Boot out the Malaysians!..For incompetence in the telecom industry - Wereko-Brobby
SSNIT, GREDA to build 6,000 housing units
Tunisian woman duped $120,000
Fireman dies in action
J.H. Mensah blasts Jerry
Revelation 2000…More babies to be abandoned
Boot out the Malaysians!..For incompetence in the telecom industry - Wereko-Brobby
The Crusading Guide in its top story reports that the Minister of Communications, Mr john Mahama, has been called upon to take immediate and urgent steps to terminate the contract of the entire management of Ghana Telecom - which is made up of Malaysians - at the earliest possible opportunity.
The paper says that Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, who made the request in a letter addressed to the Minister, said the Malaysians had displayed "absolute incompetence". Dr Wereko-Brobby, presidential candidate of the United Ghana Movement (UGM), is quoted as noting, "with the singular exception of collecting our money, which it has discharged with ruthless and greedy efficiency, Ghana Telecom's services have gone progressively downhill since it was placed under new management".
He added that, "none of the ills that was associated with the old organisation has been cured". The Crusading Guide says that Dr Wereko-Brobby made reference to the shutting down of the whole of the Cantonments Exchange (serving the "77 and "76 numbers inn Accra) for about a week towards the end of the year.
"And not just any ordinary week, but the week of the onset of the new millennium, when literally millions of Ghanaians wanted to exchange greetings and good wishes with their families and friends here and in the diaspora", he is reported as saying.
GRi../
The Ghanaian Times
SSNIT, GREDA to build 6,000 housing units
The Ghanaian Times reports that the President, Flt-.Lt. Jerry Rawlings, yesterday cut the sod for the commencement of a 6,000 housing units project at Dunkonah in the Ga District of the Greater Accra Region.
The Times says that the project, regarded as the biggest in Ghana, is being undertaken by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) in partnership with the Ghana Real Estate Developers' Association (GREDA).
The project is to be implemented in phases and will comprise schools, health centres, recreational and commercial facilities. The first phase will cover 3,000 houses.
The Times quotes President Rawlings as saying that the project is a clear testimony of the government's role as a facilitator in the housing sector. It also demonstrates how the state and the private sector working together can achieve the desired results.
"We have reached this far through active partnership between the government, GREDA, SSNIT and the commercial banks", he is reported as saying. The President is said to have expressed concern about the large proportion of workers, who cannot afford to own houses in Ghana.
He, therefore, suggested that consideration should be given to the provision of rental units under the project to be rented out to workers.
GRi.
Daily Graphic
Tunisian woman duped $120,000
In a front-page story, the Daily Graphic reports that the hopes of a Tunisian woman financial consultant to assist some foreign companies to invest in Ghana, were dashed when she was duped to the tune of $120,000 by Nigerian fraudsters operating in Ghana. Mrs Zohra Matousi, a financial consultant to Atlantic Gulf Energy Incorporated and Basic International Development Corporation, sister companies in New York, United States, is said to have been lured to Ghana by the Nigerians, who posed as Ghanaian businessmen, and managed to dupe her.
The Graphic says that the leader of the gang, Dr Ibrahim Mumuni also known as Chief Christopher Nwaokoye, is on the run but four of his accomplices, including a Lebanese, have been arrested by the security agencies.
Fireman dies in action
In another front-page story, the Graphic writing on a human-interest story, says that a fire outbreak at a house near the Maamobi Market in Accra during the late hours of last Tuesday, claimed the life of a fire officer and destroyed property worth millions of cedis. The paper says that Divisional Officer Grade II, Ebenezer Seddoh, 54, of the Greater Accra Regional Fire Service Office at Tudu, who lived in the area, had tried to contain the fire before the arrival of his colleagues.
Unfortunately, he stepped on a live electric wire and was electrocuted. The paper quotes Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) J.M. Formedi, Kotobabi District Police Commander as saying that on January 4, Michael Gabianu, a fire officer, called at the station and reported that a fire outbreak at a house near Maamobi Market had claimed the life of one fire officer.
He said when the police moved to the scene, a daughter of the deceased, Rose Seddoh, told them that someone called at their house with the information that there was a fire outbreak in the area.
Her father, who was then asleep, was awakened and he quickly dressed up and rushed to the scene where he mobilised some neighbours to assist him prevent the fire from spreading to other houses.
According to DSP Formedi, the deceased was able to control the fire and after that, he entered one of the rooms to ascertain the cause but unfortunately, he stepped on a live wire and was electrocuted.
GRi../
The Guide
J.H. Mensah blasts Jerry
In a front-page banner headline story, the Guide reports Mr J.H. Mensah, Minority Leader in Parliament as asking the armed forces to ignore what he described as "lies" about the Opposition as told by President Jerry Rawlings at the El-Wak Stadium on December 31. Mr Mensah is said to have accused President Rawlings of using the occasion to cause mischief.
"This is only a blatant lie as President Rawlings well knows, but also an attempt to cover up another foreign deal of the same type as the jet deal from the Cayman Islands", he is quoted as saying.
The Guide says that Mr Mensah's reaction is in respect of a statement by President Rawlings that the Minority in Parliament had stood against his worthy efforts to provide the security services with the logistics, which they need to work with.
According to the paper, Mr Mensah explained that in the dying days of the second sitting of Parliament in December last year, the NDC government presented to the House, a contract that it had negotiated with a South African arms dealer, Messrs Reumech OMC.
The Minority leader is reported as saying that the Executive demanded that all MPs approve the agreement in a great hurry before rising for vacation. He said in view of the fact that the MPs had not scrutinised the agreement, the House did not approve of it in the interest of the nation.
He is said to have further explained that the agreement was a follow-up to one the House approved on July 30, in respect of a suppliers credit agreement for $16.9 million. He said during the probing of this agreement, some damaging aspects of the whole transaction were exposed.
He said instead of addressing the basic day-to-day needs of the Police Service, $11.7 million of the $16.9 million loan was used to import armoured vehicles and water cannons for the Service instead of basic communication equipment and gadgets.
"Every competent police officer will tell you that their most urgent priority need is to re-equip them for mobility and communication", he is quoted as saying.
GRi../
The Accra Mail
Revelation 2000…More babies to be abandoned
In its lead story, the Accra Mail writes about a revelation by a church and says this year is going to witness an unprecedented rise in the number of babies that would be dumped across Ghana, unless God reverses the situation.
The paper says this was one of the several end-of-year 'revelations' that came to members of a church in Accra at midnight on January `1, 2000, as they worshipped and thanked God for seeing them through a rather strenuous 1999.
The Accra Mail says that the revelation came in an uncompromising tone, alerting all women, who plan to abandon their babies that severe punishment awaits them if they indulge in the act.
According to the revelation, equally alarming would be the number of women who will die from criminal abortions. It said a large percentage of those to die from the self-induced abortions are 'little girls'.
The paper says that the revelation urged Ghanaians to play intensely for God to avert the situation.
GRi../