Ghana Palaver
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'Ashanti Convention Party falling apart as the youth kick against Kwasi Prempeh', says the Ghana Palaver in a lead headline story. The paper says trouble and confusion are brewing in the Ashanti Regional branch of the Convention Party (CP) following the appointment of Mr Kwasi Prempeh as the party's acting regional chairman. The Palaver quotes CP insiders at the launching of the party's newspaper, 'The Convention', as saying the youth are demanding the immediate removal of Mr Prempeh, former Ashanti Regional chairman of the defunct People's Convention Party (PCP).
According to the insiders, Mr Prempeh lacks administrative competence to run the regional party effectively. In addition, they charge that the new acting regional chairman is autocratic.
The Palaver sources say that though Mr Prempeh is not constitutionally elected, it is better he is replaced before things get out of hand.
The Guide
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The Guide in a front page story reports President Jerry Rawlings as making very serious allegations against members of the opposition parties. The paper says in what could be described as a veiled attempt to brush aside the unresolved 5 million dollars scandal, the President has turned the scales on the opposition political parties, calling them 'criminals'. President Rawlings is reported to have told a gathering of security officers At the El-Wak Stadium in Accra that armed robbers and cocaine dealers finance the opposition parties.
The President, the Guide says, called on the security forces to clamp down on armed robbers and cocaine dealers because whatever financial gains they make are used to support the opposition.
The Guide
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The lead headline of the Graphic which says: 'Disturbances at Juaso one dead, 12 cops wounded', should give cause for concern to every peace-loving Ghanaian.
The accompanying story , an account of a news conference by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Kojo Yankah, has it that the police shot dead one person at Juaso in the Ashanti Region while supporters of Nana Owusu Achaw Prempeh, ex- Juasohene, also wounded 12 policemen in a gun-battle last Sunday evening. Nana Prempeh's supporters are alleged to have burnt down the Juaso Police Station, destroying all documents, a typewriter and communication equipment after cutting off power supply to the town
The story says the deceased has been identified as Kwami Amevor, a setter farmer, while the injured policemen, include Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr H.A. Yakubu, Commander of the 'Buffalo Unit' The Graphic says after the news conference, Mr Yankah led a team of newsmen to Juaso to acquaint himself with developments in the town. The Regional Minister is quoted as saying that three of the wounded policemen, Inspector Sule Bukari and Constables Moses Dekpe and Andrews Appiah, still have bullets in their bodies. Mr Yankah is reported to have told the newsmen that following reports of violence at Juaso the Ashanti Regional Security Council dispatched police reinforcement and military personnel to the town to assess the situation and to restore law and order.
Ghanaian Times
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The Ghanaian Times also reports the Juaso incident but its story appears to be an eyewitness account. Under the heading: 'Riots at Juaso, one man killed', the Times says the Police Buffalo Unit in Kumasi, last Sunday, stormed the palace of Nana Owusu Akyaw Prempeh II, chief of Juaso in the Asante Akim South District of Ashanti, and disrupted a get- together organised by the chief. The paper says the policemen got to the palace at about 3 p.m. and started dismantling canopies erected outside to give shade to those who could not get access to the palace. According to the Times, the action of the police incensed the citizens who booed at them. The police are reported to have responded by firing warning shots and throwing tear-gas whose smoke engulfed the whole palace and its environs, disorganising the function
The paper says in the process, one Yaw Twumasi, 26, was hit in the back and was rushed to the Agogo Presbyterian Hospital. It adds that the vehicle which was conveying newsmen to the function was vandalised, resulting in the people throwing stones while the police fired more shots. The Head of the Buffalo Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police Mr H.A. Yakubu , is reported as telling the newsmen that If the situation continued the police would use live ammunition to curb the riot. Nana Akyaw Prempeh is quoted as that he sought permission from the Juaso Police to erect the canopies, thus he could not understand why they were dismantled.