Fear grips Dan Botwe
German national on hunger strike…Ready to die, accuses German Embassy of racism
Old vehicles swell automobile population in four years
Patient dies, refused treatment by doctor
Reform alliance with NDC impossible
Fear grips Dan Botwe
The Ghanaian Democrat says Mr Dan Botwe, the NPP General Secretary is reported to be caught between fear and confusion as the docket on his child’s stealing and abduction case has been sent to the Attorney-General’s Office at Koforidua in the Eastern Region, for study and possible prosecution.
According to the paper, preliminary police investigation indicated that Mr Botwe is a witness in the case until his fate is determined by the court.
The Democrat says enquiries at the Regional Police Headquarters revealed that the case is not being treated with the seriousness child-stealing is associated with.
GRi../
German national on hunger strike…Ready to die, accuses German Embassy of racism
The latest newspaper on the news-stands, the Accra Mail, splashes its front page with a story on the ordeal of a German national with his own Embassy officials in Accra over the acquisition of a visa for the wife.
According to the paper, Will Hauck, a middle-aged German has embarked on a strike as a potent weapon to compel the German Embassy in Ghana to grant his wife and four children visas to go to Germany.
Hauck is said to have already done one week without food, save for two bottles of coke a day and indicated that he would continue the hunger strike until the Embassy heeds his legitimate request for visas for his Ghanaian wife and children. The Accra Mail says when it visited Hauck at the Visa section of the Embassy last Friday, he was relaxing on a chair with his mat and pillow straddled across the chair. The paper says Hauck appeared weak and dejected.
The Accra Mail says Haucks agony started 23 months ago when he dared to do what many German men consider a taboo – to marry a black woman. He is said to have claimed that it was after he initiated divorce proceedings against his former wife. According to him, the Embassy refused visas for his spouse and children because "my wife is black from Ghana".
He explained that as the legal procedures of his marriage dragged on, it dawned on him that the frustration was motivated by institutionalised racism that was at work to prevent his wife from acquiring automatic German citizenship after their marriage.
GRi../
Old vehicles swell automobile population in four years
In a front page story, the High Street Journal reports that by the end of 1998, there were 394,993 motor vehicles in Ghana, consisting of all vehicles registered by the Vehicle Examination and Licensing Division of the Ministry of Roads and Transport, between 1995 and the end of last year.
The paper says during the four-year period, 1995 recorded the least registration of 43,522. It says last year 51,339 vehicles were registered while in 1997, 52,318 were registered.
It says 1996 recorded the highest registration of 247,724 vehicles or 62.7 per cent of the four-year total.
The paper says there are no clear indications as to the big jump, but it appeared the 1998 deadline for importation prohibition of cars more than five years old with effect from 1998, must have triggered the influx of imported cars to beat the deadline.
According to the High Street Journal, analysis of categories of vehicles registered in the four-year period, shows that in 1996, 204,664 old motor vehicles were registered, while the number of old vehicles registered in the other three years 21,243 for 1995, 12,033 for 1997 and 4,990 for 1998.
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Patient dies, refused treatment by doctor
The Ghanaian Chronicle in its lead headline story, reports that in the afternoon of July 15, this year, Eugene Agyepong, a 32-year-old former employee of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, was rushed to the Effia-Nkwanta Hospital in the Western Region, in critical condition.
The paper says not quite 30 minutes later, Eugene’s worried father conveyed him from the hospital but he was back in no time with the corpse of his son for preservation at the hospital’s mortuary.
According to the Chronicle, Eugene had died on his way home after he was refused treatment by Dr Ben Ocran, the Regional TB clinician.
The paper says it could not reach Dr Ocran for his reaction but the hospital Authorities confirmed that the deceased was asked by the doctor to be brought the following day, but he died the same day. Meanwhile, the paper says, an official of the Ghana Medical Association secretariat in Accra has expressed concern over the incident and said if the doctor refused the patient treatment, the it was unethical.
He is reported as saying that even if the patient’s condition was critical and tests should be done, he should have been admitted for some care to be given to him.
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Reform alliance with NDC impossible
The Dispatch reports Mr Peter Kpordugbe, interim National Chairman of the National Reform Party as saying that the granting of the final certificate of registration to the party by the Electoral Commission is the beginning of the process of introducing politics of honesty, measured and constructive criticisms, not one of threats, intimidation and insults on personalities.
On the party’s next line of activity, the interim General Secretary, Mr Kyeretwie Opoku, is said to have explained that the party will continue with the standardisation of structures at the constituency and branch levels.
This should be completed by October, this year, then the party will commence elections of branch, constituency and regional executive officers.
He said Parliamentary candidates for the 2000 elections will be selected at the various constituency meetings between November and December, this year. The Presidential candidate and national officers will be elected at the next congress scheduled for February or March, next year.
The interim General Secretary said in the meantime, the party was launching a positive action campaign to mobilise ordinary Ghanaians to collectively tackle social and political problems that affect them in their communities and workplaces.
GRi../