GRi Press Review 08 -02 - 2000
U.S. envoy lauds Ghana
AIDS its Kumasi sex workers
Aftermath of Pianim’s resignation..NPP must wake up
Tomorrow is budget day…Increase in VAT for Education Fund likely
NPP targets 90% votes in Ashanti
U.S. envoy lauds Ghana
The Daily Graphic reports in its top story that the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the United States Special Envoy for Democracy, has urged the Ghana Government to continue with the policy of ensuring greater private sector participation in the national economy.
He is quoted as saying, "efforts made towards encouraging and assisting the private sector to play a lead role in national development should be taken to new heights to attract direct foreign investment into the economy". Rev. Jackson was speaking in an interview in Accra after the opening of a consultative meeting between the visiting 22-member delegation of U.S. investor and Ghanaian business executives.
The delegation is on a three-nation tour of Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. The Graphic says that the tour, which has been facilitated by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, is under the theme, "Investment and Trade Mission to sub-Saharan Africa: Connecting Telecommunications, Technology and Media Markets through U.S. Minority and African Business Partnerships".
The paper says that Rev. Jackson commended the Government of Ghana for its commitment towards private sector development and said: "The process of making the sector the real engine of growth should continue unhindered". He is reported as saying that the Ghana Government has done a lot to ensure a stable and secure democracy, which makes the country an attractive destination for investment.
GRi../
Return to top The Ghanaian Times
AIDS its Kumasi sex workers
In a front-page story, the Ghanaian Times reports that 80% of commercial sex workers (prostitutes) in the Ashanti Region are said to have tested HIV positive in a blood screening exercise last year. The Times says that about 15% of blood donated by students in some second-cycle institutions in the region last year, also contained the virus.
The paper says that the revelation was contained in an address read for the Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, at the opening of the fifth annual congress of the Federation of Ghana Medical Students Association in Kumasi. The congress was on the theme, "Combating the menace of HIV/AIDS in Ghana – the role of the medical student".
According to the Regional Minister, available statistics also indicated that "about 200 people are being infected with the AIDS disease daily. Mr Nuamah Donkor is said to have described the spread of AIDS as ‘very alarming’ and noted that it had the potential to derail any social, economic and technological gains, which Ghana had made over the past few years.
"AIDS is gradually but alarmingly causing a devastating damage to the human resource base of our beloved nation. It is even more serious to know that the rate of the spread of the disease among the youth, who are in their economic and socially active years and also the future leaders of this nation, is alarmingly high, he is quoted as saying.
Stressing that the responsibility of fighting the menace should not be left to the government lone, the Regional Minister is reported to have said, "we must all be a part of the solution by first if all, being active in its prevention".
GRi../
Return to top The Guide
Aftermath of Pianim’s resignation..NPP must wake up
The Guide in a lead story, notes that the resignation of Mr Kwame Pianim, onetime presidential aspirant of the NPP is an expression of disenchantment among some leading members of the party. The paper says that it is a wake-up call to the NPP.
According to the Guide, information from some respected leading members of the party noted that "Kwame’s open resignation may trigger off a number of such resignations because some of us are very disenchanted with the way things are being done in the party". The paper says that the youthful and well-known NPP activists, who pleaded anonymity, hinted sadly that "eight months to elections, the party’s flagbearer and the General Secretary are not on speaking term".
But Mr Dan Botwe, the party’s scribe is said to have categorically denied this assertion. "It is absolutely incorrect, how can I not be on speaking terms with the flagbearer of our party", he is quoted as saying. According to the Guide, the Council of Elders has, not successfully resolved matters pertaining to what could be described as "personality clash", because "many of them have taken sides, instead of remaining neutral n the supreme interest of the party".
GRi../
Return to top Ghana Palaver
Tomorrow is budget day…Increase in VAT for Education Fund likely
In its top story, the Ghana Palaver writes that tomorrow is budget day 2000 and the Minister of Finance, Mr Kwame Peprah, is expected, as usual, to deliver the Government’s budget and financial statement for the year to Parliament.
The Palaver says that although Finance Ministry sources were tight-lipped on some of the major initiatives and programmes for the year, its scouts have confirmed that the VAT rate is likely to be adjusted to provide the seed resources for the Education Trust Fund. The paper says that the fund will provide the resources for the structural development and the attainment of academic excellence at the basic secondary and tertiary levels of education.
According to the Palaver, the government is likely to announce new measures to support agriculture and industry. The new measures, the paper says, are likely to include tariff reviews that will make local firm more competitive on both the local and international markets.
The paper say that it is also likely that the government will substantially increase funds for the social sector and other direct programmes tailored to reduce the level of poverty in Ghana.
GRi../
Return to top The Statesman
NPP targets 90% votes in Ashanti
The Statesman reports the newly elected Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, Mr Frederick Fredua Anto, as saying that the party’s target is to win between 85% and 90% of the region’s votes in the upcoming general elections. In a front-page banner headline story, the paper quotes Mr. Anto as saying that the party has also targeted all 33 parliamentary seat in the region but warned that disagreements within the NPP could destroy that objective.
"We have already lost two elections and to lose again might spell the party’s doom", he cautioned and called on party members to unite and join n the battle ahead to unseat the NDC.
The Regional Chairman is reported as saying that although the NPP, unlike the NDC, lacks resources, it enjoys widespread goodwill both at home and abroad and could receive meaningful support if only it could prove that it is capable of wrestling power from the NDC.
Mr. Anto said he and his administration would operate an open-door policy.
GRi../