The
Ghanaian Chronicle / The Guide
Atta-Mills
confesses – I did it but my wife knew / We had no time for my child
Avoid rigid
political positions
Polls reflect
wish for nationality - Pianim
Go to court
– EC tells aggrieved candidates
Kufuor,
will be Ghana’s next president
We won’t
vote for NPP
J.H. Mensah
wants commission for peace and justice
Parliament
adjourn to January 2, 2000
Atta-Mills
confesses – I did it but my wife knew / We had no time for my child
The
Ghanaian Chronicle and The Guide have their banner stories focused on the
extra-marital life of Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, Vice President and
Flagbearer of the NDC.
The
Chronicle reports the Vice President admitting on Vibe FM, an Accra private
radio station last Thursday that he has a son born out of wedlock.
The Vice
President, hitherto, perceived as someone with a “squeaky clean image whose
mouth butter could not melt” had been forced to make this public admission
after the independent press came out with the revelation on election day.
The
opposition parties, reportedly, had intended making it a legitimate campaign
issue.
He said
however, that his recourse for marital infidelity was carried out with the
knowledge and encouragement from his wife, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, after
being married for years without an issue.
The paper
says its investigations at Cape Coast in the Central Region located Prof.
Mills’ son, Papa Sam, at the residence of the NDC flagbearer’s sister, Mrs Emma
Afful.
In its
story, the Guide says Vice President Mills, during the Vibe interview explained
that their son was not staying with them because they were too busy.
He said as
he and Naadu went out to work early and came back late, the best arrangement
was to send the only child to his sister till such a time that he grew up and
could be on his own. He denied not taking care of the child saying he comes to
them from time to time.
GRi…/
Avoid rigid
political positions
The
Vice-President and flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Prof.
John Atta Mills, has called for a new political culture that would de-emphasise
the adherence to rigid and entrenched positions and encourage healthy dialogue
and active co-operation across the political divide, reports the Daily Graphic.
He observed
that there was too much polarisation and politicisation of almost everything in
the country, constituting a drawback to the nation’s development and progress.
Speaking on
Vibe FM, an Accra FM radio station on Thursday, Prof. Mills pointed out
problems confronting the nation and outlined series of measures, which he said,
would rectify the situation and move the nation forward.
According
to the NDC flagbearer, the inconclusive outcome of the December 7 presidential
polls and the inability of any single party to secure an absolute majority in
Parliament embodied in them, important and far-reaching lessons for the nation.
He said the
development represented a demand from the electorate on the political
practitioners to tone down their emphasis on partisan interests and work
together across the political divide to help move the nation forward.
More…/
Polls
reflect wish for nationality - Pianim
Mr Kwame
Pianim, an eminent Ghanaian economist, is reported by the Graphic to have
described the results of the December 7 general elections as a reflection of
the people’s will for national unity.
He said the
fact that no single party had an absolute majority in the elections shows the
desire of Ghanaians to tap the wisdom and strength of all the parties.
He stated
in a speech at the first lecture of the newly formed Ghanaian-German Economic
Association in Accra on Wednesday, that no one party can do the work of
deepening the democratisation process begun a decade ago and solve the economic
task of revitalising the economy into a successful competitor in the growing
global economy.
Pianim, an
advocate of a government of national unity said there is the urgent need to
harness all talents to surmount the country’s problems, adding, “it will worsen
Ghana’s situation for one group of people to only engage in stone-throwing
instead of making sure that all hands are on the deck.”
GRi…/
Go to court
– EC tells aggrieved candidates
Aggrieved
parliamentary candidates who are challenging the Electoral Commission (EC), of
the outcome of certified results released after the December 7 polls can file a
writ in the law courts, according to a front-page story of the Evening News.
This is
because the EC is satisfied with results so far received and believes the
elections have been conducted within free and fair atmosphere.
EC’s
Director of operations, Mr Albert Kofi Arhin, disclosed that the electoral body
has not received any official complaint from any candidate yet, however,
candidates can only take EC to court on an official notification upon which the
Commission would ascertain the case.
“If reasons
for a recount at this stage where certified results have been accepted by EC
are justified, then the law of the land will take its due course,” he said.
GRi…/
Kufuor,
will be Ghana’s next president
The
Dispatch says if turnout and voting pattern in the December 7 Presidential and
Parliamentary polls is repeated, then the Presidential candidate of the NPP, Mr
John Kufuor will need about 106,398 votes to become the next President of
Ghana.
Prof. John
Evans Atta Mills, Vice President and candidate of the ruling NDC will need
about 332,335 votes to get to the ‘Canaan’ he had been eying for the past four
years.
The paper
says one of the most crucial tasks for the NDC and NPP will be their ability to
encourage and make their supporters come out to vote on Thursday, December 28.
It said the
comparatively low turnout for the elections, vis-à-vis the 1996 elections could
have resulted from the inability of ‘ghost’ voters to cast their votes as well
as opposition supporters being better motivated to turn out and vote than those
of the NDC.
The NDC was
hurt most in the Volta, Greater Accra, Eastern, Western and Brong Ahafo
Regions. It says whiles the NDC will strive to reverse this trend, the NPP will
try to maintain, if not increase the margins, making the NDC’s task of catching
up difficult.
GRi…/
The Ghana
Palaver says reports reaching it indicate that some leading members of the
National Reform Party (NRP) have refused to endorse Goosie Tanoh’s support for
the NPP in the presidential run-off to be held on Thursday, December 28, 2000.
At a
meeting of some party members from Tema, Ashaiman, Winneba, Adidome and Nsawam,
in Accra, they condemned Mr Tanoh’s dictatorial and unilateral declaration of
support for NPP’s J.A. Kufuor.
The members
most of whom are disgruntled cadres with deep roots from the PNDC-NDC are said
to be working on a draft statement to disassociate themselves from their
flagbearer’s action.
They,
according to the story, indicated that they will defy their flagbearer’s orders
and come out with a more credible and wise decision regarding which party their
supporters should vote for.
GRi…/
J.H. Mensah
wants commission for peace and justice
The
Minority Leader, J.H. Mensah, has called for a National Commission for Justice
and Peace to investigate expeditiously the events of the AFRC and the PNDC
eras, the Weekend Statesman reports.
The
Minority Leader made the appeal when Parliament resumed on Thursday after a
short break to enable MP’s to carry out their electioneering campaigns to seek
re-election.
In a
statement made on behalf of the Minority Group, Mr Mensah suggested an amnesty
for President Rawlings and his family who would be offered personal immunity
from public prosecution for any action that falls within the purview of the
Commission.
“Together
with the Vice-President and Speaker of Parliament, he would also be granted
much more generous material benefits for a dignified retirement than were then
available under existing,” he said.
He recalled
the public apology by President Rawlings in Parliament last January for the
lawlessness, brutalities and the innumerable breaches of human rights during
the revolution and said though some Ghanaians were willing to accept his plea
if some measures of redress were in place to assuage their hurt and losses,
President Rawlings seemed to retract his apology, claiming that “many of his
victims deserved what had happened to them.”
GRi…/
Parliament
adjourn to January 2, 2000
The
Ghanaian Times reports on its political page that Parliament resumed sitting on
Thursday after a five-week break only to re-adjourn to January 2, 2000.
The
adjournment is to enable the members to campaign for their political parties in
view of the December 28 presidential run-off between the flagbearers of the
National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party.
Before
arriving at the decision, the Speaker, Mr Justice D.F. Annan, said the House
recognised that it did not take into consideration a run-off election.
However,
the turn of events pointed to the fact that members needed to go back to
continue the election process and come to the House after the election. The
current Parliament, he reminded members, would be dissolved on January 6, 2001.
GRi…/