Over 13.8 per cent cattle in Accra have T.B.
Mum, 25, poisons 7-month baby to death.
'TUC will work for restoration of ESB'
'Lack of logistics crippling our work'
Loose security at KIA
Bartels abrogates TDC "secret" contract
Illegal drawing of the Common Fund – NDC’s Palaver ordered to refund
¢52m
Showdown over road project looming …As residents, Urban Roads square up
The NPP Congress
Non-performing schools to be closed
Osei-Tutu Prempeh in trouble-For Filching $526,000, £10,200
NDC leaders in a fight - Over who will be president
IRS is dying
Over 13.8 per cent cattle in Accra have T.B.
Dr Osei-Agyemang Bonsu, Senior Veterinary Officer in charge of Public
Health, Greater Accra has disclosed that over 13.8 per cent of cattle in the
Region are infected with tuberculosis.
According to a story in The
Ghanaian Times, Dr Bonsu told the Deputy Minister of Presidential Affairs, Mr
Osei Kwaku, and officials from SSNIT visited the Accra Abattoir Company Limited
(AACL) on Tuesday that all 150 cattle examined last year at 13 unauthorised
slaughter areas in the region, were infected with the disease.
The situation, Dr Bonsu
said, was “very serious since consumers could be easily infected” adding that
some of the animals had also been infected with dangerous tapeworms.
According to him, 15 of
the cattle examined were immediately condemned because of the serious state in
which they were, to avoid the spread of the disease.
“We are somehow fortunate
for not having been infested because of the way we cook our meat but we cannot
guarantee our safety for long,” he stated.
Dr Bonsu explained that
most people could be infected by drinking the milk or eating the meat of such
cattle, saying that there was the need to improve on the level of medical
inspection on meat meant for consumption.
More../
Mum, 25, poisons 7-month baby to death.
The Police in Ashanti are looking for Ama Hagar, 25, a nursing mother
of Ofoase-Kokoben for allegedly killing her seven-month-old baby.
Hagar was said to have
administered a poisonous chemical to the baby, Kwaku Danquah, last Wednesday
killing it for no apparent reason.
Police sources said on
Tuesday that the suspect, claiming that the baby was sick, administered a
chemical suspected to be poisonous to him at about 9pm that. A few minutes
later the baby fell unconscious and died.
When the suspect was
confronted by her relatives she claimed that she mistook the poisonous chemical
for a drug for infants. She then disappeared from the house and has since not
been traced.
Information gathered by
the relatives, however, indicated that the suspect had already hatched a plan
to kill the baby.
A report was therefore
made to the police who collected the body and deposited it at the Okomfo Anokye
hospital for autopsy.
GRi…/
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'TUC will work for restoration of ESB'
The Daily Graphic reports that Deputy Secretary-General of the Trades Union
Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah, has said the TUC will work feverishly for the
restoration of the End of Service Benefit (ESB) to workers.
He has, therefore, asked
the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) to move away from its rigid stand against
the restoration of the ESB.
Mr Asamoah, stated the
position of the TUC in an interview in Accra, also called on the GEA to join
forces with the TUC to pressurize the government to reintroduce the benefits to
workers without any further delay.
He was reacting to the
recent GEA directive to its members not top pay the benefit and described the
position of the GEA as anti-worker and unfortunate.
The ESB, which is payment
of lump sum to retired workers by their employers, was frozen in 1990.
However, some organisations
continued with its payment and late last year, ex-ministers of state, members
of parliament, Association for the Defence of the Revolution and other
government appointees whose tenure of office ended with the previous government
were paid "ex-gratia awards".
Mr. Asamoah said the TUC
"had expected the GEA to hold talks with us on the issue rather than issue
directives to its members to resist attempts to reintroduce the scheme and
spell the doom of workers".
More…/
According to the
organisaiton, a critical examination of the HIPC initiative, not withstanding
the benefits of debt relief, shows that it is a calculated attempt by the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to divert the issue of total
debt cancellation, which it said would be the most appropriate way to revamp
the economy of Ghana and for that matter, Africa.
A member of the
international body advocating total debt cancellation for developing countries,
Mr Kwame Dadzoe, made the call at a news conference on the significance of the
just ended meeting of the world's most dominant and powerful economies, known
as G-7 group, to the development of Third World countries.
He said it is unfortunate
that the country was denied the opportunity to critically examine and consider
alternatives to the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) and the Structural
Adjustment Programmes (SAP), which after two decades have exacerbated the
country's balance of payment deficit.
More…/
'Lack of logistics crippling our work'
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has stated that lack of logistics is
fast crippling the efficient and effective functioning of its Inspectorate
Division.
"It is adversely
affecting the effective performance of the division", the Deputy Director
General in charge of Academic, Mr John Budu-Smith, said this in reaction to
concerns expressed by the public about the apparent inactivity of the division.
Some members of the public
have attributed the falling standards of education and the general lack of
self-discipline among some teachers to the malfunctioning of the division.
Mr Budu-Smith explained
that every district has an inspectorate division, which has to conduct regular
inspection of schools as required by service regulations.
However, he said, these
divisions have not been able to live up to expectation because they are not
well resourced because of financial constraints.
GRi…/
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Loose security at KIA
The Kotoka International Airport, the National Aviation gateway, in
Accra has been turned into a stealing arena by crooks in collaboration with
some official porters at the airport.
According to the Free Press
its investigation at the Airport over the weekend revealed that passengers
leaving the country many a time have their hand luggage stolen through
diversion by porters.
A source told the paper
that in the evenings the Departure Hall of the Airport is inundated with all
sorts of people and virtually turning it into a market place.
As a result crooks, in
collaboration with official porters, swap the luggage of passengers with
similar suitcases they have stuffed with blocks and stones to give it a similar
weight. It was also found that many of the no-go security areas of the airport
are veritable smuggling routes.
The source revealed that
passenger trafficking had been going on at the out of bounds security areas and
drugs are also smuggled into planes through these security routes.
The paper also carries
that as a result of the laxity there, black marketers who change foreign
currencies have taken shelter on the compound of the Customs, Excise and
Preventive Service (CEPS) and the Ghana Immigration Service situated between
the Airport Police Station and the main airport even though there are official
Forex Bureaux at the main airport area.
The Free Press says when
it visited the said location last Monday people of non-Ghanaian origin were
seen doing brisk business on the compound of CEPS and Immigration Service
quarters at the Airport.
More…/
Bartels abrogates TDC "secret" contract
This is despite the fact
that SJR had already paid a deposit of 175,000 US dollars in respect of an
820,000-dollar deal to lease 188 acres of land from TDC for real estate
development.
A letter signed by the Ag.
Managing Director of TDC on May 2, 2001 and copied to SJR stated "We refer
to the memorandum of sale between TDC and SJR Investment Limited for the sale
of Community 21 and the Buffer Zone and wish to inform you that on directives
from our sector minister of Works and Housing, Hon. Kwamena Bartels, the sale
agreement is to be abrogated forthwith and the initial 15% deposit paid by SJR
to the Corporation refunded".
The amount involved in the
said contract was US$175,000 being 15% of a total of US$820,000 contract
subject to the confirmation by a survey of an estimated 188 acres of land.
When contacted the Ag.
Managing Director of the Corporation, Ms E.M. Banson declined to comment saying
the issue was above her.
GRi…/
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Illegal drawing of the Common Fund – NDC’s Palaver ordered to refund
¢52m
The Auditor-General’s Office, (A-G) has ordered Revelap Publishers and
Suppliers Ltd., publishers of the ‘Ghana Palaver’ an Accra private newspaper,
to refund ¢52 million it wrongfully received in subscription fees from the
administrator of the District Assembly Common Fund though the papers were not
supplied, reports The Ghanaian Chronicle.
Investigations by the
paper, corroborated by officials of the A-G’s office, revealed that the money
represented ‘payment to Revalap Publishers and Suppliers Ltd for the supply of
newspapers to the various regions,” even though evidence exists that the
newspapers were either not supplied at all or undersupplied.
The Palaver’s stablemate,
the ‘Ghanaian Democrat’ was however unlucky as its ¢44,624,000 bill covering
the same period was turned down by the A-G’s office. Both invoices presented
were signed by the editors of the ‘Ghana Palaver’, and the ‘Ghanaian Democrat’
respectively, Messres Jojo Bruce-Quansah and Razak el-Alawa.
A one-month ultimatum
issued to the NDC mouthpiece to that effect has not been complied with and
indications are that it would be hauled before court, according to the
Chronicle’s search.
More…/
Showdown over road project looming …As residents, Urban Roads square up
Tension is mounting at Anyaa NIC (leading to Ablekuma), one of the fast
developing Accra suburbs, between the residents and Urban Roads (UR), due to a
vow by the residents to resist the UR from diverting a proposed main road
through the residential area that would see mass demolition of houses.
About two months ago, UR
engaged a surveyor to demarcate and erect pillars for feasibility study for the
construction of the main Ablekuma road and pillars were raised throughout the
residential area affecting several buildings.
All the affected landlords
are in possession of the necessary documents before their houses were put up,
according to Chronicle.
So far the residents have
petitioned the Member of Parliament for the area and is said to have moved a
step further to petition the government, through the Minister of Roads and
Highways to take prompt measure to avert any showdown.
GRi…/
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The NPP Congress
Writing in its column, The Accra Mail Opinion, the Accra Mail says the
ruling New Patriotic Party will in the next two weeks be holding a national
congress to elect party officers, the first after the party won Election 2000
and under the distinguished patronage of the President of the Republic.
This, it says, places
enormous responsibilities on the party, because it will be partisan affair but
also a non-partisan flavour would be expected and it will not be too early to
sound the paper’s concern.
According to the Mail, the
congress should be so organized that it would give the whole country a sense of
purpose and direction. It will not do for the congress to for example downplay
the importance of the NPP’s allies in the Election 2000, nor would it serve any
purpose for the congress to degenerate into squabbles that would be seized upon
by detractors to do distract.
The party, it says, must
emerge from the congress with a proactive agenda instead of being pushed into
defensive postures, adding “We must remember also that every single member, or
friend of the party is important and so the party must reactivate itself from
the seeming slumber it sunk into after the December elections.”
The constituencies have to
be strengthened to start work towards Election 2004 immediately, and the party
headquarters, must be integrated one way or the other into policy formulation, execution,
and monitoring. This is a sensitive matter, but the party must find a way of
tapping the expertise of those business executives who at the time of the
callous witch hunt against business people considered enemies, stuck by the
NPP. They chipped in their widow’s mite when the party needed it most. The
congress must elect the officers all right, but some serious soul searching on
the way forward. The congress must elect the officers all right, but some
serious soul searching on the way forward must also be done,” concludes the
Mail.
GRi…/
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Non-performing schools to be closed
The Dispatch carries that as part of the government’s determination to
ensure that only highly qualified, motivated and dedicated secretaries are
produced in the country, private secretarial institutions that fail to live up
to standard will be closed down.
The Minister for Primary,
Secondary and Girl-Child Education, Ms. Christine Churcher, said in a speech
read on her behalf by Mr Patrick Yileyire of the Ministry of Education at the 3rd
graduation ceremony of the Professional Training School of Secretaryship (PTSS)
in Accra last Saturday.
She noted that corporate
bodies, industry, the service sector and the government machinery need
competent and qualified secretaries for high productivity as the ear of
mediocrity is over.
Ms Churcher therefore
called on Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), private organizations and other
stakeholders to support training institutions in the country, as the government
alone cannot provide financial resources to support them.
GRi…/
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Osei-Tutu Prempeh in trouble over $526,000, £10,200
Mr. Osei-Tutu Prempeh, the Auditor-General on leave who was recently
arrested by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) while worshipping at
the Christ the King Church in Accra, is in big trouble, according to The Daily
Guide.
His trouble emanates from
his alleged fraudulent withdrawal of various sums of moneys amounting to
$526,000 (equivalent of 3,682 billion cedis).
The monies according to The
Daily Guide’s investigations, were taken at $15000 (105 million cedis) at a
time, from the UN Imprest Dollar Account kept with the Bank of Ghana (BOG)
between 1997 and the year 2000.
In addition Mr Prempeh
allegedly used fraudulent means to withdraw US $300,000 (2.1billion cedis) over
the same period ostensibly for use as T&T (traveling and transportation
expenses) whenever he traveled outside the country.
From October 1997, he is
said to have fraudulently withdrew $15,000 per every quarter of the year, for
his personal use and couched or invented beautiful terms for that.
He termed his alleged
fraudulent withdrawals as “Auditor-General’s Updated Abated Consolidated
Allowance” believably to befuddle, transfix and confuse personnel of the Bank
of Ghana to release those funds to him although they were later channeled for
his exclusive personal use.
These US Dollar funds are
fed into the account at the central bank, from the Auditor-General’s Unite
Nations Imprest account in New York.
The available evidence
however, shows that he has not followed the normal practice of accounting for
such traveling allowances.
More../
NDC leaders in a fight - Over who will be president
The leadership struggles in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are
not yet over, according to the Daily Guide.
The rank and file of the
party are virtually being compelled to line up behind one or the other of three
persons likely to become the party’s presidential candidate in the 2004
elections.
So far three personalities
have emerged as hot favourites in the race to choose a leader for the party,
trying to repair its image after its defeat in the 2000 elections.
The front liners are
Professor John Evans Atta Mills, Presidential candidate in the 2000 elections,
Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, wife of the former President and Dr Obed
Asamoah, former Attorney-General.
Professor Mills is said to
be heads and shoulders above all the other contestants and has a public rating
which is unmatched in the NDC.
More…/
IRS is dying
The internal revenue service (IRS) is in very deep crises, says the
Daily Guide.
Insiders say that the
service is plagued by the lack of resources to carry out its task, very low
remuneration for staff and a tainted image.
A weeklong investigation carried
out by the “Weekly Insight” revealed that most of the district offices of the
service do not have transport for the performance of official duties.
Even the district offices,
which have been assigned vehicles, they are entitled to only two gallons of
petrol a day.
Imprest for District Offices
are sometimes delayed for two months or more.
In many district offices,
three or four people share one calculator. Important documents are still kept
in paper files tired together by ropes or rubber bands.
IRS offices have still not
been computerised and documents can very easily get lost.
A source close to the
headquarters of the service told the “Weekly Insight” that staff welfare has
been completely ignored over the years.
Most of the workers go to
and from work on public transport which is most unreliable.
When senior staff of the
service complained to the Minister for Finance about their conditions of work
at a recent meeting in Accra, the Minister’s response was that “you should be
creative”.
GRi…/