Woyome Warns NPP Traitors

-Sir John will cough up the Brand new Toyota Rav4

-As for O.B. Amoah I’ll deal with him at the right time

Woes of embattled NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Aburi-Nsawam, Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah continues to deepen as the full facts surrounding his unholy dally with in-court businessman Alfred Woyome keeps unearthing.

Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah, a former Deputy Education and Sports Minister in the Kufuor administration at the time of the award of the controversial contracts for the construction of stadia in Kumasi, Accra and Elwak to Alfred Woyome’s partners, is been cited of being a recipient of a whopping GH¢290,000 from the GH¢51 million judgment debt paid to under pressure Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

But a source very closed to Mr. Woyome disclosed to this paper over the week end, how Woyome has been enraged by comments especially emanating from O.B Amoah and reported in the media following allegations of sleaze and disloyalty against him. Mr. O.B Amoah, as he is affectionately called, is dismissing claims made by the Al-Hajj Newspaper that despite the fact that he was a major beneficiary of the controversial GH¢51million judgment debt paid to Woyome, he was the one who also blew the lid on Woyome, describing the publication as “false and malicious”. On Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme last Monday, O.B. Amoah stated that he never aided Mr. Woyome to defraud the state, adding that, he is prepared to die for Ghana than cover up for Woyome’s guilty of a heinous crime. “I know Woyome but it does not mean I should condone with him to steal money from government. He knows very well that I have kept the stance that he (Woyome) is not entitled to that money and I still stand by it”. He sturdily added. But, Mr. Woyome, our source revealed, says he won’t take any of O.B’s “gibberish” any more, and that he is going all out to expose the character in Mr. Amoah and at the right time Ghanaian will see the kind of person Hon. Amoah is.

According to the source, Alfred told him “Look, this guy will be exposed; I am going to expose him for people to see who O.B is. Today you are telling the world that I am a criminal who has defrauded the state eeeihhhh… you wait”.

“This is a guy I have been buying intelligence reports from whom I have protected over the years and today, in this my unfortunate circumstances, you are not only disowning me but calling me a thief who is engaged in heinous crime, I will fix this guy and let his party know the person O.B is”. Woyome yelled.

This paper is in possession of documents which confirm some transactions between Woyome and O.B Amoah, Osafo Marfo, Elizabeth Sackey and a host of others, and beginning from today we shall be bringing to the attention of our cherished readers some of the glaring evidence of the unholy “collaboration” between aforementioned NPP kingpins and the embattled businessman.

Inside this paper is a scan waybill issued by Zoomlion Ghana, showing the one hundred and fifty-two bicycles purchased for Mr. O.B. Amoah.

Mr. Woyome also warned that at the right time he will extract from the NPP General Secretary, Sir John the brand new Toyota Rav4 vehicle he bought for him.

PRESIDENT MILL PRAISES GRA, BLANKSON

President John Evans Attah Mills has showered praises on the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr. George Blankson and the entire staff and members of the Authority for a remarkable performance over the last three years. Although President Mills acknowledged the difficulties and challenges confronting the revenue generating agencies, he nevertheless, was very confident that Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, Internal Revenue Service and the Value Added Tax will never disappoint the nation. The president made the commendation when delivering his fourth and final state of the nation address to parliament last Thursday. “On the revenue side, let me commend the Ghana Revenue Authority for the good work being done”. President Mills stated, adding that: “There is still a lot of work to be done and I am confident that these Organizations will not let the nation down”. In December 2009, the Ghana Revenue Authority Act 2009, Act 791 came into force and the three tax revenue agencies, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Value Added Tax Service (VATS) and the Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) Secretariat were merged in accordance with the Act to give birth to Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) which is to administer taxes and customs duties in the country. The establishment GRA is to integrate and modernise the management of domestic tax and customs operations through the review of processes and procedures and to Integrate Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Value Added Tax Service (VATS) into domestic tax operations on functional lines. It is envisaged that the integration of the Revenue Agencies will reduced administrative and tax compliance cost, ensure better service delivery and improve departmental information flow. Other benefits to the taxpayers and tax administration include Improved Holistic approach to domestic tax and customs administration and Enhancement of revenue mobilisation The GRA has three main divisions: Customs Division, Domestic Tax Revenue Division and Support Services Division Target for tax revenue set for the GRA in 2011 was GHC7, 544.66 million but, at the end of December 2011, the GRA had provisionally, collected GHC8, 706.39 million, exceeding the target by GHC1, 161.73million or a positive variance of 15.4%. Overall, the 2011 collection performance is 46.6% over the actual collection performance for 2010 whiles the tax revenue/GDP ratio which collapsed to 12.7% in the wake of the re-basing in 2010, grew to 15.9% in 2011. Mr. George Blankson, a Tax Reform Consultant/Tax Administrator and Economist with specialization in revenue modernization, VAT administration, design and implementation of tax procedures as well as economic analysis and revenue forecasting is the Commissioner-General for the GRA since its inception. Until his appointment as the Commissioner-General, Mr. Blankson worked for Crown Agents as a Lead consultant/ Manager to the DFID support to the National Revenue Authority (NRA) project, Sierra Leone. Professor Mills, expected to be re-elected this year, in an address, catalogued a list of accomplishment since he became president, insisting that; despite daunting internal and external constraints, Ghana, the country he inherited over three years ago is moving in the right direction and in accordance with his party’s social pact entered into with the people. According to the President, Ghana, under his guidance has made remarkable strides, especially in the areas of macro-economic stability and growth. Madam Speaker, “Notwithstanding the global economic uncertainties, this administration has continued to make progress in the management of the national economy.

“Under my watch, Ghana has recorded the highest ever growth rate in the annals of our nation’s history with a provisional growth rate approaching 14%”. President Mills pride himself before the law makers.

According to him, his administration “recorded the most sustained single digit rates of inflation in decades, with the rate of inflation of 8.55% for 2011 being the lowest in 42 years since 1970”.

Adding that, as at the end of September, the budget deficit was 2% of GDP as compared to 14.5% of GDP in 2008.

The President, however, in his usual humbleness, admitted that his administration could not have achieved all these successes by itself: “The credit belongs to all Ghanaians and to the Government as the direct managers of the economy as well as Parliament as its monitors.”