Row
over Kufuor’s meeting with judiciary - NDC hypocrisy exposed!
$3.7bn debt to go - World Bank
Accra
(Greater Accra) 27 February 2002 - The World Bank has decided to cancel $3.7
billion of Ghana’s $6 billion external debt. Mr Peter Harrold, World Bank
Country Director in Ghana, who announced this in Accra, said the World Bank is
expected to approve Ghana’s decision point to the Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries (HIPC) Initiative early on Wednesday.
He was
speaking at a two-day workshop to promote United Nations International
Conference on financing for development organized by the United Nations Systems
in Ghana on Tuesday. Economists, bankers and representatives of the various UN
agencies in the country are attending the conference which is a prelude to the
International Conference on Financing for Development to held in Monterrey,
Mexico next month.
Mr Harrold
said the relief is significant and expressed the hope that Ghana will be able
to use the money which it would have earmarked for servicing the debt to better
the lot of Ghanaians. Explaining the conditions attached to the relief, he said
the government is expected to keep track of its economic policies, keep
inflation and interest rates down and channel the relief into the poverty
alleviation programme.
He said
government is also expected to continue a stabilization policy and ensure the
gradual growth of the economy. The Country Director, however, mentioned that
the full details of the conditionalities would be made available in a press statement
to be issued on Wednesday. He said what needs to be done is for the countries
that seek aid to improve trade between them and other wealthy nations and
called on African countries to emulate the examples of the wealthy nations in
that direction.
Dr G.A.
Agambila, a Deputy Minister of Finance, who represented the sector minister,
said the government has set the pace for development and it is expected to make
Ghanaians realize the full benefits of the HIPC initiative from this year.
The UN
Resident Coordinator, Mr Alfred Salia Fawundu, mentioned some of the
expectations of the conference as support for the millennium development goals
through a reversal of the long-term decline in official development assistance
and if possible double annual ODA from $50 billion to $100 billion within two
or three years so as to cut extreme poverty by half by 2015.
The
conference is also expected to reach an agreement in favour of a comprehensive
international convention against corruption, continuation of the momentum
achieved in Doha where a new agenda for trade negotiations was agreed.
Another
crucial expectation, according to Mr Fawundu, is the expansion of the
representation of developing countries in global economic management and the
commitment to implement and extend the HIPC initiative as well as to deal with
middle-income sovereign country debt crisis. – Daily Graphic.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 27 February 2002 - The German Development Bank (DEG) has
expressed interest in the divestiture of the National Investment Bank. It has
consequently called on the government to expedite the divestiture of the bank.
The
Counsellor in the Department for Financial Cooperation, Ministry of Economic
Cooperation and Development, Federal Republic of Germany, Dr Stefan Oswald,
made the call when he paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Private Sector
Development, Mr Kwamena Bartels at the State House in Accra.
Dr Oswald
said the German Development Bank, for which he is responsible, is prepared to
participate in the divestiture and provide the privatised bank with private
equity and long-term loans to enable it to boost private sector development. He
said the DEG is a development finance institution of the German Federal
Government and, as part of German development cooperation, DEG promotes the
private sector in developing countries by financing and supporting sustainable
private investment projects.
Dr Oswald
said as at December 2000, DEG’s investments totalled Euros 16.1 billion in 90
countries. He said, the core sectoral areas which are the focal points of DEG’s
activities are: the financial sector, manufacturing and services, agriculture
and forestry, infrastructure Development, public private partnerships (PPP),
promotion of SMEs and private venture capital.
Other
members of the Consortium who with the DEG have expressed interest in restructuring
the NIB and providing it with long-term loans and venture capital to support
the private sector include the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the
World Bank, the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) and a major South
African Bank.
The
government advertised the sale of government’s shares in the National
Investment Bank in April 2001 and requested interested parties to submit
comprehensive offer proposals by July 31, 2001. Since then the divestiture of
the bank seems to have stalled. This may give investors a negative impression
about the seriousness of the government’s divestiture programme as investors
are under the impression that after going through the trouble of submitting
offers, there will be no response.
Dr Oswald
also requested the government to be sensitive in reviewing agreements, which
were signed by the previous government so that commercial counterparts of those
entities do not suffer. This was in reference to the Gateway Services
initiative, which is under review. – Daily Graphic.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 27 February 2002 - The People’s National Convention (PNC) has
chosen Mr Andrews Nomwa, a 38-year-old nurse, as the party’s new candidate for
the March 14 Bimbilla bye-election. Mr Nomwa, who works at Chamba in the
Bimbilla Constituency, was unanimously elected by the PNC at a constituency
delegates’ congress at Bimbilla on Monday.
A PNC
source who disclosed this to the Graphic in an interview in Accra on Tuesday
said Mr Nomwa’s name accordingly features in the party’s name for the ballot.
The choice of Mr Nomwa follows the decision of Mr Dominic Nitiwul, who had
earlier been presented as the candidate for the PNC in the bye-election, to
withdraw support for the party at the weekend.
Mr Nitiwul
is reported to have told PNC officials at Bimbilla last weekend that he had
left the party and pitched camp with the NPP to contest the polls. The PNC
leader, Dr Edward Mahama, denounced the action of Mr Nitiwul, describing him as
either “a fraud or an imposter.”
The PNC
followed up its protestation with a suit it filed at a Tamale High Court on
Monday seeking to restrain the Electoral Commission (EC) from accepting the
candidature of Mr Nitiwul, and Mr Nitiwul from being fielded as a candidate in
the March 14 bye-election.
The PNC is
insisting that Mr Nitiwul was a member of the PNC at the time he sought its
nomination and that it (PNC) had incurred expenses on preparing him (Mr
Nitiwul) for the bye-election on the ticket of the party. The PNC source told
the Graphic that the party was very determined to win the bye-election and
would not be distracted by these turn of events. – Daily Graphic.
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A Tamale
High Court will on Thursday hear the case in which the People’s National
Convention (PNC) is praying the court to restrain the Electoral Commission (EC)
from accepting the candidature of Dominic B.A. Nitiwul in the March 14
bye-election in the Bimbilla Constituency.
The party
is also seeking the court’s order to restrain Mr Nitiwul from contesting the
election on the ticket of any other political party apart from the PNC. The EC
has set aside February 27 and 28 for the filing of nominations for the conduct
of the bye-election.
In a statement
of claim in support of the writ, the plaintiff said it incurred expenses
amounting to ¢2 million towards the transport, boarding and lodging of the
defendant, Nitiwul and two others during his visit to the headquarters of the
party in Accra. The statement said the defendant personally collected various
sums of money amounting to ¢1 million from the plaintiff towards his campaign
as the party’s candidate in the bye-election.
It said
when officials of the plaintiff travelled from Accra to Chamba-Bimbilla on
February 23, to discuss the implementation of a campaign strategy earlier
developed in Accra and also to present to him logistics for his campaigns, he
told the plaintiff to hold on since he had changed his mind on contesting the
election on the plaintiff’s ticket.
According
to the statement, since the defendant had earlier been presented to the party’s
supporters at the constituency as its candidate and the fact that the EC has
fixed February 27 and 28 for the filing of nominations, it is impossible to get
another candidate who can be introduced to the party’s supporters without
creating confusion,” it added.
It said
this will adversely affect the chances of the party in the bye-election,
pointing out that the defendant knows the whole campaign strategy of the
plaintiff for the bye-election. The Bimbilla parliamentary seat became vacant
following the resignation of Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas (NDC) on February 15 to
take up a new appointment as Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS). – Daily Graphic.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 27 February 2002 - The often-criticised double standards of the
NDC came very much into play last week with the release of a statement by the
parliamentary group over a meeting between the President and the Chief Justice,
The Statesman can pronounce. A search through the paper’s archives has brought
up an earlier meeting where Flt-Lt Jerry Rawlings allegedly grabbed a walking
stick from one of the visiting justices and violently pointing it at them in
turns accused the judges of turning against his regime.
In last
week’s statement, the NDC Minority Group described as an act of indiscretion by
the President and the Chief Justice, their meeting at the Castle behind close
doors. This, the group claimed, had the potential of compromising the
constitutional independence of the judiciary and making it a tool in the hands
of the government.
Subsequent
to that, the Supreme Court held an unusual press conference at which Chief
Justice Wiredu quoted the relevant constitutional provisions to justify the
meeting, which, he said, was a normal occurrence.
After
undertaking a trip down memory lane, however, The Statesman can confirm that
last Tuesday’s meeting was not only normal, but was also a more decent and
respectable interaction compared to the crude and intimidating ones organized
by former President Rawlings for the Judiciary. The weekending August 7, 1994
edition of The Statesman, reproduced hereafter, under the headline, “Rawlings
Insults Judges,” tells it all.
“The age
long (P)NDC hatred for the Judiciary was given further proof when Flt-Lt. Jerry
John Rawlings launched a scurrilous attack on the Justices of the Supreme
Court. The occasion for subjecting their Lordships to humiliation was the
swearing in of newly appointed judges of the Court of Appeal.
According
to Statesman’s sources, their Lordships were peremptorily summoned to the
Castle to witness the occasion. But the plan to humiliate them was put in
motion right from the Castle gate, as two of them, Mr Justice Francois and Mr
Justice Amua-Sakyi were prevented from entering.
Inside the
Castle, the swearing-in ceremony was followed by the usual speech making.
Making his exhortations, Flt-Lt Rawlings is said to have flown into his usual
tantrums when it was his turn. He allegedly snatched the Chief Justice’s
walking stick from him. Pointing it menacingly at their lordships, he is
alleged to have openly threatened them for their stand on constitutional
matters.
The
Ex-Flt-Lt. is alleged to have pointed the walking stick at Justice G.E.K.
Aikins, blaming him for the spread of the white paper on the S.I.B. Report,
which has since refused to die. Then he accused the judge of turning against
the PNDC, which appointed him to the Supreme Court, following that, it is
alleged, with a veiled threat.
Flt.-Lt.
Rawlings, our source claims, did not spare Justice Hayfron Benjamin, whom he
accused of turning against the regime which brought him from Kumasi and
elevated him to the Supreme Court. Now, it was to Justice Adade that the
Ex-Flt.-Lt. pointed the thing at. But then he is said to have contemptuously
dismissed him with the remark that his stand was no surprise since, as Busia’s
Attorney-General, his credentials as a UP man were in no doubt.
The NDC
leader then turned to Justice I.K. Abban whom he described as honest and
upright, urging him to carry on with those principles. Now, enter the Acting
Attorney-General, allegedly chiding their Lordship, and remarking that the
(P)NDC had so far been very fair in its treatment of the judiciary, and has
refused to follow the examples of governments in certain countries, which pack
the judiciary with its supporters.
Their
Lordships, obviously taken aback by the humiliating experience, trooped out in
a very sullen mood, with some of them vowing never to sit on constitutional
cases. Since coming into power more than 12 years ago, the (P)NDC has
consistently displayed hatred, contempt and dislike for the nation’s respected
Judiciary and the judicial process.
In 1983, it
organized an invasion of the Supreme Court by its hooligans who assaulted
learned members of the Bench and Bar. Labelling the orthodox judicial process
“bourgeois,” it tried to supplant it with the public tribunal system calculated
to dispense “instant justice.”
This hatred
has been carried into the present constitutional era when, late last year, Mr
Rawlings and his supporters launched scathing attacks on the Supreme Court for
voting against the declaration of December 31 as a public holiday. The attack
and threats were carried into the chambers of Ghana’s Legislature. In his
second sessional address to Parliament, Flt.-Lt. Rawlings warned the Judiciary
against what he described as a “constitutional coup.” Adding that he would
ensure the Judiciary “cooperate” with the Executive.
The most harrowing
experience of the Judiciary at the hands f the PNDC so far, has been the
gruesome murder of the three High Court judges in June 1982 by some agents of
that regime. It is left to be seen how the Bar and Bench would react to this
latest attack, which political observers see as clear intimidation calculated
to cow the judicial arm of the state.” – The Statesman.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 27 February 2002 - Charles Eric Paterson Simmons, the
Safari-garbed enigma now commonly known as Kofi Wayo, in an uncharacteristic
bid to avouch his loyalty to the New Patriotic Party, (NPP) says, in a
post-budget mood of confidence that “we are on the right track even if on the
wrong rail line as a result of decades of mismanagement of the economy.”
He,
however, maintains with a stubbornness, which might be construed as of someone
with a bit lacking upstairs, that it was all right for him to suggest earlier
that a way of solving the energy crisis is to engage the masses of unemployed
young Ghanaians to fetch buckets of water into the Akosombo Dam. “Serious
crisis calls for outlandish suggestions,” he reasons.
But, true
to form and showing that offence is usually the best form of defence he says,
in an interview with The Statesman, that anybody who thinks that his political
idealism and ambitions are the mark of delusions of grandeur must be suffering
from “delusions of not seeing reality.” And, for those who think that he is
suffering from a chronic case of lyrical diarrhoea (an inability to keep his
mouth shut) they must rather check themselves as they are most probably
suffering from acute “mental constipation.”
In his
usual swashbuckling style, the man who nearly became perhaps a nightmarish
member of the elite political club of parliamentarians on an NPP ticket says he
is willing to work within the disciplines of his political party. He says in
cryptic that he sees the NPP as “Unreasonably reasonable” but the NDC to have
ruled the nation with reasonable unreasonableness.
Questioned
as to whether he is aware of the perception that the public are taking him less
and less seriously due to his seemingly consistent criticism of the year-old
Kufuor administration, he responds, by saying that his party is tolerant and is
not averse to criticism, adding soberly, “I’ll be leaving for the United States
next Sunday and I plan to stay away for a year. That should keep me quiet.”
Sotto voce
wisdom within the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on hindsight, sighs but with
greater relief that Kofi Wayo lost the East Ayawaso seat in Parliamentary
Elections of December 2000. The man, who was brought up in a military camp in
the US and claims to have made his first million at the age of 20, after
starting life as a sixteen-year-old car valeting apprentice, has so far shown
himself to be a loose cannon within the ruling party, providing the opposition
with free ammunitions. A charge which he passionately denies. – The Statesman.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 27 February 2002 - Sick and bedridden, the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) Presidential candidate in the 1992 general elections, Professor Albert
Adu-Boahen, has much more squabbles in his house that could cause him
psychological trauma than his current ailment, as his five children from
previous marriage jointly dragged the famous historian’s wife to court.
The writ,
which was filed jointly by the professor’s children at an Accra High Court and
heard on Monday, this week, prayed the court to issue an interim order
restraining the wife, Mrs Mary Adu-Boahen, from preventing the children from
visiting their sick father of 69 years.
The
presiding judge, Justice J.K. Ebiasah, after carefully studying the docket,
issued the interim order restraining Mrs Mary Adu-Boahen from barring her
stepchildren from seeing their father who, according to Kweku Adu_Boahen, a son
of the eminent historian, has been sick for sometime now.
The
plaintiffs were represented in court by Kweku Adu-Boahen, who is domiciled in
the United States of America and had the unfortunate task of being prevented
from seeing the sick dad by his stepmother even though he had travelled to
Ghana with the sole aim of seeing him.
After
proceedings in court on Tuesday, Kweku, who filed the suit on his behalf and
that of his four other siblings, who are also domiciled abroad, was full of
praise for the rule of law, saying he was happy he could at long last visit the
dad without much headache. Asked by the Chronicle why he thinks the stepmother
would not allow any of them access to their own father, who is sick and stuck
to bed, he said only the stepmother could tell because none of them begrudges
her.
Continuing,
he said he stays in the United State, together with another sibling, while two
others live in London and the last person making a living in South Africa, but
he stressed, “whenever we call home to speak to our father on telephone, our
stepmother would not let us talk to him.”
He added
that because of their inability to converse with their dad on phone, it was
decided that he should come to Ghana to sort things out. He said he arrived in
Ghana from the United States on February 13, this year and was fortunate to
have access to his father on three occasions, adding, “but anytime I go there
the wife wants to be present before we communicate.”
Kweku
Adu-Boahen said on the fourth occasion that he went to the father’s residence,
the stepmother was not at home, so he was able to converse with the father
alone devoid of intimidation, but unfortunately for him, that was when his woes
started. He said when her stepmother returned and got to know that he (Kweku)
was with the old man in her absence, his troubles of contacting his father
re-emerged as Mrs Mary Adu-Boahen has since refused him access to the father.
“At the moment, my father is sick and can’t do anything, but she won’t let us
see him,” Kweku said, worried. – The Chronicle.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 27 February 2002 - A London-based Ghanaian information
technology engineer and consultant, Mr Daniel Addo-Adjei has assembled a
computer software in vernacular. Briefing newsmen, Addo-Adjei said he
personally assembled the software to make it easier to operate and affordable.
According
to the engineer, his objective is to place the Ghanaian language on the
international market and be accorded linguistic recognition and dignity.
Addo-Adjei, who is participating in this year’s Trade Fair with his computers,
disclosed that he was working hard to come out before the end of this year with
a software for Ga and Ewe.
He urged
the government to make the teaching of Ghanaian language compulsory in schools
adding that a “neglect of our mother tongue in favour of a foreign one
diminishes our talent and demeans our culture.” The engineer, who lectures in
Twi at Hendon College, London, argued that the Akan language is linked with her
rich culture. He asserted that culture could not survive in a vacuum.
“Many a
Ghanaian home enthusiastically encourages its wards to speak, read and write
English, the official language of Ghana. But is it right that a sovereign state
should abandon her language for that of another?” He asked. Addo-Adjei was optimistic
that soon Ghanaians would be electronic mailing in their dialect and read their
mother tongue on the Internet.
He appealed
to the government to support him to enable him assemble more vernacular
computers. Addo-Adjei, who has built seven modules in computer in English, has
presented two multimedia Pentium computers and accessories to the Ghana High
Commission to help ease the pressure of work on staff of the Passport section
in London. – The Chronicle.
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Kintampo
(Ashanti Region) 27 February 2002 - A 31-year-old man who posed as a medical
doctor at the Kintampo District Hospital was on Monday, arrested and placed in
custody by the police. “Dr” Paul Acheampong had told the hospital authorities
that he was transferred from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in
Kumasi.
On his
arrival to begin work last Thursday, February 14, he was said to have furnished
the authorities with a handwritten curriculum vitae (CV) indicating that he was
trained at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
A native of
Akyim Achiase, Oda, the suspect who resided at Darkuman in Accra, claimed to
have attended KNUST from 1992 to 2001 after which he did his housemanship at
KATH and Saint Dominic Hospital in Akwatia.
But
earlier, he told the authorities that he completed his housemanship in 1999 at
KATH and left for the United Kingdom for further studies. The chairman of the
youth wing of the New Patriotic Party, NPP M. A. Baah Agyapong, was said to
have confronted him on his status, judging from his behaviour but the young
doctor brushed him off. According to the Hospital Administrator, Mr Jeremiah
Tiimob, his behaviour gave him up as he could not even prescribe any drugs. He
only touched the patients and said, “you will be well”.
After his
arrival, “Dr” Acheampong started collecting money from the staff among other
things, he added. Convinced that he was a fake doctor, the nurses were said to
have confronted him after which they informed the Regional Health Director, Dr
Kofi Asare, who ordered that the police should cause his arrest. And as fate
could have it he was picked while on duty.
According
to Mr Tiimob, the ‘Doctor’ has pleaded with him to let the police drop the
case. He said the ‘Dr’ later told him that he heard of the announcement of the
lack of medical doctors at the hospital, hence his action. The police, when
contacted confirmed the incident and said they were still investigating. – The
Ghanaian Times.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 27 February 2002 - A 48-year old farmer, Mathias Naa of
Suoma-Dabo village in the Wa district of the Upper West Region, who could not
bear the idea of another man sharing his wife with him, lay ambush and shot the
man dead.
Mathias
handed himself over to the Wa police after executing his plan to perfection.
The deceased, Alex Zenye, met his death on February 22, when he was returning
from a village market at about 10 pm on his bicycle. He was shot by the suspect
on reaching the outskirts of Suoma-Dabo.
Briefing
the ‘Times’ on the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PRO),
Inspector Daniel Dorkpoh, said that Alex died instantly in the bush. Inspector
Dorkpoh said that during interrogation, Mathias explained that the deceased had
been “sharing” his second wife, Florence Naa, with him.
Mathias
further stated that during the first week of February, he caught the deceased
having sex with his wife in the bush. He reported the matter to the elders of
the village and the deceased was warned to desist from the practice, but he
continued the affair with his wife, hence his decision to “eliminate him,” the
PRO added. The suspect has been placed in custody and is to be put before court
soon. - The Ghanaian Times.
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Saamang (Eastern Region) 27 February 2002 – Saamaang, a farming town in the East Akim District of the Eastern Region is boiling with rage, following a dawn swoop on the town by the police last week. The police raided the town and arrested all male adults they came across. About 70 people were picked, out of which a few were released later.
A few others who managed to escape into the bush have warned the Koforidua Police Command to release those arrested or face the “consequences.” They have also vowed to do justice to Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, MP for the area who, according to them masterminded the swoop.
Mr Kenneth Owusu, a victim of the swoop who called at the offices of “The Evening News” in Accra on Monday to narrate the incident, said the confrontation started when Mr Ofosu Ampofo led a contractor to the town’s forest to fell trees. He said the youth whose lives depend so much on the forest, vehemently resisted the attempts by the contractor to fell the trees.
According to him not even a letter purported to have come from the Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin’s palace appealing to the town’s folk to allow the felling to go on would convince them. Mr Owusu said they also rejected an offer by the contractor and the MP to pay every farmer for every tree fell.
According to Mr Owusu the whole township was surprised when they found out that an illegal road had been constructed from Bunso into forest to facilitate the sector transportation of the logs. On realising the harm the contractor and the MP wanted to cause to the forest, Mr Owusu said the youth blocked the road in an attempt to stop them from carrying the logs away.
Consequently, he said one of the trucks carrying the logs skidded off the road, injuring one of the policemen who had accompanied the contractor into the forest. Later after the incident, he said three soldiers visited the town and patrolled all corners, apparently to study the topography of the town.
Then at dawn on Thursday, February 21, hundreds of policemen invaded the town and arrested all male adults. He said Mr Ampofo had earlier warned that he would “show them where power lies” if they continued with their resistance. According to him, the NPP constituency chairman who was among those arrested was pointed out and was kept in a separate cell.
Mr Owusu said those who could afford 300,000 cedis were immediately released by the police on the spot. He said the youth have vowed to fight for justice after they have been denied for more than 48 hours. – The Evening New
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