Hawa to contest on NPP’s ticket
New licence will check forgery - Salia
Opposition alliance ruled out
Akwasi Agyeman is out!
Atta Mills runs away
Video cameras to 'catch' traffic offenders
Inspector Azaglo to be tried
Gen. Hamidu slams Tony Aidoo
Kufuor names running mate at Ho, September 9
Inusah exposes Mills' agenda
Kufuor descends on former NPP PRO
Ghana's interest rate, highest in sub-region
Hawa to contest on NPP’s ticket
The Evening News reports that the former Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Madam Hawa Yakubu has declared her intention to contest as a parliamentary candidate on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
This she said at a press conference at the weekend, during which she swore to regain the seat she lost to the NDC in the 1996 elections.
“My intention to contest the election stems from persistent calls and several appeals by the constituents to come and redeem them which I cannot refuse they are for me, and I am for them”, the paper quotes her as saying.
She continues that this year’s election is going to be a crucial one and “I will leave no stone unturned to ensure the success of the NPP in the constituency”.
She advised party supporters who defected and others bent on doing so to play mature. “Politics devoid of rancour and acrimony. Politics will come and go, but blood relations is permanent”, she said.
Madam Yakubu though admitted gains of the ruling party expressed disgust at the economy, which she said was in shambles.
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The Evening News reports in another story that a number of military personnel have been put in custody while investigation continues on the shooting incident that occurred at Teshie near Accra last week at the ‘Next Door’ Beach Resort.
According to the paper, a release issued and signed by Lieutenant Blood-Dzraku, Public Relations Director of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), said the Military High command had instituted a full-scale investigation into the incident.
According to release, the “Armed Forces Directorate has taken a very serious view of this criminal and dastardly activity allegedly committed by some of its members” and assured the public that all efforts are being made to bring the culprits to book “within the shortest possible time”.
Meanwhile the paper reports that the GAF, had already visited the family of the deceased to offer its condolences and to seek assistance in its investigations. The statement also asked the public to provide relevant information to help the police and the Military in their investigations.
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New licence will check forgery - Salia
The Daily Graphic reports in its lead story that with the counterfeiting of Ghanaian driving licence having reached a disturbing level, a new computerised system is being introduced to, among others, help eliminate forgery and malpractices in the system to restore confidence.
The Minister of Roads and Transport, Mr. Edward Salia, is reported as saying during the launch of the new licence that over 10,000 fake drivers licences were retrieved countrywide for a five year period by the Drivers' and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
He pointed out that holders of fake licence do not only pose risk to themselves but to other road users or even people sleeping peacefully in their rooms, stressing, "such holders have been licensed to kill, maim themselves and others."
Mr. Salia reportedly said that besides faking in the current arrangement, it also creates avenues for malfeasance and fraud and does not facilitate enforcement.
According to him photographs under the current system could be substituted, signatures of personnel of DVLA are forged while disqualification and licence withdrawals are not effectively administered due to the cumbersome and tedious methods of information retrieval.
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Opposition alliance ruled out
The Graphic writes in another front-page story that the United Ghana Movement (UGM) has stated that prospects of an opposition alliance to contest the next presidential and parliamentary elections is no longer feasible after almost a year's attempt by the Joint Action Committee (JAC).
"After nearly a year of trying, we are sorry to report that the prospects of Joint Action Committee of the opposition parties fighting the elections on a common platform either wholly or even partially, are absolutely nil", UGM flagbearer, Dr Charles Wereko Brobbey reportedly said.
He according to Graphic stated that the inability of the parties in the opposition to bury their differences and contest the next elections on a common platform amounts to a collective failure to address the expectations of the broad masses of the people in the country.
"We do not believe that anything will happen in the next three weeks to achieve what we have not accomplished so far. Unfolding events over recent weeks have pointed decidedly towards the failure of the alliance project."
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Akwasi Agyeman is out!
The Ghanaian Voice reports that Akwasi Agyeman, the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief has been asked to go on an indefinite leave. According to the paper this order was given on August 12 and the letter to this effect was signed by the Chief director of the Ministry of Local Government and copied to the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Samuel Nuamah Donkor.
According to the paper, no replacement has been found for the position and it is doubtful to say whether “Okumkom” the former chief will bounce back. The paper says sources from Kumasi say the next thing to be done is to probe Nana Akwesi Agyeman.
The paper ends with “Okumkom” out, the NDC’s support in the Ashanti Region, which has suffered dismally due to his presence on the seat, will go up.
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Atta Mills runs away
The Independent reports that a meeting between the Vice President, Prof. J. E A Mills and the thirty dumped MPs caused an uproar as it heightened the suspicions of the thirty that there was something fishy going on in the party.
The paper says information reaching it indicates that on the day of the meeting, August 7, the Vice president and flagbearer of the NDC failed to turn up and instead the Speaker of Parliament, DF Annan came to meet them.
The paper reports that earlier letters issued in effect to their withdrawal from the MP slot for the December elections were withdrawn and another given indicating they have not been dumped by the party but rather certain things were being considered about their candidature for their various constituency.
The letters, the paper continues, assured them that the problem will be solved for them to know their fate. The MPs flared up when they got these letters, bitterly accusing the party headquarters of toying with their political future.
The source, the paper continues, said most of the MPs after the meeting said they were going to advice themselves. One MP who pleaded anonymity said, “I am waiting till end of August and if then there is nothing positive, I will announce my decision to the National Executives.”
The source, according to the paper, hinted that the Speaker of Parliament, a shrewd and intelligent man is now the main player in the drama and does this by grouping them into various groups to make his work easier.
The speaker at the time of going to press had accomplished his job of meeting them one on one “but the decision as to whether there will be consensus on the matter rests with us,” the paper quotes the source as saying.
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Video cameras to 'catch' traffic offenders
Six closed-circuit video cameras have been mounted on top of the traffic lights at the Kawukudi Junction, Maamobi in Accra, to film traffic offenders in the area, reports the Ghanaian Times.
The cameras, the first of its kind in the country, are to assist the police to check motorists who flout traffic regulations, which often result in accidents at road intersections.
The paper however reports the fears of a traffic warden at the scene of the installation that drivers, on knowing that they would be filmed, shall get them removed.
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Inspector Azaglo to be tried
The Times, in another front-page coverage says the Attorney-General's office has ordered the immediate trial of Chief Inspector Azaglo, formerly of the Ghana Police Service.
The A-G's office, to this end, has ordered the police to take custody of him at the Nsawam Prison to stand trial before a circuit tribunal.
Times says a source at the A-G's office which disclosed this to the paper on Monday, said that after studying the psychiatric report on Azaglo, the office decided that he was normal and could face the law.
Two separate letters to that effect had been issued by the A-G's office to the Commissioner of Police (CID) ordering him to ensure that the directive was carried out.
The paper recalls that Inspector Azaglo was arrested in January 1998 on the orders of the President, Flt. Lt. Rawlings, for allegedly taking the law into his own hands and arresting and brutalising motorists and other members of the public.
The Bureau of National Investigations and the Panthers Unit had arrested him after a major hunt that at one time involved President Rawlings. His unusual behaviour during an earlier trial led to him being sent for examination.
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Gen. Hamidu slams Tony Aidoo
The Crusading Guide says former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) during the military regime of the Supreme Military Council (SMC) General Joshua Hamidu, has described as mischievous the accusation that he was responsible for the overthrow of the late Dr. Busia's government.
Gen. Hamidu, the story says, was the Director of Military Intelligence in the Second Republic. The paper quotes a reaction by Deputy Minister of Defence, Dr Tony Aidoo, to the former CDS's recent press conference, in which he wondered whether Gen. Hamidu was not the person in charge of National Security and, therefore, responsible for the security of the Busia regime that Acheampong removed from power.
The Crusading Guide says Gen. Hamidu, in an interview described as shameful Dr Aidoo's ignorance of the role of the Military Intelligence.
"It is a shame that the Deputy Minister of Defence of this country does not understand that the Military Intelligence is not the security organisation for the whole nation". Gen. Hamidu was quoted.
He reportedly, said that during the time it was the Special Branch (now the Bureau of National Investigations), which had that responsibility. The Military Intelligent, he said, co-operated with the SB and other security organs "and therefore to accuse me of being responsible for the overthrow of Busia's regime is mischievous and, at best, a big lie.
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Kufuor names running mate at Ho, September 9
The Guide writes that Mr. Dan Botwe, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party has said that the party will make public its running mate when it hold its National Delegates Congress at Ho on September 9.
The original date, September 2, fixed for the congress, according to Mr. Botwe has been changed due to the uncertainty over the venue, Dela Cathedral of the EP Church, which the church says it intends using during the period for a joint synod with its Togolese counterpart.
Mr. Kufuor, according to him, would definitely announce his running mate at the congress in Ho, which is surely coming off on September 9.
Guide in its story says its intelligence sources revealed that Mr. Kufuor has ruled out an Akan running mate in the December elections and seriously favouring a regional balance in the leadership of the NPP, and may most probably push for a Northerner.
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Inusah exposes Mills' agenda
The Weekend Statesman reports that unfolding details of the campaign by the NDC flagbearer, Prof. J.E.A. Mills, suggests that the defection of Alhaji Issaka Inusah was orchestrated just for one purpose: to rubbish the NPP.
The paper writes that in an exercise that could spark off reactions of a personal attacks, Alhaji Inusah has become the NDC's agent provocateur, breaking every rule in the code of conduct recently signed by the political parties as he assumes the role of demolition man against the NPP.
The Statesman says its reporters following the Vice-President's campaign in the Eastern Region report that Alhaji Inusah, at every stop, was given about 70 per cent of the total time allocated for speeches to run down the NPP, while Prof. Mills himself had less than 10 per cent.
The paper says Alhaji Inusah, who until two months ago was with the NPP and stoutly defended it on the issue of the Aliens Compliance Order, stated that he defected on realising the party's hidden agenda to expel aliens from Ghana on gaining power.
He reportedly bashed some leading members of the NPP brandishing them as "quarrelsome and booklong politicians capable of spinning theoretical ideas but incapable of implementing them."
According to the paper, the irony of the Mills' campaign is that after the rubbishing by that political weathercock, the Vice President mounts the platform to pontificate on the need for a peaceful campaign and on the NDC's promise of continued peace and stability in the country.
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Kufuor descends on former NPP PRO
The Ghanaian Democrat says in its lead story that former Director of Communication of the NPP, Mr. N. Adu Kwabena-Essem, seems to continue to court the displeasure of Mr. J.A. Kufuor, the party's flagbearer, even though he was forced to leave the party’s top post about a year ago.
The paper says it has learnt that the veteran journalist has remained holed up somewhere in Achimota but Mr. Kufuor will not leave him alone as he continues to blame him for any information leakage from his party to either the Democrat or the Palaver.
The NPP flagbearer, the Democrat says has allegedly been going round his friends and other party gurus, saying that the Editor of the Democrat has confessed to him that it was Mr. Kwabena-Essem who leaked the information of his ownership of a Jaguar car to the paper.
He is therefore seen by Mr. Kufuor and his aides, "as a dangerous journalist who can never be trusted with secrets of the NPP, no matter what."
Mr. Kwabena-Essem, the paper recalls, was NPP's Director of Information up to the 1998 Sunyani Congress but lost his position with the coming into office of Chairman Odoi Sykes, General Secretary Dan Botwe and Mr. Kufuor, who appeared not to be too comfortable with him.
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Ghana's interest rate, highest in sub-region
The country's interest rate, currently pegged at 50 per cent is adjudged the highest so far in the West African sub-region and is perceived as outrageous by entrepreneurs and economic analysts, the High Street Journal (HSJ) reports.
HSJ says the rate seems to be cutting deep into the margins of industries in the country, with most companies, especially, small and medium-scale manufacturing firms, severely hit.
Nana Tweneboa-Boateng, Executive Director, Empretec Business Forum, is reported as saying during the Forum's awards night in Accra that the rate level, though already exorbitant, keeps on increasing each day.
According to him, inflation continues to soar by the hour rendering the country's industries' ineffective and meaningless.
The current borrowing, he said is killing more companies since they can hardly survive on their own without resorting to financial assistance from the banks, which operate cut-throat interest rates.
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