Ministry to create special schools…
University admission…Backlog over soon – Spio-Garbrah
Konadu power…A dramatic cabinet change signals onset of era of women
Rawlings should reconcile nation – Kwame Pianim
Terrible end for Rawlings
Ministerial reshuffle…Tension in NDC deepens for election 2000
Ministry to create special schools…
The Ghanaian Times in its top story reports that the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) are discussing plans to select some first-class second-cycle institutions in Ghana that will be made autonomous and operate independently.
The story says that institutions to be selected will charge their own fees, and have a free hand in the selection of both students and staff, as well as the employment of other specialised staff. The Times says that by this, the selected schools would take all decisions regarding their day-to-day activities, mobilise resources and expand without recourse to the GES as it pertains now.
The paper says that even though it could not lay hands on names of the institutions involved, sources mentioned schools like Saint Augustine’s College, Holy Child, Achimota, Presbyterian Boys Secondary, Legon, Prempeh College and Wesley Girls’ High School, among other institutions.
The Times says that when it contacted Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, a Deputy Director-General of the GES, in Accra yesterday, he confirmed the report but did not give details. He is reported as saying that since the issue was being discussed, any comment on it cold pre-empt the final outcome.
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The Daily Graphic
University admission…Backlog over soon – Spio-Garbrah
The Daily Graphic in its lead story, reports that the Minister of Education, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has expressed optimism the huge backlog of admissions into the universities would be substantially reduced if the key proposals made at the recent National Education Forum are accepted and approved by Cabinet and Parliament.
The proposals include a change from the present three-year senior secondary school (SSS) programme to four years and a reduction in the four-year university programme to three years. Mr Spio-Garbrah, who was speaking in an interview in Accra, was said to be also optimistic that when the proposals are approved, the overcrowding in the universities would reduce considerably thereby enhancing teaching and learning.
He said currently, the student-teacher ratio at the university is one to 100, while at the senior secondary school level, it is one to 40, adding that there are more contact hours between teachers and students at the SSS level, where at least, five hours of lessons take place everyday, as against about three hours at the university.
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The Ghanaian Chronicle
Konadu power…A dramatic cabinet change signals onset of era of women
In a front-page splash, the Ghanaian Chronicle says that the era of women power inched closer to reality on Monday, this week when the single most powerful and politically significant cabinet post in the land was wrung from the hands of its proud male holder and handed over to a woman – Mrs Cecilia Johnson.
The Chronicle says that was the highlight of the new year’s Yeltsin-style’ shock Cabinet toss up. According to the paper, equally important, it was a crushing blow to head of the so-called ‘Confederate Council of Fantes’ and the consolidation of the power of the ‘31st December Amazons’.
The Chronicle says that bodily flinging Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, was the ultimate humiliation because his new post – Minister of State responsible for Planning and Regional Economic Co-operation and Integration, is a "vacuous new creation full of hot air signifying nothing". The paper sees this as amounting to a taming and complete clipping of Mr Ahwoi’s wings because this new post does not entitle him to get anywhere close to Cabinet room, let alone participate at Cabinet meetings.
The Chronicle wonders whether Mr Ahwoi will be man enough to consider ‘the cold sub-zero wind that blows outside the cushy inside of political power as his senior brother Ato and countryman Kojo Yankah have done and take a leap’, or endure the pubic humiliation.
The paper says that Mrs Cecilia Johnson, one of the trio of powerful single parent in the frontline of the 31st December Women’s Movement’s own "Sinn Fein", has quietly and humbly understudied Mr Kwamena Ahwoi for four years and is ready to wield the controlling levers of power.
According to the Chronicle, Mrs Johnson can now make and unmake district chief executives and parliamentarians and connect with the First Lady’s agenda to flood Parliament with her own people and dominate the political space.
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The Evening News
Rawlings should reconcile nation – Kwame Pianim
In a front-age banner headline story, the Evening News reports Mr Kwame Pianim, an eminent Ghanaian economist and a leading member of the NPP, as urging President Jerry Rawlings to take steps to reconcile Ghana before leaving office next year.
Mr Pianim said that is necessary because some people are harbouring bitterness against the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regimes, both of which the President headed. "There are people going about with wounds of AFRC and PNDC and this is not healthy for a country in its final transition to a genuine democracy", he is quoted as saying.
The Evening News says that Mr Pianim, who was speaking in an interview, observed that President Rawlings, like many Ghanaians, has been expressing apprehension about the continued stability of Ghana after his tenure of office. He is said to have mentioned, however, that the President would have no cause for anxiety "if he takes steps to reconcile the nation now".
The paper says that Mr Pianim advocated the setting up of a Council of Eminent Statesmen to lead Ghana to forget the dark sides of her history and acknowledge the positive aspects.
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Terrible end for Rawlings
The Weekly Insight in its lead story, says that the exit of Ghana’s most dictatorial ruler is bound to have very serious consequences for national politics, the ruling NDC and President Jerry Rawlings himself. According to the paper, one of the most serious questions being raised over the exit of the President is whether or not he can survive out of power.
The Weekly Insight says that in answering this question, it is important to take cognisance of the fact that President Rawlings will lose a substantial part of his presidential immunity soon after leaving office. The paper says that it will become possible to investigate both his private and official life and to apply sanctions, especially if his surrogates do not assume power after him.
According to the Weekly Insight, it is estimated that between 300 and 600 people were extra-judicially murdered by agents of the Rawlings regime and the relatives of these victims will be free to institute legal action at least, to establish the full facts.
The story says that whatever legal processes will be initiated over extra-judicial killings, will seek to establish whether these killings were officially sanctioned and if they were, whether the Head of State was implicated in them.
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Ministerial reshuffle…Tension in NDC deepens for election 2000
In a front-page screamer the Dispatch says that political analysts believe that the ‘salla’ holiday ministerial changes represent significant victory for the "Konadu for President 200 (KP2000) group, as the presence of Mrs Cecilia Johnson in the Local Government seat, will enhance the group’s grassroots mobilisation in rallying support for the First Lady to replace the husband in 2001.
The paper stresses that the First Lady, has indicated that she is not interested in becoming Ghana’s next President, but KP2000 hopes that she might change her mind if various groups within the districts in Ghana cry for her presidency.
The Dispatch says that Messrs Kwamena Ahwoi and Daniel Ohene Agyekum have been sent to what could arguably be described as ‘political Siberia’, because they belong to a group perceived to be supporters of Vice-President John Atta Mills.
The group is said to have infuriated President Rawlings by coming to a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with the Northern Caucus that should Vice-President Mills get the NDC 2000 presidential slot, he would choose someone from one of the three northern regions, as running mate.
According to the Dispatch, the President and some top NDC insiders are said to prefer the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Obed Asamoah, as a running mate for two main reasons. One, is to try and prevent any legal attempts to put actions of the PNDC before the law courts and secondly, to be doubly sure of the votes from the Volta Region.
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