Ghanair foils 'hijack'
No comments from Castle on Selassie Djentuh
Traitors Surround Rawlings
Allow Mills to decide
Duffour must step down!
High Courts can't try chieftaincy cases - Judge
Ministry to withdraw licences of recalcitrant doctors
4,000 still in bondage
'Okro-mouths' cops warned
Catholics say no to Goosie - in choice of running mate
Move to torpedo Konadu, Mahama bid
Ghanair foils 'hijack'
The Accra Mail says Sierra Leone bound Ghanaian soldiers last Thursday held Ghanair and passengers booked to travel to New York to ransom at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.
The scenario is said to have begun when a New York bound flight on Wednesday was rescheduled for Thursday morning after the aircraft developed a technical fault.
A source close to Ghana Airways reportedly told the paper that the soldiers were billed to travel to Freetown on Thursday for peacekeeping duties in Sierra Leone. In view of the shorter root between Freetown and Accra, they had demanded being flown to Freetown before the aircraft could return to pick the New York-bound passengers.
The soldiers are said to have threatened not to allow the plane fly to New York if they were not ferried first to their destination.
The Accra Mail says some aggrieved passengers who spoke to the paper indicated their expectations to be given priority over the soldiers since the airline is a commercial venture rather than a military extension.
Mr. Bannerman-Bruce, Public Relations Manager, is reported as saying that management after a careful look at the issue asked the soldiers to hold their peace until Friday morning as they felt they could not unduly inconvenience the New York passengers.
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No comments from Castle on Selassie Djentuh
There has been no word from the castle concerning the application of
Selassie Djantuh, the ex-boyfriend of Ezanator Rawlings, for political asylum
in the United Kingdom, reports the Guide.
Selassie, 23, made his intention known last Monday on the BBC in London, citing threats to his life and his parents’ conviction by a court in Accra Court.
He was reported as saying that he had been abducted, beaten, brutalised and his hair shaven, after the soldiers had told him that the president asked for his hair to be brought to him.
The spokespersons for the British High Commission and Amnesty International in Ghana have also indicated their unwillingness to comment on the matter, according the Guide, which states that the publicity officer of the British High Commission Mr. Gregg Quinn, according to radio reports said it is consistent with the policy of the British government not to discuss individual cases and as such the Djentuh case is no exception.
He also added that the home office would also not confirm or deny if any application has been lodged.
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Traitors Surround Rawlings
The Guide reports that Mr. Michael Soussoudis, one of the founding members of ‘EGLE’ party, has disclosed that the President has been betrayed by his own party members and instead of the president demoting such traitors he keeps promoting them.
According to the paper, in an interview granted an Accra weekly recently, Soussoudis is quoted as saying that Vice President Atta Mills is the only good man and he likes him. “At least he is clean. I believe that’s one of the reasons why Rawlings didn’t choose a running mate from the old guard. He did right he picked a clean candidate”.
Soussoudis is said to have confirmed that there is real confusion in the Progressive Alliance and that he could not predict the outcome of this year’s election. He also said he is the biggest opposition to the NDC.
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Allow Mills to decide
The Democrat reports that the President Flt. Lt. J. J Rawlings made the most passionate appeal to members of the Progressive Alliance at the weekend congress of the EGLE party, to cease fire on the issue of running mate and allow sanity to prevail in their camp.
The paper reports the that the President urged all members of the alliance to allow Prof. Atta Mills to choose who he wants as his running mate without undue pressure on him. The congress, according to the paper, was attended by 4000 delegates, who among other things elected national executives and endorsed Prof. Mills as their presidential candidate.
The congress had earlier on formally appealed to Prof. Mills to consider Dr. Obed Asamoah as his running mate.
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Duffour must step down!
The Crusading Guide reports that Mr. Kwabena Duffuor, Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG) has been called upon to step down by the international business tycoon and aspiring Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso East Constituency, Mr. Kofi Wayo.
He is reported by the paper as saying at a mini rally at Nima in Accra that the BOG was the nerve centre of the country’s financial system, hence it is despicable that in the midst of the economic mess that we find ourselves, some bank officials in connivance with clients withdraw huge sums of money.
He is reported to have further said that the President has the moral duty to sack the governor of the Bank of Ghana if he is not performing his duty well, blaming the situation on the Ghanaian culture as against that of the US.
Kofi Wayo also lamented on the fact that the banks are currently serving the needs of only few Ghanaians and charged people in deprived areas in Accra to demand their share of the taxes they pay for development.
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High Courts can't try chieftaincy cases - Judge
The Daily Graphic says the Supervising High Court Judge at Cape Coast, Mr. Justice K. Tweneboa-Koduaa, has ruled that the High Courts have no jurisdiction whatsoever to try matters affecting chieftaincy, stating it is only Chieftaincy Tribunals of the Regional Houses of Chiefs, which are lawfully constituted to do so.
Justice Tweneboa-Kodua reportedly gave the ruling in a case in which one Nana Opoku Akwa and four others sought interim injunction to restrain Nana Edu VI from holding himself as Omanhene of Mankessim and an order of prohibition to prevent him from celebrating this year's "Bobor Fantse Afahye".
The Judge intimated that the court has no jurisdiction to try the case, which is purely a matter involving chieftaincy and therefore dismissed the application and awarded cost of 800,000 against the plaintiff.
The ruling, according to Graphic, came in the wake of earlier ones by the three High Courts at Cape Coast between 1997 and 1998 with the courts variously granting interim injunctions restraining the kingmakers of Mankessim from recognising Nana Edu as Omanhen pending the determination of an application challenging his installation.
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Ministry to withdraw licences of recalcitrant doctors
The Graphic writes in its centre-spread that the Minister of Health, Professor Kwaku Danso-Boafo, has warned that his ministry would not hesitate to make recommendations to the Ghana Medical and Dental Councils to withdraw the licence of any doctor who indulges in unprofessional acts, notwithstanding their limited number.
The Minister in reference to an alleged illegal abortions being performed by a Sunyani-based doctor in his bungalow, is reported as saying that the matter would be thoroughly investigated and the doctor sanctioned if found guilty.
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4,000 still in bondage
The Ghanaian Times in its banner story writes that about 5,386 women have been liberated from the trokosi system in major shrines in the Volta, Greater Accra and the Eastern regions of the country.
"But it is believed that there are 4,000 still in bondage in shrines scattered all over the country", the paper said.
Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Mr. Emile Short, is reported to have made the disclosure in a speech read on his behalf at a day's seminar by the Ghana Human Rights Coalition, an NGO.
According to him, there was ample evidence that despite the passage of Section 314A of the Criminal Code, Act 29, prohibiting customary servitude and making it an offence punishable by a term of imprisonment not less than three years, the practice still continues.
He is quoted as saying that the enforcement of the law against these customary practice had been too slow and needed concerted effort from all identifiable bodies to succeed.
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'Okro-mouths' cops warned
The Times in another front-page story says Dr K.K. Manfo, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, speaking at Kumasi has warned that severe punishment awaits policemen who disclose the identity of informants for monetary or other considerations.
He urged members of the public not to entertain any fears when giving information on criminals or suspects, adding that informants could also give information without necessarily identifying themselves or giving their addresses.
Times quotes him as having also dwelt at length on the current atmosphere of uneasiness and fear engulfing the women folk in the region arising from events that suggested the extension of the serial killing in Accra to the area.
"So far, we have no evidence that the dastardly act of serial killings has been extended to the region. No single case has been found or established. People are, therefore, advised to rest their anxieties", Times quoted him to have said.
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Catholics say no to Goosie - in choice of running mate
The Evening News writes that while the flagbearer of the National Reform Party (NRP), Mr. Goosie Tanoh has hinted that he intends choosing one of two individuals, a retired priest and a businessman, as running mate, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is putting impediments in his way.
"The Church has stated that a retired Catholic priest cannot contest for or agree to the position of a running mate for any political party. This is strictly against the position of the Catholic Church", states Most Reverend Dominic Andoh, Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra.
Archbishop Andoh was said to be reacting to a publication in the Evening News that suggested that a retired Catholic Priest was mentioned among others for consideration and approval as running mate to Mr. Goosie Tanoh for NRP's presidential bid.
He is reported as having stated at the 30th Anniversary Congress of the Catholic Organistion for Social and Religious Advancement (COSRA) in Accra on Friday that there were so many laymen in the church who can occupy such a position.
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Move to torpedo Konadu, Mahama bid
The Independent writes in its led story that after almost eight years of National Democratic Congress' absolute hold on the Progressive Alliance, the two other partners - the EGLE and the Democratic People's Party (DPP) are beginning to assert themselves.
The two parties are said to have in the last couple of months made their unequivocal standpoints known in the selection of a running mate for the Progressive Alliance and still seem not to renege on their stance.
Even though the choice for the N0. 2 slot remains the prerogative of Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, sources within the two parties, according to the paper, indicate that they will not accept anything short of their choice - Dr Obed Asamoah, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
EGLE is reported to have, as a sign of its insistence on the issue, proposed the adoption of Dr Asamoah as the party's choice to partner Prof. Mills for the December election at the party's Delegates' Congress in Accra last week.
The EGLE's ally, the DPP is said to have through its chairman, Dan Markin, on many occasions advocated the choice of Dr Asamoah as the running mate of Prof. Mills.
EGLE and DPP are said to have indicated that they will never renege on their choice because its time their senior partners also listen to them.
According to the paper, the two went against the norm of consensus building among the partners because they believed certain power blocs were scheming against their wish, which should prevail in this circumstance.
"The stance of the rebels was therefore a way of torpedoing the ambitions of the First Lady Nana Konadu Aagyeman Rawlings and Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu whose relentless attempts to sit among and influence the inner caucus of the ruling party are still being pursued by their blocs within the progressive alliance." The paper said.
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