Mawusi Dake is dead
Support for educational sector, fund to generate 200 billion cedis.
There’s no rush to use new VAT – commissioner
Reconsider criteria for media boss selection
Let’s salvage economy together – Apraku
TUC protests against Vat bill.
Castle gives GNTC bungalows to commandos – the soldiers are also in dire straits Chronicle findings.
Akwasi Agyeman to refund 60 million cedis CIBA money
NPP to shift congress venue
DCE commissions 88 million cedis projects
Who owns Coco Palm hotel?
Seven seas Ltd urged to produce in Ghana.
ER DCE's plot against NPP.
James Town residents snub NDC
Mawusi Dake is dead
The Daily Graphic reports on its front page, the death of Professor Mawusi Dake, a leading member of the Convention Party (CP), on Thursday at his Madina residence in Accra, after a sudden illness. He was 63.
The report, quoting a CP source, said Professor Dake returned home at dawn on Thursday from the United States where he attended an international conference.
“Soon after his arrival home, he complained that he was feeling feverish and was experiencing pains all over his body. Little did anyone expect that these complains were serious enough to claim his life, he died shortly afterwards”, the report quotes the CP source as saying.
According to the report, the source which described the death of the leading CP member as “very shocking and sad”, said the party at this critical stage of its history, would greatly miss his experience and wise guidance and counselling.
Professor Dake, the source recalls, was one of the key Nkrumahists who expressed misgiving at the consummation of the political marriage between the Nkrumahist PCP and Danquah-Busia New Patriotic Party (NPP) under the aegis of the Great Alliance led by Mr J.A. Kuffour in 1996 which unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) from power in that year’s general elections.
He was a Secretary for Works and Housing under the PNDC but fell out with President Rawlings and has since been critical of his administration.
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Support for educational sector, fund to generate 200
billion cedis
The Daily Graphic reports in its lead story that the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has said that the Education Trust Fund is expected to generate more than 200 billion cedis annually to support the educational sector.
He reiterated that monies for the fund will be mobilised from the two-and-a-half percent increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and contributions from donors, organisations and individuals.
According to the paper, Dr Chambas made this known at a workshop on the proposed Education Trust Fund Bill organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra on Thursday.
The workshop was attended by the academia, the leadership of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), officials from the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education including the sector minister, Mr Ekow Spio-Gabrah.
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There’s no rush to use new VAT – commissioner
The Commissioner of VAT Service, Mr Ezekiel Asamoah, has said there will no rush to implement the two and half percent increase in the tax passed recently by Parliament since the service wants to allow enough time for adequate education and ground work for the business sector to adjust to it, the Ghanaian Times reported in its lead story.
It reports the Commissioner as saying that the VAT service would consolidate the gains made so far since the introduction of the tax so that it would enjoy the goodwill of Ghanaians and explained that more resources would be put into the monitoring systems to ensure that all traders liable to charge the tax are registered by the service.
According to him, submission of monthly returns had increased from 75 percent at the inception of the tax to 85 percent, and attributed the development to operators in the wholesale and retail sectors who made a lot of progress in record keeping.
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Reconsider criteria for media boss selection
The Ghanaian Times carries an appeal by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to the National Media Commission (NMC) to reconsider its criteria for selecting Chief Executives for the state owned media as contained in its advertisement in the media.
According to the story, Mrs Gifty Afenyi Dadzie, President of the GJA, said in a signed statement that the new criteria has generated complaints from members of the Association since it did not make any provision for high calibre media professionals without any first degrees but with other recognised professional qualifications and long varied quality managerial experience to apply.
It stressed that though the GJA has always encouraged its members to pursue higher academic programmes, it maintained that practitioners with qualitative professional experience and managerial skills should be considered on merit and urged the NMC to act quickly to resolve the anomaly to bring fairness into it selection mechanism.
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Let’s salvage economy together – Apraku
The Evening News reports the Minority Spokesman on Finance, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, as having stated that the nation’s economy is not in the best of times and calls for team work by the ruling government and the opposition to salvage it.
The story says, while addressing the Ashanti Regional fund raising rally of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) last Monday, Dr Apraku said no single person or political party could rescue the ailing economy except a concerted effort of all Ghanaians.
The report says Dr Apraku complained about the rampant increases in the prices of petroleum products and the recent upward adjustment of the Value Added Tax (VAT) and said the NPP is the only party that could salvage the economy.
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TUC protests against Vat bill.
The Evening News in another front-page story reports that the Executive Board of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on the President to reject the Value Added Tax (VAT) bill, which was passed by parliament about a fortnight ago and
to return it to the House for reconsideration.
The Board viewed the decision of Parliament with utter dismay, considering the reluctance with which Ghanaians accepted the 10 percent VAT rate which was introduced last year, adding that it was of the view that the authorities would have allowed the 10 percent VAT to remain while the tax net is expanded to cover all eligible areas.
The story says the Board expressed its dismay at the insensitivity of Members of Parliament who turned a blind eye to the pleas of a wide section of the public against the increase and went ahead to pass the bill.
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Castle gives GNTC bungalows to commandos – the soldiers
are also in dire straits Chronicle findings
The Ghanaian Chronicle reports in its lead story that the Castle, Osu, has taken over hundred of housing units belonging to the now defunct Ghana National Trading Corporation (GNTC) and handed them over to the Commando unit, originally set up for the security of President Jerry John Rawlings.
Consequently, flats within the sprawling housing unit of the plush Ringway Estates in Accra, have been taken over before the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) could lay hands on them as expected following the privatisation of the GNTC.
According to the report, the commandos were re-located to the rather up-market area last year, after being moved out of some de-confiscated properties. The confiscated houses were de-confiscated and are to be released to their owners as part of recommendations by the Confiscated Assets Committee.
The Chronicle refers to informed sources, which said the plan is for the GNTC estates is to turn it into a military property, with the occupants (Commandos) being offered the first option of purchase of the flats when being divested.
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Akwasi Agyeman to refund 60 million cedis CIBA money
As his term of office draws to a close, the controversial Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Nana Kwesi Agyeman, is under pressure from the Ashanti Regional branch of the Council of Indigenous Business Association (CIBA) to refund 60 million cedis he is alleged to have withheld from the Association, reports the Weekend Statesman.
According to the report, the said amount represents 10 percent of the revenue that CIBA collected as agents for the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) between October 1999 and March 2000.
The report quotes sources close to CIBA as saying that Nana Akwasi’s refusal to release the amount to CIBA follows the sound trashing of his cronies, Mrs Elizabeth Owusu, former chair person and Samuel Yeboah Acheampong, former secretary, both of the association, at elections on 2 December 1999 which was supervised by the Electoral Commission.
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NPP to shift congress venue
The banner headline of the Palaver reveals that the Akuffo-Addo gang in the New Patriotic Party is pressing for the consideration and adoption of Koforidua as the new venue for the party's congress.
The paper says, Akuffo-Addo can manipulate events to push himself into the front-line for his consideration by J A Kufour as the running mate by using his membership of the Eastern Region NPP caucus to help finance the congress, should the congress be held in Koforidua.
According to the Paper, by so doing he would prove to his party men that given the chance he could help bail out Kufour from the serious financial predicament that he finds himself in at the moment.
It continues that the move to shift the venue is said to have drawn the anger of some leading members of the party from the Volta Region, adding that regional executives have threatened to resign from the party if the proposal is accepted by the national executive committee.
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DCE commissions 88 million cedis projects
Another story in the centre spread of the Palaver says Mr. Emmanuel Kwaku Asante, District Chief Executive for West Akim, has emphasised that if past governments had attached importance to meaningful development at the grassroots level, Ghana would have been ahead in its development.
The policies and programmes of the National Democratic Congress, which focuses on the improvement in the life of ordinary Ghanaians and development at the grassroots level cannot be over emphasised, the paper reports Mr. Asante as saying.
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Who owns Coco Palm hotel?
Under the above headline, the Dispatch reveals that the Minister for Tourism, Mr Mike Gizo, last Tuesday declined to confirm or deny whether the First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, owns part of the housing project at the site of the former Star Hotel now known as the Coco Palm Hotel.
The paper says, during question time at the meet the press series in Accra, the Minister said the forum was not the right place to answer such questions, stating that to the best of his knowledge, a foreign investor is handling the project, which is in its first phase.
The paper continues that the Minister spoke at length on the tourism potential in the country and the possibility of it taking over as the leading foreign exchange earner, and plans to check security at the country's beaches.
According to the paper, the Minister stated that his Ministry has instituted an inter-ministerial committee made up of representatives of key sector ministries whose activities have an impact on tourism development and that through this networking, his outfit has been able to influence the construction of major roads linking the capital with various attraction sites.
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Seven seas Ltd urged to produce in Ghana
The Dispatch in its centre spread says that Seven Seas Cod Liver Oil products, has once again been urged to start production in Ghana.
According to the paper, an official of Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Samuel Denu, at the re-launching of SSL products in Accra, proposed that the company could enter into a joint venture with a local company for their production.
Giving reasons for his call, Mr Denu is reported to have said that Ghana has the market for SSL products proved by the fact that the country is the highest importer of the SSL range of products in Africa.
The paper also reports an official of the British High Commission, Mr Steve Davies, as noting that the importation of SSL product contributes significantly to trade between Ghana and Britain.
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ER DCE's plot against NPP.
The Free Press banner headline discloses that the utterances of some parliamentarians and Municipal Chief Executives are likely to jeopardise the level playing ground for this year's general elections.
According to the paper, revelations made by Mr Anthony Gyampo, Akuapem North District Chief Executive (DCE) at an Eastern Regional Delegates Conference of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Nkawkaw last Monday, clearly indicated that the DCE's are leaving no stone unturned to retain NDC in power.
According to the paper, the dean of the DCE's in the Eastern Region, Mr Anthony Gyampo said he and his colleagues in the region have had meetings to work out strategies to make sure that the NDC takes all the Parliamentary seats in the region.
The paper continues that they have resolved that whatever means available, should be employed to make sure that the NDC wins all the seats in the Eastern Region.
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James Town residents snub NDC
A back page story of the Free Press says the assertion that majority of Ghanaians have lost faith in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was proven beyond doubt when residents of James Town, last Tuesday, aborted an NDC function to inaugurate another political club for the party.
The inauguration of the "intimate club" to mobilise support for Vice-President J E Attah Mills was rather disappointing for the ruling party as residents of James Town went about their normal duties without even spying on what was going on at the function, says the paper.
It continues that the ceremony which took place at the City Engineer's yard, located at the centre of the James Town fishing community was attended by about 50 people who were all members of the newly inaugurated "intimate Club" and other NDC sympathisers numbering about 15.
According to the Free Press, the low turnout at the much-publicised NDC function was very surprising owing to the fact that the last time the party organised a similar programme in the vicinity in 1996, it was attended by thousands of supporters.
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