Package for former First Ladies
Tripartite meeting not abandoned’
User fees not raised
Police save DCE from mob
Kufuor’s mate out in August
¢45mil a month pay for Ghanair CEO
Electoral fraud syndicate busted
Package for former First Ladies
The Daily Graphic says the government has so far paid a total of
¢41,364,716 each to the wives of five out of the eight former Heads of State
and governments towards their rehabilitation. Graphic says the monies were paid
with separate cheques from the Controller and Accountant General Department
covered the period January 7, 1997 to March 2000. The paper names the
beneficiaries as Mrs. Emily Akuffo, Mrs. Mildred Ankrah, Mrs. Fulera Limann,
Mrs. Adeline Akufo Addo and Mrs. Naa Morkor Busia.
It reports that Mrs. Christine Afrifa, Mrs. Fathia Nkrumah and Mrs.
Faustina Acheampong are however, yet to be reached with their share due to
their absence from the country. Efforts are reported as being made to get them
contacted. The story contained that the
move was in response to the recommendations in the Greenstreet Committee report
that suggested rehabilitation ways for former Heads of States families, aimed
at enhancing national reconciliation and unity, championed by government and
other well-meaning citizens. The story adds that outstanding claims from April
to June 2000 will soon be credited to the accounts of the beneficiaries. The
paper says some of the beneficiaries it talked to expressed their appreciation
to the President, the government, members of the Greenstreet Committee as well
as others who had contributed to get the scheme established.
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Tripartite meeting not abandoned’
The Government and the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) have stated
that they have not abandoned the idea of convening the Tripartite Committee
meeting to decide on a new minimum wage. The Graphic said. The two bodies are reported as saying that
at the end of the July 7, 2000 meeting, it was stated that further
consultations would be held to agree on the minimum wage that will be
acceptable to all parties. Alhaji
Mohammed Mumuni, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, and Mr. Ato Ampiah,
Vice President of GEA, are reported as appealing to the Trades Union Congress
(TUC) not to resort to any kind of demonstration or unilateral action that has
the potential of creating tension, turbulence and disturbing the production
process.
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User fees not raised
The Ghanaian Times in its banner story says Cabinet has decided that
tertiary institutions should maintain the fees announced last for academic user
fees. The decision, according to the paper, was taken by Cabinet on Wednesday
when discussing fees for the 2000/2001 academic year. The Ministry of
Education, according to the Times, has directed that academic and residential
user fees at the University of Ghana. Legon remain unchanged. A statement from
the Ministry signed by Mr. Ahmed Ayuba, Public Relations Officer, reportedly,
indicated that the position of government rendered as misleading, the
publication by an Accra daily that user fees had been increased at the
University. Cabinet reportedly, had noted that although the depreciation of the
cedi meant a reduction in real terms of last year’s fees, for the next academic
year, government should still take suitable measures to assist students
genuinely in need of financial support. The release, according to the paper,
explained that the creation of the Ghana Education Trust Fund, and the just
passed Education Bill would help significantly in the provision of scholarships
and loans that would be more adequate to pay for all relevant fees of any
student. “Consequently, Cabinet had
requested that the matter of a rebate for students be referred to the
soon-to-be constituted board of the fund, to enable needy but brilliant
students to be assisted in paying for the academic and residential facilities.”
Times quoted.
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Police save DCE from mob
The Evening News in its banner story writes that the Birim North
District Chief Executive, Mr. John Effah Boadi, had the shock of his life when
he attended a press conference organised by the NPP Member of Parliament for
the area. Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo motioned to throw more light on issues relating
to the disbursement of the District Assembly’s Common Fund. Mr. Effah Boadi is reported to have
requested the meeting grant him hearing to clear issues relating to a ¢100
million fund that the Assembly used as collateral to secure ¢175 million loan
from the Agricultural Development Bank.
Mr. Darko Mensah, MP for Okaikoi Constituency is reported to have
refused him saying the occasion was for journalists but Mr. Effah Boadi’s
insistence led to heightened tension that could have resulted in a nasty
incident but for the timely intervention of the police. Mr. Osafo Maafo is
reported to have earlier told the news conference that the DCE and the
presiding member of the Assembly had parochial interests when they used the
amount to raise the loan. “Their intention was not as noble as they made it and
must be rejected and condemned,” he was quoted to have said.
The MP reportedly said that the two, by their action which in itself
was a show of disrespect to the Assembly’s Executive Committee, contravened
very important financially regulations and abused the fund’s borrowing
rules. The Evening News quotes him as
saying that he was however, happy that the Bank of Ghana placed an embargo on
the disbursement of the loan. Mr. Effah
Boadi and the presiding elder are alleged to have solicited the loan under
secrecy to some of the executive members of the Assembly.
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Kufuor’s mate out in August
The Weekend Statesman says in its lead story that the running-mate to
NPP Presidential candidate J.A. Kufuor will be made public at the NPP’s
National Congress at Ho next month, according to a statement by the party’s
General Secretary, Dan Botwe.
Mr. Botwe is reported to have told the paper in an interview that the
date for the Congress would be decided by the National Executive which was
expected to meet, late Thursday.
He, according to the paper, said that since nominations for the
December Presidential and Parliamentary elections would be made to the
Electoral Commission on September 12, “whoever would partner Kufuor would be
known by then.” The NPP scribe is reported as saying that even though the party
has received suggestions and memoranda from individuals as to what should go
into the selection of the running-mate, the party had made no firm decision on
the issue. Statesman quotes him as saying that the decision is itself the
prerogative of the Presidential candidate acting in consultation with the
National Executive. He is however reported to have stated that the issue of who
to select is a strategic one since whoever is chosen should be capable of
helping the party maximize its chances of victory by bringing in votes that
would otherwise be lost to the party.
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¢45mil a month pay for Ghanair CEO
The Ghanaian Chronicle says it has established that the four corporate
heads of the national carrier, Ghana Airways, may be the highest paid public
servants in the country at the time the flagging airship is struggling with
some limited success to redeem its image as “Africa’s most friendly
airline”. The Chronicle, in identifying
the Ghanair officials, writes that as judges low earnings turned a public
discussion and Professors take-home pegged at ¢1 million, 39-year old Ghana
Airways high flyer, Mr. Emmanuel Quartey, earns $7,000 (¢45 million) as Chief
Executive. The Chronicle story captures
also that Prof. Robert Yaansah, Finance and Administration, Mr. Tim Stevens,
Business Development, and Captain Paul Fordfour, Technical, who are Quartey’s
deputies, also receive $6,000 apiece which is more than six times the salary of
the Chief Justice.
The paper indicates in its story that by comparison, the officials
leave their sector ministers, Messrs Edward Salia and Mike Hammah in the shade,
taking the equivalent of the Ministers’ four years pay in a single month.
“What?” The Minister said in disbelief when Chronicle called to check whether
he allowed those North American level wages” writes the paper. Deputy Minister,
Hammah, is reported as saying he would like to believe that the board might
have approved the pay, conceding that he was personally not aware. “No public
servant in any state-owned institution earns anywhere near those levels.
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Electoral fraud syndicate busted
The Free Press writes that a syndicate, comprising National Democratic
Congress (NDC) activists which deprived some New Patriotic Party (NPP)
supporters of their registration forms, meant for voter ID cards apparently
disenfranchise them, has been busted by the police. The paper says under the
pretext of forming an NPP Youth Club at Agbogba, an Accra suburb, and NDC
youth, John Annan, 27 popularly known as Dornu, lured eleven NPP youth into
surrendering their electoral registration forms to him. According to the story, this turned out
later to be a ploy to prevent them from checking their names when the register
was re-opened for crosschecking of names. Harrison Thompson, spokesman for the
victims is reported to have told the paper that shortly after registering, on
the opening of the register, his landlord’s son, David Ayi, 30, approached him
for the formation of an NPP youth club in the area, but said they could qualify
only on surrendering their forms. ”
Thompson according to Free Press went without his form to crosscheck on his
name after efforts to retrieve it from Dornu proved futile but was surprised to
realize that his name and number as well as those of his colleagues were
already ticked. Dornu is reported to
have admitted the act after initial denial and was sent to Madina Police
Station for his statement.
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