Secession moves in Volta Region
PANAFEST visit to slave dungeons…Tears to flow again
Trader Gives Birth To Boy With 3 Heads
Angry judge rejects meat bribe
Graphic confirms Jack Bebli is a suspect
Robbers flee to the North
KNUST, UCC SRC’c resist increased fees
Secession moves in Volta Region
The Independent in a front page story, reports that the Kadjebi, Jasikan, Krachi and Nkwanta districts in the northern part of the Volta Region, have renewed their intention to break away to form a new region.
The paper says indications are that the new region if formed will be known and called Oti Region, taking cognisance of the importance of the River Oti which flows through their territory.
This was made known by the paramount chiefs of the districts, in their speeches at separate durbars held to honour the Vice-President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, during his visit to the Volta Region recently.
According to the chiefs, Ewe-Akan rivalry, which has plagued the region for years, has resulted in deprivation of development in their areas, which are Akan-dominated.
The Independent recalls that in 1997, the Buem Youth Association, in cooperation with the paramount chiefs in the four districts, met and passed a resolution calling for a separate region.
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PANAFEST visit to slave dungeons…Tears to flow again
The Graphic Showbiz, a weekly and a sister paper of the Daily Graphic, focuses on the celebration of this year’s Pan African Historical and Theatre Festival, (PANAFEST ’99).
The lead story traces the origin of the festival and highlights some of the activities lined for the festival.
The story takes readers into the past with a description of the dungeons in Cape Coast and Elmina, where most of the slaves were sent in readiness to be ‘exported’ to Europe and the Americas.
According to Grapic Showbiz, ‘‘no brother or sister from the diaspora who makes a tour of the castles and enters the dungeons, comes out the same’.
Some come out more humbled others very angry and yet others come looking more knowledgeable with a look of understanding on their faces but on all occasions, the tears do not seize to flow. The paper says PANAFEST is a festival that provides the opportunity for "our brothers and sisters to visit these places".
It also allows them to participate in other activities during the festival. PANAFEST does not only involve programmes of music dance and drama, films, conferences on history and projections of the black race, but acts as an important bridge to link Africa to the wider community in the arts sciences technology commerce and tourism.
The Graphic Showbiz describes PANAFEST as homecoming, a sharing and a remembrance of the past and a joyful celebration of the future. It offers a forum to promote unity between Africans and their brothers and sisters in the diaspora.
The main theme for this year’s PANAFEST is the "Re-emergence of the African Civilisation - Uniting the African Family", with a sub theme: "Youth- the Agenda for the Millennium ". Some of the activities are an ‘Akwaaba’ ceremony, memorial and Remembrance Day, traditional get-together film shows masquerade procession, a float through the principal streets and a grand durbar of chiefs.
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Return to top P&P
Trader Gives Birth To Boy with 3 Heads
The people at Fa Adwen village in the West Akim District of the Eastern Region are shocked says the P& P weekly newspaper in a front-page lead headline story.
The paper reports that the villagers are still trying to unravel the circumstances that led to the birth of a baby boy with three heads. Fa Adwen village is said to be a remote village whose people rely on "Osofo Baa", an evangelist who doubles as the only certified traditional birth attendant there.
The report says on July 8, a 40-year-old farmer, Kwasi Yeboah, helped his 30-year-old wife, Abosua Kosia to the makeshift midwifery of Osofo Baa, where she t delivered a baby boy at around 2p.m., after a soul-wrenching labour.
And to the amazement of the midwife and the new mother, the baby was awesomely grotesque.
He had three heads, three disfigured mouths, two ears and one eye on one head with the other eye hidden behind the second head.
The wonder boy had one tooth while his fingers were webbed.
The rest of the body, however, looked quite normal. The P & P says due to the awesome nature of the spectacle, opinion leaders in the area are said to have decided to have the birth recorded for posterity and a photographer was sent for.
According to the paper, the mother, who already has another boy, claimed that she went through a full-term pregnancy without any hitch. "I’m doomed forever", she lamented, saying, "anything I do henceforth, people are going to use it to insult me".
The P & P says both parents felt relieved when the strange child died later in the evening. It quotes neighbours as saying the continuous existence of the boy could cause many problems for the village.
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Angry judge rejects meat bribe
According to the Guide, an attempt by the Oguaa Traditional Council to influence a female High Court judge with a piece of meat in a case involving the council, was not only rejected but shown to the open court to the surprise and amusement of the crowded court.
The paper says that Mr Justice Heward-Mills, the presiding judge, ruled against the Traditional Council and the Omanhene, Osabarima Kwesi Atta, when Ekow Garbrah and five others prayed the court to restrain the Council and the Omanhene from performing the final funeral rights of the late Omanhene.
The Guide says a day before the judgment, a parcel of meat was sent to the judge by the Traditional Council ostensibly to influence him.
The judge, the paper says, expressed shock and anger at their action and carried the meat to the court the following day as evidence that the Traditional Council wanted to pervert justice.
The paper says that despite the courts ruling, the Council went ahead with the funeral rites last weekend.
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Graphic confirms Jack Bebli is a suspect
The Crusading Guide in banner headline story, says for the first time since the highway gold robbery was reported, the Daily Graphic, has now confirmed the involvement of Regiment Sergeant-Major, Jack Bebli in its July 26th, 1999 edition.
The paper quotes the Graphic report as stating that sources close to the investigators told the paper (Graphic) that Jack Bebli, one of the suspects in the robbery case, had indicated to investigators that Kennedy Bebli, another suspect, informed him that the "Whiteman" on the bullion van came to his house with a soldier to pick four bars of gold on February 17, a day after the robbery.
The Graphic also produced a full text of a letter written to the Crusading Guide and some other media houses by one of the suspects, who hid under anonymity, alleging that, the suspects were sent by some top officials from the Castle, two MPs and two top police officers to execute the operation.
The paper continued that the writer stated that since the organisers of the robbery were top government officials, they promised to use their positions to protect them, but that is not what they are seeing now.
The paper concluded that the author of the letter challenged those who effected the arrest to dig out the truth, otherwise, they will let the cat out of the bag, for the Ghanaian public to know their names and deeds.
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Robbers flee to the North
The Ghanaian Times carries a banner story which says the Police has promised to flush out armed robbers reported to have fled the Southern sector of the country to the North.
Police Commissioner in charge of special duties, Mr David Walenkaki, is reported as saying the Police Task Force, 'Operation Gongo' and the Regional Police Command have been placed on "red alaer" and are collaborating with other security agencies in the North to confront the robbers.
Mr Walenkaki is quoted as sounding a warning to hoteliers to desist from harbouring such criminals, they should rather report their presence. He appealed to the public to volunteer information, promising that this will be treated as confidential.
KNUST, UCC SRC’c resist increased fees
In a second story in the inside pages, the Times says Students Representative Councils (SRC) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Cape Coast, have vowed to resist any increase in school fees for the next academic year saying "they are completely unacceptable".
The SRC's in a statement to the Times explained that they have refused to pay the new fees because the ‘meagre’ 2,900 cedis daily minimum wage for workers which does not match the new charges of between 990,000 cedis and 2.9 million cedis being proposed by the Universities.
The Times hints of impending demonstrations by the University of Ghana, Legon, from August 2 to August 7, under the theme: "Mobrowa Struggle".
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