I was mad - rapist tells court
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 February 2002 - This year’s budget statement will be presented to Parliament on Friday February 22, if it is not declared a holiday, Papa Owusu Ankomah, Majority leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs said on Friday. He explained that if Friday is declared a holiday as a result of Eid Al Adha, then the statement would be presented to the House on Thursday, February 21.
Mr Ankomah said these when he presented the Business Statement for the Sixth Week in the first meeting of the second session of Parliament. He also noted that because there was a substantial number of Members who were yet to make their contributions to the motion to thank the President for the State of the Nation Address, the debate, which was expected to end on Friday, February 15, 2002, had been extended to Wednesday, February 20.
Meanwhile, the debate on the State of the Nation Address continued on the already drawn lines. Mrs C.S. Buor-Karikari (NPP, Amansie West), the first to contribute to the debate on Friday, said the president’s address was unprecedented.
He also described it as a visionary statement, which would definitely ensure development in the country and therefore improve the living standards of the people. Mr Kofi Attor (NDC, Ho Central) in his usual light-hearted manner, said if inflation had really gone down, it was the masses who should judge and not the President himself. He questioned the policy of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and noted that the Ministry was only going about sharing monies. – The Ghanaian Times
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Accra (Greater Accra) 16 February 2002 - The Government Negotiating Team (GNT) has resolved to clinch a deal with the VOLTA Aluminium Company (VALCO) under which the company will reserve half of its output to Ghana for the country’s industrialisation. In addition, the team will press for the processing of bauxite from Awaso in the Western Region by December 2003, while the government will also have to ensure that the Awaso-Tema railway line is put in good shape.
“The setting up of such a processing factory will not exceed three months,” say the experts. Highly-placed sources said in Accra that out of VALCO’s output of 200,000 metric tonnes a year, only 1,000 metric tonnes go to Aluworks a Tema-based aluminium products manufacturing firm and the rest is exported.
Information has it that Aluworks has the capacity to triple its output should it get enough alumina products. Sources say there are many areas that alumina could be used so that jobs could be created. It is known that aviation parts, car engine blocks and a host of others are produced from aluminium products. Indications are that should the VALCO team agree to some of the demands, it will be in the mutual interest of the two parties.
The sources say that even though the VALCO team demanded clarification of the fundamental issue of some supposed agreements which were never approved by Parliament, a meeting on Monday will give a clear picture of the situation whether there will be a deadlock or not.
The government negotiating team has Mr B.J. da Rocha as chairman, with Nii Ayi Ayite of Nexans Kabel Metal, Mr Fred Asante, Managing Director of Electricity Company of Ghana and Kwame Sarpong, Chief Executive of Cocoa Board, as members. Others are Mr Kwabena Darko of Darko Farms, Mr Daniel Gyima, Managing Director of National Investment Bank; Mrs Catherine Quartey Ayensu of the Attorney-General’s Department.
A representative from the Volta River Authority (VRA), a key player in the talks, is always around just as there is institutional representation from the Internal Revenue Service or the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) when the need arises. The GNT also has technical committees on finance and economic, aluminium process, power and energy and legal matters. – Daily Graphic
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 16 February 2002 - Overnight, wedding and engagement rings have
become fashionable among young girls and unmarried women. The pathetic case of
a female graduate of the University College of Winneba may well offer a clue as
to why the clamor for wedding rings has become the latest craze.
The
unmarried young graduate recently wept like a baby when a trotro driver’s mate
proposed love and marriage to her. The woman obviously felt insulted and
demeaned, and wept copiously to lament her unmarried status. The next day, she
donned a wedding ring.
‘The
Spectator’ encountered the graduate during a random survey the paper conducted
last week to ascertain why engagement and wedding rings which are a preserve of
only married couples have now become fashionable among girls and young
unmarried women.
They
procure the wedding rings, which they wear either to ward off harassment or to
portray an image of marital dignity, honour and respectability. Some of these
females actually invest huge sums of money in these rings which sell between
˘150,000 and ˘5 million.
The
majority of the unmarried women the Spectator spoke to said they indeed wear
the rings to protect themselves from harassment from men. “Whenever a woman is
seen without a ring, it is assumed that she is unattached and all sorts of
people make advances which embarrass us”, said one woman who spotted a very
expensive-looking ring.
Narrating
her own experience, the graduate who wept said sometime late last year, she was
used to board a particular trotro from Haatso to Accra Central. Following this,
she became close to the driver and his mate. One Saturday night, the beautiful
slim lady said she was in her rented room when she heard a knock at her door.
The time
was about 9: 30 pm. Apparently, the driver’s mate had inquired and found out
that the lady was single. It might also be that, seeing her often without a
ring, the mate easily concluded that she was single. On opening the door, she
saw the driver’s mate who had combed the area to find her house. “After
exchanging greetings, I questioned him about his mission,” said the lady.
Scratching his head, the driver’s mate told her that he had come to visit her
because he was in love with her.
The woman,
who is now a tutor in Accra, said she quickly banged the door in the face of
the unwelcomed visitor. “I entered straight into my bedroom, sat on the bed and
wept like a child,” she narrated to this paper. From then, the woman decided on
one thing- to get married or buy an engagement ring to put on. She bought the
ring.
Another
unmarried woman wearing an engagement ring said almost all her classmates are
married. She therefore felt uneasy without a ring. “At an advance age of 41, I
feel I must be attached, but meanwhile, I’ve decided to buy the ring to feel
better among my peers.”
A good
number of the women, although customarily married, also wished they were
wedded. They therefore go ahead to buy the wedding ring and put it on to
partially fulfil their wishes. Other women that the Spectator talked to said
people often accused them of being bad women.
The Very
Rev Dr Emmanuel Asante, Principal of the Trinity College, when contacted on the
implications of unmarried women wearing engagement ring, said for those women
customarily married, he sees nothing wrong with it. It is just a jewellery. A
woman who is customarily married can wear an engagement ring. He said wearing
an engagement or wedding ring indicates symbolically that one is committed.
Under
normal circumstances, however, anyone who wears the ring should have been
wedded, he said. Very Rev Dr Asante said any person who wears a wedding ring
without any attachment is jumping the gun- meaning and this is not proper.
To those
women who claim they feel uncomfortable and therefore, use it in protecting
themselves, he questioned whether that craze could ward off men. According to
Rev. Dr Asante, unmarried women who wear the rings ward off dignified men. He
said those who want to get married should not wear it since men will not
approached them.
Jewellery
shops operators confirmed the new craze and said majority of women buy the most
expensive rings. Others too, they said go in for copper rings which cost less-
between ˘40,000 and ˘150,000. - The Spectator.
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comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 February 2002 - Police on Friday arrested a 27-year-old man as prime suspect in the death of a couple whose bodies were found at Dogo Beach, near the old Slaughter House in Accra. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Helena Cobbinah, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview, that the suspect, whose name was being withheld, was arrested because there was a dispute over money between him and the couple, Mr Kpakpa Quartey, 33 and Ms Emelia Okai, 23.
DSP Cobbinah said that Mr Quartey had filed a writ at a community tribunal prior to his death to retrieve his money from the suspect. Hundreds of residents in the Korle Bu, Korle Gonno and Chorkor areas of Accra on Thursday morning, trooped to the Dogo Beach, to see the bizarre end to the couple, last seen on Tuesday evening around 7.00 pm.
A source close to the woman said that after they had watched television that evening, the woman gave her three-month-old baby to a relative and the couple went out to buy food to eat. Their bodies were found at the beach after three days.
Emelia’s bloated body was lying in a supine position near the tunnel that links the Korle Lagoon to the sea. Her brassier and blouse were torn and there were deep cuts in her palm, head, shoulders and waist. Her stomach had what appeared to be stab wounds and the intestines were gushing out. The skin on the lower part of her body, especially the legs, had peeled off.
Eyewitnesses said that they found Mr Quartey’s body in a prone position also with deep cuts all over the body, but the police said that his body was also in a supine position and his skin had also peeled off. The bodies have since been deposited at the Korle Bu Mortuary while investigations continue. – The Ghanaian Times
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo Region) 16 February 2002 - A 25-year-old man, Sulemana Abdul Rahaman, standing trial before a Sunyani High Court for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl in the bush, said he was insane at the time he committed the crime.
Sulemana who pleaded guilty with explanation, said because of his state of mental health, he could not realise what he did until he was treated and told of what had happened by the police. He has consequently appealed to the court to discharge him.
The high court, presided over by Mr Justice Paul Baffoe Bonnie, directed that Sulemana be sent to the Sunyani Hospital for medical examination to ascertain whether he suffered form mental disorder.
Prosecuting, Chief State Attorney, Mr B. Cab-Beyuo, told the court that on March 31, 1997, the victim went to the farm at Wenchi with her younger sister. On their arrival, Sulemana approached them and said he heard some noise and thought they were thieves.
The prosecutor said the girls continued with their work thinking Sulemana would go. Mr Cab-Beyuo said Sulemana suddenly held the victim’s hand, dragged her to a distance and forcibly had sex with her.
The prosecutor said Sulemana threatened to kill the victim if she disclosed the incident to anyone. Mr Cab-Beyuo said after raping the girl, Sulemana went into hiding until he was apprehended by the police.
On his arrest, he told the police that he was not mentally sound and was therefore sent to his hometown for treatment. Sulemana was sent back into custody pending the outcome of medical examination. - The Mirror.
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