US based oil giants, Hess Petroleum has announced further investments in its operations  after finding oil in commercial quantities located in the Deepwater Tano/Cape Three Points . The oil found at Hess's Pecan-1 well marks its fifth discovery in the block, the New York company said. Hess Petroleum controls a 90% stake in that block while the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) holds the remaining 10%. Hess is preparing to drill its next well in the block about 15 miles northeast of its latest find, and said more exploration activity and pre-development is planned in next year. Shares of Hess climbed nearly 3 percent to $51.98 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading.

The Commission of Inquiry established by  President John Mahama to enquire into judgement debt payments  and other related matters will resume sittings after a short break from Monday, December 17 and continue  through to Wednesday December 19 at the Old Parliament House, Accra opposite the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum. The Commission in a statement said  its sittings would be held at 10.00 a.m. each day and close at 4.00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Members of the public who wish to testify or volunteer information are first to report at the Commission’s office to give their statement.  The Commission will then schedule a date for them to give evidence. All those who intend to testify or volunteer information to the Commission but are unable to be present in person are requested  to submit memoranda to the Commission. All such memoranda will be treated confidentially. The Commission wishes to assure persons who may testify or assist the Commission in its work that their identities will be protected and their safety guaranteed.

By Ekow Essabra-Mensah Officials of the Large Tax Payer Office of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) have locked up the premises of Akosombo Textile Limited and Akotex Synthetics Limited for non-payment of  more than GH¢8million in taxes. The two firms, which are under similar management, have been defaulting on Value Added Tax (VAT) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) taxes due the Authority since 2009. Akosombo Textiles Limited has an outstanding tax of GH¢5,714,560, while Akotex owes the Authority a total of GH¢3,187,717. Personnel from the Large Tax Payer Office and the Police Service paid unannounced visits to the establishments and locked up the premises. The special exercise, christened “Distress Action”, was aimed at addressing the delinquency of corporate taxpayers and to ensure that businesses comply with the law and honour their tax obligations promptly. Mr. Wisdom Kofi Xetor, Principal Revenue Officer at the Large Tax Payer Office, said: “It is a painful exercise but there is no other option to recover the amount owed than the ‘distress action.’” He said the two firms have been indebted to the GRA for a very long time and several attempts to recover the money have proven fruitless, hence the locking up of their offices. “As we speak they have not paid anything, so it has become imperative for us to undertake this exercise. This is a huge amount of money; if this money is paid it will go a long way to solve some of the nation’s problems.” The action, he explained, was not an attempt by the GRA to collapse businesses but to enforce the VAT law, adding the action has been taken because the GRA noticed that the two companies are in business and have been filing their returns. “Our records show that they are in business, but they are refusing to honour their tax obligations. VAT is a consumption tax, and once they are making sales it is imperative that they comply with the country’s tax law.” He observed that the action was the last tool of mobilisation open to GRA to collect monies owed to it, adding that the companies would be given an ultimatum to pay and if they failed the Authority would take custody of their assets and sell them to defray the taxes. Mr. Xetor cautioned the business community and other firms who find themselves in such similar situation to quickly settle their tax indebtedness.

By Juliet AGUIAR  The Nzema East Cocoa Farmers Association (NECFA) in the Western Region is calling on the Ghana COCOBOD and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for a separate zoning of the district for easy identification and inclusion in national cocoa incentive schemes. Under the cocoa zoning scheme, the association says that it has been placed  under the Aowin Suaman district, which relatively puts them at a disadvantage in relation to other cocoa farmers located within the Aowin Suaman District - - the NECFA is made up of Ellembelle, Jomoro and Nzema East districts. Speaking in an interview with the B&FT, Mr.Ben Atiamo, the Chairman of NECFA pointed out that the major cocoa depots have been situated at Takoradi and Enchi, hence, there is no credit for the Nzema cocoa growing areas. “As a result members of the Nzema East district co-operative cocoa farmers association do not receive any bonus because they are caught up in between the two districts” he said. Also, he said for this same reason, Nzema East district co-operative cocoa farmers association is marginalized during mass spraying exercises and cocoa scholarship schemes, thus reducing yield per acre and this is negatively affecting total productivity. He explained that zoning the district will have positive impacts on the standard of living of the farmers, boost the local economy, reduce unemployment and contribute to poverty alleviation in the NECFA districts. Ultimately, he said this will result in the sector contributing significantly to Ghana’s foreign exchange earnings and Gross Domestic Products (GDP). Mr. Atiamo says, the association, with support from the Business Advocacy Challenge Fund is embarking on advocacy action to train farmers to understand and know how to advocate, conduct a research and use results to sensitise stakeholders as well as form a coalition of cocoa farmers in the Western Region. Also, he said the advocacy is to create awareness about the plight of NECFA, stimulate stakeholder interest in their conditions and pushing for a policy framework for capturing NECFA in the cocoa map of Ghana.

A three-classroom block with an office, a store and toilet facility has been inaugurated for the Desreagya D/A Junior High School (JHS) in the Atwima Mponua District   The facility, worth US$ 22, 000, was  funded by Nestle Ghana and will serve the Desereagya and surrounding villages. Previously, students who did not like the improvised wooden structure of the school, which is in its second year, had to trek some 5 kilometers to the nearest public educational facility, discouraging quite a number of them from continuing with their studies.   In line with its business culture of Creating Shared Value that focuses on three thematic areas, namely Nutrition, Water and Rural Development, Nestlé teamed up with  COCOBOD/ Armajaro Traceable Foundation and Source Trust to fund the construction of the building.   The Deputy Director-General of Education, Charles Aheto Tsegah, inaugurated the new block, assisted by the Head of Cocoa Business of Armajaro – Ghana, Goran Colaric; Manager of Source Trust, Fred Frimpong; the Atwima Mponua District Director of Education, Georgina Enyan; the Chief of Desereagya, Nana Krobia Asante; and the Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager of Nestlé Ghana Ltd, Aaron Fenu.   The Chief of Desereagya, Nana Krobea Asante, expressed satisfaction with the facility noting that if all cocoa purchasers emulate Nestlé’s example, cocoa growing communities will have no worries. He encouraged the pupils to study diligently so as to achieve the purpose for which Nestlé constructed the facility. He also appealed to Nestlé to consider providing potable water and accommodation for the teachers.   The Head-teacher of the school, Robert Mensah, was hopeful that teachers would develop confidence in the school by accepting to teach there, while lauding the community for providing labor to ensure the successful completion of the project. Goran Colaric, Head of Cocoa Business of Armajaro Ghana, said his outfit and its partners were of the conviction that education was the best legacy to give children in cocoa growing communities.      Manager of Source Trust, Fred Frimpong, commended the communal spirit and active involvement of the people of Desereagya in the execution of the project.  Moataz El Hout, Managing Director of Nestlé Ghana Ltd, in a speech read on his behalf, encouraged the people to embrace education as it holds the key to their social transformation.   The District Director of Education, Georgina Enyan, pledged to provide furniture and other logistics to the school and  later provided the pupils with school uniforms and exercise books, pleading with opinion leaders in the community to impress on the people to enroll their wards in the school rather than keep them on the farms.

FTSE Group (FTSE), the award winning global index provider in partnership with the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), has announced the launch of the FTSE ASEA Pan Africa Index Series, an independently calculated, rules-based performance benchmark for Pan African equity portfolios. The launch comes at a time when international investors are seeking exposure to emerging and frontier markets, and focusing in particular on Africa as a source of return and portfolio diversification. The market capitalisation weighted index series measures the performance of eligible securities domiciled in the following 19 African countries: Botswana, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The index series is free float and liquidity screened with country weights capped at 20% to ensure the index maintains an accurate representation of the investible opportunity set. The index series has been built to FTSE’s renowned standards of index design, which emphasises transparency, independence, innovation and strong governance. Price and Total Return variants are calculated on an End of Day basis. Jonathan Cooper, Managing Director, Middle East & Africa at FTSE Group, said: “This launch enables ASEA to address one of its primary goals; to facilitate the development and promotion of products and services for Africa’s capital markets. FTSE has been providing solutions to African investors for 10 years and this new initiative confirms FTSE’s position as Africa’s index provider.” Sunil Benimadhu, President of the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), stated: “The launch of the FTSE ASEA Pan Africa Index Series is a milestone for ASEA. This index aims at tracking the performances of the companies listed on ASEA’s member exchanges and is expected to evolve soon as an attractive investible index that can be used as a performance benchmark for international investors investing on African Stock Exchanges.  The timing of the launch is highly opportune with the growing interest of the international investment community for investment opportunities in Africa and in Africa’s listed companies.”  

 Vodafone is leading in its efforts to stamp out cable theft by rewarding community members who have been vigilant in ratting out the culprits plaguing the Vodafone network with the theft and destruction of copper and fiber cables and affecting quality of service. Vodafone is working with local police and has awarded up to 15 individuals for their bravery.These actions have led to the arrests of youth in three areas in the Greater Accra region and saved the company thousands in revenue. When these cables are cut, customers in the surrounding areas experience a network outage while Vodafone tries to repair the damaged cables or replace them and restore service.. Community members have been increasingly frustrated by the disruption and have started to work together to stamp out the theft. As a result of their bravery, five people have been imprisoned and six more cases are before the courts. Mr Kofi Mintah, one of the community members of Dombosco in the Winneba area had erected the foundations of an ICT building. It came to the community’s attention that vagrants were using the unfinished building to store stolen cables. Mr Mintah, was informed of the situation and he acted quickly by informing the police who subsequently apprehended the culprits and caught them red handed. Mr Mintah said he was perturbed by the thieves using his premises as a holding ground for stolen goods and was very impressed by the community members vigilant response. He was awarded GHC 500 by Vodafone to thank him for the part he played in catching the thieves and to foster good relations with his community members he distributed the funds to his community members for helping clear his name and for catching the thieves. Vodafone realizes the implications these cable thefts have on their customers as well as the rising investment in replacing the cables. Michael Kofi Mbroh, Head of Corporate Security at Vodafone said ‘We are very grateful to community members who are working with us to stamp out this unfortunate turn of events. We feel one of the ways to show support and encourage more community spirit is to award these members for their diligence

Representatives from governments, parliaments, CSOs, private sector; youth, and NGOs from the Central, West and North Africa have  gathered in Dakar, Senegal, to discuss top priorities to be included in the global development agenda beyond 2015, which will be debated at the UN General Assembly in September 2013. While efforts continue across Africa to achieve the time-bound Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), this two-day forum was  part of unprecedented consultations to build a collective vision, to be endorsed by African Ministers and ratified by Heads of State at the African Union’s May 2013 Summit. “In order for Africa to reap the rewards of its booming population and economic growth, its post-MDG agenda must prioritize building skills for tomorrow’s job market, fostering efficiency and accountability in services and building social and financial systems for inclusive growth,” said Nejmudin Bilal, Principal Economist at the African Development Bank. The forum was sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Africa Union Commission (AUC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). Participants  discussed inclusive growth, education and the ways of transforming the structure of African economies so as to translate growth into job creation, mobilization of domestic resources and rural development, as well as issues that emerged from the Rio+20 Summit, such as bringing together the social, environmental and economic dimensions included in sustainable development. “These institutions are facilitating a bottom-up, inclusive and open process with the participation of a broad spectrum of stakeholders to contribute to defining Africa’s development priorities beyond 2015,” said Babacar Cissé, Deputy Director of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa. Africa has made steady progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the internationally agreed targets which aim to reduce poverty by 2015. Advances have been made in primary school enrolment, gender parity in primary school enrolment, the proportion of seats held by women in national parliament, and HIV and AIDS prevalence rates. In spite of this progress, Africa still faces the challenges of addressing pervasive income inequalities, creating decent jobs, access to health and sanitation services. “The articulation of an African common position must not be limited to the development of the broad framework of the agenda. It must also extend to the process of developing goals, targets and indicators. This is important because it is precisely these goals, targets and indicators that will constitute the operation and dimension of the new development agenda,” said Bart Armah, ECA’s Chief of MDGs and LDCs, who stood in for Professor Adebayo Olukoshi.

Dancing sensation Amarachi Uyanne has emerged the winner of the N10 million grand prize of the Nigeria’s Got Talent Season One reality show sponsored by leading telecoms operator, Airtel Nigeria. She won through a public voting process independently managed by Forbes Limited. Amarachi, who was unveiled at the weekend at the grand finale of the reality show in Lagos, shrugged off a fierce challenge from top contender, Violinist Godwin Ogechukwu and eight other finalists to go home with the winner-takes-it-all prize. The eight years-old primary five pupil from Igbodo in Delta State is now the youngest non-inheritor millionaire in Nigeria having broken the previous record set by Solomon Ebuka Nwanke Ubani who became a millionaire at age 20. Amarachi emerged from a cast of ten finalists, reduced to six, then four and finally three based on votes cast by viewers. Voting ended on Friday, December 7, 2012. Rapper Chuka, DJ Nath, the Expendables and Dr. Bariyu, a ventriloquist and puppeteer became the first casualties in what would be the beginning of a series of evictions. Impulse, the acapella group from Port Harcourt, dancer extraordinaire, Boniface Ukeme and Toke saw their hope of winning the coveted prize dashed after they formed the successive sets of evictees. The palpable tension that had built up over the identity of the eventual winner finally gave way to a rapturous ovation, dancing and celebration when NGT presenter, Andre Blaize announced Amarachi the winner. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Rajan Swaroop ably assisted by the CEO of Rapid Blue Format and Optima Media Group, Mr. Rotimi Pedro presented the winning cheque of N10million to Amarachi, with her mother in tow. Rajan Swaroop said at the event that Airtel Nigeria is committed to creating platforms that would help to discover and nurture talented Nigerians to stardom just as he expressed satisfaction over the organisation of the NGT. According to Swaroop,”In the last two years of operation in Nigeria, Airtel has shown tremendous commitment to building stronger ties between people and their dreams, and strong foundations for a healthy and fulfilling future for both the individual and country. The NGT is one of the various platforms on which we are doing this. Airtel believes that it is not just enough to know that there are talents, but that they must be searched for, discovered and nurtured accordingly. Airtel believes in helping talented individuals and groups live their dreams.” An elated Amarachi, who spoke shortly after receiving her cheque, said she would use part of the money to support orphans and to pursue her ambition of becoming a medical doctor. Her words, “I am happy that I won. At first I was afraid and thought I would lose, but thank God I won in the end. I want to help orphans with the money, and also for the education of my two siblings as well as mine.” Over ten thousand acts cutting across different genres of entertainment participated in the just concluded Nigeria’s Got Talent, season one. Nigeria is the 42nd country in the Got Talent franchise, according to Optima Media Group CEO Femi Pedro.  The Season One of the Airtel sponsored ‘’Got Talent’’ reality TV show commenced on 16 September, with nation-wide auditions in selected cities which included Abuja, Port- Harcourt, Warri, Calabar, Enugu, Benin, Ibadan and Lagos.

President John Dramani Mahama has paid a day’s working visit to Abuja, Nigeria to discuss with President Goodluck Jonathan progress on the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP). Although the broken pipe, which truncated supplies to Ghana months ago, has been fixed, further works have to be carried out. President Mahama told journalists at the State House after the meeting "I took the opportunity to discuss with him the issue of the West Africa Gas Pipeline. As you are aware, it got broken and there was an accident when they were trying to activate it. So, I want President Jonathan to use his influence to get the pipeline back into operation as soon as possible so that Ghana can continue to receive Nigerian gas to power our electricity generation." The two leaders resolved to continue to work together towards an early completion and ensure regular and reliable flow of Natural Gas through the WAGP to Ghana. They also discussed other important issues of bilateral cooperation, including energy, security, trade and cultural integration. President Mahama used the opportunity to commiserate with President Jonathan on the loss of his brother, Chief Meni Innocent Jonathan. "I should have attended the funeral, but we were at the height of our election so, it wasn't possible. So, I came with the traditional drinks as it is customary with Ghana and our contribution to the funeral which I have presented to President Jonathan to be sent to the family back home", President Mahama noted. On his part, President Jonathan congratulated Mr. Mahama on his victory in last weekend's presidential and parliamentary elections. He welcomed President Mahama's success in securing his people's mandate for a full term in office, adding that the victory is an endorsement by the Ghanaian electorate of his leadership and his party's action plan for further socio-economic development and continued consolidation of democracy in the country. President Mahama has since returned to Accra enroute to Equatorial Guinea to attend the 7th ACP summit in Malabo. Credit: Office of the President