Hired
jet flies down deportee
DANIDA
commits 17.4b towards health infrastructure
Don't
breach financial rules
Metered
taxis launched
NDC
Sacks 30 die hard MPs / Dumped NDC MPs threaten to defect
CPP
would conquer poverty through education - Hagan
Ghana
runs out of cash
Daily
Graphic
Hired
jet flies down deportee
The
Daily Graphic in a front-page story says the British Immigration Service on
Friday hired a private jet at the cost of £30,000 to deport a Ghanaian woman,
Ms Patience Annobil Forsuwah, in what is considered as the biggest expenditure
on a single deportee.
The
paper reports that two earlier attempts to send Patience to Ghana failed as
Airline crew refused to transport her saying she was hysterical about the
government's refusal to allow her to stay in Britain to look after her sick
son, Kwaku Acheampong.
Patience,
in Britain since 1992, is reported to have described her experience to the
paper as traumatic, adding that she was surprised at the treatment meted out to
her by the British authorities who did not show the least regard for their much
touted acclaim of upholding an individual's human rights.
She
is reported to have however discounted claims that she was hysterical about her
deportation, explaining that she pleaded with the immigration authorities to
allow her to leave London with her belongings.
Patience's
son, according to the story, was given a chance to travel to Ghana with her but
a refugee welfare group said he was too ill to make the journey.
More…/
DANIDA
commits 17.4b towards health infrastructure
The
Daily Graphic in another front-page story says the Danish International
Development Agency (DANIDA) has committed 17.4 billion cedis towards the
maintenance of health infrastructure in the country under the Preventive
Maintenance Project of the Ministry of Health (MOH).
The
money would help minimise the ministry's huge annual expenditure on
infrastructural maintenance while sustaining a five-year maintenance project
through the supply of bicycles and tools to artisans expected to carry out the
works.
Mr.
Emmanuel Tidakbi, head of the Estate Maintenance Unit of MOH is reported to
have stated at the graduation ceremony of maintenance personnel at Diare in the
Northern Region, that previous funding for maintenance works had been
inadequate and commended DANIDA for the support.
GRi…/
The
Ghanaian Times
Don't
breach financial rules
The
Ghanaian Times says President Jerry John Rawlings warned on Monday that the
government would deal with any District Chief Executive (DCE) who breached
financial regulations, whether for personal benefit or through negligence.
President
Rawlings is reported to have stated when opening the 7th Conference
of DCE's at Koforidua that he is particularly concerned about reported
mismanagement of the Productivity Improvement and Employment Generation Fund,
established as a vehicle for the promotion of local enterprises to strengthen
the Districts' economic base.
"Farmers
have complained that some of you refuse to grant them access to credit from the
Fund. There are also reports of the credit being made available to only
relatives and party functionaries.
"There
are reports of non-recovery of the credit. There are also reports that some
district assemblies ignored the guidelines and failed to set up the Fund - True
or False?" President Rawlings quizzed the participants.
More…/
Metered
taxis launched
The
Ghanaian Times in another story on its front-page reports that the Labour
Enterprise Trust (LET) of TUC on Monday launched the first-ever
radio-controlled and metered taxi service in Accra.
The
taxis have motorolla radios and special meters to determine fares to be paid by
passengers for specific distances.
Tourism
Minister, Mr. Mike Gizo, launching the new service, commended LET for entering the transport and tourism industry
and urged management to ensure discipline in order to set the pace of exemplary
leadership for others to emulate.
GRi…/
The
Guide / The Independent
NDC
Sacks 30 die hard MPs / Dumped NDC MPs threaten to defect
The
Guide and 'The Independent' have stories touching on the number of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) that have been told by
the party that they would not be re-engaged for the 2000 elections.
The
Guide reports in its lead story that the NDC is sitting on a time bomb, which
was
made
worse last Friday when the party hierarchy served 30 'die hard' MPs with
de-selection letters declaring them "unwanted".
The
Guide names some of the affected MPs as Sqn. Ldr. Clend S.K. Sowu (Anlo),
Austin Gamey (North Tongu), S.T. Terkper (Upper Manya), Abu-Sadat Babalami
(Awutu-Senya), Francis Korbieh (Jirapa), Kwame Dwamena Aboagye (Asuogyaman),
Margaret Clarke Kwesie (Ga South) and Theresa Nyarko Fofie (Nkoranza).
The
paper says some of the MPs that it talked to indicated their plight as
emanating from victimisation, or having been axed simply because they either
showed sympathies toward the minority or remained neutral to activities of the
31st December Women's movement and the government.
Most
of the affected MPs according to the paper had looked forward for a second or
third term in the House and therefore received the news with shock and anger.
While
some outspoken ones have threatened fighting the case, the majority, on the
quiet have threatened defection, to particularly the Convention People's Party
(CPP) and the Reform Party.
In
its story, the Independent says about 10 of the de-selected MPs confided in the
paper at Parliament House on Friday that should the position to replace them be
maintained, they would either go independent or defect to the National Reform
Party.
The
Independent says the move to de-select some MPs caused some ripples in the
House as those affected and their sympathisers engaged in conversations that
threw the House into total confusion and eventually led to the suspension of
proceedings for some time.
"In
those circumstances, the Speaker of the House had no option but to transform
himself into a father figure to soothe the sour nerves, as he asked those
affected to take their deselection as an occupational hazard."
GRi…/
The
Crusading Guide
CPP
would conquer poverty through education - Hagan
The
Presidential candidate of the Convention People's Party, Prof. George Hagan is
reported as saying that his party is committed to giving all Ghanaian children
equal opportunity to enjoy quality education wherever they live, to help them
to escape the poverty in which most Ghanaians are perpetually trapped.
Prof.
Hagan is reported in a back-page story as having stated, during an interaction
with the leadership of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), that
his government would concentrate more on conquering poverty and not poverty
alleviation.
"We
speak not of poverty alleviation. We speak of the conquest of poverty as our
aim, and education is the tool," he said.
Prof. Hagan pointed out that in the light of
globalisation and the growing importance of knowledge, education has become the
most important vehicle of economic growth and social transformation.
He
said the CPP sees education not only as a means of producing the needed human
resource for national development, but also as a radical strategy to empower
future generations to escape the poverty in which most Ghanaians find
themselves.
"This
is why we of the Convention People's Party sees the crisis in our educational
system as a national tragedy," Prof. Hagan said.
GRi…/
The
Statesman
Ghana
runs out of cash
Ghana's
economy seems to be heading for big trouble, with a serious shortage of the
weakening cedi, at a time when there is neither dollars nor pound sterling for
business transactions, The Statesman says.
The
paper quotes Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo, MP for Oda, as saying that foreign exchange
reserves required to cover imports have been reduced to a dangerously low level
adequate for only six weeks.
The
minimum foreign exchange reserves required in the system for import cover,
according to the story, is three months.
The
paper states that currently, the headache of many banks in the big towns and
cities, are the long queues of customers waiting to withdraw money.
It
says even though managers of banks that it visited admitted queues were common
at the end of the month when workers rush to withdraw salaries, this month's
was exceptionally long.
"All
the managers, who spoken on condition of anonymity, referred to the extreme
pressure on their cash reserves. Some of them revealed that in the course of
operations, they do sometimes run out of money and have to fall on their strong
rooms or head offices for replenishment."
A
Ghana Commercial Bank branch manager in Accra is reported as saying that the
Bank of Ghana last week released an unusually large mount of coins to the
banks, signalling great pressure on the central bank's cash reserves.
GRi…/