"Rawlings Digs Into Goosie"
Dirty Deals In Sale of Goil…World Bank is Angry … Property Under Valued
Fake currency : Peasah jailed two years
Siamese twins presented to media
Rawlings’ Government Deceives Ghanaian Workers
Eyadema apologises
Kojo Tsikata Quits Council of State
Government to Spend C10 Billion on Cadres
Rawlings Digs Into Goosie
The front page banner of the Chronicle reads : ‘Rawlings digs into Goosie.’ ccording to the story, President Jerry John Rawlings has decried the manner in which Mr. Goosie Tanoh, spokesman of the Reform Party used the name of Nana Kondau Agyeman Rawlings, First Lady, to obtain a loan of aboutø1.9b from various sources.
According to the Chronicle Rawlings said he did not know about the loan until he read in the papers that some soldiers had gone to Goosie’s warehouse where he did his cassava business to punish some of the workers he suspected of cheating on him (Goozie).
Rawlings who is said to have suspected that the business was connected to his wife and the 31st December Women’s Movement, because the Movement deals in cassava, summoned his wife to verify the truth the story. The report says Nana Konadu denied having anything to do with the incident but said Goosie who was then a member of the ruling NDC party approached her wanting to buy her Movement’s cassava chips for export.
Rawlings is quoted as saying that his wife asked Goosie whether he would pay for the cassava chips in dollars since he was going to export them. "That was the end of any encounter with this guy" Rawlings told a national durbar of ACDR’s at Tamale last Saturday.
Rawlings continued: "Not too long after, I was hearing hun- hun -hun, hun -hun at cabinet level. I said look let me dig into this thing because they were mentioning my wife’s name again with Goosie and the cassava business.
"I discovered that about ø1.9 billion is being owed by Goosie … my … wife cassava business to the Ghana Cocoa Marketing board, a certain bank, and the Ministry of finance"
The Chronicle says Rawlings said when he told Nana Konadu about what he had just heard she said : "I’m sorry I have told you already that I have nothing to do with that business. I don’t owe anybody any such money."
Rawlings said he then told Nana to do him a favour by calling the bosses of the Cocoa Marketing Board, the Bank and the Ministry of Finance, specifically, Victor Selormey a deputy minister and tell them she had nothing to do with that business. Rawlings according to the paper said he ordered that no more loans should be extended to Goosie. Rawlings said when Goosie heard about the order he went berserk,.
Rawlings, according to the paper, said he knows Goosie’s mind too well. "The way he talks is so impressive. There is no way I’ll be a match to him at all; true, true. And that is what sometimes fools me… When people can open their mouths and talk big, big sweet English and construction of words etc we end up being taken in.
Rawlings is said to have observed "Do you see the love of power among some of us? We took you (Goosie) out of school and you ended up straight in New York as assistant to Victor Gbeho"
Rawlings who used more than half of his two-and a half hours speech on Goosie told the Cadres "we don’t want enemies from within, we have enough from without. I find it very painful that we are doing the work for our enemies," Chronicle said.
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Dirty Deals In Sale of Goil…World Bank is Angry … Property Under Valued "Dirty Deals In Sale of Goil…World Bank is Angry … Property Under Valued" is the banner headline on the front page of the Weekly Insight.
According to the story, the sale of the Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) on the orders of the International Monetary fund (IMF) has suffered a major set back.
Well informed sources say the exercise has been suspended following allegations and counter allegations of corruption involving the under valuation of the company and non-compliance with standard World Bank directives.
To start with the evaluation of bids for the sale was given to an American company with Jewish connections- Rothschield which did not tender for the job.
Rothschield is then said to have contracted a local consultancy company, Sterlin Consult to assist it with the evaluation of the bids.
The report says so far it is not clear how much Rothschield and Sterlin Consult have been paid for the evaluation of bids for the sale of Goil, but sources at the Divestiture Implementation Committee said the World Bank has refused to pick up the bill.
The World Bank insists that the contract for the evaluation of bids should have been open and that there is no justification for hand picking Rocthschield.
According to the paper following the refusal of the World Bank to pick up the bill, the Ministry of Finance has agreed to pay for the contract from Ghana’s own resources. Rothschield appears to have run into trouble with TOTAL an American Oil Company, which has declared its interest in buying Goil for about $12million.
Sources at the Divesiture Implementation Committee (DIC) say that all the oil companies operating in Ghana including TOTAL and ENGEN submitted bids for the sale of Goil.
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Fake currency : Peasah jailed two years
The Daily Graphic’s front page story titled ‘Fake currency : Peasah jailed two years’ says that former Deputy Minister of State, Kofi Amankwah Peasah, has been jailed two years with hard labour by the Central Regional Tribunal after being found guilty of possessing papers adapted for forgoing currency notes.
The tribunal chairman, Mr. K.E. Anning, when passing judgement said Peasah, by indulging in such criminal activities, has portrayed himself as a bad example of a Minister of State from whom a lot is expected.
Mr. Anning, said the sentence was to serve as a deterent to other state officials who exploit their positions to the detriment of the nation.
Peasah’s plea for clemency for being aged 61 and also for having previously rendered meritorious service to the state, was rejected, the paper says.
Mr Peasah and two accomplishes were arrested at the Moree Police barrier in the Central region on July 12, 1997 upon a tip off. When the boot of his car was searched, papers cut into various sizes of US dollars were found.
Upon interrogation, Peasah claimed owenrship saying the papers were given to him by and African American friend called Jeff Mose who is at large.
Siamese twins presented to media
In the centre spread of the Graphic is a story with headline ‘Siamese twins presented to media’ which says that siamese twins Linda and Lydia Awui who were separated in a four and half hour operation on May 19, are doing very well with each weighing 4.7 kilograms at present.
The Graphic story reports Dr. Winfred Hodasi, a consultant surgeon who led a team of doctors to do the operation, the first of its kind in Ghana, as saying the children, whose medical expenses of about 20m cedis was borne by the state, will be discharged by the end of the week.
Lydia and Linda, according to Dr. Hodasi, were joined from the lower portion of the chest to the umbilicus, and also shared a common liver and one diaphragm but had separate stomachs, kidneys and intestines.
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Rawlings’ Government Deceives Ghanaian Workers
The paper flashes a headline "Rawlings’ Government Deceives Ghanaian Workers". According to the story, many workers were disappointed when they went for their pay slips at the end of June, the time set for the implementation of the Price Water House, salary scheme.
Instead of the expected jump in salary of the workers, some went home with one-third of their salaries while others went with half of their salary.
The paper says according to Mr. A.K. Yankey of the Central Management Committee of Price Water House, the anomaly came from the workers of Accountant General’s Office.
It says the government has over the past six months promised Ghanaian workers good packages with the implementation of the Price water house recommendations at the end of June. The recommendation was to see to the end of suffering of workers by increasing their salaries and correcting the disparities within the salary structure. But this seem to have been hoax as workers have been left bitterly disappointed.
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Eyadema apologises
The paper carries a banner headline "EYADEMA APOLOGISES". According to the story, the Togolose President Gnassingbe Eyadema has confirmed the landing of Togolese military aircraft on Ghanaian soil, at Wli Agegame in the Hohoe district of the Volta region.
According to the story, the Togolese President apologised to the Ghana government for violating Ghana’s airspace and territory. He attributed the landing to a mechanical fault and sudden change in whether condition.
The Togolese President, the paper disclosed assured the government of Ghana, that he had instituted the necessary measures to ensure that a similar incident does not occur in future.
The paper continued that, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Victor Gbeho was in Togo to hold discussions with the Togolese authorities on the landing of the air craft on Ghanaian soil.
The paper added that in keeping with the good neighbourly relations existing between the two countries, Ghana has accepted the explanation of Togo and has therefore put the matter to rest.
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Kojo Tsikata Quits Council of State
The Dispatch reports in its front-page banner headline, ‘Kojo Tsikata Quits Council of State.’ The paper quoting credible sources says that there are firm indicators that the political rift between Captain Kojo Tsikata and the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is widening.
The story says that ‘we can today reveal that the captain has resigned from the Council of State’. The paper claims to have stumbled on the information when it decided to investigate reactions to calls that some members of NDC Captain Tsikata removed from the Council. It quotes its source from the Office of the president as saying ‘the Captain tendered his resignation a few months ago, citing poor health as the reason.’
No reasons have however been given as to why the government has not announced it, the Dispatch says.
Government to Spend C10 Billion on Cadres
In another front-page story, the paper says that government is to spend C10 billion on Cadres. It reports that the NDC government is to spend C10 billion to rehabilitate 50, 000 cadres out of which 15,000 are militiamen who championed the cause of the revolution and are now jobless.
This was made known by Nii Adjei Boye-Sekan, a Presidential Staffer, and MP for Ledzokukum at a symposium organised by the Progressive democratic Cadres (PDC) of Tema to round off the 20th anniversary celebration of the June 4 Uprising. He said this is to put in place a mechanism to enable them acquire skills and vocational training, for enhanced self-employment.
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