Calm at Legon…As freshmen register for 1999-2000 academic year
Togolese seize Ghanaian lands…Teams from both sides discuss issue
Panic in Western Region
Prof. Awoonor declares: NDC has rid Ghana of corruption…
NDC boys invade Passport Office
Calm at Legon…As freshmen register for 1999-2000 academic year
The Graphic in a lead front page story, reports that contrary to speculations that continuing students of the University of Ghana, Legon, would disrupt the registration of freshmen for the 1999-2000 academic year, the exercise, which began at the campus yesterday, went on without any incident.
The exercise, which included the issuance of identity cards, is said to have seen the freshmen anxiously filling registration forms with some officials of the university helping them to locate their halls of residence.
The paper says in spite of the peaceful manner in which the registration was conducted, there was a heavy police presence to counteract any unanticipated incident.
However, the Graphic says, the police personnel, numbering about 200, who carried only shields and batons, had virtually nothing to do and they were seen gathered under trees chatting among themselves.
The paper says at the halls of residence, where some policemen were also deployed, some of the new students were busily tidying up their rooms while others engaged their colleagues in conversation, apparently to make new friends.
The registration is expected to end tomorrow.
GRi../
Return to top Petroleum prices to go up
The prices of petroleum products in Ghana are expected to be adjusted upwards between now and the end of the this year, the Daily Graphic reports in another front page story.
The paper says this follows the sudden rise in the price of crude oil from $10 to $20.83 per barrel between January and August, this year, on the world market.
The sudden rise is due to a cut in production of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) within the period. The Minister of Mines and Energy, Mr Fred Ohene-Kena is reported as announcing this at a news conference.
He, however, gave the assurance that the adjustment will reflect the price trend on the global market. The Graphic says the Minister warned that anybody found cheating would be dealt with severely. "What is happening is that the price of a commodity that we don’t have is going up", he is quoted as saying.
GRi../
Return to top Ghanaian Times
Togolese seize Ghanaian lands…Teams from both sides discuss issue
The Ghanaian Times reports that a high-level Togolese delegation, led by the Interior Minister, General Sizing Walla, joined its Ghanaian counterparts at Ho, the Volta Regional capital yesterday, for an inspection tour of the border between the two countries.
In a front page banner headline story, the Times says the tour commences efforts by the governments of Ghana and Togo to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the renewed land and border dispute between the two countries.
The Ghanaian side, led by Nii Okaija Adamafio, Minister of the Interior, included the Volta Regional Minister, Alhaji Seidu Iddi, Mr David Anaglate, Ghana’s Ambassador to Togo and members of the Ghana-Togo Border Re-demarcation Committee.
The Times says the tour will take the two teams to Kpoeta-Achem, in the Ho District, Hanyigbatodzi (Togo) and Wli-Afegame in the Hohoe District, Kate in the Jasikan District and Tetebe (Togo). The paper says at a meeting prior to the tour, Lt-Colonel John Forkuo, Commanding Officer of the Ghana Artillery Regiment at Ho, briefed the two sides on some of the conflict situations along the border.
He is said to have disclosed that most of the pillars between Pillar I and Pillar 148, which the two countries erected jointly in 1974, to mark the international frontier between them, were recently destroyed by Togolese. At Kpoeta-Achem for instance, Lt-Col Forkuo said that Togolese from neighbouring Hanyigbatodzi had crossed two kilometres into Ghana, claiming that they recognised the old traditional boundaries and not the international frontier.
GRi../
Panic in Western Region
In a front page story, the Weekend Statesman reports that the industrial unrest and armed robberies that have plagued the Ashanti, Greater Accra, Eastern, Central and Northern Regions, now appears to be drifting to the Western Region.
The paper says a leading woodworking company in Sekondi-Takoradi, the Western Veneer and Lumber Company (WVLC), has virtually closed down and 500 workers of its Apowa site sent home on leave.
The Weekend Statesman quotes a spokesman for the workers as saying that the factory’s management asked almost the entire workforce to proceed on two weeks’ leave but they have been on leave for almost eight weeks now and have not been recalled.
According to the paper, the workers were sent on leave also because management said they could not afford to pay for their transport and lunch.
Most of the worker, the paper says, have indicated that they are prepared to be paid their severance awards and go home peacefully.
The Weekend Statesman says in another development, the banks in Sekondi-Takoradi have been gripped by fear and panic, following the receipt of anonymous letters warning them of imminent attacks by armed robbers.
GRi../
Prof. Awoonor declares: NDC has rid Ghana of corruption…
The Ghanaian Chronicle reports Professor Kofi Awoonor, a Presidential Staffer, as justifing the 1979 mutiny and the 1981 coup led by Flt-Lt J.J. Rawlings, saying the two events saved the economy from recession and rid the Ghanaian society of corruption.
"Since the objective of these coups had now been achieved with the improvement of the economy and the entrenchment of democracy, there is no need for any future overthrow of government", he is quoted as saying.
The paper says Pro. Awoonor was speaking on "The role of government in the attainment of Vision 2020" at a day’s seminar organised by the Takoradi Polytechnic branch of the Tertiary Education Institutional Network (TEIN) of the NDC in Takoradi.
The Chronicle observes that Prof. Awoonor’s declaration comes less than a week after President Rawlings had expressed doubts about the survival of multi-party democracy in Ghana.
GRi../
Return to top Free Press
NDC boys invade Passport Office
In a screaming front page headline story, the Free Press says the acquisition of Ghanaian passport, which has been a real tussle of late, has taken a political twist with NDC oys reportedly acting as passport agents at the Passport Office.
According to the paper, the NDC boys, who follow the President during election campaigns singing ‘Ehee edzo bodoo ei’, have formed a syndicate to contract passport business.
The paper says some of them are known to be bodyguards of top NDC officials. They are alleged to insist on applicants producing NDC membership cards before their applications are accepted.
The Free Press says its visit to the Passport Office showed several of the boys taking active part in the processing of applications when they are not bona-fide employees of the Office.
According to the paper, frustrated but challenging applicants are quickly handed over to the Police Striking Force.
GRi../