ECOWAS Bank head removed
Trouble brews at UCC over grading system
Over two hundred criminals arrested in Kumasi
Bonsu says will no longer contest GFA chairmanship
Hearts to get $5b deal
CPP chairman lauds Kufuor
Government moves to retrieve missing cars
Bagbin on ex-NDC ministers-they were arrogant
Kufuor moves to castle
I used stolen cash to marry
Odoi-Sykes on why some were disqualified
ECOWAS Bank head removed
The ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government has terminated
the appointment of Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey as the President of the ECOWAS
Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).
The termination of his
appointment follows the withdrawal of the Ghana Government’s support for him.
Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, who disclosed this in
an interview, said the government’s withdrawal of support for Dr Yankey follows
its interest in the position of Executive Secretary of ECOWAS.
He said the government has
communicated to member states of the sub-regional organization, declaring its
unflinching support for the candidature of Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Member of
Parliament for Bimbilla, for the position of ECOWAS Executive Secretary and
could therefore, not support Dr Yankey.
He said judging from
responses received, Dr Chambas would win the position, saying “more than 70 per
cent of ECOWAS countries are in support of Ghana’s candidature for the top
ECOWAS post and added that the country cannot occupy the presidency of EBID in
addition.
However, writing on the same
story under the headline “Crisis looms at ECOWAS Bank”, The Chronicle’ says Dr
Yankey reportedly waded into a political storm with the government of President
Kufuor.
However, during an
interview with the Chronicle, Dr Yankey, tried to play down any controversy,
describing the development as “some misunderstanding that was created by some
individual officials, and not the government of Ghana.”
He said that the
misunderstanding has since been clarified and the issue subsequently resolved.
Despite the low key
explanation, observers seem very much worried that any unilateral withdrawal of
Dr. Yankey by Ghana will amount to a violation of the Revised ECOWAS Treaty
which gave Dr Yankey’s statutory appointment an international character as an
ECOWAS Civil Servant.
There is also the
pervasive fear that Ghana might not only lose this prestigious position within
the newly restructured ECOWAS Secretariat, but could get its political fingers
severely scorched if the belated diplomatic gamble to sponsor Ghana’s Ibn
Chambas for the post of Executive Secretary of ECOWAS does, in the long run,
plunge into a brickwall opposition mounted from the collective disaffection of
the proverbial Francophone solidarity in the Sub-region.
Trouble brews at UCC over grading system
Tension is said to be looming between the authorities of the University
of Cape Coast and the students leadership following a review of the sanctions
for their involvement in demonstrations during the university’s congregation on
March 31, this year.
The seven final year
students, whose results were withheld for three years, according to The Daily
Graphic, have had their punishments reduced to two years while the two
continuing students who were rusticated for two years, would now stay at home
for a year.
The grading system, which
has been the bone of contention and which resulted in the student demonstration
on March 31, remains unchanged.
The Students Representative
Council (SRC) of the university still insists that the punishment is too harsh
and blames the Academic Board for failing to address the concerns of students
regarding the grading system.
Aboagye Tandoh, SRC
President who spoke to the Graphic, said the students feel highly let down by
the so-called review of the grading system.
While the student
leadership has very little problem with the review of the punishment meted out
to the students, it has decided not to compromise on its call for the scrapping
of the grading system.
There is no way students
would accept the nature of the review and the University’s position on the
grading system, he said, saying that the “present position of the university is
a recipe for chaos”.
Touching on the appeals made
by the Minister of Education and the University Council for a review of the
punishment and grading system, Tandoh expressed regrets that the university
authorities blew away a fine opportunity to restore peace at the campus and
hinted of difficult times ahead.
GRi…/
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Over two hundred criminals arrested in Kumasi
The Ghanaian Times reports that two hundred and five suspected
criminals were arrested in a joint police/military swoop at dawn in some parts
of the Kumasi Metropolis on Monday.
They include robbers, pick
pockets and other social misfits, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, George
Asiamah, is said to have told the paper.
He said the suspects were
being screened and the criminals among them would be put on parade to enable
members of the public who had fallen victim to their nefarious activities
identify them.
More…/
Bonsu says will no longer contest GFA chairmanship
An ex aspirant of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) chairman, Michael
Mensa-Bonsu, alias Kojo Bonsu, says he would no longer contest for the
position.
“Maybe later in life when
all other goals have been met, I may reconsider the idea of running for the FA
position,” he stated in an interview with the Times in Accra on Monday.
He said his previous attempts to secure the FA seat at
middle-age, to manage Ghana football from that level was because he felt it was
the best thing that could have happened to the sport.
Although greatly
disappointed for missing out on the nomination by the government, he still has
no regrets.
“I will continue to
contribute from my quiet corner for the promotion and development of the game
either locally or internationally, he said.
Earlier this year, Bonsu,
found himself in an embarrassing situation when, in his bid to offer himself
for the FA post, bought a return air ticket at his own expense to travel
alongside the jailed ex-Minister of Youth and Sports, Mallam Ali Yusuf Isa to
Sudan, in a trip that culminated in the ex-Minister losing $46,000 dollars
belonging to the state.
More…/
Hearts to get $5b deal
Africa super-champions, Accra Hearts of Oak, will soon clinch a $5
billion deal with a multi-national kitting company, according to a story in the
Times.
The deal forms part of a
three-year medium marketing plan, which is expected to give the club a status
befitting of African champions and make it attractive to corporate bodies.
Briefing the press on the
vision of a ten-member Marketing/Publicity Committee instituted a few weeks
ago, Frank Appiah, Chairman of the Committee, explained that as part of that
deal, the company might offer to provide an international technical assistant
to help the technical bench.
The assistant, he
stressed, will focus more on the junior teams of the club. The Committee, which
is tasked to package the club into a premier national brand, disclosed that a
US-based company (name withheld) has expressed interest in undertaking the
club’s Pobiman (near Accra) project and a reputable local company will be
appointed to advertise the club.
GRi…/
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CPP chairman lauds Kufuor
Dr Abubakar, National Chairman of the Nkrumaist Convention People's
Party (CPP), has hailed the intention of the Kufuor administration to support
"qualified political parties" in the near future.
The Crusading Guide reports that
the CPP Chairman could not conceal his feelings when he talked to the paper
shortly after President Kufuor had addressed the national delegates congress of
the NPP last Saturday.
Dr Al-Hassan conceded the
fact that democracy is very expensive and said, "this is what we in the
opposition-including the NPP-were agitating for during the time of the NDC
government but which was treated with contempt."
Describing President
Kufuor's address as "straightforward and up to the point", the CPP
chairman said the President told the people what the real situation is,
stressing that "The Head of State could not promise manna to come down
from heaven".
GRi…/
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Government moves to retrieve missing cars
The Evening News carries that a special unit is to be set up at the
office of the Chief of Staff and the Ministry of Presidential Affairs to
investigate the circumstances that made it possible for some organisation to
freely acquire cars imported by the government and meant for official duties.
A source at the office of
the Chief of Staff, which dropped the hint, said the unit will investigate and
prosecute those found to have illegally and dishonestly acquired such
government vehicles without any payment.
According the source, the
office of the Chief of Staff has noted with concern the increasing media
revelations of serious scandal notably, the missing of a number of government
vehicles.
The culprits in such deals
would either be made to pay for the market price of the vehicles in their possession,
surrender them peacefully to the office of the Chief of Staff, or made to face
the law court.
“The fragmented cases of
missing cars from the office of the Chief of Staff and other state institutions
which took place shortly before the assumption of the NPP administration, will
be investigated by the special unit which ensure that those whom adverse
findings will be made against them will face the law”, it said.
GRi…/
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Bagbin on ex-NDC ministers-they were arrogant
The minority leader in Parliament, Hon. Alban S.K Bagbin, in a rare
display of candour, severely criticised the ex-ministers of the
National Democratic Congress government, saying that some of them were arrogant
and unfriendly to the media.
He said, “the attitudes of
some of our ministers were unfortunate,” adding, “they were arrogant and not
friendly to the press.”
Bagbin, in an interview on
Dynamite 88.9FM in Tarkwa on Saturday August 25, explained that the actions of
some of his colleagues were deplorable, saying we should not criminalise free
speech, in reference to the heavy fines on media practitioners.
According to him, he is
totally against the effusions of Dr. Tony Aidoo, saying “his language is so
bitter” and that he does not subscribe to that. Bagbin made reference to the
NPP who have been in power for only six months but whose “Rambo-ministers” are
already flexing their muscles.
He insisted that the
former NDC government was not privatising the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR)
as is the case with the current government but rather, what NDC did was to
expand the capacity of the refinery with private participation.
Turning to the
Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, Bagbin said it is not good
for this country, hence its rejection by the former NDC government. He said the
NPP embraced the full implications.
GRi…/
Kufuor moves to castle
There are strong indications that the President, John Agyekum Kufuor
will soon move quarters, from his personal property in the up-market plush
Airport residential area where he has lived all this while, to the renovated
slave castle at Osu.
The Daily Guide says a source close to the Presidency confirmed
in Accra on Monday that President Kufour should have moved last Sunday August
26, that is a day after the historic national delegates congress of his party,
to the Christianborg Castle, Osu, but there was a last minute decision to
postpone the move.
The source is reported as
saying that prayers, will be said by the Christians, Moslems and traditional
authorities, at the Castle. The media will also be invited to cover the event.
We want to remove the myth
surrounding the Castle, the seat of government, as the seat of power and as a
detention camp where people used to have their hairs shaved with broken bottles
with or without executive consent, the source said.
More…/
I used stolen cash to marry
A former employee of the Bank for Housing and Construction, Nana Gyedu,
has told an Accra Circuit Tribunal presided over by Anderson Yeboah that he
used 7 million cedis that he stole from the Ghana Shippers Council and
Meteorological Services Department to wed his wife.
Assistant Superintendent of Police, J.K. Abraham,
told the Tribunal trying the case that, the complainant, who is the Managing
Director of Postin Distribution Agency, supplied stationery to Ghana Shippers
Council and Meteorological Services
Department respectively to the tune of 7 million cedis between 1998 and 2000.
As the payment for
stationary supplied was not forthcoming, complainant went to the accountants of
the two agencies to demand the money and was informed that the accused had
collected the monies. When the accused was confronted, he initially denied any
knowledge of it.
A report was then made to
the Police and the accused was arrested. In his cautioned statement to the
police, accused admitted having collected the monies and used it to wed his
wife. He was given ample time to refund the money, but absconded when he was
granted bail. He was re-arrested and charged with the offence.
He was convicted on his
own plea and remanded to reappear on August 29, 2001 to be sentenced.
GRi…/
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Odoi-Sykes on why some were disqualified
The former NPP National Chairman, Samuel Odoi-Sykes has explained that
some of the people who applied to contest the party’s National Executive
positions were disqualified because they were infiltrators.
Addressing the delegates
at the party’s National Delegates conference at the University of Ghana, Legon,
he said upon careful scrutiny of the 38 applicants for the seven national
offices, some of them were found to be “sheer infiltrators with no tangible
background or association with the party or its tradition.”
In all, 16 people stood
for the elections from the initial 25 people cleared by the vetting committee
after series of withdrawals.
Odoi-Sykes dismissed
allegations that the process was manipulated, saying that those who withdrew did so on their own
volition. “I am not aware of any member of the party who has been coerced or
ordered to withdraw from the elections.”
GRi../
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The Accra Mail carries a rejoinder by the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) in
reaction to a story published by the paper in a previous edition.
According to the board, under
the present Destination Inspection Programme, GSB has no direct control over
imported goods.
The GSB is however
responsible for ensuring that goods produced locally are of acceptable quality.
The Board said it has
performed this duty creditably and can assure the consuming public that there
are no problems with locally produced electrical goods that pass through the
Board.
GRi…/
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