Gov’t will decide on HIPC issue soon - President
30,000 to get jobs this year
BOG’s 1bn-cedi theft case will go on
Castle workers are angry – they deny receiving benefits
We don’t favour increase in fuel prices - PNC
Abolish shift system – in basic schools
Minority desperate
Out! NDC’s top secret plan & key names
GNMC sold for peanuts?
‘Kill Accra’s Mosquitoes first’ – Rawlings urged
Alarm blow!
*The mother of all car-looting capers
*How men and women of “integrity” looted stolen luxury cars from CEPS
*Big names involved
Gov’t will decide on HIPC issue soon - President
The Ghanaian Times says President J.A. Kufuor has said the decision on whether Ghana will apply for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) status would be taken before the budget is presented in March.
A press release issued by the Office of the President on Wednesday said that he gave the assurance during a discussion with the British Secretary of State for International Development, Ms Clare Short, when she paid a courtesy call on him at his residence.
President Kufuor said that the interests of Ghana would determine whatever decision was taken.
He referred to the positive signals sent by multilateral agencies during his recent visit to Mali and stressed the need to weigh the options available.
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30,000 to get jobs this year
About 30,000 permanent jobs will be created this year by the government for the many unemployed youth, Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Works and Housing was quoted by ‘The Ghanaian Times’ as saying.
He disclosed that a 50-million dollar foreign grant would be invested in the Housing Sector Development this year and that would generate jobs.
Speaking at a meeting with the executive of the Construction and Building Materials Workers’ Union, Mr Bartels explained that youth unemployment was one major problem that the NPP government was determined to address and would do everything possible to solve it.
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BOG’s 1bn-cedi theft case will go on
The sudden death of Mr Samuel Kweku Ghartey, Ashanti Regional Manager of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), who was considered as the star witness in the 1 billion cedis theft case at the Kumasi branch of the bank, will not affect the trial of the case, expected to start soon.
Mr Eric Francis Agbolosoo, Chief State Attorney in charge of the Ashanti Region, told the paper on Wednesday in Kumasi that before his death Mr Ghartey gave the statements needed to facilitate the trial.
“His statements are intact. The fact that Mr Ghartey, the key witness is dead does not automatically abort the prosecution of the alleged culprits. The docket is still being studied and we will be ready for prosecution very soon,” he said.
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Castle workers are angry – they deny receiving benefits
The Evening News reports that some aggrieved workers at the Office of the President, Castle, have challenged Mr Kwame Peprah, former Minister of Finance and Nana Ato Dadzie, former Chiefs of Staff to come out with the list of beneficiaries of the 1.570 billion so-called honorarium awards.
Mr Peprah has alleged that a letter was sent by his Ministry to the Controller and Accountant-General asking it to release the stipulated amount to meet the payment of a one-time honorarium of 5 million cedis per officer to 314 long serving and dedicated staff of the Office of the President.
But the workers are claiming that they did not receive such an amount and are therefore demanding from the two ex-government officials to indicate when such monies were paid to them.
According to them the publication, which appeared in an Accra daily on February 3, 2001, has put pressure on the entire members of staff at the Office of the President “since there is no truth in that allegation”.
The workers expressed these sentiments in a statement released to “The Evening News” in Accra on Wednesday.
“The entire workers at the Castle want Ghanaians to know that only wall clocks were presented to long-serving and dedicated staff for all those years they have served the NDC government and nothing else,” the statement said.
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We don’t favour increase in fuel prices - PNC
Dr Edward Nasigre Mahama, Presidential Candidate of the People’s National Convention (PNC) in the December 2000 elections, has stated that the party does not favour increases in the prices of petroleum products by the government, the Daily Graphic reports.
He pointed out that Ghanaians were already over-burdened with tax and other economic and social difficulties and that any increases in the prices of petroleum products could only aggravate the cost of living and worsen their standards of living.
The PNC leader outlined the party’s position in an interview on Joy FM, an Accra private radio station, on Wednesday.
According to Dr Mahama, the issue of an upward review of the prices of petroleum products ought to be approached with maximum care because of the key role these products play in the economy lives of the people and the far-reaching consequences such an increase could have on the economy as a whole.
Dr Mahama, however, conceded that he and the PNC did not have all the facts available to the government on account of which it (the government) could make the judgement to make an upward review of petroleum prices.
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Abolish shift system – in basic schools
The Graphic reports the Eastern Regional Director of the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC), Mr Seth Oduro Boateng, as strongly advocating the abolition of the shift system in the basic schools.
He maintained that the system breeds truancy among pupils, while others hide behind it to avoid being apprehended for not attending classes.
Mr Oduro Boateng who was speaking in a maiden call on the newly appointed Eastern Regional Minister, Dr Yaw Osafo-Mensah at Koforidua, explained that most children who are seen loitering during school hours generally give the excuse that they belong to the morning or afternoon shift, depending on when they are found outside the classroom.
He expressed concern about this trend and said unless the shift system is done away with, the future of a number of children would end in jeopardy.
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Minority desperate
‘The Independent’ states that the Minority group in parliament on Tuesday “staged a no contribution strike action” in protest against the refusal by the Speaker to defer to Wednesday contributions by Members of Parliament on a statement made by the Energy Minister, Hon. Kan Dapaah on the fuel crises in the country.
The “strike action” followed a ruling by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Peter Ala Adjetey, that it was in clear contravention of the standing orders of the House.
Before the Speaker’s ruling, the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Papa Owusu Ankoma had described the proposal by the Minority Leader as most unusual, which was not in conformity with the standing orders.
This apparently infuriated the Minority who refused to make any contribution on the statement, thus leaving the majority to have a field day as they alone made contributions.
The Minority Leader, Hon. A.S.K Babgin had argued that the statement on the fuel could be likened to a policy direction of the state of the nation.
He therefore called on the Speaker to defer comments on it to Wednesday to enable members study the statement to be able to make informed contributions, but it was rejected by the Majority and the Speaker, arguing that such statements are only expected to attract very brief comments contrary to what the Minority leader seemed to suggest.
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Out! NDC’s top secret plan & key names
The Chronicle says the rump of the NDC is stirring under the aegis of one of their usual creative shells with the declared aim of ‘rejuvenating the interest of members of the public to join the club and to wrestle power for national election’.
The club which is called, ‘The Progressive Alliance Youth Club of Ghana (PAYC) has an 82 member executive which reads like a who is who in underground NDC politics along with those known major players in the party.
Its chairman is Mr Benjamin Sowah who confirmed his status on telephone on Wednesday.
Surprisingly, a number of key players do not fit into the youth categorisation, and that, has constituted a source of potential bust up between the ailing but obstreperous blow man of the NDC, Dr Obed Asamoah, a controversial titan of the party and Prampram boy, E.T. Mensah, MP and former Minister of Youth and Sports.
The national executives of the club includes ex-President J.J. Rawlings - Father and Founder of NDC, H.E. Prof. J.E.A. Mills- Father of the club, H.E. Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings - Mother of the club, Hon John Mahama-Vice President, Administration and Hon. Mike Gizo-National Vice President-Internal & External Affairs.
Chronicle says it has gathered that last week the ex-Veep, Prof. Mills summoned a meeting where he met some of the executives and assured them of his support and assistance, urging them to work hard.
Moves are underway to outdoor the club whose aims and objectives as outlined in a 15-page constitution include: “To create an enabling environment (for) the youth of Ghana and to project the image of the NDC, to rejuvenate the interest of the members of the public to join the club and to help wrestle power for national election.”
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GNMC sold for peanuts?
The Crusading Guide says it has been hinted by a source that the Ghana National Manganese Corporation (GNMC) was taken over by the Ghana International Manganese barely six years ago with a consideration fee of $4 million, out of which only $400,000 has been paid.
The source indicated that whereas three companies –BHP, Elkem and Portman- submitted bids for the divestiture of GNMC, the other company (GIMC) never tendered in any bid and yet it took over the manganese company.
An intercepted letter written by the GNMC board of directors to the Chairman of the Minerals Sector Sub-Committee on GNMC Divestiture, contained a complaint to the effect that the $4 million was on the low side, considering the fact that the core assets of the company valued as at 1993 stood at some $18 million.
The GIMC, had according to the board, undertaken to pay the unsatisfactory amount in a breakdown of 10% soon after signature, 20% second instalment 24 months after execution of agreement and a final 70%, 36 months after the agreement, being less attractive as compared to what others were offering.
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‘Kill Accra’s Mosquitoes first’ – Rawlings urged
The Daily Guide reports in a front-page story that Hon. Theresa Tagoe, MP for Ablekuma South, has challenged Ex-President Rawlings, in his new capacity as a volunteer in fighting malaria in Africa, to first do so in Ghana by spraying and killing all mosquitoes in the country, since “charity begins at home”.
According to Hon. Tagoe, Ghanaians are being attacked by all sizes of mosquitoes of late and therefore, spraying them, especially from such places as Chorkor in Accra, will go a long way to rid the country of malaria.
The MP made the appeal in Parliament on Tuesday when contributing to a statement on volunteerism by Hon. Akua Dansoa, MP for North Dayi, on the International Year of Volunteerism.
Hon. Tagoe stated that volunteerism had been with Ghanaians for a long time now, stressing that the Ex-Vice President Kow Nkensen Arkaah led a team of volunteers to the Gambia sometime back.
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Alarm blow!
*The mother of all car-looting capers
*How men and women of “integrity” looted stolen luxury cars from CEPS
*Big names involved
The Accra Mail making reference to a list of seized cars which it says have found their way into individual hands, including government ministers and other high ranking officials, under the erstwhile NDC regime, indicates that if the list does not represent direct thievery then it is a palpable evidence of abetting the crime of stealing, adding that all those involved have cases to answer.
The cars, according to the paper were seized by the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) for various offences by their importers, but especially because some of them were stolen from abroad.
The CEPS reportedly, had connived with PNDC/NDC to transfer the stolen cars at ridiculously low prices to those in favour, to effectively shut the doors of investigations to trace and return them to their true owners.
Nii Adjei Okine, the former CEPS, now on indefinite leave has a lot to answer as he is suspected of having driven away an expensive American Marquee belonging to someone else.
The paper says the names which include Hon. Mike Gizo, former Minister of Tourism, Dr Tony Aidoo, former Deputy Minister of Defence, Alhaji Iddrissu Mahama, former Presidential Advisor and Lt. Gen; J.H. Smith of the Army Headquarters, are as surprising as they are shocking because they all fall into the category of “men and women of integrity.”
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