ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
DISCIPLINARY MATTERS The Party has observed, rather worryingly, the conduct of some members claiming to be invoking curses on the Party Leadership and in particular, on members of NEC on allegations that their preferred Candidates have been disqualified by NEC from contesting in the Primaries.
We are completely appalled by such gross misconduct.
Accordingly, the Party is instructing the respective Constituency Executives in the Constituencies where this unfortunate incident happened, to immediately suspend all those involved in this awkward behavior while instituting appropriate disciplinary actions against them in line with Article 3 and 4 of the Party Constitution.
CONCLUSION Ladies and gentlemen of the press, the Party wishes to stress that any aspiring parliamentary candidate who flouts any of the above guidelines and modalities or conducts him/herself in a manner that brings the Party’s name into disrepute shall be deemed to have breached Article 4(7) of the NPP constitution and will, accordingly, be sanctioned including being disqualified from contesting in the Primaries.
Finally, while wishing all prospective aspiring parliamentary candidates the best of luck in the Parliamentary Primaries, the party hopes and anticipates that these prospective aspiring candidates, together with their supporters, would adhere strictly to these rules of engagements in their own interest and in the supreme interest of the party.
…Signed….
John Boadu General Secretary
NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY PRESS CONFERENCE PAYMENT OF DEPOSITORS OF DEFUNCT SAVINGS AND LOANS COMPANIES By: Nana Akomea (Former Director of Communication and a Member of the Campaign Communication Team) 21/09/2020 1.
Friends of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good day.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) appreciates your timely response to our invitation.
This press conference seeks to achieve three (3) main objectives: To share the good news with Ghanaians on government’s fulfilment of its promise to pay depositors of defunct financial institutions.
To establish the role of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the financial sector crisis, and To interrogate the manifesto promises of the NDC specific to the financial sector.
The NDC Caused the Banking Sector Crisis 3.
Ladies and Gentlemen, let me state emphatically that the banking sector crisis we witnessed in the country was caused by the NDC.
It would be recalled that the 2016 Financial Stability Report of the Bank of Ghana, revealed that bad loans on the books of commercial banks in the country increased by 14.9% to GH¢4.52 billion in 2015 against the GH¢2.72 billion recorded in 2014.
Also, the economic and financial data from the Central Bank showed that Non Performing Loans (NPLs) rose sharply from 11.2% in May 2015 to 19.3% in May 2016.
The Central Bank under the erstwhile Mahama administration admitted in 2015 that the spate of non-performing loans on the books of banks was one of the major challenges faced by the banking sector.
The Central Bank stated categorically that, the level of impaired loans in one of the largest commercial banks had quadrupled and the situation was becoming widespread in the banking sector.
Due to the non-payment of these loans, the banks had declared GH¢2.4 billion of outstanding debt stock of loans as bad debt.
You would also recall that, the 2015 Asset Quality Review of Banks, exposed significant vulnerability of banks to the economic conditions at the time.
The review further stated that if the affected banks had attempted to cater for all the bad loans, a significant number of them would have collapsed.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you will recall, Dr.
Mahamudu Bawumia, realising the bad state of the banking sector, warned the Mahama-led government in September 2016, that 8 banks risked collapse due to the increasing bad loans on their books.
He stated categorically that these 8 banks recorded low capital adequacy ratios of below 10% and in some cases below 5%, leading to their near collapse.
President Mahama himself in addressing the state of the microfinance industry, in the State of the Nation Address in 2016 stated “Mr.
Speaker, over the past five years, there has been a proliferation of microfinance companies.
These companies come under the direct supervision of the Bank of Ghana.
Unfortunately, lack of effective supervision has resulted in many cases in which microfinance companies licensed by Bank of Ghana have breached the rules and created supposed pyramid schemes that have eventually come crashing down”.
Actually in those last 5 years President Mahama mentioned, 82 of Microfinance companies had collapsed without a pesewa being paid to the unfortunate depositors.
What was President Mahama’s Response?
The response of President Mahama to this crisis was to throw tax payers monies at these offending financial companies.
Capital Bank for instance was given GH¢620 million in tranches of GH¢150 million, GH¢300 million, and GH¢170 million between June 2015 and November 2016, so as to recapitalize the bank to carry out its daily banking activities including granting loans, improving cash flow and honoring cheques by depositors.
In the event, Capital Bank literally squandered this large amount of tax payers’ money under Mr.
Mahama’s watch.
UT Bank was given a total of GH¢860 million in tranches of GH¢50 million, GH¢150, GH¢200 million and GH¢460 million between of February 2015 and May 2016.
Uni-Bank was provided GH¢3.1 billion by the Mahama-led administration, but this did not stop the difficult situation and viability of Uni-Bank.
The NDC’s intervention to provide liquidity support to banks which were on the verge of collapse without effective supervision was catastrophic to say the least.
Monies allocated to safeguard depositors’ funds were insensitively misappropriated by heads of banking institutions with government making no effort to demand accountability.
Having lost control over the fight to restore sanity in the banking sector, Mr.
Mahama and the NDC sat aloof as the problem metamorphosed into a full- blown crisis.
A total of 9 universal banks, 23 specialized deposit taking institutions and 386 microfinance and credit institutions, were on the verge of collapse when the NPP administration assumed power in 2017.
The economy risked a total collapse barring decisive mitigating measures.
An estimated 4.6 million depositors, thousands of retail, corporate and institutional investors were caught in the mess and risked losing their investments.
As I have already indicated, 82 financial institutions had collapsed under the watch of the President Mahama.
In the meantime, what did President Mahama’s government have for the unfortunate customers of these financial institutions?
Sadly, Ladies and Gentlemen, when these customers cried for help from government, Mr.
Mahama and the NDC rather blamed them for their bad investment decisions and indicated that government was in no position to address their predicament.
Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the NDC is on record to have said, and I quote, “How can victims of the DKM microfinance scam demand that taxpayers’ money be used to reimburse them when their bad investment decisions had nothing to do with government?”
20.Such was the gross insensitive approach adopted by the NDC government at the height of the financial sector crisis.
The empathy-driven approach of the NPP government in dealing with the crisis in the past three and half years, is in sharp contrast to Mr.
Mahama and the NDC’s lack of compassion.
What has President Akufo-Addo done?
22.President Akufo-Addo showed decisive leadership by cutting the rot that had engulfed Ghana’s financial system 23.The new administration, with new leadership at the Central Bank in August 2018, took bold decisive and pragmatic steps.
The 5 big troubled banks were merged to form the Consolidated Bank and capitalized it with a whopping sum of GH¢450 million.
The interventions that have since addressed the banking sector crisis, clearly demonstrate that bad leadership was the major problem of the erstwhile Mahama-led administration.
For the over 4 million depositors, 90% of them were paid cash up-front, the rest were given bonds redeemable in 5 years.
However, these depositors who were given bonds also happen to be the largest depositors in these banks.
They had been dissatisfied with the bonds issued to them.
Of course the bonds were much better than total loss of their monies if the rot had not being stopped, however, they have been making fervent appeals and cries for the situation to be improved for them.
28.President Akufo-Addo having being deeply touched by the fervent cries of these depositors, held consultations with the Bank of Ghana to explore other ways of relieving these depositors.
29.The upshot is that, just a week ago, the Bank of Ghana through prudent financial engineering of amending the nature of the coupons/bonds, has succeeded in monetizing these bonds.
30.By this an amount of GH¢3.56 Billion has been made available by the Central Bank to pay cash to every depositor affected by the rot.
This remains a monumental feat of the NPP and evidences the sensitivity of this government to the plight of Ghanaians.
Cognizant of the hardships and liquidity crunch occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, this could be described as a prudent approach to ease the already constrained economy, boost economic activity and expedite the return of the economy to normalcy.
32.It is worthy of note that government in the first quarter of 2020 expended an estimated GH¢13.6 billion, representing 3.5% of GDP on the resolution of insolvent banks.
The financial commitment made by government thus far is indicative of its resolve to create a highly robust and an internationally competitive financial sector capable of supporting the growth and development of firms, businesses and the various sectors of the economy.
33.Friends of the Media, the NPP-led government should therefore be highly commended for its efforts in ensuring that all depositors of the banks, specialized deposit-taking institutions and microfinance institutions are fully paid.
Empty Promises and Double Standards of the NDC 34.The NDC over the years has proven to be gravely inconsistent especially under the leadership of Mr.
Mahama.
One would expect that as an opposition, they would have drawn lessons from their incompetence in managing the economy and safeguarding the welfare of Ghanaians.
Characteristic of the NDC, a myriad of empty promises has been made to hoodwink electorates.
Ladies and Gentlemen, is it not interesting that the NDC is promising to pay depositors of defunct financial institutions, when the ruling NPP has settled over 90% of the customers and is in the process of making good the rest?
36.Is it not this same NDC that superintended the collapse of the financial sector and denied depositors of DKM and other microfinance institutions any compensation?
So I ask, what has changed?
I suppose your guess is as good as mine.
This is an obvious demonstration of gross incompetence.
Friends of the Media, we all are witnesses to the unambitious proclamation by the NDC that Free SHS was only possible in 20 years.
That assertion boldly exemplified their penchant for glorifying mediocrity.
Today, they have made a sudden U-turn on what they hitherto considered impossible.
38.Again, under the erstwhile NDC administration, the Road Traffic Regulation 2012 (L.I 2180) which outlawed the ‘Okada’ business was passed.
It is therefore unfathomable that the same party that criminalized ‘Okada’ business is today trumpeting the legalization of same as a headline campaign message.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dr.
Bawumia’s caution of a banking sector crisis prior to the 39.
2016 general elections only for it to occur affirms the NPP’s ability to effectively identify challenges in the economy.
Sadly, not only did the incompetent NDC fail to take action to avert the crisis, but also, they emotionally assaulted victims of the financial sector crisis.
40.Asiedu Nketia’s disparaging comment added salt to the injuries of the victims.
Interestingly, the same party is today promising to “reimburse them” when elected.
God save Ghanaians from such deliberate deceit!
Ladies and Gentleman, the NDC’s recent promise to pay customers of DKM when they earlier described the victims as reckless investors, is a manifestation of double standards.
Evidently, Mr.
Mahama and his NDC when in government find it expedient to cancel what is good for Ghanaians – such as the teachers’ and nurses’ trainee allowances only to promise their restoration when in opposition.
42.Such U-turns are not accidental, rather, they are clear manifestations of Mr.
Mahama’s indecisiveness, lack of credibility, penchant for vain promises intended to score cheap political points and his general insensitivity to the plight of Ghanaians, particularly victims of the financial sector crisis which thrived under his watch.
It had to take the promise-keeper, President Akufo-Addo, to clean the financial sector mess, inject the requisite financial resources that saved existing financial institutions from collapsing and prevent the loss of jobs.
BytheendofOctober,2020, all affected persons would have received their investments in full.
This can only happen under an Akufo-Addo-led government, in spite of the ravaging effects of COVID-19.
Conclusion 44.Let us ask Mr.
Mahama whether he still considers Ghanaians as having short memories, hence cannot remember his misdeeds?
Although Mr.
Mahama doubts our ability to remember, his continuous display of double standards and vain promises clearly indicate the kind of leadership he offers as opposed to that of the promise- keeper, President Akufo-Addo.
Ghanaians have seen the light of progress and inclusive development under President Akufo-Addo.
We also witnessed the deprivation, stagnation and selectivity that characterised the Mahama-led government.
We cannot afford to take Ghana back to the dark days under Mr.
We rather must commit to keep progress on course by voting for the NPP come December 7, 2020.
Thank you for your attention and may God bless our Homeland Ghana.
4 More 4 Nana, 4 More To Do More.
Long live NPP!!!
Long live Ghana!!
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, good afternoon!
Thank you for honouring our invitation to this press conference.
We have called you this afternoon in respect of the just ended voter registration exercise.
The exercise has been highly successful and we wish to commend the Electoral Commission, political parties, civil society groups, security services, the media, all stakeholders and the good people of Ghana for their efforts.
This press conference shall address the following issues: The vindication of the NPP position which we held since 2012 that the old register was defective The EC’s case for a new voter register The NDC’s opposition to the new voter register NDC’s facilitation of non-Ghanaians to register and vote in our elections The allegation by the NDC that the whole registration exercise was a grand scheme to disenfranchise Ghanaians Acts of violence perpetrated at various polling stations, encouraged by the NDC Registration in border constituencies where the numbers have come down More people registered with the NIA card NDC’s opposition to the registration of students The vindication that the old voter register was bloated Ladies and gentlemen, we, in the NPP, as you will recall, have been consistent in stressing that the old voter register was defective and not fit for purpose.
One of the issues we had with the old register was that, it was bloated.
Indeed, the numbers from the current register vindicates that position.
Until recently, the EC had always disagreed with us on our position that the register is bloated.
Indeed, after we mounted pressure, the EC, under the then Chairperson, Madam Charlotte Osei, empaneled the late Justice VCRAC Crabbe and others, in October 2015 to hear proposals, collect and collate views from the stakeholders, analyze the views and make recommendations to the Commission.
In their report, the Crabbe Panel vindicated NPP’s position that the register was bloated.
The panel established that the old register contained several categories of ineligible registrants including multiple registrations, names of minors, names of foreigners and deceased persons.
After its analysis of facts before it, the Crabbe Committee stated in page 10 of their Report, that “there is evidence that the register of voters contains a substantial number of people whose names are currently not valid.
By all indications, the number of registered voters is not only unusually high, but it may be in excess of the potential number.
Based on the 2012 projected population of Ghana, provided by the Ghana Statistical Service, and discounting the population of foreigners, there were about 150,000 more individual records in the Register of voters than the 2012 estimated population of persons aged 18 years and older of Ghanaian nationality.
This would include some thousands of minors who were wrongly registered.”
On the issue of dead people in the register, the Committee observed on page 14 that; “further analysis of data, based on the reported number registered in 2012 and 2014, shows that as many as 580,000 estimated number of voter deaths would have occurred cumulatively by the 2016 elections and may well remain in the Register of Voters.
It is not clear how many of these deaths have actually been identified and their records expunged from the Register through the established procedure.
This constitutes about 4% of the eligible voters on the register.
This margin is almost twice the margin by which most presidential elections were won and more than ten times the margin in the preceding elections”.
As a way of tackling these issues, the Crabbe Committee on page 20 of their report first of all observed that; “it may be difficult to justify more than half a million invalid records in the Register that we seek to characterize as credible.
It may be expedient to try to find a middle ground to creating a new register through a completely new registration process.
"The electoral commission could consider extending the exhibition exercise to have voters confirm their names on the list, an indication that they would want to maintain their voter status.
The benefits include signaling that the EC is doing something about the known flaws in the Register”.
In effect, the point the NPP is making here today is that the fact that the old register is bloated cannot be disputed.
Eventually, the E.C itself decided to compile a new register.
As we have stated already, the numbers that have come out of the new register confirms the link held position that the old register was bloated.
In its “Meet the Citizen” briefing on the 6th August 2020, the EC told us that; "A clean Voters Register is the basic foundation for ensuring that clean, credible, and transparent elections are delivered to the people of Ghana.
The 2019 Register had a total of 16,845,420 Voters.
Apart from this, we also had 797,493 people quarantined on the Duplicates/Multiples and Exceptions lists.
The political parties are aware of this.
"When this is added to the registered Voters, the overall total is a little over 17.6million.
Had the Commission maintained the old register and conducted a Limited Registration Exercise in all Electoral Areas and Registration Centers across the country, we would have estimated to conservatively add about 2million Ghanaians on to the existing Register.
Potentially, without the compilation of a new Voters Register, the Commission was on track to register some 19million people plus another 800,000 people who remain on the multiple and exceptions lists who previously were denied the right to vote.
This would have given us a total number of almost 19.6 million persons, approximately 20 million, had we maintained the old register and conducted the Limited Registration Exercise as compared to the current figure of 16.63 million, some 3 million difference.
With the compilation of this register those on the duplicates/exceptions lists from 2012 have had the opportunity to register."
In a country where the outcome of general elections have sometimes been determined by less than 50, 000 votes, 3 million illegal registration entries or votes make a significant impact on the integrity and credibility of elections.
Indeed, the VCRAC Crabbe panel, made this point as well.
The EC’s case for a new register Even so, the E.C has also argued, that the decision to compile a new register in 2020 was largely driven by technical and financial considerations.
The E.C says it received advice from its IT team and external Consultants to the effect that, it would be prudent to acquire a new system rather than refurbish the current system which had become obsolete and thus unfit for purpose.
Indeed, according to a letter from the vendors of the defunct system, the EC, would be at great risk if it did not take steps to change the equipment.
In the letter, the vendors stated in part, that: We would like to announce that the items in the present BVRs are End- of-Life, including laptops.
This means that no components are available to repair the items.
And so, for purposes of availability, maintainability and compatibility in the future we recommend to purchase new BVRs.
Equally, the old Biometric Verification Device (BVD) was unable to verify a number of voters electronically resulting in a high number of manual verifications on voting day, which is largely unreliable and a potential source of dispute as it tends to compromise the integrity of the elections.
It also does not have facial recognition technology nor does it allow for a facial recognition add-on.
The new Biometric Voter Management Solution which the EC has acquired ahead of the 2020 elections has facial recognition as an additional feature for those whose fingers cannot be verified.
This will therefore reduce the high incidence of manual verification which often proves to be problematic and tends to compromise the integrity and credibility of our elections.
The NDC’s opposition to the new register compilation Despite the fact that the EC had demonstrated enough utility and justification for the adoption of a new Biometric Voter Management Solution to deal with the many challenges with the old system, the NDC, continued to stage strong protests against the commission’s move and were bent on thwarting the EC's efforts.
They began by boycotting IPAC meetings where critical decisions regarding the new voters register were to be taken.
Yet, they consistently held press conferences to mislead the public on issues discussed at the very meetings of IPAC they refused to attend.
They also spearheaded the formation of the “Inter-Party Resistance Against the New Voters' Register”, comprising some 6 political parties out of the over 21 registered parties in the country, to constantly torment the EC through conferences and demonstrations.
All the arguments they made against the voter registration including the issue of cost, wrong timing, misplaced priority, possibility of civil war among others were all defeated by superior arguments in support of the exercise.
Indeed, in the face of continued NDC protests, the EC convened its Eminent Persons Panel and met most of the political parties.
The report of the meeting was that a majority of political parties wanted a new voter register.
Notwithstanding the emphatic conclusion of the Eminent Persons Panel, the NDC proceeded to the Supreme Court as their last resort to challenge the EC’s decision.
By an unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, the NDC’s position was defeated.
Even so, the General Secretary of the NDC addressed the press in the forecourt of the Supreme Court to announce that the Supreme Court had ruled in their favour.
Even after being defeated in the Supreme Court, the NDC continued to threaten fire and brimstone if the E.C went ahead to compile a new voters register with some of them vowing to stop speaking to the media and castrating themselves if the EC was able to compile the new register.
Well, as we have it now, the electoral commission has been able to successfully conduct the new voter registration across the country, and yet the NDC communicators are still talking to the media.
They have also not offered themselves for castration.