GRi Press Review Ghana 14 - 07

Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Education Minister, disclosing this to Parliament on Monday, while answering questions on his sector, said that the figure followed the headcount exercise embarked upon early last year and completed satisfactorily at the end of the year.

Currently, he said that a Task Force was aligning the true list to enable the ministry to come out with the true number of ghost names for clearance from the payroll.

Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi was responding to a question, which stood in the name of Mr Joseph Tsatsu Agbenu (NDC, Afram Plains North).

On when the ban on transfer and release of teachers in basic schools would be lifted, the Minister said that the ban was imposed in early 2000, mainly to ensure the smooth conduct of the headcount exercise which was to determine the actual staff strength of the GES but was lifted at the beginning of this year.

Mr Agbenu further asked the Minister when teachers serving in deprived areas would be given incentives to entice them to stay on to improve upon teaching and learning in those areas.

Responding, Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi disclosed that the World Bank and USAID were assisting the Ministry of Education to implement its Deprived School Teachers Incentive scheme by the next academic year.

The World Bank, he said, was supporting with the procurement of 9,000 bicycles while 5000 radio cassettes and 5,000 sets of cooking utensils were being procured from Non-Projects Funds provided by the USAID.

He said that the evaluation of bids had been completed and the recommendations submitted to the World Bank for its No-Objection to enable the contract to be awarded for the supply of the bicycles.

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Selormey's witnesses

The fast track court, on Monday adjourned to Tuesday, proceedings in the trial of the former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Victor Selormey, in the 1.2 million dollar court computerization scandal.

This was after the defence failed to produce two more witnesses and asked for an adjournment.

The defence counsel, led by Mr Barima Manu, has already called two witnesses.

Selormey is being tried on charges of conspiracy, defrauding by false pretences and willfully causing financial loss to the state.

He was said to have authorized the transfer of various sums of money to the tune of 1,297,500 dollars to Dr Frederich Owusu Boadu, a consultant with Leebda Corporation.

Selormey has pleaded not guilty and is on a ¢1.5 billion bail with two sureties to be justified.

The trial judge, Justice Samuel Baddoo, asked the defence to produce its witnesses by the next adjourned date in order for the counsel in the case to make their final statements to the court before the end of the week.

GRi…/

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The Daily Graphic

Police deploy task force to combat robbers

The Daily Graphic reports that the Greater Accra Regional Police Command on Monday deployed a 500-member task force under a special exercise code-named "Operation Restore Hope", to clamp down on the activities of armed robbers in the Accra metropolis.

This follows revelations by police intelligence that a number of armed robbery gangs have changed the time for their operations from night to day.

Superintendent F. Adu-Poku, Nima Divisional Police Commander, who disclosed this to the Graphic in an interview, appealed to members of the public not to feel intimidated by the heavy police presence.

According to him, the exercise will continue until further notice.

Mr Adu-Poku said the armed police personnel, drawn from the Nima, Kpeshie and Accra Central Police divisions, will mount mobile and foot patrols, adding that they are under instructions to deal "most ruthlessly" with the armed robbers.

Superintendent Adu-Poku gave the assurance that the police are prepared to rid the metropolis of armed robbers and called for the cooperation from the general public during the exercise.

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'UCC students must show remorse'

The Academic Board of the University of Cape Coast has indicated its preparedness to review the sanctions imposed on nine of its students, provided they show remorse for their misconduct.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Rev Prof S.K. Adjepong, who disclosed this in Accra on Monday, said "it would be very difficult to review the punishment if they do not show any sign of remorse".

He was speaking in an interview after a meeting which the Minister of Education, Prof Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, had with representatives of the Academic Board, the Governing Council and the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the UCC, to resolve the impasse between the students and the authorities at the university.

No decision was reached at the meeting but it was agreed that another meeting should be called immediately with representatives of NUGS and the SRC to find a lasting solution to the problem.

Professor Adjepong said the review of the sanctions imposed on the students will depend on the comportment and the readiness of the students to apologise for the embarrassment they caused the university administration by their action on March 31,2001.

He discounted claims that academic performance has nothing to do with the character of a student and explained that "degrees are awarded to students who are found worthy not only with their books but also in character".

Rev Professor Adjepong said this position of the university is not strange because the requirement is part of the matriculation oath that students swear on their first day in the university.

GRi…/

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Ghana Palaver

I am still in politics

The former Vice-President, Prof J.E. Atta-Mills, has categorically denied that he is quitting politics.

"I am in politics and that's why I am sitting here", a smiling Prof Mills affirmed to the Ghana Palaver at his office at Osu, in Accra, on Monday.

He was reacting to a story in an Accra newspaper in which the former Vice-President was said to have been considering "taking a long break form politics".

Prof Mills, who was the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), at the last elections, said although he had received a lot of offers from foreign institutions, it has never been his intention to take on any long term job.

He said he could take on some short-term lecture tours "to help keep body and soul together", but his primary concern is his commitment to the reorganization of the party.

"My future is linked up with the NDC and I will continue to play a meaningful role to help it achieve its core objectives. The NDC is still on course. And we hope to recapture power in the next elections", he declared.

On the role of former President John Rawlings and claims that he might be dropped from the leadership of the party, the Prof. stated: "There is no way of getting him out. Indeed, he remains the Founder and thus a member of the party".

He said the National Congress remains the party's supreme authority and it is the only body, which can redefine its structures.

Contrary to speculations that this year's scheduled congress may be postponed, Prof. Mills said plans are on course and that the all-important meeting will take place soon.

He dismissed the bloated stories about differences within the party as mere trifles, since he thinks it is the piecing up of various ideas together which can help build a more dynamic party.

"The NDC is a big family … And there may be some difference in opinion. But that does not in anyway sway us from our path. "For, at the end of it all, our prize will be Victory", he declared.

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The Chronicle

NDC is not a political party

The Chronicle quotes former National Democratic Congress (NDC) chief scribe, Mr Vincent Asiseh, as saying that the NDC is not a real political party but part of the machinery established by the erstwhile PNDC to win elections every four years.

He said the NDC is a set-up resurrected every four years for election purposes and dumped after that ' to face the vagaries of the weather.

He, therefore, called on the hawks within the NDC to take measures to establish the NDC as a real political party.

Asiseh, who resigned his official post as Press Secretary of the NDC barely a week ago, was speaking on a Joy FM on Monday.

"I'm afraid the NDC was not a real political party. You remember it was the PNDC in office and we wanted to come into a democratic dispensation, so a few people got around and it became the NDC. They need to know what it takes to be a real political party," he told his interviewer.

"So if the NDC was not a political party; what was it?" the interviewer asked.

"If I may just say this, it was some election machinery that is put in motion whenever there is an election and we all go in excitement, win the elections, and we come back and that machinery is put aside and subjected to the vagaries of the weather until the next elections," he responded.

Asiseh said the defeat of the NDC at the December polls was a good omen for the party, since it would allow the NDC to clean itself of the negative image it carved for itself.

"I think the defeat itself is a sanity point to the rather dangerous living we indulged in, in the past. The defeat itself is good. I think it will give the party some time to take another look at itself because, many there were, who did not know that the NDC could ever be out of power. That (defeat) itself is good. So, whatever they're doing, they're doing that with that (the defeat) in hindsight and that as a guide for them."

GRi…/

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The Accra Mail

A shocking revelation - Letter bombs alert!!!

A highly reliable source connected to one of Ghana's intelligence agencies has informed The Accra Mail that the attack on Mr Kwabena Agyepong, Deputy Government Spokesman, may not be isolated but part of a general destabilizing regime aimed at distracting the new government, by individuals who are still unable to accept the outcome of Election 2000.

The source said certain individuals, whose names are known to the intelligence agencies are planning to unleash mayhem by addressing letter and parcel bombs to certain key members of government, the media, and even business people. The discoveries were made by the intelligence agencies themselves but with a lot of help from informants.

Some of the informants, with connections to the former ruling party, are said to be uncomfortable with any attempt to bring mayhem to the country and would rather wait for four years to appeal to the electorate than use terror tactics to force issues.

The alleged saboteurs have been trailed to their meeting hideouts in Nungua and near the Trade Fair Centre, both in Accra, but no arrests have been made yet. The source could not tell whether there would be or not, but warned, "you media people especially have to be very careful."

During the tenure of Captain Kojo Tsikata as security boss, at the height of PNDC might, the security and intelligence agencies benefited greatly from informants from all over the country and gave the old fox an air of invincibility. That is one leaf the current security and intelligence agencies would have to take from the retired captain's cookbook, not leaving anything to chance!

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The Evening News

Reform Party at the cross-road

The National Organiser of the National Reform Party (NRP), Mr Franklin Osei-Wusu has reportedly quit the party over misunderstandings with the high echelons of the party, reports The Evening News. He has been accused of spending time running his security firm and neglecting the party.

Having suffered a humiliation in the December 2000 elections without any of its parliamentary candidates being elected, some members of the party are now turning their attention on their National Organiser and calling for his head.

Last week, some members of the party held a meeting in Accra, at the end of which they summoned their party's Presidential candidate in the last elections, Mr Goosie Tanoh, to answer why the leadership had failed to rejuvenate the party.

Others to appear before the members on Friday include Mr Cletus Korsiba, the Vice Presidential candidate; Mr Kyeretwie Opoku, National Secretary; Mr Peter Kpordugbe, National Chairman, Dr Nat Tanoh, National Treasurer and Mr Osei-Wusu National Organiser.

After six hours of deliberations at the party's headquarters, the members, made up of some regional chairmen and aspiring MPs passed a resolution asking their leaders to come and tell them what "the problems are, so that they could join hands and rebuild the party together".

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The Daily Guide

2000 Legon students have aids: it is not true - says VC

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Ivan Addae Mensah has told The Daily Guide that it is absolutely false the assertion that 17 percent of students out of a total population of 12,000 students in the country's premier university, have contracted the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

Reacting by phone to the front page story of the paper on Monday, titled, "2000 Legon Students Have AIDS", the obviously worried Vice-Chancellor, himself a Chemist, said he is not aware of any random sampling of students for any study as asserted by Dr Richard Anane, the Minister of Health before Parliament last Friday.

He said so far as he is aware the health authorities of the Ministry of Health (MOH) have told him of the death of only three students from the deadly disease.

The Guide on Monday carried the story sourcing the Minister of Health when he appeared in Parliament last Friday to answer questions posed by the Hon. Kwakye Addo who wanted to know the concrete programmes his ministry has put in place to check the fast spread of the menace, which according to medical expects has no known cure.

According to the Minister, due to the seriousness of the issue, a desk has been set up at the Presidency to give more high-profile attention to the scourge of the disease.

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The Crusading Guide

Tony Aidoo attacks Ibn Chambas over ECOWAS bid!

Dr Tony Aidoo, ex-Deputy Defence Minister in the ousted National Democratic Congres (NDC) Government has attacked Dr Ibn Chambas, NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Bimbilla on the latter's bid for the post of Executive Secretary for ECOWAS, writes The Crusading Guide.

Dr Tony Aidoo, did not approve of Chambas' desire for the ECOWAS post, saying apart from the NDC party losing him (Chambas), to the NPP, Chambas by being endorsed by President Kufuor for the ECOWAS post was lending credence to the NPP's policy of an all inclusive government.

Drawing Mrs Emma Mitchel, formerly of the NDC into his line of attack on his comrades, Aidoo said, "Chambas like Emma Mitchel have provided the ammunition for the NPP to say that 'we have established an all inclusive government".

Aidoo, speaking in an interview on Radio Gold last week, insinuated that the NPP Government's policy of an all inclusive government in reality was not true, but so far had been a window dressing exercise.

According to Aidoo, the NPP decided to exploit the expressed interest of Ibn Chambas for the top ECOWAS post after the NPP's nominated candidates (three in number) had been rejected.

Aidoo asserted that the NPP had no hand in putting up Chambas for the post, but rather it was Chambas himself who applied for the post, lobbying "his Nigerian contacts".

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The Statesman

Afrifa and co to be reburied

There will soon be an exhumation and reburial for the bodies of the eight senior military officers who were executed by the AFRC in 1979!

The Statesman says it has learned that this definite decision was made at a meeting in Accra on Monday between the widows and families of the eight senior military officers and the Executive Committee on the Exhumation and Reburial of the Executed Generals appointed by the President last week.

At Monday's meeting, the two parties acknowledged that exhuming and reburying the bodies would be a long process that could take at least one month.

To properly identify the bodies, samples from each body is to be taken for DNA examination, and that takes some time.

The executed officers were Lt-Gen. A.A. Afrifa, Gen I.K. Acheampong, Gen F.W.K. Akuffo, Maj-Gen. R.E.A. Kotei, Rear-Admiral Joy Amedume, Air Vice-Marshall Yaw Boakye, Maj-Gen Utuka and Col. Roger Felli.

The Executive Committee, under the chairman of Air Marshall M.A. Otu, one time Chief of Defence Staff, was appointed by President Kufuor, in response to appeals from the widows and families of the executed senior military officers.

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Arrest Rawlings

A group of UK based Ghanaians, led by Alex Asabere, Chairman of the erstwhile Ghanaian Democratic Movement, is seeking to obtain a writ for the arrest of former President J.J. Rawlings for human rights abuses and abuse of power during his 19-year tyrannical rule.

Announcing this at a press conference in London, Asabere said that arrangements had been made to contact Amnesty International and other international organisations.

Asabere said, "the time has come for Rawlings to account for all the atrocities and crimes committed during his rule." He would, therefore not allow Rawlings to go scot-free, adding that the abductions, murders, disappearances, tortures and brutalities against innocent Ghanaians were not different from those committed by the former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet.

Therefore, he would make sure that, like Pinochet, Rawlings is arrested and tried wherever he may be found.

GRi…/

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The Independent

Speed up vetting of Chief Justice - Speaker

The Appointment Committee of Parliament is to put in place an expedited process to ensure that the President's nominee for the post of Chief Justice is vetted and approved by the House before it rises by the end of this month, The Independent reports.

At Monday's sitting of the House the Speaker, Rt. Hon Peter Ala Adjetey read a communication from the office of the President, officially informing the House of the nomination of Justice E.K. Wiredu as the substantive Chief Justice.

After reading the communication to the House the Speaker referred it to the Appointment Committee and urged it to expedite action on his vetting which he asked that it be done within the next few days so as to lay the report on the floor for debate and approval by the entire House.

The Speaker made the request for the speedy vetting in view of the fact that the House is scheduled to rise next week.

The Speaker said it is only after the Committee had completed its vetting that the House can have the opportunity to approve of it after the report is brought to the House.

Justice Wiredu is currently the Acting Chief Justice of Ghana and his elevation has been necessitated by the death of the former Chief Justice the late Justice I.K. Abban.

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Ghanaian Democrat

Cabinet approves Police Fund

Cabinet has approved the establishment of a police endowment fund, according to The Guide.

The fund is to supplement the annual budget allocation of the service to be adequately equipped to enable the police to perform their duties efficiently.

The Minister of Interior, Alhaji Al-Hasan Yakubu disclosed this when the Ghana Chamber of Mines donated a cheque for ¢10 million to the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) to help the victims for the June 27 floods in Accra.

He said the government is committed to ensuring a civilized democratic organization, which would provide adequate security for the people to go about their legitimate duties.

He said inadequate accommodation and lack of logistics coupled with meager numerical strength of 16,450 has made the police unable to perform its duties efficiently, which at times compel the government to call in the military.

He said such situation distracts the military's attention from their core job and called on individuals, corporate organizations and non-governmental organizations to contribute to the fund to solve the problem.

GRi…/

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