Brutal murder at Dawu…Unit Committee member surrenders to police
Ghanaian Times Don’t disrupt academic calendar…President warns students Daily Graphic ECOWAS cheque to start September
J.J.’s Office refuses to investigate corruption
In a front page screaming headline story, the Weekly Insight reports that the Office of the President has flatly refused to look into allegations of corruption in the Judicial Service running into several billion cedis.
The paper says in a later dated June 23, 1999, the Secretary to the President, Mr J.L.M. Amissah, said the Castle is not the proper place to refer allegations of corruption in the Judicial Service.
According to the paper, the letter was in response to a petition forwarded to the President by Mr G.K. Fordjour, Acting Financial Controller of the Judicial Service, alleging that billions of cedis of the taxpayers’ money had been lost through corruption. Mr Fordjour is reported as saying that as a result of the inability of the Judicial Service to live within its budgetary allocation, it is indebted to the tune of 1.8 billion cedis for 1998.
The Acting Financial Controller alleged that the indebtedness of the Service from January to May, this year, stood at over 1.1 billion cedis.
GRi../
Return to top The Dispatch4 to pay CEPS 16 billion cedis
The Dispatch says the Office of the President has confirmed that as at the end of July, this year, four companies were due to pay a total of 16.1 billion cedis in duties/taxes evaded plus the pecuniary penalty of 300 per cent. The duties are on goods for part of 1998. Godka Group Limited is said to have evaded duties and taxes to the tune of 3.38 billion cedis.
The Dispatch says if the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) decides to levy the 300 per cent penalty, the company would have to pay 10.14 billion cedis, bringing Godka’s total indebtedness to 13.53 billion cedis. The paper says at a press conference last week, the Deputy Commissioner of CEPS (Operations), Mr E.N. Noi disclosed that Vista 2000, a warehouse owes 303 million cedis for deliveries of goods from the bonded warehouse without payment of duties. ‘Oburoni Wawu’ Warehouse is to pay about 2.2 billion cedis.
The paper quotes Mr Noi as saying that in the last few years, serious malpractices had fraught the warehouse business. These include diversion of goods released from the ports for warehousing; diversion or withdrawals of goods from bonded warehouses without payment of duties.
According to the Dispatch if the on-going investigations into various malpractices are completed and appropriate penalties levied, the CEPS could rake in over 25 billion cedis in duties and taxes.
GRi../
Return to top The Ghanaian ChronicleTension on Ghana-Togo border
The subject of the lead story of the Ghanaian Chronicle is a disturbing piece of information on Ghana-Togo relations. The paper reports that Ghana-Togo relations, which have been alternating between not-so-good and bad since independence, are under severe strain, caused by tension along their international border.
The Chronicle says information gathered indicates that Togo’s virtual annexation of parts of Ghana’s territory and even building a bridge on it in addition to several instances of encroachment, have been blamed by the dip in their relations. According to the paper what has heightened the tension is the recent violation of Ghana’s airspace by Togolese military helicopters, apparently to test Ghana’s preparedness to deal with external threats.
Mr James Victor Gbeho, Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is said to have acknowledged that tension exists between the two neighbouring countries but warned that Ghana would not cede any portion of its territory to Togo. The Chronicle says last month, the Chief of Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier Charles Okai, assured Ghanaians of the armed forces readiness to deal with any threat from the eastern border.
GRi../
Brutal murder at Dawu…Unit Committee member surrenders to police
The Free Press in a banner headline story says the Unit Committees which were instituted last year as grassroots governing bodies to accelerate Ghana’s development, has become a terrorising organisation in some parts of the country, especially in the rural areas.
The paper says evidence of this was a case in which one Kwame Henaku, a unit committee member of Dawu in the Eastern Region, was alleged to have shot dead Joseph Koramoa in his house for daring to ask why he was wielding a single barrel gun in the house.
According to Mr Kwame Ofori, elder brother of the deceased, on the morning of August 6, this year, he spotted Henaku through a window holding a gun in his compound and asked him of his mission.
Henaku is said to have replied that he was not there to answer questions from Mr Ofori. Mr Ofori said when he came out of his room, he saw that his brother was being arrested by two policemen while Henaku and another unit committee member stood by.
He said when he asked the police why they were arresting his brother, the peace officers ordered him to shut up. Minutes later the deceased appeared on the scene and questioned Henaku why he as a civilian, was rather holding a gun and not the police.
Henaku is said to have shouted at him to keep quiet else he would shoot him. Mr Ofori said Koramoa told Henaku that he had no right to come to his house to threaten him with a gun so he should leave the house. Henaku became infuriated and allegedly shot dead Koramoa.
GRi./
Return to top Ghanaian Times
Don’t disrupt academic calendar…President warns students
The President, Flt-Lt Rawlings, is reported by the Ghanaian Times to have cautioned students of Ghana’s universities to desist from acts that would disrupt the academic calendar, stating that the government would not permit it.
"We will not permit it this time, when the time comes those who have their receipts will be admitted, those who do not have would not be admitted", the Times quotes the President as saying, in its lead story. President Rawlings is said to have stated this yesterday when the newly-elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Right-Reverend (Dr) Sam Prempeh, called on him at the Castle, Osu. Rt-Rev. Prempeh was at the Castle to introduce himself to the President following is election as Moderator.
According to the paper President Rawlings touched on a number of national issues, including the payment of the university user fees by students. The President the paper says explained that the government alone was no longer in the position to shoulder the financing of education in Ghana.
The Times says in direct reference to the recent demonstration by students against the increase in fees, the President expressed regret at the turn of events and called for a dispassionate discussion of the problem.
GRi../
Return to top Daily GraphicECOWAS cheque to start September
The Daily Graphic in a back page story, reports that the ECOWAS Travellers Cheque, which was launched in October, last year in Nigeria, will become operational in Ghana next month. The cheque, a sub-regional payment instrument, will be used for the payment of goods and services.
The paper says so far, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Nigeria and Guinea have started using the cheque for business transactions. Mr John Buadu, Chief and Head of Training and Manpower Department of the Bank of Ghana, is reported to have announced this when he addressed a workshop for personnel of commercial banks on the "ECOWAS Travellers Cheque" in Tamale on Monday.
Mr Buadu told the participants that the cheque is a fore-runner to the introduction of a single currency in the West African sub-region. He said because of this, Ghana has to start using the cheque to catch up with those countries which have started using the cheque. In view of this, the Bank of Ghana has commenced a country-wide series of workshops to educate stakeholders on the operative process of the cheque.
The shareholders include the commercial banks, forex bureaux, hoteliers, restaurant operators, Custom Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and the police.
GRi../
Return to top