Togolese aircraft stray into Ghana
Togolese aircraft cause panic…In Volta Region
French companies increase presence in Ghana
Judges tortured, then murdered – Doctor’s report
Tasiri was wrong
Togolese aircraft stray into Ghana
Togolese aircraft cause panic…In Volta Region
Both the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times give front-page treatment to a story in which a Togolese aircraft strayed into Ghana’s airspace.
The Graphic reports that two aircraft believed to belong to the Togolese Airforce flew into Ghana’s territory on Monday and landed at Wli-Afegame in the Hohoe District of the Volta Region.
The Times, in its account, however, said a Togolese Military helicopter, with three armed uniformed soldiers and two whitemen on board, crossed into Ghanaian territory and landed at Wli in the Hohoe District on Monday.
The Times says investigations established that the aircraft 5V –MCJ. Flying a Togolese flag, touched down at an open field in the town soon after 8.30 a.m., but took off again before 9 a.m.
The Graphic, on the other hand says one of the aircraft landed at the local Roman Catholic School Park and the other near the Wli Waterfall. The paper quoting Mr Nat Aduadjoe, MP for Hohoe North said he was informed about the incident by some r residents of Wli-Afegame during a tour of the constituency on Monday.
According to Mr Aduadjoe, the aircraft attracted a large number of school children and residents of the town, who thought it was President Jerry Rawlings who had paid a visit to the Wli Waterfall.
The Times said while the crew were on the ground, the Odikro of the town and some of his elders walked to them to enquire about their mission, but one of the Togolese soldiers ordered them in French to "go away".
When the residents started advancing towards the ‘intruders’ and their aircraft, one of the whitemen ordered the rest of the crew to get back on board for take off. The Times says while they were taking off, another helicopter was hovering over the Wli Waterfalls, apparently to give them cover.
GRi../
French companies increase presence in Ghana
In a back page story, the Ghanaian Chronicle reports that the number of French companies operating in Ghana shot up from 23 in 1993 to 72 in 1999.
The paper, quoting Mr Noel Bonnefoy, an official of the French Embassy, said in the first quarter of this year, French sales to Ghana amounted to Ł25 million, which is 38 per cent over that of the previous year. Mr Bonneyfoy said France considered to be the world’s fourth largest trading nation, is prepared to help developing countries such as Ghana.
GRi../
Judges tortured, then murdered – Doctor’s report
The Dispatch, in its banner headline story quotes a pathologist’s report indicating that the three High court Judges and a retired Major of the Ghana Armed Force, who were murdered 17 years ago today, were tortured before they were killed.
The paper says Judges, Mr Justice F.P. Sarkodee, Mr Justice K.A. Adjepong and Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, all of whom had been prominent in overturning the decision of the erstwhile Armed Forces Revolutionary Council’s (AFRC) Special Court, and Major Sam Acquah, Director of Personnel at the Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC), were seized from their homes under the cover of darkness and taken to a firing range on the Accra Plains where they were shot dead and their bodies partly burnt.
The Dispatch says a special investigation board chaired by Mr Justice Azu Crabbe, investigated and found that Mr Amartey Kwei, a former member of the defunct Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), and four others were responsible for the killings. They were subsequently tried and sentenced to death by firing squad.
GRi../
Tasiri was wrong
The Weekly insight says independent investigations have established that the claim by Ex-Sergeant Peter Tasiri, a member of the erstwhile Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) that his colleague, Captain Baah Achamfuor, was the head of the team that buried the executed Generals, is false.
The paper quotes AFRC sources as saying Captain Baah Achamfuor was not even a member of the AFRC at the time of the first executions on June 16, 1979. According to the sources, the bodies of the Generals and all those who were executed were handed over to the prison authorities for burial and no AFRC member was involved.
GRi../