FM-station
in trouble over April Fool’s joke
Moslem asks Allah to wait while he pursues ‘thief’
Accra
(Greater Accra) 15 April 2002 - An Accra High Court has ordered the Ghana
Education Service (GES) and the Attorney-General to calculate and pay in full,
the severance and end-of-service benefits of 9,615 pupil teachers who were
redeployed by the GES between 1988 and 1998.
The court,
presided over by His Lordship, Justice Victor Ofoe, also ruled that the
teachers should be given interest on any amount due them at the current bank
rate, from the date each of them was redeployed to date. Four executive members
of the Redeployed Pupil Teachers Association (RPTA) who initiated the court
action and also represented the 9,615 redeployed teachers, were awarded cost of
¢1 million each.
In their
writ of summons, the teachers contended that the failure of the GES to pay them
their end-of-service and severance entitlements was discriminatory, unjust,
unfair and against Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution. They also asserted that
by their contract of employment as pupil teachers, they were not casual workers
as the GES claimed and, therefore, demanded that interest on all sums of money
due and payable to them should be paid at current bank rates.
According
to the teachers, pupil teachers are defined by the GES as non-certificate
teachers, that is, teachers without recognised professional teaching
certificates.
There is another
group known as craft inspectors. They have the same entry requirements,
contract of employment and service conditions as pupil teachers. They explained
that while craft inspectors teach one subject, pupil teachers teach between
five and 10 subjects. The aggrieved teachers said they were engaged between
1965 and 1989, enjoyed leave allowance, contributed to the Social Security fund
and were members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT)
membership.
They said
in or about 1987, the Ghana Education Service embarked on a restructuring
exercise where non-permanent staff, unskilled staff, non-certificate staff etc,
were redeployed from the GES and the Public Services of Ghana, which affected
them. The teachers claimed that after the termination, some other unskilled,
non-permanent staff and craft inspectors who were all employed by the GES were
paid their benefits but they were left out. They, therefore, went to court to
seek redress.
The case of
the GES was that pupil teachers are not established or permanent workers and
that their appointments are temporary. According to the service, when the
teachers’ appointments came to an end they were entitled to social security
benefits which are payable if the teachers applied to the Social Security and
National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
A break
down of the affected teachers on Regional basis are: Ashanti, 1,799; Greater
Accra, 232; Central, 1,109; Upper West, 76; and Brong Ahafo, 735. The rest are:
Western, 743; Northern, 585; Easter, 1,188; Upper East, 463 and Volta, 1,142.
Justice Ofoe, in his ruling, said the teachers by their evidence clearly
established that they, as pupil teachers, were entitled to severance and
end-of-service benefits just as their entitlements, and therefore ordered the
GES and the Attorney-General to compute and pay all moneys due them. – The
Mirror.
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We must watch financial management - Prof
Asenso-Okyere
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 April 2002 - After the successful consultative group meeting between the Government of Ghana and its development partners, it is crucial that the public sector financial management is deepened, Prof Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) has suggested.
The three-day meeting, which generated frank discussions in good faith, prompted the development partners to pledge $1 billion towards the external financing of the country this year. The director said for the first time the help from the donors is not tied to projects but programmes. This, he said, is very good because it will help tailor the aid towards the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.
He submitted that since it is programme funding, it would be necessary to reshape the public financial system. He recommended that there should be a donor coordinating committee to deal with the financial system.
The GRPS document was comprehensive and the growth is “pro-poor”, which would ensure that the poor have skills to create wealth, he said. Oh decentralisation, the partners suggested that it must gather steam to quicken the pace of the implementation of the GPRS.
It requires the government to take a critical look at the Local Government Act and the needed changes effected. On the private sector, there were interactions with the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF).
Representatives of the civil society pressed home the need for developed countries to open their markets to developing nations such as Ghana so that the dependency on aids would reduce. In addition, there should be technical assistance to enable such countries to increase their trade with the developed countries. It was agreed that export should be diversified and that the country’s growth must double to about 8 or 9 percent a year. – Daily Graphic.
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Kumasi
(Ashanti Region) 15 April 2002 - An expensive April Fool’s Day joke is likely
to land a Kumasi FM radio station and one of its presenters in trouble. Mobitel
Ghana Limited, Ghana’s premier cellular phone network operators, is planning to
lodge a formal complaint with the National Media Commission against Fox FM and
Mr Kwame Adinkra, the station’s morning show host, for bringing the operations
of the company into disrepute.
Mobitel is
also contemplating instituting legal action at the courts against, the radio
station and Mr Adinkra, to seek a number of reliefs including punitive and
monetary compensations for damages caused to its corporate image. The Northern
Sector Manager of Mobitel Ghana Limited, Mr John Afriyie, disclosed this to The
Mirror in an interview.
He said on
the morning of 1 April 2002 Mr Kwame Adinkrah did announce on his programme,
The Morning Show, that Mobitel was switching its network from the analogue
system it currently operates to the GSM. Mr Adinkrah allegedly repeatedly
announced that customers of Mobitel should submit their analogue handsets with
an amount of ¢200,000 to workers of the company at its premises at Nhyiaeso, for
new GSM phones already connected to the network.
The
announcement allegedly directed that the offer was opened to only customers who
could arrive with their analogue handsets before 12.00 noon that day. He said a
female interviewee did confirm in an interview on the same station that she had
already been to Mobitel offices and taken delivery of her new, fully-connected
GSM handset.
However,
the announcement turned out to be an April Fool’s day hoax, much to the
disappointment of the numerous customers of Mobitel. According to Mr Afriyie,
they were extremely surprised and amused to see a large number of Mobitel
customers trooping to the offices of the company, some on foot and others in
charted taxis and all types of vehicles. He said, “they came from as far as
Mpraeso, Obuasi, Kumasi and other towns that enjoy Mobitel as well as Fox FM
network coverage.”
According
to Mr Afriyie, Mobitel found it very difficult and painful explaining to the
angry customers consisting of dignified personalities, traditional rulers,
doctors, lawyers etc., that the announcement was an April Fool’s joke. He
expressed regret that Fox FM did not even come out after 12.00 noon to retract
the joke and described their behaviour as “preposterous, reprehensible and
malicious, calculated to tarnish the image of Mobitel.” – The Mirror.
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Moslem asks Allah to wait while he pursues ‘thief’
Sunyani
(Brong Ahafo Region) 15 April 2002 - A Moslem who was earnestly engaged in
prayers had to literally ask Allah to wait when he suddenly leapt from his
knees and chased a friend to the bewilderment of those around. Residents of
Zongo Lane in Sunyani, where the incident took place, could not help laughing
when Alhaji Abubakar Yusif sprang from the mat on which he was praying and gave
the friend a rather hot chase.
Alhaji
Yusif, also known as “Alhaji Hearts Junior,” while praying spotted Mickey
Charles, a radio presenter of a local FM station who walked into his (Alhaji’s)
store and picked a bottle of Malt from his refrigerator to cool off his thirst.
Despite the 100-metre race, Alhaji could not catch up with the friend and had
to return to continue with the prayers.
The funny
spectacle took place, on Friday 22 March 2002 at about 6.00 pm when Alhaji
Yusif was praying in a corner of his store. Mickey, his friend, was said to
have gone there to purchase a bottle of Malt. On seeing him (Yusif) praying, he
took the Malt from the refrigerator and left, hoping to come back to pay later.
Uncomfortable
about the fact that Mickey did not leave the amount on the counter before
leaving, Alhaji Yusif sprang from the mat on which he was praying and gave
Mickey a hot chase to collect the money. Interestingly, when Mickey realised
that he was being chased, he also took to his heels thus causing a laughable
scene. It all turned out to be a good source of entertainment for onlookers
that day.
Alhaji
Yusif, however, had to return to continue with the prayers when he felt he
could not catch up with his friend who was obviously more athletic. When
contacted, Alhaji Yusif, who is the Brong-Ahafo Regional organiser of
supporters of Accra Hearts of Oak supporters union, Chapter 42, denied that he
abandoned his prayers. “I had already finished praying and I saw nothing wrong
in chasing him for my money,” he stressed. He said Mickey was fond of drinking
Malt without paying on the spot. – The Spectator.
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