madam Amerley Annan, a trader said some women have ended up at the Psychiatric hospital because of marriages and problems with in-laws.“If you live with them and a little problem develops between you and your husband, his sisters, mother, father and even brothers all join him to fight you as if you are their enemy,” Madam Annan said. “I lost my husband not to another woman but to his mother, it was obvious she wanted to marry his son, so I left,” said Cindy Quarm a street hawker who sells Plantain chips.In its Friday January 12, 2007 edition Public Agenda carried a research finding on divorce which indicated that if marriages last more than ten years they are likely to survive. The report said the most common time to separate was soon after seven years. The research carried out by Tickbox.net in the UK also looked at the impact of divorce on 350 children. It found that almost 30 per cent wanted their parents to get back together and only 13 per cent objected to them taking a new partner. Children of divorced parents were also more likely to have doubts when they themselves married.

Traders resort to fake IDs to secure market stalls

Some traders within the central business district of Accra have been found to be in possession of fake Ghanaian voter identification cards. The nefarious practice by the traders was detected when they presented the fake Voter IDs to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, (AMA) in order to secure stalls at the Pedestrians Shopping Mall, hitherto Hawkers Market. On January 3, this year, a forty-two year old trader, Madam Helen Salami presented her ID to the AMA and was found to be fake. She however denied and insisting that it was a genuine one from the Electoral Commission, (EC). The said voter ID had polling station number as OCO41624B and ID number as 22736851(ED). The move by the traders could be described as a desperate one by those who refused to register with the AMA at the commencement of the mall to secure spaces. Moreover, they have been given an ultimatum to quit the streets by Monday January 15, 2007 due to a decongestion exercise to be carried out by the AMA. According to the Accra South Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Angwubutoge Awuni, the AMA called the attention of the police when it detected fake ID cards among those presented by traders to secure stalls at the pedestrians’ mall. But the traders are said to have rejected this claim by the AMA, while alleging that it is just an orchestrated attempt by the assembly to deny them spaces at the mall. Chief Supt. Awuni explained that Helen upon interrogation stated she was pregnant during the last voter registration exercise. Consequently, she gave an amount of one hundred thousand cedis and her passport size picture to a certain boy to get her a voter ID card. “In Ghana, nobody pays money for a voter ID. The voter ID bears only her first name Helen. It has been presented to the EC for verification and further action.” Earlier, five traders were also arrested in line with the same issue. They are namely, Omari Dartey, Afia Attah -35, Joseph Ashimatey – 31, Kwasi Ampofo – 36 and Eric Darko – 29. While the four claimed their IDs were genuine cards which they used to vote in the last general elections, Eric was found to possess two ID cards with different names. Chief Supt. Awuni told Public Agenda that Eric who is often referred to as Kwabena Darko by his colleagues claimed he often use the name Eric Darko in school. Hence, when he presented the ID card bearing the name Eric Darko to the AMA his colleagues raised an alarm. The Divisional Commander said Eric admitted he contacted somebody around the Accra post office who prepared for him another ID with the name Kwabena Darko. “He has since been prepared for court and the rest forwarded to the EC for verification.” The market which the Accra Mayor, Mr. Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson says its the first of its kind in West Africa is tailored to address the peculiar needs of petty traders who are presently holding the whole city ransom. The about three thousand stall occupants will be expected to pay ¢2 million for the allocation of a stall and ¢2 hundred thousand as registration fee. They will then be expected to sign an undertaking to abide by the rules governing the use of the mall. At the same market one thousand more traders will be accommodated in an open area specially created within the mall. Such traders will be expected to pay ¢1 million each for allocation of a place and ¢100 thousand as registration fee.

Domestic Violence Bill fails domestic workers

The Deputy Minister for Youth, Manpower and Employment, Madam Frema Osei Opare says it is unfortunate that the Domestic Violence Bill has been reduced to just an issue of “marital rape”. Expressing worry over the issue she said marital rape is only a minute bit of the entire bill and said there are so many important issues including the rights of domestic workers. Domestic workers / assistants could include house girls and boys, maidservants, watchmen and sometimes drivers. “Those of us advocates we erred and those who are receiving it also erred. We need to educate the public about the fact that the DV bill is not only about marital rape but how we handle domestic workers as well.” Madam Opare was speaking at the launch of “Messages from and on Domestic Workers”, a LAWA – Ghana advocacy on the rights of domestic workers in Accra. She was concerned about the fact that majority of the problems faced by domestic workers are caused by women. The deputy minister noted that due to lack of appreciation these workers are put under stress and its consequences. She called for intensive public education on the rights of domestic workers and urged queen mothers and other opinion leaders to engage the womenfolk in the campaign. “Proper agreements must be arrived at between both families before a domestic worker is engaged.” LAWA-Ghana Alumnae Incorporated, is a non-governmental organization comprising a group of women lawyers who continue to undertake certain legislative advocacy projects to promote women’s economic and social rights in Ghana. Its past work included undertaking a fact finding mission in the Accra and Tema metropolitan areas in 2003 to ascertain the rights of domestic workers. With support from the Rights And Voices Initiative, (RAVI), LAWA-Ghana continued its advocacy activities on the proposed draft regulation in four regions ; namely Volta, Western, Ashanti and Central regions. It has drafted regulations on domestic workers generally, which it hopes will be adopted under the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651). They often serve several categories of people in the home. It is perceived that people who often hire their services are relations due to the country’s strong cultural attitudes and practices. And such relations often promise the domestic assistants greener pastures but end up giving them nothing. A research by LAWA in Accra and Tema in 2003 revealed that domestic workers are usually denied basic human rights.They do not engage in any form of contract and even when they do, it is usually done through agencies. According to Gloria Ofori Boadu, a member of LAWA-Ghana, the project focused on the rights of domestic assistants and using the rights-based approach, undertook certain activities in each of the regions. These, she said include conducting research, rapid appraisal to ascertain regional trends, stakeholders forum and capacity building workshop for domestic workers on their rights and responsibilities.“These domestic workers are mostly females as young as eight years who enjoy no labour rights, social security but suffer from lots of abuses, with sexual harassment running through.” She recommended the need for legal reforms to ensure that domestic workers are covered, public education and sensitization and resource allocation to district departments for social welfare and labour offices to enforce these laws. Two posters with clear messages, “Abusing your house help is criminal” and “First to Rise, Last to Sleep” were also launched.

Money transfer agents now fronting for 419 fraudsters

The police are accusing some personnel of banks that are into money transfer transactions of assisting 419 tricksters to defraud Ghanaians and foreigners of huge sums of money through the Internet. Police say some staff of money transfer agencies are also deeply involved in the trade. A worried source at the Police Headquarters told Public Agenda that this development is gradually earning Ghana the unattractive title as a high Internet crime country. The source explained that these unscrupulous personnel connive with these “criminals” to defraud their victims, mainly foreign nationals of huge sums of money and in the end get their share. According to the police source, as many as 19 complaints of cases of Internet fraud are recorded weekly. These include romance fraud, which involves dating through the Internet, 419 frauds that normally involve treasures, gold fraud and money washing fraud which involves the use chemicals to wash coated money. Consequently, foreigners are gradually loosing interest in the security intelligence of the country. The source said whenever a complaint is made and a controlled delivery is put in place to hunt down such criminals, these unpatriotic personnel give the fraudsters hints and as a result they do not turn up to receive their ill-gotten money to enable the police arrest them. Sometimes the money transfer personnel withdraw the money on behalf of the fraudsters and hand it to them later. Foreign nationals, especially Nigerians dominate the Internet fraud, with the Ghanaian youth between the ages of 17 to 30 struggling to take over. These youth mainly residing in Nima, Mamobi and Mallam Atta suburbs in Accra log on to dating sites on the internet to create their on profiles with female names, while they attach photographs from websites of models to their supposed dates. Eventually, these fraudsters feign love and express interest to join their unsuspecting victims in their countries. The source said they begin to demand huge sums of money from their “lovers” to enable them process necessary documents to join them. These same fraudsters then pose as travel agents and send messages to the victims about the cost of travel arrangements. Afterwards, they ask for money to settle their families, either by buying or renting a property for them before they can leave to join their new found lovers. The fact is that after every payment, these fraudsters come out with another story.Finally, they call their victims on the supposed date of departure to inform them that they have been arrested by the security agencies at the airport for possessing gold. Therefore, the victims are required to send a huge amount of money before they could be released to board their flights. The police source said the victims upon suspicion at this stage contact the police who in turn put in place measures to hunt the fraudsters down, only for the bad nuts within the money transfer agencies to hint the fraudsters not to show up for such monies. The police are therefore calling on management of such banks and money transfer agencies to be on watch out for such personnel who are helping criminals to bring the name of the country into disrepute. The general public is being advised to be wary of such cheats in the society who have intensified their activities particularly in the heat of the Christmas festivities. The police have also cautioned operators of hotels to watch out for personnel in their facilities who are doubling as 419 agents and are helping fraudsters to defraud innocent foreigners.

Street vendors smell rat on the planned allocation of stores

The Ghana Street Vendors Association, (GSVA) one of the recognized trader groups in the country has expressed fear that its members could be excluded in the allocation of stalls at the “Pedestrians Shopping Mall” being constructed by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, (AMA).Based on the fear, the traders are calling for a transparent allocation of stalls at the market. They argue that the announcement by the Accra Mayor, Mr. Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson that traders should individually go to the offices of the AMA to register for market stalls and identity cards is out of place and gives them cause for concern. “Why can’t the AMA do so through the executives of the various associations as it has been doing since the beginning of the construction of the market stalls? He ordered us to register our members and issue them ID cards and submit our forms to him, which we did.”Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, the Secretary of the GSVA, Mr. Tony Eshun alleged that the directive by the Mayor is an attempt to use foul means to allocate stalls to non-members of the three recognized trader groups. “We the traders are saying that the AMA and its boss have printed some of the trader’s registration forms and are using it to register people. We are therefore asking Mr. Adjiri Blankson to publish the list of forms from the three recognized groups in his possession, so we can be sure there are no intruders.” Asked whether they have made efforts to seek audience with the mayor to address their concerns Mr. Eshun claims previous attempts by the group to meet the chief executive proved futile. He attributed the attitude of the mayor to an incident that happened sometime last year at Cape Coast, during the People’s Assembly. He said the association sent a delegation to ask the president about the then proposed construction of a market for them. He claimed this did not go down well with the mayor whom the secretary alleged has shunned the GSVA in any undertaking concerning the market. About two weeks ago, Mr. Adjiri Blankson announced at a media briefing that beginning from the first week of November, the city centre will be decongested and, especially as Ghana is preparing to host thousands of tourists for the 50th Anniversary celebrations, CAN 2008 and the Joseph Project. The decision to decongest the city centre is expected to follow the completion of the Shoppers Mall at Kwame Nkrumah Circle by the end of the month for the use of the hawkers.The traders are expected to pay ¢2 million for the allocation of a stall and ¢200,000 as registration fee. They will then be expected to sign an undertaking to abide by the rules governing the use of the mall. At the same market one thousand more traders will be accommodated in an open area specially created within the mall. Such traders will be expected to pay ¢1 million each for allocation of a place and ¢100,000 as registration fee.

LAWA provides women with access to Constitution

Throughout the African continent women play vital roles in improving the lives of their families. But the story of majority of these women is often unpleasant as they lack access to their fundamental human rights.But these are often overlooked or not recognized at all by society.Though their rights to equality, property, protection and freedom of association among others are recognized by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, and other international or regional treaties, they do not experience the practical benefits of these rights due to lack of recognition and ignorance. There is a clear gap between the theory and practice of these rights. Cultural, social, economic and political realities co-exist with formal rights and obstruct women from benefiting from their rights. It is therefore necessary for women to know their rights, since the law supersedes customary provisions. Law and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Ghana Alumnae Incorporated, a non-governmental organisation comprising a group of women lawyers, continues to undertake certain legislative advocacy projects to promote human rights, particularly women’s economic and social rights in Ghana. The latest of such projects by LAWA-Ghana is ensuring that awareness on the Constitutional Rights of Ghanaian citizens, especially that of women and children is created. LAWA in collaboration with the Georgetown University Law Centre in the United States of America has published a constitutional booklet, dubbed, “Condensed Ghana Constitution” with a focus on the Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, with funding from the United States Information Service as part of its advocacy initiatives on human rights. The Chairperson of LAWA – Ghana, Sheila Menkah-Premo noted that majority of the citizenry are ignorant about their basic human rights. “Women particularly are affected by lack of access to their fundamental human rights and are subjected to certain customary practices which dehumanize them.” Awareness of fundamental human rights she explained is a first step to make people accountable for their actions and inactions. According to Mrs. Menkah-Premo LAWA would source additional funds to translate their work in five Ghanaian local languages. Included in the twenty-six chapters of the Condensed Ghana Constitution are the Laws of Ghana, Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Freedom and Independence of the Media and Decentralization and Local Government among others. The Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education, (NCCE) Mrs. Doris Acheampong noted that looking at Ghana’s checkered history; the constitution has become central so far as democracy is concerned. “Let me commend you for your collaborative initiative in complimenting the NCCE with the message of the constitution which is key to ensuring the participation of the citizenry in national governance.” Mrs. Bernice Sam, a member of LAWA – Ghana regretted that the citizenry of Ghana is familiar with several international conventions, but often times lost in terms of the content of the country’s constitution, which she said is not different from those conventions. She called on all well meaning Ghanaians, especially women to make the study of the constitution part of their daily lives to increase their participation in governance and influence people at the community, national and international levels.

Rice farmers decry lack of gov’t support

Rice farmers have called on government to make credit facilities available to them to boost their production capacity. The farmers say every well meaning Ghanaian should see reason to support farmers to enable them educate their children and seek health services among other necessities in life. “In spite of the fact that we do the hard work to feed the nation, we are unable to educate our children. This often results in teenage pregnancy and waywardness among our children with its attendant burden on us”, farmers complained. To safeguard their livelihoods the rice farmers are asking for safeguards such as high tariffs to be imposed on imported rice in order to leverage the rice market to make the local rice competitive and also enhance their livelihoods. These sentiments were made at a durbar to mark the first farmers’ week organized by the Ghana Trade and Livelihoods Coalition, (GTLC), which comprises over fifty non-governmental organisations, farmer groups and other civil society organisations nationwide. The maiden farmers’ week at Okyereko in the Central Region was on the theme, “Protective Policies, The Best Way to Award the Farmer.” The Chief of Okyereko, a rice producing area in the Central Region, Nana Ntsiful Ababio XI at a durbar appealed to government to help them get buyers for their produce to improve their lot. Currently, the Okyereko Farmers Cooperative, (OFC) has about thousand five hundred mini bags of locally produced rice and 750 maxi bags stacked at the town’s rehabilitated irrigation plant waiting for buyers. According to the Vice President of the OFC, Mr. Emmanuel Amoak the group hopes to install a mill by next month to enable it bag its produced rice. The farmers say their dream of engaging in vegetable farming were dashed when government failed to honour its 15% responsibility to develop the idle land in the area to cultivate vegetables, even though JICA was ready to support 85% of the project. The Director of Christian Aid, Mr. Daleep Mukarje described as unfair the worsening poverty situation in Ghana, where children are out of school, given the enormous resources the country has.He noted that debt cancellation and aid can never take people out of poverty but only make them dependent. “Countries must be allowed to do what is right to take them out of poverty. They must be given the right to make choices but not forced to implement policies imposed by Breton woods institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank.” Mr. Mukarje emphasized that Christian Aid’s campaign for Trade Justice is necessary to make the developed world aware of the need to develop sound trade policies to eradicate poverty in third world countries and not aid. “We are asking the European Union and the rich countries of North America and elsewhere to look at their policies that do not enhance the lives of people.” The Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition hopes to make the farmers week celebration an annual affair that would precede the National Farmers Day. The highlight of activities would be the farmers’ durbar, in addition to other activities such as a march and farmers’ forum. The Coordinator of the GTLC, Mr. Ibrahim Akalbila said the coalition is apprehensive about the present trend of reward of a few hardworking farmers on the farmers’ days where cutlasses, household electrical equipment, tractors and vehicles are presented. The coalition suggests the best way to reward farmers is for government to guarantee access to their national markets, to be given targeted investment, to ensure strict implementation of policies, have access to favourable credit facilities and supported to add value to their produce .Mr. Akalbila conceded that government cannot solely solve the numerous challenges faced by farmers. However, he stated the coalition is convinced that government has the singular role of ensuring that the environment is not detrimental to the development of the small farmer as an economic unit. He argued that with better economic circumstance the Ghanaian small scale farmer can contribute their quota not just to food security but also to the overall economic development. “The GTLC thinks that the present low level of production of small farmers, value addition and the declining livelihood situation of small farmers and producers, is an indictment on the quality of leadership by successive governments.” The Coordinator regretted that leaders and public officials have become guardians and defenders of the World Bank and IMF liberalization policies rather than being torch bearers of national development. He emphasized that civil society must directly and indirectly bear the consequences of the ineffective policy and influence the substance and implementation of the national agriculture and trade policies that affect our lives. There Minister for Food and Agriculture failed to honour the invitation as guest speaker for such a laudable programme. He also failed to send a representative.

CSOs sharpens skills to mobilize resources for development

Reports indicate that civil society organisations are facing challenges in finding resources for their work which is central to development.

Traditional sources of funding for this aspect of development is said to be decreasing over the years.

It has become urgent for the CSOs to increase the amount, quality and access of resources for their work and to transform the way in which they relate with the issue of resources, from a logic of scarcity, to see funding and resource mobilization as a critical aspect of their agendas and key for building strong CSO movements.

A four week Certificate Course in Resource Mobilization for civil society executives and programme officers is underway at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).

The course is a joint programme being organised by the African Women Development Fund (AWDF), Resource Alliance (UK) and GIMPA for fifteen participants from Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi, Togo and Liberia.

They are determined to sharpen their skills and gain a better understanding of funding trends for their work and how best to expand the resource base vis-à-vis the many challenges of the current funding landscape.
Course content covers topics such as communication and relationships building, researching and sustaining donors, resource mobilization techniques and strategy planning.

A member of the Council of State, Mrs. Gifty Afenyi Dadzie at the opening the training programme at GIMPA advised NGOs to go beyond writing proposals to donors, be creative and look within their own communities for the needed resources, as well as find ways of mobilizing resources to enable them continue to render services to humanity.

She noted that there is a growing middle class in many African countries that can be mobilized to support the non-profit sector.

“Even where local communities do not have financial resources, they can provide physical space, human resources and in-kind services. They can however contribute if and only if they are involved as partners and not just recipients of aid.”

Mrs. Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Executive Director of the AWDF said her organisation is providing bursaries for ten of its grantees as it is important to build their capacity to add value to their grant-making scheme.

“It is important for CSOs in Africa to move away from being dependent on few sources because they do not have information. Building a broader base of support targeting individual donors, corporate sponsors and building a constituency to support our work is necessary.”
She hoped that after the training participants will be able to use their skills to strengthen the work they are doing and result in a change. She added that plans are afoot to organise the training programme twice a year.

Traders resort to fake IDs to secure market stalls

Some traders within the central business district of Accra have been found to be in possession of fake Ghanaian voter identification cards. The nefarious practice by the traders was detected when they presented the fake Voter IDs to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, (AMA) in order to secure stalls at the Pedestrians Shopping Mall, hitherto Hawkers Market. On January 3, this year, a forty-two year old trader, Madam Helen Salami presented her ID to the AMA and was found to be fake. She however denied and insisting that it was a genuine one from the Electoral Commission, (EC). The said voter ID had polling station number as OCO41624B and ID number as 22736851(ED). The move by the traders could be described as a desperate one by those who refused to register with the AMA at the commencement of the mall to secure spaces. Moreover, they have been given an ultimatum to quit the streets by Monday January 15, 2007 due to a decongestion exercise to be carried out by the AMA. According to the Accra South Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Angwubutoge Awuni, the AMA called the attention of the police when it detected fake ID cards among those presented by traders to secure stalls at the pedestrians’ mall. But the traders are said to have rejected this claim by the AMA, while alleging that it is just an orchestrated attempt by the assembly to deny them spaces at the mall. Chief Supt. Awuni explained that Helen upon interrogation stated she was pregnant during the last voter registration exercise. Consequently, she gave an amount of one hundred thousand cedis and her passport size picture to a certain boy to get her a voter ID card. “In Ghana, nobody pays money for a voter ID. The voter ID bears only her first name Helen. It has been presented to the EC for verification and further action.” Earlier, five traders were also arrested in line with the same issue. They are namely, Omari Dartey, Afia Attah -35, Joseph Ashimatey – 31, Kwasi Ampofo – 36 and Eric Darko – 29. While the four claimed their IDs were genuine cards which they used to vote in the last general elections, Eric was found to possess two ID cards with different names. Chief Supt. Awuni told Public Agenda that Eric who is often referred to as Kwabena Darko by his colleagues claimed he often use the name Eric Darko in school. Hence, when he presented the ID card bearing the name Eric Darko to the AMA his colleagues raised an alarm. The Divisional Commander said Eric admitted he contacted somebody around the Accra post office who prepared for him another ID with the name Kwabena Darko. “He has since been prepared for court and the rest forwarded to the EC for verification.” The market which the Accra Mayor, Mr. Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson says its the first of its kind in West Africa is tailored to address the peculiar needs of petty traders who are presently holding the whole city ransom. The about three thousand stall occupants will be expected to pay ¢2 million for the allocation of a stall and ¢2 hundred thousand as registration fee. They will then be expected to sign an undertaking to abide by the rules governing the use of the mall. At the same market one thousand more traders will be accommodated in an open area specially created within the mall. Such traders will be expected to pay ¢1 million each for allocation of a place and ¢100 thousand as registration fee.

Domestic Violence Bill fails domestic workers

The Deputy Minister for Youth, Manpower and Employment, Madam Frema Osei Opare says it is unfortunate that the Domestic Violence Bill has been reduced to just an issue of “marital rape”. Expressing worry over the issue she said marital rape is only a minute bit of the entire bill and said there are so many important issues including the rights of domestic workers. Domestic workers / assistants could include house girls and boys, maidservants, watchmen and sometimes drivers. “Those of us advocates we erred and those who are receiving it also erred. We need to educate the public about the fact that the DV bill is not only about marital rape but how we handle domestic workers as well.” Madam Opare was speaking at the launch of “Messages from and on Domestic Workers”, a LAWA – Ghana advocacy on the rights of domestic workers in Accra. She was concerned about the fact that majority of the problems faced by domestic workers are caused by women. The deputy minister noted that due to lack of appreciation these workers are put under stress and its consequences. She called for intensive public education on the rights of domestic workers and urged queen mothers and other opinion leaders to engage the womenfolk in the campaign. “Proper agreements must be arrived at between both families before a domestic worker is engaged.” LAWA-Ghana Alumnae Incorporated, is a non-governmental organization comprising a group of women lawyers who continue to undertake certain legislative advocacy projects to promote women’s economic and social rights in Ghana. Its past work included undertaking a fact finding mission in the Accra and Tema metropolitan areas in 2003 to ascertain the rights of domestic workers. With support from the Rights And Voices Initiative, (RAVI), LAWA-Ghana continued its advocacy activities on the proposed draft regulation in four regions ; namely Volta, Western, Ashanti and Central regions. It has drafted regulations on domestic workers generally, which it hopes will be adopted under the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651). They often serve several categories of people in the home. It is perceived that people who often hire their services are relations due to the country’s strong cultural attitudes and practices. And such relations often promise the domestic assistants greener pastures but end up giving them nothing. A research by LAWA in Accra and Tema in 2003 revealed that domestic workers are usually denied basic human rights.They do not engage in any form of contract and even when they do, it is usually done through agencies. According to Gloria Ofori Boadu, a member of LAWA-Ghana, the project focused on the rights of domestic assistants and using the rights-based approach, undertook certain activities in each of the regions. These, she said include conducting research, rapid appraisal to ascertain regional trends, stakeholders forum and capacity building workshop for domestic workers on their rights and responsibilities.“These domestic workers are mostly females as young as eight years who enjoy no labour rights, social security but suffer from lots of abuses, with sexual harassment running through.” She recommended the need for legal reforms to ensure that domestic workers are covered, public education and sensitization and resource allocation to district departments for social welfare and labour offices to enforce these laws. Two posters with clear messages, “Abusing your house help is criminal” and “First to Rise, Last to Sleep” were also launched.

Areas with heaviest canoes and catches would have landing sites, which already entails the construction of a cold storage facility.

The police are accusing some personnel of banks that are into money transfer transactions of assisting 419 tricksters to defraud Ghanaians and foreigners of huge sums of money through the Internet. Police say some staff of money transfer agencies are also deeply involved in the trade. A worried source at the Police Headquarters told Public Agenda that this development is gradually earning Ghana the unattractive title as a high Internet crime country. The source explained that these unscrupulous personnel connive with these “criminals” to defraud their victims, mainly foreign nationals of huge sums of money and in the end get their share. According to the police source, as many as 19 complaints of cases of Internet fraud are recorded weekly. These include romance fraud, which involves dating through the Internet, 419 frauds that normally involve treasures, gold fraud and money washing fraud which involves the use chemicals to wash coated money. Consequently, foreigners are gradually loosing interest in the security intelligence of the country. The source said whenever a complaint is made and a controlled delivery is put in place to hunt down such criminals, these unpatriotic personnel give the fraudsters hints and as a result they do not turn up to receive their ill-gotten money to enable the police arrest them. Sometimes the money transfer personnel withdraw the money on behalf of the fraudsters and hand it to them later. Foreign nationals, especially Nigerians dominate the Internet fraud, with the Ghanaian youth between the ages of 17 to 30 struggling to take over. These youth mainly residing in Nima, Mamobi and Mallam Atta suburbs in Accra log on to dating sites on the internet to create their on profiles with female names, while they attach photographs from websites of models to their supposed dates. Eventually, these fraudsters feign love and express interest to join their unsuspecting victims in their countries. The source said they begin to demand huge sums of money from their “lovers” to enable them process necessary documents to join them. These same fraudsters then pose as travel agents and send messages to the victims about the cost of travel arrangements. Afterwards, they ask for money to settle their families, either by buying or renting a property for them before they can leave to join their new found lovers. The fact is that after every payment, these fraudsters come out with another story.Finally, they call their victims on the supposed date of departure to inform them that they have been arrested by the security agencies at the airport for possessing gold. Therefore, the victims are required to send a huge amount of money before they could be released to board their flights. The police source said the victims upon suspicion at this stage contact the police who in turn put in place measures to hunt the fraudsters down, only for the bad nuts within the money transfer agencies to hint the fraudsters not to show up for such monies. The police are therefore calling on management of such banks and money transfer agencies to be on watch out for such personnel who are helping criminals to bring the name of the country into disrepute. The general public is being advised to be wary of such cheats in the society who have intensified their activities particularly in the heat of the Christmas festivities. The police have also cautioned operators of hotels to watch out for personnel in their facilities who are doubling as 419 agents and are helping fraudsters to defraud innocent foreigners.