PRESS RELEASE: 19TH NOVEMBER 2008 DANQUAH INSTITUTE, GABBY OTCHERE-DARKO CANNOT BE POLLSTERS AND REGULATORS AT THE SAME TIME

London, United Kingdom— The shameless attacks of the Danquah Institute and it’s Executive Director, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko on the recent opinion polls conducted by the Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. was not only an attack on democracy but also smacks of gross intolerance for serious research and academic debate.

Following an emergency official conference call of members of the Research Committee on Tuesday 18 November 2008, Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. would like to inform the general public that rather than taking the low road to attack serious academic research conducted by other groups, it would prefer to have a healthy debate concerning opinion polling in Ghana to promote the nation’s young democracy.

In the last few months, the Danquah Institute conducted several opinion polls. Other organizations including the Primary Research Associates, National Commission for Civic Education, Research International, Mr Ben Ephson’s polling agency and Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. carried out their separate polls.

Under no circumstance did we attempt to impose our findings on the Danquah Institute. We did not attempt to regulate or question their polls either. For this reason, we would like to urge them to mind their own business, while we mind our own—this will spare the Ghanaian people the hypocritical holier-than-thou attitude being exhibited by Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and his Danquah Institute.

Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. is not answerable to the Danquah Institute. As a matter of respect to the public, we find it necessary to correct the false information being put out in the media by Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and the Danquah Institute. Much of our identity as a group was disclosed in our November 15 2008 Press Statement regarding the polls conducted in Ghana which we legitimately sponsored as a Ghanaian Diaspora organization.

Our identity was never hidden in our Press Statement.

1. Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc is a U.S incorporated not-for-profit entity that brings together like-minded young Ghanaian working professionals based outside the country, interested in academic debate and practical research on Ghanaian public policy issues. Our members are mainly in the United Kingdom and a few in the USA and Canada. Membership is also exclusively by genuine interest and full participation and we are not a profit making “firm” or “company” as being portrayed by Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and his Danquah Institute, neither did we claim anywhere that we are a foreign-owned institution seeking to interfere in Ghana’s young democracy.

In fact, our opinion poll press statement made it clear “this polling exercise is the third research exercise sponsored by young Ghanaian professionals who are independent, multi-partisan working associates of the Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. in the Diaspora”.

The Danquah Institute’s claim that its preliminary check “has drawn a blank on the existence of Policy & Strategy Associates anywhere in the world” is therefore false and misleading. They must therefore stop the cheap-shots and name-calling and straighten their own background. We are not ready to descend into the political gutter with the Danquah Institute because our objectives are not as political as theirs. Among our objectives is to provide Ghanaians with credible information and analysis without any form of bias.

2. Since Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko does not seem to get it, we would like to tell him that the formula for determining margins of error is not fixed. His outfit does not have full details of the data we collected and how we arrived at our final computation, so they should mind their own business. Also, our November 15 opinion poll press statement stated the reason for the significantly large margin of polling error which read: “All in all, the overall outlook indicate election 2008 will be the most challenging to both the ruling NPP and the opposition NDC given the statistically significant large margin of error (+ or – 4%) that allows for a balanced assessment of the various strategies and risks associated with forecasting the eventual outcome of the election. This poll is just a scientific sampling of voter opinion.”

3. We are not obliged to provide Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and the Danquah Institute details of our polls. The good people of Ghana must be made aware that prior to launching baseless attacks on our polls, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko personally e-mailed the Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. to furnish him with our internal polling information, a request we found too absurd and unprofessional since no organization or group shares confidential information with others unless under a previous agreement. Our question is: Why the desperate and panicky interest of Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko and his Danquah Institute in other organization’s opinion polling and research work if they do not have any diabolic agenda?

4. Regarding the claim about the Editor of the Report, Prince Kassim, he is an Associate member for research at Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. with a hardworking professional life as a Researcher since 2006, well known by his peers. He worked to edit the final polling report as well as the original press release as part of his professional duties. He lives in London just like over half of our total membership. His contact details are with those websites and media organizations that we vetted appropriate to speak to since we received several requests and emails both from Ghana and internationally, all of which we cannot reply to.

Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc.
E-mail: policystrategy@consultant.com
Source: Policy & Strategy Associates

Atta Mills leads Akufo-Addo in latest polls

London, United Kingdom – Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. surveys in all ten Regions of Ghana show the NDC's Atta Mills enters the final month of the Election 2008 Campaign in a very favourable position to be elected President of the Republic of Ghana, having made significant inroads on formerly NPP turf, while NPP candidate Nana Akufo-Addo plays competitive defence.

In a comprehensive survey and analyses of the polling data, the National Average of all regional polls indicate 53.6% of respondents favour the NDC's Atta Mills to be elected Ghana's next head of state as against 42.0% that favour NPP's Nana Akufo-Addo. The surveys were conducted from Oct. 25 to Nov. 7, 2008. November 7 is exactly one calendar month to the actual polling day on December 7.

Sample sizes in each region ranged from 720-765, with a margin of error of +/-4.0%. In total, more than 7, 000 people were polled in various informal, relaxed surveys across the country. It must be noted that this polling exercise is the third research exercise sponsored by young Ghanaian professionals who are independent, multi-partisan working associates of the Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc. in the Diaspora.

The first two exercises, carried out between the months of June and September were for our internal research purposes. The average of both earlier exercises as compared to the latest exercise shows a slight tightening in the race, especially with the gains of both frontrunners in their traditional electoral "world banks".

All in all, the overall outlook indicate election 2008 will be the most challenging to both the ruling NPP and the opposition NDC, given the statistically significant large margin of error (+ or – 4%) that allows for a balanced assessment of the various strategies and risks associated with forecasting the eventual outcome of the election.

This poll is just a scientific sampling of voter opinion. Our special thanks go to our small team of hardworking post-secondary and tertiary level students who helped locally in conducting this exercise in all the ten Regions surveyed.

Here are the Regions where Atta Mills leads:

Greater Accra Region Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Atta Mills NDC 55.0%

Akufo-Addo NPP 43.0%

Other/Not Sure 2.0%

Brong Ahafo Region Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Atta Mills NDC 54.7%

Akufo-Addo NPP 43.1%

Other/Not Sure 2.2%

Northern Region Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Atta Mills NDC 60.7%

Akufo-Addo NPP 33.4%

Other/Not Sure 5.9%

Volta Region Oct 25 - Nov. 7

Atta Mills NDC 84.8%

Akufo-Addo NPP 13.6%

Other/Not Sure 1.6%

Upper East Region Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Atta Mills NDC 56.4%

Akufo-Addo NPP 29.7%

Other/Not Sure 13.9%

Upper West Region Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Atta Mills NDC 60.5%

Akufo-Addo NPP 30.8%

Other/Not Sure 8.7%

Here are the Regions where Akufo-Addo leads:

Eastern Region Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Akufo-Addo NPP 58.5%

Atta Mills NDC 40.7%

Other/Not Sure 0.8%

Ashanti Region Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Akufo-Addo NPP 68.7%

Atta Mills NDC 30.2%

Other/Not Sure 1.1%

Western Region Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Akufo-Addo NPP 53.5%

Atta Mills NDC 43.1%

Other/Not Sure 3.4%

A dead heat is more likely to be in the Central Region as indicated by the polling figures below, with NDC Presidential Candidate John Atta Mills winning more of the combination of the NPP, NDC and swing voter political base than NPP Presidential Candidate Akufo-Addo.

Central Region Oct 25-Nov. 7

Atta Mills NDC 50.6%

Akufo-Addo NPP 45.8%

Other/Not Sure 3.6%

The NDC Presidential Candidate John Atta Mills leads by nearly five points here, which is helpful for him since it is narrowly outside the + or – 4% margin of polling error, but Akufo-Addo still maintains a small edge among soft NPP leaning voters who may be the final deciders of the popular vote winner in the Central region.

Both Akufo-Addo's and Atta Mills's support among their core NPP and NDC political base is very strong here as Atta Mills consolidates his broader support among all three groups including bigger support among swing voters than we saw in previous elections.Overall, the NATIONAL AVERAGE of all regional polls suggests an Atta Mills (NDC) win as he leads by 53.67% to Akufo-Addo (NPP) 42.01%.

This also assumes a similar error margin of + or – 4%. National Polling Average of all ten Regions Oct 25 -Nov. 7

Atta Mills NDC 53.67%

Akufo-Addo NPP 42.01%

Our conclusion from what the data suggests is that, in the event the NPP candidate outperforms our polls in the actual election by the total positive margin of error of +4%, and the NDC candidate underperforms by the total negative margin of error of -4%, the election could go into a run-off with the NDC candidate still leading but just falling slightly short of the 50% plus 1 single vote (needed to win a first round) at 49.6% to the NPP candidate's 46.0%. ** This promises to be a very interesting election indeed!!!**Note: This is computed as 53.67% minus 4% which equals 49.67% for the NDC and assumes plus 4% for the NPP's 42.01% which equals 46.01%.

Contact:Prince Kassim, Associate & Report Editor, Policy & Strategy Associates, Inc Email: policystrategy@consultant.com

CJA Press Statement on the Auditor General's Report

COMMITTEE FOR JOINT ACTION (CJA) STATEMENT ON THE AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT ON GHANA’S PUBLIC ACCOUNTS 2006 RELEASED AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON 19TH NOVEMBER 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,We thank you very much for meeting with us today.

Our purpose for holding this press conference is to throw light on the maladministration of the NPP government and to point to the fact that data on the Ghanaian economy is completely unreliable. We shall also show that the Kufuor administration has not kept its promise to the Ghanaian electorate to root out corruption.

Our positions on the state of public accounts are derived from the Auditor General’s Report on Public Accounts for 2006, which is the most recent report to be completed and submitted to Parliament.

In the report under reference, the Auditor General concluded as follows:““In my opinion, because of the significant uncertainties attaching to the matters listed above, I was unable to form an opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the government of Ghana as at 31 December 2006 and the results of its operations, cash flows and financial requirements for the year ended”.

Clearly, the Auditor-General finds the figures in government accounts unreliable and is therefore not in a position to confirm that Ghana’s finances have been managed effectively and efficiently.For example, the Auditor General observed that whereas the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department stated that as at the end of 2006, Ghana’s external debt stood at ¢18.3 trillion, the Bank of Ghana records stated that Ghana’s external debt stood at ¢31 trillion.

As indicated by the Auditor-General, ““The country’s external debt stock is an important factor in the determination of its financial health. The anomaly observed prevented this determination”. The uncertainty and confusion in public accounts is described in detail by the Auditor-General as follows:

1. The Bank of Ghana and Controller and Accountant-General’s Department failed to provide the Auditor General with bank statements on account inflows and outflows of the Consolidated Fund and their balances.

2. Inadequate disclosure of non-tax revenues (See Page 36). Whereas the Financial Regulations Act requires that non-tax revenue be accounted for under eight specified headings, the government chose to band all of them under only three headings. By doing so, the government disabled the Auditor General from understanding the accounts.

3. Internally Generated Funds collected by various MDAs were utilised by those agencies without paying them into the Consolidated Fund or seeking parliamentary approval. This amounted to ¢549 trillion.

4. The Ministries, Department’s and Agencies failed to provide periodic returns on the Departmental Advances and Departmental Revolving Fund.

5. There were cases where amounts spent or in arrears in the Public Accounts Statements were not disclosed to the Auditor-General (Page 39). The Auditor-General stated: “My examination indicated that in 2006, payments for road-arrears and non-road arrears amounting to ¢73,247,014,157 and ¢99,109,114,296 respectively were effected. However, these payments which at the close of 2005 were liabilities of the Consolidated Fund were not disclosed in the 2005 Public Accounts Financial Statements”. …. The effect of the above omission is to understate the obligations of the Consolidated Fund”.

6. Non disclosure of records underpinning trust fund investment balance reported in the Public Accounts Financial Statements (41). Although the 2006 Public Accounts Financial Statement reported Trust Fund Investments of ¢47.4 billion as in 2004 and 2005, in 2006, there were no records maintained by the Public Debt and Investment Section to substantiate the balances on these investments. The Auditor-General lamented: “It is interesting to note that the Auditor-General’s report on the 2005 Public Accounts Statements conveyed this very finding and recommended measures to address the omission. The recommended measures are yet to be implemented”.

7. The government woefully failed to recover debts owed to it by various business entities.The recovery rate of Government loans from companies through Government appointed recovery agencies was 0.66%. The performance of Ministry of Finance in its own recovery efforts was worse (0.22%). As a result the Auditor General concluded that the loans are not recoverable. The Controller and Accountant-General’s Department is seeking Parliamentary approval to write off loans amounting to ¢6,698,065,299,349. This is a monumental loss to the country.

8. Although the government has equity shares in various companies in Ghana, the Bank of Ghana does not have information on the share value of the investee entities. As a result, it was not possible for the Auditor-General to determine the performance of the individual equity investments (Page 18). As if that was not bad enough, the Management and Reporting on the government’s equity investment in local entities were reported in the Public Accounts Statements at the original costs at which they were acquired. This understates the true values of the government’s interests in those entities.

9. MISMANAGEMENT OF THE GETFUNDThere were serious delays in transferring accrued funds into the GETFund. There were instances when accrued funds meant for the GETFund were not communicated to the GETFund Administrator. In 2006 arrears to the GETFund amounted to ¢329,598,000,000. Total funds owed to GETFund at the end of 2006 amounted to ¢407,846,000,000. These show how the growth of the GETFund and its ability to undertake educational projects has been undermined under the NPP administration. Interestingly when the Auditor-General asked for a response to this disgraceful situation, no response was forthcoming

10. NON-ADHERENCE TO THE LAW ON NHIS FUNDINGThere were also serious delays in transferring accrued funds into the NHIS Fund. As at the end of 2006, total amount owed the NHIS by the government totaled ¢145.9 billion.Whereas monies deducted for the NHIS from the NHI Levy (¢1,157,038,616,444) and SSF contributions (¢319,837,811,314) amounted to ¢1,476,876,427,757, the government transferred only ¢1,228,211,632,357. What happened to the difference of ¢248,664,795,400?

11. Even in the maintenance of the bank accounts of the government, they did not maintain up to date ledgers to capture entries in respect of depositors’ accounts on depositors, neither were there reconciliation of the accounts.

12. The state of the government’s accounting system is in such shambles that MDAs defaulted in preparing the accounts of their respective institutions contrary to Regulation 190 of L.I. 1802. Furthermore huge loans and advances made to public officials were not recovered.

13. Whereas the Financial Administration Regulations (2004) require the Ministry of Finance, when they contract foreign loans or receive foreign grants, to provide that information to the Bank of Ghana which should then inform the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department this was not done in several instances. Furthermore, the disbursements of these amounts were sometimes not communicated to the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department.

In the end, it became difficult to establish the true state of our finances. There were even cases when records were not available for the reconciliation of the accounts. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media,This is the sordid state of affairs in our public institutions under NPP rule and there can be no doubt about the incompetence of the Kufuor administration. The CJA calls on the people of Ghana to say “No” to ineptitude and corruption in public administration; and there can be no better way of doing this than to vote wisely in the December 7 elections.Thank you very much for coming. Now you may now ask questions.19th November, 2008

Source: COMMITTEE FOR JOINT ACTION (CJA)