Cabinet approves fund…For needy students
Police stop UCC students' demo
Rawlings blames Peprah, others…In the AGC-Lonmin saga
Latest on the presidential jet
Confusion in CP over suspension of regional chairmen
Students take to Kumasi streets
A year after cops' murder…Land-guards are back
Cabinet approves fund…For needy students
The Daily Graphic reports in its top story that Cabinet has approved the establishment of District Educational Fund (DEF) throughout the country to support financially handicapped students in second and tertiary institution. The fund is to be created out of the 50% of the existing 20% allocation which district assemblies are required to disburse for income and employment-generation activities popularly as "Poverty Alleviation Fund".
The Graphic quotes a statement issued by the Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr J.K. Bebaako-Mensah, in Accra yesterday said the fund would be used to sponsor deserving students through the provision of scholarships, bursaries and loan supplements. The statement said a committee to be set up by each district assembly would administer the fund.
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Ghanaian Times
Police stop UCC students' demo
In a front-page story, the Ghanaian Times reports that students of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) were yesterday prevented by the police from leaving campus to demonstrate in town, after boycotting lecturers. The story says this resulted in a stand-off between the police and the students at the university's eastern gate, which the students had wanted to use.
The Times says the students who threw missiles at the police from a distance, on two occasions tried to overpower the law enforcers at the gate but were kept at bay. The police, in the process, are said to have fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the unyielding students, who attired in red, chanted slogans. According to the paper, in the heat of the exchanges, one of the students was hit in the head by a rubber bullet and was rushed to the UCC Hospital, where he received treatment.
Hospital officials said the student who was given an emergency treatment, was responding well to treatment. According to the Times, the students' demonstration was contrary to a promise made by their leadership before Lt-Colonel Charles Agbenadza, the Central Regional Minister, when they called on him to apologise for their unruly behaviour at a protest march in Cape Coast at the weekend.
The paper could not give any reason for the students' demonstration but said none of the executive of their leadership could be reached for comments.
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Rawlings blames Peprah, others…In the AGC-Lonmin saga
The Finance Minister, Mr Kwame Peprah is reported to have come in for strong criticism when President Jerry Rawlings spoke at the "Farmers Day" at Bolgatanga at the weekend. The Evening News in its lead story, says the President did not mince words in blaming Mr Peprah and the dismissed Energy and Mines Minister, Mr Fred Ohene-Kena, for the circumstances leading to the recent financial problems of the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC).
The paper says President Rawlings did not mention names but by implications, he was referring to the two. The Evening News says Mr Peprah is currently the chairman of the AGC Board, while Mr Ohene-Kena ceased to be a member immediately after being fired as a Minister. According to the Evening News story, the two who served as government technical representatives on the board, were accused of failing to furnish the government with the required information on AGC at the needed time.
"Government's technical representatives on the board of AGC, who have been there before the floatation of shares and who had knowledge of Lonmin's merger proposals even before the recent major falls and rises in gold prices, should have provided briefs and proposals strategies at a much earlier stage", the President is quoted as saying.
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Latest on the presidential jet
In a front-page story, the Statesman says there are indications that Gallen Limited, the company from which the nearly 72 billion cedis presidential jet was allegedly leased, may be a front for a Ghanaian with vested interest in the deal. The paper says an agreement submitted to Parliament by Finance Minister, Kwame Peprah, gave Gallen's address as First Floor, Walker House, Mary Street, P.O. Box 2650T, George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.
According to the story, a cheque on the address drew a complete blank. Walker House was nowhere to be found on Mary Street in George Town. The representative of Gallen, W.S. Walker, however, has an office at Caledonia House on Mary Street.
The Statesman says that an intriguing aspect of the whole affair is on page 52 of the agreement, where Gallen gives another address as P.O. Box 1109GT, Midland Bank, Trust Building, Mary Street, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, British west Indies.
The paper says that the shadowy nature of Gallen, which has so far turned up more as an office of convenience than a physical business operation, vis-à-vis the stature of the alleged mother company, further deepens the cloud of suspicion over it.
The Statesman says that companies on the island do not even indicate who their actual members are, adding that this explains the presence of there of hundreds of shady businesses established by tax dodgers, drug traffickers, money launderers, among others, operating under anonymity.
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Confusion in CP over suspension of regional chairmen
The Ghana Palaver writes that the Convention Party (CP), struggling to keep its divided house
In order, has been thrown into further turmoil following the suspension of three of their regional chairmen in what is seen as a move to intimidate those who initiated court action against the party holding its national congress. The Palaver says the decision to suspend them was taken on Friday November 26, this year.
The paper says that the Central Committee of the CP, suspended Major Sedziafa (rtd), Dr Essuah Kwesi and Mr Kwasi Asare chairmen for the Volta, Western and Central Regions respectively, from holding themselves out as functional regional bosses or members of the party.
According to the Palaver, the three men were among a group of 12 people, who went to court to slap an injunction on the Convention Party, to prevent it from going ahead with the November 20 congress to elect a presidential candidate.
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Students take to Kumasi streets
The Guide reports that students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) took to the street of Kumasi, last Monday, November 29 in their struggle against the new facility user fees. The paper says the students used public address systems to educate the people on the plight of the Ghanaian student in the wake of the high fees introduced this academic year, in their demonstration dubbed, "Mmobrowa Campaign Day".
The students are said to have carried placards, some of which read: "We are starving", "J.J. is killing Ghanaian students softly", "Privatise NDC" not education" and "They have stopped the negotiations". The Guide says the students in a statement signed by the president of their Students' Representative Council (SRC), said over 200 of them could not afford to pay at all, while some could not report to school for the 1999/2000 academic year.
The statement, the paper says, explained that "about 95% of students, most of whom borrowed monies from various sources, could only pay half of the fees and would have to pay with their loans from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
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A year after cops' murder…Land-guards are back
In a front-page banner headline story, the Independent reports that a year after the township of Ablekuma in the Ga District of the Greater Accra Region, became the centre of attention following then murder of two policemen, Constables Owusu Sekyere, alias "Kwaku Ninja" and Jerry Wornoo, alias "Taller", inhabitants of the town say their life is in ruins. The paper says a visit to Ablekuma last Sunday showed a town in the grip of fear. Most people encountered were not ready to talk, though after some coaxing, they revealed the source of their fear.
The Independent says according to Madam Nettey Tetteh, land-guards, who were the cause of last year's troubles, have returned to the area.
The paper says Madam Tetteh, together with those willing to talk, said their livelihood of farming, has come to a halt because whoever goes into the bush, is accosted by the land-guards. According to them, the situation has led the townsfolk to rely on the charity of relations and friends, who come to visit.
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