NPP to lose more seats
Mills tours Aflao and calls on Chiefs
Kufour visits Nii Amugi
MP urges regional balance in military recruitment
AGI has confidence in economy
NPP to lose more seats
It has been established that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is gripped with fear following a disturbing situational report from their regional executives which points to the party losing so many seats in the parliamentary elections reports the Ghana Palaver.
According to the paper what makes the report distressing is the constituencies involved. These areas were considered safe seats by the NPP but now they have been declared marginal seats. The three Kwahu seats, those of Abuakwa and Upper Denkira have been cited among others as some of the constituencies where the NPP’s comfortable support has whittled away in no time.
The paper states that in desperation to avert disaster, the former scribe of the NPP, Mr Agyenim Boateng is to be contacted to put on his war-dress and help reverse the situation.
The move is not only seen as a panic one but also an indirect vote of no confidence in Dan Botwe, the official General Secretary of the party, the paper said, adding that parliamentary candidates in the affected constituencies are also likely to be taxed heavily by way of personal commitment of financial resources to salvage the situation.
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Mills tours Aflao and calls on Chiefs
The Vice President John Evans Attah Mills toured facilities at the Aflao Border Post and assured the personnel of the security services working there, of the government‘s commitment to improving conditions under which they work, writes the Palaver in another story.
According to the paper, addressing the personnel of Custom, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) at a mini durbar to round off his inspection tour of the frontier, Mills appealed to them to adopt peaceful means of addressing their grievances.
“ We must all, together decide where to go from here and work towards it”, the Vice-President said.
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The Free Press discloses that Ghanaian politicians have been warned against the use of abusive words and negative activities that can cause unnecessary tension and violence in the country.
The paper reports Mr Craig J Murray, Deputy British High Commissioner as having given the warning in an interview with a local FM station in Kumasi last week.
According to him, though political debates and campaigns were important for the December 8 elections, politicians must conduct their activities in a clean and fair manner.
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The Dispatch reveals that since January 1999 to last month, the government has saved a little over 6 billion cedis, being the elimination of about 1,970 ghost names from the government payroll through the vigilance of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
According to the paper, out of the 64 cases the SFO has investigated, one involved the Bank of Ghana in which 3.4 billion cedis was advanced as loans in 1994 to some companies including Tericom Limited, Environmental Development Group (EDG), Sedata Limited, KBA Investments, Plastic Laminates Eridai Limited and Pharmadex.
According to the SFO reports only 20 million cedis had been recovered.
Also, Mrs Cotton, the American who wanted to grow rice in Ghana had also over-invoiced the government to the tune of 5 million dollars.
According to the paper, these disclosures are contained in the 1999 Annnual Report of the SFO, presented to President Rawlings and Parliament in accordance with section 21 of the Serious Fraud Office Act, 1993, Act 466.
The paper states that the Lower Pra Rural Bank, as per the report, had lost a total of 796 million cedis through embezzlement of Bank funds at their Shama and Afiakuma branches.
A complete docket on the inflation of prices of stationary supplied to Barclays Bank, totalling 669 million has been submitted to the Attorney General, says the paper.
Regarding Sterling Financial Services, on whom the SFO investigated its business dealings as a consultant to the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), the SFO has made various recommendations to the office of the President.
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Kufour visits Nii Amugi
The Dispatch on its back-page reports that the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr J A Kufour has paid a courtesy call on the Ga Mantse Nii Amugi II at his Alajo residence. He was accompanied by the National Chairman, Mr S.A Odoi- Sykes, the National Campaign Manager, Mr Jake Obetsebi- Lamptey, the Greater Accra Regional Secretary, Nii Ayitey Boafo and the Greater Accra Regional Organiser, Alhaji Mohammed Quaye.
According to the paper, Mr Kufour thanked the Lord for Nii Amugi’s recovery after a protracted illness and expressed the hope that he would recover fully to make his contributions to the democratisation process in the country.
Speaking on behalf of Nii, the Otublohum Mantse, Nii Doddoo Osashu thanked Mr Kufour and the NPP for the visit and support. He stressed the need for a healthy and decent campaign, with emphasis on issues and not insults and mudslinging.
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The Ghanaian Chronicle reports that Mrs Cecilia Johnson, Minister of Local Government and General Secretary of the 31st December Women’s Movement, has finally dumped the man she had been married to for the past 28 years.
According to the paper, this follows an ex-parte ruling granted her by an Accra High Court, presided over by Nana Gyamera Tawiah, where Mrs Johnson, who is also the sister of Ms Sherry Ayittey (Treasurer of the 31st DWM) had sued for divorce.
The paper states that Mrs Johnson had said her husband, until last year 1999 has been staying outside the country. She said they were married under the ordinance at the Catholic Church Burma Camp branch in 1972, stating that since the divorce proceedings against her husband started, he has failed to put in an appearance to contest the divorce.
It was her opinion therefore that he is not interested in the proceedings. She therefore sought relief for ex-prate proceedings against her husband, which was granted by the court.
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MP urges regional balance in military recruitment
The Chronicle in another story reports the member of Parliament for Akropong, Mr Agyare Koi Larbi, as saying that since political power is largely protected by military institutions, it would be disastrous to ignore present and future problems related to recruitment process into the Ghana Armed Forces.
He therefore, demanded that the Ghana Armed Forces adopt a politically neutral recruitment policy to ensure equality and regional balance.
“To allow any government the privilege of discriminatory recruitment into the Armed Forces is to consciously prescribe disaster for Ghana”, he stated in a motion.
He is asking the Minister of Defence to “submit to Parliament the total number of persons to be enlisted in a particular year, equitably selected from among all district assemblies which shall verify the origin of the applicant from the district.
According to the paper, Hon. Koi said the Gold Coast Constabulary and Regiment, which gave birth to the Ghana Armed Forces recruitment, reflected the political objectives of colonial administration.
He said after the 1966 coup, attempts were also made to satisfy ethnic and geographical balance but did not result in any concrete policy directive.
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The National Chairman of the Convention People’s People (CPP), Dr Abubakar Alhassan has said the party is now poised to wrestle power from the NDC, the Evening News reports in a front-page story.
“We are now more unified than ever and united than ever to clinch victory in the December presidential and parliamentary election” he said.
A CPP government would pursue policies that would benefit the majority of Ghanaians and not programmes, which are aimed at making a few people rich and making the majority poor, he said.
The National Chairman assured that during the reign of the CPP government, it would bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. “The general situation in the country is now unacceptable. Poverty has assumed a high level thereby making people worst off than before”, he said.
He explained that the party would embark on a vigorous agricultural revolution that would make the country produce more food, livestock and poultry to feed itself and for export.
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The Ghanaian Times reports that the Electoral Commission is to embark on a nation wide assessment of political parties, to ensure that their operations are in conformity with the constitutional provisions and political parties Law (Act 574).
According to the paper the Act states, among other things that all political parties shall establish branches in all regions and in addition organise in not less than two-thirds of the district in each region.
Sourcing a GNA story, the paper reports the Commission’s deputy chairman of operations, David Kangah as saying that the commission is empowered to cancel the registration of any political party on the grounds that it has refused, neglected or failed to establish or maintain national, regional and district offices.
He said there are 10 political parties in the country, but some exist only on paper and do not satisfy the law.
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AGI has confidence in economy
The Daily Graphic reports the President of the Association of Ghana Industries, (AGI) Prince Kofi Kludjeson as stating that the association has confidence in the economy.
According to the paper, Mr Kludjeson said the AGI is prepared to assist the government to pursue sound industrial policies that would boost economic activities in the country.
During a courtesy call on the Western Regional Minister, Mrs Esther Nkansah at Sekondi, Mr Kludjeson stressed the need for the government to forge a strong partnership with the private sector in efforts to make Ghana an industrial country.
He reiterated the need to add value to products to enable members to make inroads into the export market, adding that the AGI is in close contact with the Trades Union Congress in monitoring labour and industrial relations at the factory level.
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