Heads of departments urged to redouble efforts
Accra (Greater Accra) 27 June 2000
Mr Kwabena Agyepong, the son of one of the judges murdered 18 years, ago on Tuesday repeated his demand for the establishment of a Truth Commission in view of "fresh information" he has about the circumstances surrounding their abduction and murder.
He said this will absolve or incriminate President Jerry John Rawlings and the first lady, Nana Konadu as having or not having hands in the murder of the three judges and an army officer on June 30, 1982.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on the 18th anniversary of the incident, Mr Agyepong said: "the Truth Commission can achieve the level of public trust and confidence which is essential for us to lay this tragic episode in our history to a final rest.
"I have also reiterated my view that the proceedings of such a commission should be open, transparent and above all offer the widest possible degree of fairness to all who appear before it."
Mr Agyepong said on the eve of the execution Amartey Kwei, a former PNDC member who was involved in the murders, confessed that the President and his wife instigated and authorised the killings.
He said Amartey Kwei made the confession in the Ussher Prison Chapel in the presence of the late Reverend Kwebena Damuah, Lt-Commander Assase Gyimah, senior prisons officials and some commandos.
He claimed that President Rawlings snatched the recorded tape from Lt. Cdr. Assase Gyimah, "demanded absolute secrecy and ordered the execution to go on as planned."
Mr Agyepong said Amartey Kwei's last wish that his body should be returned to his family after the execution for burial was not carried out because his body was "pumped with 47 bullets until his body opened up."
He claimed that both Rev. Damuah and James Quarshie, a commando who was present at the Chapel, died under mysterious circumstances while two attempts were made on the life of Lt. Cdr. Assase Gyimah.
He said Mrs Rawlings had called those killed "reactionaries" and blamed members of the June Four Movement of condemning the killings.
"She also told them (June Four members) that (President) Rawlings had rejoiced and drank champagne when he heard the news.
"Even more significant is the startling revelation that in the course of the enquiry into the murders, the Chairman of the Special Investigation Board (SIB), Justice Azu Crabbe and the Chairman of the PNDC Flt-Lt Rawlings held a secret meeting at a house in Tesano in the presence of two other persons.
"In those circumstances the holding of such a meeting was a questionable act made more so because the SIB made no attempt to run down the crucial pieces of direct evidence connecting President Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu to these gruesome deeds."
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Mampong (Ashanti Region) 27 June 2000
A meeting held at Asante-Mampong between Ashanti regional executives of the NDC and the Mampong constituency executives to introduce Mr Joseph Adjei of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Kumasi as the NDC parliamentary candidate for the Mampong constituency ended in confusion.
The meeting was disrupted when the Mampong Zongo youth group of the NDC, invaded the meeting grounds to protest against not being invited to the programme.
The participants ran helter-skelter when one Iddrisu Karimu, believed to be leading the group fired a warning shot.
Mr Daniel Appau Ohyeamang, Mampong constituency chairman of the NDC, Madam Hawusuta Idrisu, constituency women organiser and Mr Alex Owusu Boamah, constituency secretary, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, blamed Mr
Samuel Akwasi Acheampong, the District Chief Executive for the incident.
They claimed that the DCE instigated the Zongo youth to oppose the choice of Mr Adjei because he favours Mrs Elizabeth Nicol of the national headquarters of the 31st December Women's Movement.
Mr Adjei said that he is undaunted by the DCE's actions adding that it could jeopardise the unity and stability of the party.
The DCE on his part said he has reported the matter to the district, regional and national authorities and was waiting for their directive.
Alhaji Idrisu, a founding member of the NDC, told the GNA that the action of the Zongo youth was to press home their support for Mrs Nicol who stood as the parliamentary candidate for the NDC in the constituency in the 1996 general elections.
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Ho (Volta Region) 27 June 2000
The Commanding Officer of the Medium Mortar Regiment at Ho, Lieutenant Colonel John Forkuo, has apologised to the E.P Church, Ghana for the panic, which resulted when soldiers broke into a service to arrest a suspected drug addict last Sunday at Ho Kpdodzi.
In a report to the Ghana News Agency, Lt. Col. Forkuo said the suspect, Eric Agbinku 35, was alleged to be threatening his family and neighbours and the police sought the assistance of the regiment to arrest him.
Lt. Col Foukuo said on June 22, Agbinku stabbed one Corporal Oliver Nyasem who was in the company of three other soldiers detailed to arrest him in his house and later escaped when he was being taken to the barracks.
Upon a tip-off that Agbinku was attending a service at Ho-Kpodze, he detailed soldiers to mount surveillance and arrest him, he said.
Agbinku recognised the soldiers who were in mufti and tried to escape thus forcing the soldiers to arrest him during the service causing panic and pandemonium in the Chapel. Lt. Col. Forkuo noted that Agbinku attempted to draw a dagger while being arrested.
Lt.Col. Forkuo said the soldiers regret the incident and gave the assurance that the Army would not under normal circumstances disrupt any church service adding that circumstances compelled them to act the way they did.
The Pastor of Ho-Kpodzi, Reverend Ben Agboka, told the GNA that he was away at Peki during the incident, but was informed that the suspect was arrested during church service resulting in a pandemonium.
The Moderator of the Church, The Right Reverend Japhet Yao Ledo and the Synod Clerk, Reverend Lordson J.K Dzakpasu, were not available for their comments.
Assistance Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mr Hubert Kwesi Sagoe, Second in Command of the Ho District Police, confirmed Lt. Col. Forkuo's report and said the suspect would be arranged before Court on Tuesday on three counts of using an offensive weapon, assault and threat of death. Corporal Nyasem, who underwent a major operation, is responding to treatment.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 June 2000
The Electoral Commission (EC) on Tuesday said the exhibition of the provisional voters' register has been postponed to July 7 to July 14.
Mr David Adeenze Kangah, Deputy Chairman (Operations) of EC, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the postponement of the exercise from the original period of June 30 to July 9 is due to technical reasons.
He said the exhibition process is meant to create a credible and dependable register that would be the basis for the acceptance of election results and prevent disharmony in the social and political affairs of Ghana.
He appealed to all who mistakenly registered again during the recent revision exercise, either because they had lost their ID cards or moved from where they previously registered, to go where they registered recently to assist in removing the second name.
The exhibition will afford all registered voters and political parties the opportunity to undertake public inspection of the roll.
The registers will be exhibited at the centres where registrations took place. It will enable registered voters the opportunity to make sure their names are on the provisional voters' register at the centres they registered recently or in the previous exercises.
Mr Kangah said this will enable them to vote in the December Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
The main activities at the exhibition centres will include corrections of names and other personal data, request for the inclusion of names of registered voters whose names do not appear on the register, application for the removal of the names of the dead, those who are under 18 years and non-Ghanaians.
The deputy chairman said registered voters, who during the revision exercise, applied for a change of polling stations are requested to check at the new centres whether their applications have been approved.
If approved, they would be given a slip to the appropriate District Office of the Commission for a new ID card.
He said the Commission has prepared for each polling station a provisional register bearing the name, age, sex and ID card number of voters.
Mr Kangah said after the completion of the exhibition, two lists will be displayed at the centres. They will contain the names of persons who made claims for inclusion in the register and particulars of any person whose inclusion in the register an objection was made.
Mr Kangah said changes to the provisional voters' register are to be made only where there is an error or omission in the information about the registered voter. The exhibition is not intended for major changes to the information, such as name or age.
It is to check omission of vital information or data in the register, missing letter from the name, sex, the age or polling station number. There could also be discrepancies between the information on the ID card and the content of the register.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 June 2000
The Vice-President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills on Tuesday stressed the need to make constant reminders of the nation's past illustrious sons and daughters as role models for the present generation. This, he said, will constantly have a positive impact on the youth and their development.
Vice-President Mills was speaking at a ceremony to cut the sod for start of work on the erection of a statue in memory of the late King Tackie Tawiah, the most illustrious, progressive and enterprising of all Ga Kings. The project is estimated to cost one billion cedis.
King Tawiah ruled for 40 years from 1862 to 1902, a period described in Ga history as the "Golden Years of Accra".
The proposed King Tackie Tawiah memorial statue is to perpetuate his memory and the lofty ideas he stood for.
Prof. Mills said the erection of the statue was long overdue considering the significant role played by the late King in the development of the Accra area and its people.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 June 2000
Two Ghanaian officials on Monday began a five-day working visit to the United Kingdom as part of the on-going support from the British government for Ghana's rapidly developing telecommunication sector.
They are Nii Adjei-Boye Sekan, Chairman of the Parliamentary sub-Committee on Communications and Mr J. K. Gyimah, Acting Director of the National Communications Authority.
A statement from the British High Commission on Tuesday said the visit would give the two officials an opportunity to observe the latest developments in the UKtelecommunications industry and the accompanying regulatory mechanisms. It said the officials would hold meetings with organisations such as the Telecommunications Industry Association, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, the All-Party Group on Ghana and Oftel, UK's independent telecommunications regulatory body. The two will also attend the Networks Telecom 2000 Exhibition at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 June 2000
Work on a three-tier car park is to start this year at the Kaneshie Market Complex to ease vehicular congestion on the Obetsebi Lamptey Circle-Malam road and accommodate more vehicles.
The seven million-dollar park would also help to de-congest the station of sellers who have abandoned their stores to trade at the main station thus causing human traffic.
Mr Kwame Amporful, General Manager of the Accra Market Limited, told the GNA in Accra on Tuesday that the project is projected to be completed in two years.
He said the park would have a capacity of 325 vehicles. The ground floor would take 82 buses, the first floor, 84 taxis with the second floor taking 158 private cars. Negotiations with the landowners are still in progress after which the project would commence, he said. Mr Amporful expressed the hope that the project would help improve sanitation in the area.
The Accra City Car Park, Ghana's first multi-storey car park located at the former Ghana House car park, has begun trial operations.
The 500-car capacity park would charge 2,000 cedis for the first two hours, 1,000 cedis for the second and third hours and 500 cedis for subsequent hours.
Special discount would be given to companies whose officials become regular users and park their cars for long hours.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Merchant Bank, First African Group and the Labour Enterprise Trust own the Accra City Car Park.
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Techiman (Brong Ahafo) 27 June 2000
Mr Samuel G.A. Nlary, Techiman District Co-ordinating Director, has appealed to heads of departments to redouble their efforts to enhance the smooth administration of the district.
He also advised the decentralised departments to work with the sub and sector committees of the district assembly for better results.
Mr Nlary was addressing heads of departments, public boards and corporations at Techiman to promote efficiency and the observance of the code of ethics of the Civil Service.
He urged them to work hard to lay a solid foundation for the decentralised system of administration in the district for better services to the people.
Mr Nlary called on them to present quarterly reports to the assembly promptly to enhance effective co-ordination and said any head who failed to do that would be sanctioned.
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