'64 Regiment is Rapid Deployment Force'
$50m fake notes - Ghanaian placed in custody
G7 schools charge dollars
Contesting public servants asked to resign first
Manifestoes are unnecessary
Konadu confirms 'Djentuh shaving'
Election date still unclear
We shall overcome economic problems
Civil Aviation to be broken up
'64 Regiment is Rapid Deployment Force'
The Commanding Officer of the 64 Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, is reported by the Daily Graphic as stating that the unit is a Rapid Deployment Force and operates as a reaction unit to handle emergencies and guarantee the security and stability of the country.
He said it is, therefore, wrong for anyone to think that the unit, which was established by President J.J. Rawlings, has been created to perpetuate the security of the President or the control of power by the military.
"Rather, we should be grateful to President Rawlings for establishing the unit to ensure security and stability of the country."
Lt. Col. Gbevlo-Lartey is reported to have told the Graphic in an interview that the unit is like the Special Forces of the United States, which were established by the late US President, J.F. Kennedy, and continue to operate even after his death.
The Commanding Officer is reported to have said this, just after emerging from a workshop on military cum civilian relationship at Akosombo, aimed at helping to bridge the gap between the civilian population and the military.
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$50m fake notes - Ghanaian placed in custody
The Daily Graphic in another front-page story says the Police Panthers Unite has placed in custody 33-year-old Ghanaian, Sylvester Amenya, for possessing about 50 million fake US dollar notes.
Amenya, according to Mr. Johnson Abudu, Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations,
was arrested upon a tip-off in house at West Legon, near Accra, during a dawn swoop on Saturday and he claimed ownership of the items found concealed in a huge steel box, bags and cartons, in 100 and 50 denominations.
Other things found at the premises, according to the story, include chemicals, a rubber stamp and wrappers with the inscription, "This is from the serve bank of Kinshasa. F.R. Due 2."
Two Nigerians, Ndueke and Ameka, also known as Big Joe, and one Kwame Adzraku who are said to be accomplices in the fake business are reportedly on the run.
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G7 schools charge dollars
The Ghanaian Times in its banner story writes that the Ghana Education Service (GES) has acknowledged claims by some private schools referred to as 'The Great Seven' as being purely profit-making business ventures.
The schools are however said to be neither under the Ghana Education Service nor the National Association of Private Schools (NAPS) and therefore determine their own fees including accepting dollar equivalent.
St Martin de Pores, Soul Clinic International, Morning Star, North Ridge Lycium, Jack & Jill, Ridge Church School and Alsyd Academy are said to constitute the G7.
Other schools which are reported to have made names for themselves are said to be also charging the dollar equivalent.
The National Co-ordinator of Private Schools of the GES, Ms Esther Edjeani, is quoted as saying that schools engaging in the act have registered as business ventures and declared their stand as profit-making enterprises, and had even taken the GES to court on some occasions for interfering in their activities.
She revealed that even though the educational activities of the schools are supervised by the GES, whose syllabus they use and examinations they write, they are responsible for their own administrative activities and the GES can only advise them.
"It is therefore a matter of choice. If parents can afford to send their children to such schools, then they must be prepared to pay whatever fees are charged, since they will be dealt with purely on business basis." She was quoted by the Times.
Ms Edjeani had however stated that schools operating under GES and NAPS are allowed to charge fees only in cedis.
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Contesting public servants asked to resign first
The Ghanaian Times in another story reports the Electoral Commission (EC) as stating that public servants who have indicated their intention to contest the December 7 elections must resign before filing their nominations.
EC chairman, Dr Kwdwo Afari-Gyan, is reported to have told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) over the weekend that the Commission would disqualify any public servant who fail to resign before filing his papers.
Names of many civil and public servants, according to the Times, have come up in the list of candidates selected by political parties to contest the parliamentary vote.
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Manifestoes are unnecessary
Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, Presidential Candidate of the United Ghana Movement (UGM) has said that manifestos are not necessary since 75 per cent of Ghanaians do not read, the Evening News reported.
"A manifesto is a set of printed document but the UGM has instead been telling the people it's programmes, which are being reported in the media," Dr Wereko-Brobby was quoted as saying in an answer to a question as to whether his party has a manifesto.
"If you want a printed document well packaged, we can do it, launch it and sell a copy at 160 million cedis", the paper quotes him as saying.
Dr Wereko-Brobby had explained that the UGM believes that the best way to let the people know of the programmes is to tell them and that is what they have been doing all this time, saying the people are getting the message.
He reportedly said that after 20 years of 'singing hossana' to people who claim to be the embodiment of the suffering masses, "the time has come for the media to question politicians about their capabilities, competence and abilities".
The country, he said, needed people who have combined practical business experience with political activism and have been successful with their lives, promising that it is the kind of leadership that the UGM would offer the country.
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Konadu confirms 'Djentuh shaving'
The Crusading Guide writes that Ghana's First Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, in a dramatic move to debunk allegations made in a BBC interview by Selasse O'sullivan Djentuh, ex-boyfriend of Ezenator, the First Family's elder daughter, has confirmed that offenders taken to military barracks and the Castle Guardroom get their hair shaved.
Selasse had alleged in the interview that he was abducted by some Presidential guards and taken to the Osu Castle where he was brutalised and got his hair shaven.
Mrs. Rawlings in a reaction to Djentuh's story on Joy FM, a private radio station said she would not want to dwell on the issue as it was still in court but indicated however, that Selasse lied in saying he was abducted since that amounted to serious criminality.
"I think the lie is in the area of brutalisation. As for the haircut believe me, if you are sent to any barracks for an offence there's an identification hair cut. If I were arrested today, I would get an identification hair cut." She said.
Mrs Konadu according to the report, said that the relationship between her daughter and Selasse were merely platonic, adding that it was broken in 1998 summer by her daughter due to her academic schedules as a medical student.
She is reported as saying also that President Rawlings had met the young Djentuh on very limited occasions, about twice.
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Election date still unclear
The Statesman says with barely four months to this year's watershed Presidential and parliamentary election, the electorate has no clear date for polls to enable both citizens and political parties undertake detailed planning.
The paper says the uncertainty over election date, which in more established democracies, is known years in advance has been caused by the dithering position of Afari Gyan's Electoral Commission (EC) over the issue.
EC had originally slated Friday December 8 for the elections and indicated it could not alter the date despite challenges on its constitutionality as well as complaints by some religious organisations of its unsuitability.
The Statesman says in a strange backtracking on the issue, however, Dr Afari-Gyan announced the EC's decision to change election date to December 7, arguing that December 8 was "constitutionally incorrect"
The paper says the turn around has caught the nation off guard and raised questions of whether it was genuinely premised on the need for constitutional conformity or merely for political expediency.
The paper quotes Mr. Tony Akoto Ampaw, a legal practitioner, as saying that EC's action amounts to a gross abdication of responsibility and exposes Dr Afari-Gyan's ignorance of a fundamental function of his Commission and therefore called for his resignation.
The story also carries that the issue, which has put the competence of the EC in doubt and has raised question marks over its political independence, has sent the UGM hurrying to the Supreme Court.
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We shall overcome economic problems
The President, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, has assured that the Government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not sleeping while the economy suffers.
According to the Ghanaian Democrat, President Rawlings said his Government is doing everything possible to bring the situation under control in spite of serious external factors over which the government has no control.
Nobody should think the Government is not concerned about the present economic situation and the general rise in the living conditions of the average Ghanaian, he is reported as saying.
"We are seriously working to check the economic menace and are sure to overcome before the year runs out", he said.
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Civil Aviation to be broken up
The Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is to be split into two organisations namely an Airport Company and Civil Aviation Authority, reports the Independent.
The centre-spread story of the paper has it that under the Airport Company, private sector participation will be encouraged in the commercial activities such as development and management while the Aviation Authority will be responsible for safety air traffic and navigational control in its flight Information Region.
The decision according to Mr. Edward Salia, Minister of Roads and Transport, is to make Kotoka International Airport (KIA) an international hub for aviation in the West African sub-region and Africa as a whole.
According to him, the completion of the first phase of its rehabilitation project has made GCAA
to be recognised by the American Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) as a category 1 airport.
The Independent story continues that between 1997 and 1999, Ghana Airways recorded significant increase in passenger uplifts from a level of 198,000 to over 310,000 representing 75 per cent.
Mr. Salia reportedly said that even though revenue increased from 95 million dollars over a three-year period, this did not translate into any significant improvement in profitability because of high operating cost.
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