Big confusion hits Ashanti Convention Party
Kufuor in Accident
Kyebi is ready for millennium funeral
Mother and father fight over daughter’s body – Court slams injunction
Ghana Telecom mobile phone project sabotaged ?
Mayhem at Teshie…Chief's house set ablaze
Riots at Teshie…6 injured, acting chief’s house burned
Big confusion hits Ashanti Convention Party
The Ghana Palaver reports in a front page story that executive officers of the Convention Party (CP) from all the 33 constituencies in the Ashanti Region have demanded the resignation of the regional chairman, Mr. G.K. Appiah and the regional secretary, Mr. Kwabena Anim, saying they cannot work with them.
The paper says the decision by the executives was taken at a meeting held in Kumasi at the weekend.
According to the Palaver, in a statement which was read on behalf of the executives by Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulai Wemah, a leading member of the CP, they warned that if the two refuse to resign, "they should consider themselves as having been removed". Mr. Appiah and Mr. Anim were accused of corruption, and were alleged to have bought the votes of some delegates for certain candidates who were aspiring for national positions in the party’s recent congress in Accra.
Kufuor in Accident
In another front-page story, the Palaver says the NPP Presidential candidate, Mr. J.A. Kufuour, was involved in a motor accident at the Neoplan Station railway crossing, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra on Monday 2nd August, this year. The accident, according to the paper, occurred between the hours of 10 and 11 in the morning. A Nissan Patrol with registration Number GT 5743L and carrying two other persons is said to have been involved in the accident. The Palaver says all the three persons on the vehicle escaped unhurt with the only casualty being a maize seller who had her wares scattered on the ground.
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Kyebi is ready for millennium funeral
In a banner headline story, the Weekend Statesman says the ancient royal Okyeman capital of Kyebi in the Eastern Region, is almost set to host the ‘doteyie’ of the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Kuntunkununku II, which takes place from Monday August 9 to 16.
The paper says with just three days to go for the ‘millennium’ funeral, the last of the great traditional funerals before the next century, the normally sleepy town of Kyebi has become a beehive of activity as corporate organisations, institutions and individuals queue to express their condolences to Okyeman, both in cash and in kind.
The Weekend Statesman reports that sitting in state together with ‘Ankobea’, ‘Apesemaka’and ‘Kyidom’ (the Kyebi Executive) to receive the numerous well-wishers and donors, the Okyeman Nifahene (the Right wing chief), Osabarima Agyeman III, who is traditionally the Okyenhene’s father, has not only received millions of cedis in cash but also piled up cartons of hard liquor, bee and minerals for the funeral.
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Mother and father fight over daughter’s body – Court slams injunction
The Free Press in a back page story human interest story, reports that a Koforidua High Court in the Eastern Region, was thrown into a frenzy when people in the public gallery clapped hands and jubilated over a ruling against a woman.
She is said to have been aided by a church to bury a daughter without the knowledge of her father.
The church, the paper says, also denied the father access to the body because he is not a member of the church.
The Free Press says the High Court, presided over by Mr. Justice Twum, ruled that the Gospel Life Fellowship, the church which deposited the body at the Akosombo Hospital, had no right to bury the body without the consent of the father.
According to the paper, before the ruling, the mother of the deceased, who is member of the church, also denied the father and other relatives, who are not members of the church, access to the body.
The father, Mr. Nontwere, filed a suit asking for an injunction from the Court to restrain the church and the mother from performing the burial service without his consent.
The plaintiff is said to have also asked the Court to grant him an order to cause a post-mortem examination to be conducted to establish the cause of death of his daughter. He believed his 40-year-old daughter died at home contrary to the church’s claim that she died in hospital.
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Ghana Telecom mobile phone project sabotaged?
The Ghanaian Chronicle in a front page story reports the Chief Marketing Officer of Ghana Telecom, Mr. L. Tokimin as saying that that the company will compete in the mobile phone sector next November with its own mobile phones, irrespective of the consequences the action will have on the market.
Mr. Tokimin, who was speaking at the commissioning of a new satellite system for Ghana Telecom at Takoradi in the Western Region, is quoted as saying that though the company has paid $500,000 as deposit for the granting of licence to operate mobile phones, the authorities responsible for this appear to be dragging their feet.
According to the Chief Marketing Officer, the channel allocated to Ghana Telecom for the operation of mobile phones, is under-utilised, therefore, the company does not see the reason for the delay in granting it the licence.
The Ghanaian Chronicle says unofficial sources close to Ghana Telecom, however, hinted that the government has not granted the licence because of the alleged fear that the company’s entry into the market might cripple or collapse other mobile phone companies in Ghana.
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Mayhem at Teshie…Chief's house set ablaze
Riots at Teshie…6 injured, acting chief’s house burned
The two national dailies, the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times give front page prominence to disturbances at Teshie, a suburb of Accra, which has resulted in the destruction of a chief’s house and the injury to six persons.
The Graphic reports that there was complete lawlessness and general disorder at Teshie, near Accra, when the two factions in a local chieftaincy dispute clashed resulting in five persons sustaining gunshot wounds while another was stabbed at the back.
The paper says in the midst of the confusion, the residence of the ‘Shikitele’, Nii Akpor Adjei II, who is also the acting Teshie Mantse, was set ablaze and property worth millions of cedis destroyed.
The Times in its account, says when fighting broke out at Teshie in Accra yesterday, after a ritual ceremony to usher in this year’s "Homowo" festival, only five policemen were present. And of the five, only one was armed.
The paper says, thus while members of the two factions in a chieftaincy dispute in the town fired at each other, the policemen could not handle the situation, standing by and looking on helplessly.
The Times reports that after the violence died down, many people were reported injured, six of them seriously. A number of property worth millions of cedis, were destroyed, among which was the house of the Shikitele and acting Teshie Mantse, Nii Akpor Adjei III, which was set ablaze. It took the personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service about an hour to put out the fire.
The Times says the two factions, led by Nii Armah Kwarteng II, Teshie ‘Akwashongtse’ and Nii Akpor Adjei II, had clashed at the ‘Adjesimanko shrine’ near the sea, where they had each gone to perform the rituals for the lifting of ban on deep sea fishing, a prelude to the Homowo festival.
The Graphic, however, says the clash followed a misunderstanding over which of the two factions had the authority to perform customary rites to herald the celebration of this year’s Homowo festival.
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