GRi Weekend Press Review 15-02-99

 (Paul Osei-Tutu in Accra, reviews the Ghanaian press. The stories have not been verified and therefore we cannot vouch for their accuracy)

The Mirror over the weekend had on its front page "Ninja had a Child". According to the story, the death of constable Richard Owusu-Sekyere alias Kwaku Ninja when reported made all those who heard and knew him very sad, for two reasons. Firstly for being callously and brutally murdered and secondly, the assumption that he died without a child.

According to the story, two weeks before his burial it was proven that Ninja had a nine-year-old daughter with a friend plantain (kelewele) seller Felicia Quaye of Odorkor. The paper states that Felicia got pregnant in her final year at school and informed Ninja about it which he did not reject, and directed her to see one of his uncles Mr. Addae Menka at Dansoman.

The paper added that after delivery, Ninja continued visiting her and the child until he enlisted into the Ghana Police Service when he stopped visiting them. Felicia continued that she was shocked to hear from Ninja's friends about his abduction and subsequent murder.

The paper concluded that, following a story by the Mirror about Ninja's step mother's desire to meet the woman who is alleged to have had a child with her son, Felicia presented herself to Mrs. Mclean, who gave her and the child a warm reception saying "at long last I have found a replacement for my departed son".

"Ike Quartey finally Quits Boxing?" is the question at the back page of the African Sports. The story says no African boxer can win a title in Las Vegas, because that city harbours some of the grandest conmen on the planet. The only way an African boxer can win a title there is to knock his opponent.

According to the story, Ike did all he could to win but lost massively on the cards of two conmen of judges called McConnel and Morita who scored the fight 116-113, 116-112 respectively.

The paper added that the fight was tactical and masterly than exciting until the 12 round when De La Hoya decided to open fire to tilt the scales.

The paper concluded that it is not totally clear whether Ike Quartey would stick to his earlier threat to quit boxing after the rather outrageous verdict in Vegas.

The Times reports on its front page that the names of hundreds of pupils who qualified for admission into senior secondary schools in the Upper East Region of Ghana are not on the master list used by headmasters for their selection. This has been blamed on computer error. The paper says Mr Aloysius N. Addih, the Upper East Regional Examinations Officer, said initially the problem was thought to be limited to five schools - Akurugu-Da-Bao and Sirigu Junior Secondary Schools in the Kassena-Nankana District, and Wobil, Sheaga and Datoko Junior econdary Schools in the Bolgatanga District. But he said the problem kept mounting by the continued release of additional names from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). According to Mr Addih, of the 2,960 students who were initially listed on the master results slip, 55 were selected by the computer for Bawku Secondary-Technical School. The Times says he produced a supplementary list which added 33 other students to the school's list Despite WAEC's claim that it had nothing to do with the admission discrepancies, Mr Addih is reported as saying, "the error could not completely be the total mistake of the schools concerned".

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"GWSC to open up to private sector", says the Times in another front page story. The story says bidding to select investors for the Private Sector Participation (PSP) programme in the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (GWSC) would begin in June, this year, for the scheme to take off by the first quarter of next year. Under the programme to be implemented in the urban centres, the sales and production aspect of GWSC's operations would be taken over by the private sector, while the corporation would assume a supervisory role besides maintaining ownership of all its assets. The Times says the Managing Director of the corporation, Mr Charles Adjei, disclosed this at Cape Coast, the Central Regional capital, at a meeting with the staff. Mr Adjei explained that the bidding would be opened to investors from all over the world, adding that the objective of the programme was to inject private capital into GWSC's operations to assist it to expand. The paper says Mr Adjei thereffore allayed the fears of both the workers and the public that the corporation would be sold out.

The Ghanaian Times reports that 30 Archaeology students from the University of Ghana led by their lecturer Kadzo Gavua have made discoveries in the Pinkwae Forest, near Katamanso in the Tema District, where the Ashantis and the Ga Adangbes supported by the British fought the historic battle of 1826.

The paper says, the discoveries included ancient pots abandoned by the Ashanti fighters, a metal box containing a pair of scissors, a sword and beads that suggests that the site was once the house of a rich person or an ancestral chief. Also found at another site were a bowl engraved with date, 1800 inscribed on it, human teeth, fishing hook, a coil of copper wire, old gin bottles and several 19th century coins. Dr. Gavua, according to the story, suggests that the place was once used for a kind of worship or African traditional religion. He said trenches used by the Ga Adangbes for guerrilla war against the Ashantis are still present.

Items found will first be analysed at the University before deposited at a katamanso museum.

In another front page story, the Times reports also that the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) and the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has warned that UB Hair Relaxer product, currently on Ghanaian market, causes extensive loss of hair on application.

Consumer complaints about quality of the product have been received from Accra, Takoradi and Tema.

While the conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CAHSS ) took place at Cape Coast on Thursday, Mrs. Alice Agyeman, Central Regional Chairman of CHASS, brought up the problems Senior Secondary School (SSS) students have to face when gaining admission into universities.

As the Daily Graphic reports, students who want to study business at the University of Ghana or University of Cape Coast need a credit in Additional Mathematics, although these courses are not compulsory at SSS. Even the best grades deny students access to business-studies.

Mrs. Agyeman called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the universities to change and renew university entry requirements and co-ordinate successful agreements.

The Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey World Boxing Council Welterweight title fight last Saturday, takes the centre stage of the Daily Graphic. It has a front page headline which says: "Ike - gallant loss wild final round derailed his efforts." The paper says unlike most boxing fights which fail to live up to the hype, the Oscar De La Hoya-Ike Quartey WBC welterweight Championship at the Thomas and Mack Centre in Las Vegas, United States, was a classic worth its billing. The Graphic reports that most commentators and fans agreed that it was the most competitive welterweight bout in two decades. According to the paper, the split points result which ensured that the American 'Golden Boy', De La Hoya, kept his crown and his unbeaten Record while Ghana's Ike Quartey was handed his first defeat, will remain a subject of controversy and debate for a long time to come. The verdict could have gone either way, the paper adds. Two of the three judges - Japanese Ken Morifa and John Keane of England made Oscar the winner by 116-112 and 116-113 respectively. The other English judge, Larry O'Connel, however, had Ike winning by 115-114. The Graphic reports that about one hour after the fight, the Ghanaian challenger emerged from the dressing room to vehemently protest that he had been given a raw deal. "I did all the fighting and all De La Hoya did was just to survive to be given the verdict", Ike is reported as saying. The paper says some ringsiders and commentators agreed with his assessment but the majority were of the view that the bout was so close that a draw would have been a fairer result.

In another front page story headlined 'Report cases of sexual harassment to CHRAJ', says the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has advised victims of sexual harassment to report such cases to the Commission to enable it to investigate them. Mr Francis Emile Short, Commissioner of CHRAJ, who gave the advice is reported as saying that the Commission is aware that sexual harassment is prevalent in the Ghanaian society but victims are reluctant to report such cases because they fear victimisation and reprisals. He defined sexual harassment to include any unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favours and verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. The Graphic quotes Mr Short as saying that sexual harassment constitutes sexual discrimination which is against the law and impressing upon victims to report such cases to enable the Commission to investigate and take the appropriate action

The denial by the Reform Movement of Libyan funding, is the subject of the lead story of the Dispatch. The paper says one of the main reasons why a number of Ghanaians have been skeptical about the Reform Movement has been how the group would fund its activities. According to the paper, finance is the heart of all political activities and rumours circulating have mentioned the Libyan government of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as one of its main sources of funding. Another source, the paper says, mentioned Mr P.V. Obeng, former Presidential Adviser on Governmental Affairs. The Dispatch says a source close to the the movement categorically denied receiving any funding from the Libyan government or P.V. Obeng. The source, the paper says, explained that the rumours were part of a smear campaign which the NDC had decided to spread against the movement.

In a screaming headline: "Reform leaders are opportunists", the Democrat says leading members of the Reform Movement are opportunists with a hidden political agenda. According to the paper, this is the verdict of Alhaji Muhammad Alidu, a former cadre of the revolution in a press statement issued in Accra at the weekend. The paper reports that in the view of the ex-cadre, the leaders of the Reform Movement should know that adopting a confrontational posture in solving political party problems is equally undemocratic. "If Goosie Tanoh and co. truly stands for reforms in the NDC of which they claim to be founding members, what prevents them from seeking nomination for election into the leadership positions in the party in order to press home their demands for reforms?" the ex-cadre is reported as saying. He is said to have made this observation in a press statement issued in Accra recently. According to him, Goosie Tanoh went out of his way and accused the leadership of the NDC of series of allegations to satisfy his whims and caprices in an attempt to win public sympathy for his hidden agenda.

In a front page story headlined: "World Telecom Conference attracts 20 big firms and 200 delegates to Accra, March 2", the High Street Journal reports that from March 2-4, Ghana will host 200 telecommunications experts from all parts of the world, the occasion being an African Telecommunication Summit to be held at the Accra International Conference Centre. The paper says this will be the first time in Ghana=92s telecommunications history when more than 20 of the world's leading telecommunications operators and companies as well as key experts from over 25 countries will gather to discuss the way forward for African telecommunications. Leading telecom suppliers and operators who will be exhibiting and participating in the conference include: AT&T, ICO Global Communications, Celltel, Startec Global Communications, Scancom and Network Computer Systems (NCS).

The Ghanaian Voice reports that the disastrous fiasco recorded recently at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Accra, where a fund-raising luncheon in aid of the National Science and Technology Foundation (NASTEF), had to be called off due to the failure of guests to turn up, has been blamed on the NDC government of only paying lip-service to science and technology in the country. The paper says according to a top industrialist who pleaded anonymity, it was pathetic that after nearly 42 years of independence, Ghana has no clear science and technology policy. "Every now and then the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, announces that the government is preparing a science and technology policy but this policy never seems to be ready", his quoted as saying adding, "everything is done on an ad-hoc basis".

The industrialist is reported to have questioned how the country can develop if at the dawn of the next millennium, "we continue to behave this way towards science and technology which is known to have propelled other nations to their present heights".

A front page splash says: "Chronicle unravels Mrs Rawlings' new moves. Its Madam for Veep now!" The accompanying story says Ghana's First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has now formally abandoned her ambition to be the NDC flagbearer for the 2000 elections for now. The Chronicle says she has set her sights on the vice-presidential slot, conceding to strategically remaining in the shadow of the reticent Prof. John Atta Mills, the presumed presidential candidate of the NDC. According to the paper Nana Konadu reached this decision last month and reinforced it weeks before she left for the Netherlands to attend the "Cairo Plus Five" conference at the Hague. It says the First Lady's decision, clearly a postponement of her presidential ambition, was occasioned by credible reports that NDC members would not support her nomination, and that even if her candidature was carried through the NDC congress, she would be rejected by Ghanaian voters.

The Public Agenda in a front page lead story says in yet another move aimed at securing the freedom of their client, accused of conspiring to overthrow the Ghana government, lawyers of Ex-Sergeant Karim Salifu Adam, are asking the Supreme Court to hear an appeal filed last year against the decision to retry him for treason. The paper says Adam has been in prison since 1994 when he was arrested for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government by violent means. The Public Agenda says last year, a new panel of judges of an Accra High Court which first tried Adam ordered that he should be tried again after presiding judge died at the end of the trial before the verdict could be announced. It says lawyers representing Adam say they do not find it proper for their client to be retried or kept in prison for all these years.

13-02-99