Korle-Bu launches Y2K disaster plan
Nearly two billion cedis released for new teachers
Ghana is not investor friendly - Mills
Ada chiefs dare government
Cabinet reshuffle in the offing…Peprah, Spio and Totobi to go
Korle-Bu launches Y2K disaster plan
The Daily Graphic reports in its top story that the management of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital has outlined a comprehensive management plan in the event of a massive in flux of patients due to a possible Y2K failure in set ups with computerised operations.
Under the plan, staff and hospital facilities will be rapidly mobilised to deal with any such influx while special space will be created within the hospital to cope with any disaster that may occur. The Graphic says this was contained in a document spelling out the disaster management plan of the hospital.
According to the document, the Accident Centre and the Medical/Surgical Emergency areas will be designated as main reception areas for such victims.
The paper says that the management has also declared Wards "K", "M", "A" and "B" as standby wards to receive patients whom after triage, may be detained for observation.
In the case of overwhelming numbers, the Graphic says that the Physiotherapy Department, Central O.P.D. consulting rooms, Pharmacy Department lecture room, the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS) examination hall will be used as make-shift wards while the central operation rooms will serve as offices of the Chief Executive and Director of Administration.
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The Ghanaian Times
Nearly two billion cedis released for new teachers
In its lead story, the Ghanaian Times says that the Controller and Accountant-General's Department has released 1.74 billion cedis for the payment of salaries and arrears of the 1998 group of newly recruited teachers. The amount covers September 1998 to December 1999.
The Times says that the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, disclosed this in Accra yesterday.
He said the money was being disbursed manually in view of the time constraint. According to him, the cheques for the various districts had already been written and District Directors of Education are being asked to contact the acting Chief Accountant of the GES, as a matter of urgency, to collect the cheques for the moneys involved and begin disbursement to the affected teachers.
The story says that funds have also been released to the GES for the payment of the November and December salary advances for the 1999 group on whom returns on payment for October had been received.
The paper says that the Director-General was optimistic that the teachers would get their moneys before the end of the year. "But a few pockets of teachers may not get their money due to their inability to submit their forms early or problems with the endorsement of the forms", he is quoted as saying.
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Free Press
Ghana is not investor friendly - Mills
The Free Press reports that both local and foreign investors who do business in Ghana have expressed fears about the present state of the country's economy.
The paper quotes Mr Andrew Mills, a local entrepreneur and investor as saying that due to the frequent devaluation of the cedi, constant change of currency denominations and the advent of non-banking financial institutions, the investor has been put in a bad mood to do business in Ghana now. Mr Mills was talking to the Free Press during a workshop organised by the Gold Coast Securities Limited in Accra.
"This state of the economy needs innovations at all times to meet global aspirations and to create the necessary confidence", he is quoted as saying. The paper says that Mr Mills explained that the growing fear was that long-term savings could soon be lost and most investors would put a question mark on the money market, which was not competing with the real estate market.
He urged the government to speed up its efforts through education such as workshops and seminars, to win more foreign investors to the Ghanaian peaceful environment. The Free Press says that Mr Amoako Attah, Special Assistant to the Governor of the bank of Ghana, advised Ghanaians to cultivate stronger savings and investment habit since it is through that the economy would move to its apex in the next millennium.
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The Ghanaian Chronicle
Ada chiefs dare government
In a front-page story, the Ghanaian Chronicle reports that the Ada Traditional Council in the Greater Accra Region, has passed a resolution in support of the last month's annexation of the salt-rich Songhor Lagoon from the government by its owners, the Tekperbiawe Divisional Council.
The Chronicle says that according to the resolution signed by all the 20 chiefs, it is revealing that the Adas have been marginalised in issues of the Songhor Lagoon. The paper says that the 20 chiefs, who constitute the traditional council, expressed full support for the take-over of the Lagoon, saying the decision is irrevocable.
They are quoted as saying that no amount of intimidation and threats from the powers that be can force them to recoil or change their stand.
The Chronicle says that the Council stated that the human rights of Ada citizens as a whole, regarding the 'protection from deprivation of property' under sub-clause 5 and 6 of Article 20 of the Constitution, have been flouted. The chiefs are said to have contested that since all major enterprises have been privatised, the people of Ada, as owners of the Songhor Lagoon, are capable of forming a company to effectively and efficiently run the Lagoon.
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The Weekend Statesman
Cabinet reshuffle in the offing…Peprah, Spio and Totobi to go
The Weekend Statesman in its top story says that while Ghanaians struggle to celebrate the darkest Christmas of the century, then man at the centre of their economic malaise, Finance Minister Kwame Peprah, is hanging on to his portfolio by a whisker.
The paper says that after supervising what is now arguably the worst economic crisis in Ghana's history, Peprah is soon to be reshuffled off the Cabinet in a shake-up.
According to the Weekend Statesman, so far, Mr Peprah has clutched to his post out of the NDC government's contempt for the opposition and its difficulty in finding a replacement.
The paper says top NDC sources have confirmed that but for the motion tabled in Parliament by the Minority Group to force out Peprah, the Finance Minister would have been out of government by now.
It says ironically, the move to get him out has served to prolong his stay in the Cabinet, as the government did not want to be seen to be bowing to opposition demands.
Mr Peprah is said to be one of the high profile victims of the Rawlings grudge against Sam Jonah, Chief Executive of the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) and was scheduled to be sacrificed after the dismissal of Mines and Energy Minister, Fred Ohene-Kena. The story says the proposed Cabinet shake-up will affect Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the Education Ministry.
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