CEPS yields to pressure
Free Press
ECG to stop disconnection…Consumers to pay by instalment
The Crusading GuideEditor dares government to confirm or deny robbery story
Weekly InsightSecret report on Army…Search for leaks begins
The Ghanaian ChronicleRawlings descends on Otumfuo, chiefs
Ghanaian TimesArmed robbers storm Ashanti bank
Daily GraphicGSE Tops Again
CEPS yields to pressure
The Dispatch says the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), in an attempt to impose its authority over the entire shipping community, crumbled under pressure from the international shipping giant when it finally granted full operations to Saga (Gh) Limited, a Tema-based shipping agency, whose activities had been restricted to limited operation.
In a centre spread story, the Dispatch says the agency’s director for Africa, Mr Marc Gerard, who flew to Ghana from Europe, was alleged to have threatened to order the closure of Saga if it remained closed up to last weekend.
According to the paper, the threat has prompted CEPS to grant the company a full operational status to assuage the anger of the authorities who were getting impatient with what has been described as ‘blunders’ by CEPS.
The paper says a letter dated June 15, 1999, and signed by the acting Assistant Commissioner of CEPS in charge of Tema, Mr Robert Kwame, asked for a relaxation of the limited operations status slapped on Saga.
The Assistant Commissioner is reported as saying that his action followed a meeting with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and representatives of Saga.
About two weeks ago, Saga was connected to an importation into Ghana of a container full of rice in which parcels of whitish substance suspected to be cocaine were concealed. The company was subsequently sanctioned by the CEPS.
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ECG to stop disconnection…Consumers to pay by instalment
In a front lead headline story, the Free Press reports that the management of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) has now diversified its approach to revenue collection and will not rely on disconnection of power supply but rather encourage consumers to pay their bills by instalment.
The company has also introduced a system under which customers, who conserve energy, will receive awards. Mr Kwamena Longdon, Public Relation Manager of the ECG is said to have disclosed this at a public forum organised by the company to interact with its customers at the Kumasi Technical Institute.
Mr Longdon appealed to customers to conserve energy by judiciously using electrical gadgets, especially pressing iron. Kettle and stove, whose energy consumption is very high. The paper says Mr Longdon also told the forum that the award scheme is in operation in Accra.
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Editor dares government to confirm or deny robbery story
The Crusading Guide says its Editor-in-Chief, Mr Kweku Baako Jnr., has challenged the NDC government to come out and confirm or deny the paper’s publications on the ‘infamous and unprecedented’ highway robbery of 2.4 billion cedis worth of unrefined gold, involving Jack Bebli, formerly of the Police Commandos.
The paper says the challenge was thrown by Mr Kweku Baako when contributing to a "Radio Gold" programme "Rejoinder" to the effect that the publications on the gold robbery by the Crusading Guide had been unprofessional and therefore unfair and untrue, more so when the security agencies have not finished with their investigations into the matter.
The Crusading Guide says Mr Kweku Baako in his challenge, also urged the government to take the paper to court if the series of stories it had published on the gold robbery were lies.
"I’m challenging anybody and everybody in the system to come forward and say that I lied and if they are right, they can take me to court. It is a challenge that I am throwing to the entire government of Ghana", he is quoted as saying.
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Secret report on Army…Search for leaks begins
In a front page lead story, the Weekly Insight reports that the Army Headquarters has ordered full-scale investigations into how a confidential report on the state of the Ghana Armed Forces got into the hands of the paper.
The paper quotes insiders as saying that a number of soldiers with access to the document have been informally questioned. The Weekly Insight says the state of the Army as revealed by the report, is so alarming that "we have decided to publish the full text to draw national attention to the state of the Ghana Armed Forces"…
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Rawlings descends on Otumfuo, chiefs
In its screaming headline story, the Ghanaian Chronicle says President Jerry Rawlings on Friday, June 18, took to task the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and 17 of his paramount chiefs for failing to issue a statement to defuse what he called ‘mounting tension created by a caller’s remark on an Accra FM Radio phone-in programme on the banning on drumming by the Ga Traditional Council.
President is reported to have said the caller had stated that Gas could not compare themselves to Ashantis. "I was looking forward to some of you at the other side to issue a statement to stop that nonesense", he is quoted as telling the chiefs, pointing his left finger at them one by one.
The chiefs were at the Castle to thank the government for its assistance during the funeral of the late Asantehene, Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, and to formally introduce Otumfuo Osei Tutu, who succeeded his uncle as the Asantehene.
The Chronicle says according to President Rawlings, some members of government spent sleepless nights trying to defuse the tension which could have degenerated into an ethnic conflict and which the military could have found difficult to control.
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Armed robbers storm Ashanti bank
The Ghanaian Times reports that for two hours a gang of eight armed robbers placed the Kofiase township, near Asante Mampong, under siege with sporadic firing of warning shots in the early hours of yesterday.
The robbers, the paper says, raided the Otuasekan Rural Bank in the town and bolted with a metal safe containing about 25 million cedis and some vital documents, a ‘Yamaha’ electric generator, a radio set and a quantity of cheque books.
The Times quotes police sources as saying that the robbers attacked the watchman of the bank, Robert Mensah and after gagging and tying him up, four of the robbers broke into the bank while the other four took positions at some strategic areas of the town.
It says in an apparent bid to scare off the residents and keep them indoors, the robbers resorted to the sporadic firing of warning shots. They were said to have broken into the strong room of the bank and attempted to open the metal safe containing the money and documents, but they could not.
They therefore carried the safe into a waiting ‘Nissan’ pick-up and bolted. The Times says no arrests have been made, but meanwhile, the Kumasi police have rounded up about 25 suspected criminals in a dawn swoop. The paper says the operation is part of the efforts to combat the spate of armed robbery in the metropolis and Ashanti in general.
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GSE Tops Again
The Daily Graphic reports that the International Federation of Stock Exchange (FIBV) adjudged the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) as the best stock market for 1998 among the 45 emerging stock markets in the developing world. Similarly, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has rated GSE as one of the world’s best performing stock markets. The GSE also topped the IFC’s frontier equity market in local terms.
Mr Yeboa Amoa, managing director of the GSE is reported as disclosing this when he interacted with the media in Accra yesterday shortly after the GSE’s ninth annual general meeting. He said the impressive performance of the GSE in 1998 has been recognised worldwide. The Standard Bank Group of South Africa was the first to recognise the splendid performance of GSE when it conferred on the exchange the best performing market in Africa recently.
The GSE’s total market capitalisation rose by 27% from ¢2.55 trillion at the end of 1997 to ¢3.25 trillion by the end of 1998.
The report says even though turnover volume was reduced from 125.6 million to 91.5 million shares, value traded increased by 44 per cent from ¢93 billion to ¢134 billion in 1998. The GSE-all-share Index was up b 67.7 per cent against 41.9 per cent in 1997.
Mr. Yeboa Amoa who was said to be commenting on the current drop in turnover volume and values explained that apart from the reduction in the patronage of foreign institutional investors, all the essential factors that caused the capital appreciation in the market have not changed.
As at June 21 this year, the GSE All Share Index had dropped by 8.82 per cent while market capitalisation had increased by 1.24 per cent.
The Daily Graphic says Mr Yeboa Amoa noted that as the macro economic fundamentals are beginning to assume their right perspective, there is a need to bridge the gap between inflation and interest rates as this will impact positively on the activities of the market.
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