Govt denies Chronicle story
Strange disease hits WASEC
A-G orders trial of 5
Civil Servants unhappy
Murder mystery sign of danger
NPP manifesto in local languages
Power cuts-VRA blames ECG
Nii Okine's lawyers plead for him
Cash crisis hits NEC
Kufour's running-mate
Dan Botwe against Kufour's strategy
Govt denies Chronicle story
The Daily Graphic reports in a front-page story that the Chief of Staff, Office of the President, Nana Ato Dadzie, has denied that an agreement has been reached with any company to service the old Presidential Jet, Fokker 28, for any amount.
The paper says in a reaction to the Ghanaian Chronicle story of June 27, 2000, Nana Ato Dadzie said the jet is due for routine servicing in September 2000, to undertake what is technically referred to as Routine Check D, a category of servicing for structural integrity.
Nana Dadzie said in response to a request by the Ghana Air Force for approval for this check and also for the reconfiguration of the aircraft from the present 26 seats to a 48-seater capacity, the Office of the President gave approval for the Chief of Air Staff to enter into preliminary discussions with Fokker Services BV and obtain tentative cost for the consideration of Cabinet.
“The letter to the Chief of Air Staff with reference NO.OP/017/COS, dated June 8, 2000, copy of which is in the possession of the Daily Graphic, stated in unambiguous terms that “final approval will only be given if the cost involved is manageable,” the story said.
It added that the Chief of Staff indicated that no estimate has been given by the Ghana Air Force in respect of the servicing and expressed surprise at how Chronicle got the estimate of US $7 – 12 million quoted in the story.
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Strange disease hits WASEC
In its banner story, the Graphic says a strange disease has broken out at the Wa Secondary School in the Upper West Region, forcing the school administration to close down the school on the advice of the health authorities.
The story says 40 students out of 1,014 have been admitted at the Wa Central Hospital since the outbreak of the disease about two weeks ago.
Graphic says the disease makes students strip naked and behave violently, sometimes assaulting their colleagues and teachers.
Mr. J.A. Puobi, Headmaster, is reported as saying that the school started recording an unusual number of emergency visits to hospital two weeks ago.
He said for the past four days emergency visits became regular with about six students, especially girls being taken to hospital but there was pandemonium on Thursday as many more students exhibited the abnormal behaviour.
He said as a result of the rising number of victims, the health authorities visited the school and advised the authorities to close down.
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A-G orders trial of 5
The Ghanaian Times story says the Attorney General’s Department has given the go-ahead for the prosecution of five suspected armed men rounded up last year in connection with the robbery at the Amansie West Rural Bank at Antoakrom, in the Ashanti region.
Kofi Adutwum (Razak); Anthony Yaw Abanyiwea; Nsobilla Anaaba (Agoro); Baba Yakubu (Obolo) and Salifu Seidu (Sarbor) are to appear before the Kumasi High Court, states the paper.
Times says three others, Akosua-Serwah, a Kumasi based chop bar operator, Salifu Issa and Mon Frafra, accused of complicity have however been discharged for lack of evidence while Tiiga Bulundan, who was among the nine initially arrested and flown to Accra is to be charged for possessing firearms without authority.
The story recalls that the five who are to face trial, made away with over ¢35 million, a Yamaha generator and lanterns belonging to the bank during the robbery.
It said on July 17, last year, about 50 armed robbers invaded the head office of the Amansie Rural Band at Antoakrom, and made away with a safe containing money.
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Civil Servants unhappy
The Civil Servants Association (CSA) is not happy about the repeated public announcements of salary increases given them by the government, reports the Ghanaian Times in a front-page coverage.
CSA, according to the paper, said that the practice was not fair to them because no such thing pertains in the public services where the workers received higher increases.
The paper says it was told by Mr. Smart Chigabatia, Executive Secretary of CSA, that the recent 20 per cent salary adjustment given them was not an across-the-board increase as announced.
“It is part of the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS) negotiations going on between the workers and the government,” Mr. Chigabatia was quoted to have said.
According to the Times, Mr. Chigabatia said that with the adjustment completed, they were now taking allowances.
“It is not fair when workers on the same grade take different allowances. The GUSS has come, not to attack the quantum of pay given to workers, but to remove the inequalities where two workers doing the same job would be paid differently because they were in different institutions,” he said.
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Murder mystery sign of danger
The Weekend Statesman writes that Prof. Kofi Kumado of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon, has warned that the unresolved mystery surrounding the abduction and murder of three High Court Judges and a retired Army Officer portends great danger to the nation.
Speaking at the 6th Sarkodie, Koranteng-Adow and Agyapong Memorial Lecture, Prof. Kumado, is reported to have stated that the murders have become pimples on the constitutional landscape.
The paper has it that Prof. Kumado, worried about the unresolved murder, put aside this year’s theme “Justiciability, the Rule of Law and the 1992 Constitution,” opted to speak on “Pimples and Incipient Boils: Random Thoughts of a Native,” to alert the nation that the unexplained murders are pimples which, if not well treated, would grow into incipient boils.
He says the GBA and the judiciary have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the problem does not undermine the Constitution. “The simple message of my lecture today is that we should develop the skills and sensitivity needed to detect the pimples appearing on our Constitution. Otherwise we pay a painful price, such as the event we observe today,” the Statesman quoted.
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NPP manifesto in local languages
The front-page report of the Free Press says the manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with translated versions in the various Ghanaian languages will be out in August 2000.
Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, national campaign manager of the party, is reported to have told a general meeting of the Manhyia Constituency members of the party at Kumasi on Sunday.
Mr. Obetsebi Lamptey is said to have called on Ghanaians to study the manifesto, and vote for the NPP and its flagbearer, Mr. J.A. Kufuor, in the December elections.
He said the wind of change is blowing all over the country and that Mr. Kufuor would be the next President of Ghana.
He said the NDC government had plunged the country into a ‘deep hole’ and that the only way to stop ‘the hole from going deeper is to remove it from power.’
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Power cuts-VRA blames ECG
The Dispatch discloses that whenever there are power cuts or load shedding exercises, the problem is bound to be between two organisations; Volta River Authority (VRA) and Electricity Corporation of Ghana (ECG).
According to the paper the VRA generates power and transmits at a high voltage of 161 kilo volts. The ECG steps it down to 33 and 11 kilo volts and transmits to its sub-station for distribution.
The paper states that in recent times there have been many unannounced power cuts or in rare cases, pre-announced cuts, causing discomfort and panic among customers who settle their bills regularly.
The VRA says the ECG is to blame. With regard to the issue of the link between power outages and the Aboadze Plant, “we wish to stress that the pre-announced load shedding by ECG in the last three months are not due to VRA's inability to generate enough power to meet demand”.
According to the paper this was contained in a rejoinder from the VRA, in reaction to an editorial in the June 14-20 edition of the Dispatch, headed; What Is Happening At The Aboadze Thermal Plant. The editorial implied that problems with the supply of energy from Aboadze were the main cause for recent power cuts.
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Nii Okine's lawyers plead for him
The Ghanaian Chronicle reports that Nii Okine Adjei, Commissioner of Customs Exercise and Preventive Service (CEPS), has rescinded his earlier decision to obey a court order directing him to hand over an amount of $225,000 (1.2 billion cedis) CEPS had seized from three West African nationals.
The paper states that this latest action of the Commissioner is intended to purge him from the contempt case he is currently facing before an Accra High Court. The contempt application, brought against him by two of the three ECOWAS nationals, is seeking to have him imprisoned for allegedly disobeying the court order, and have him refund the $225,000 to them.
According to the paper, the leading counsel for CEPS, Mr Tagoe apologised to the court for the inability of the Commissioner to avail himself before the court last Wednesday when the case was called.
He said Nii Okine Adjei was holding discussions with World Bank officials and could, therefore, not make it to court. The paper states that in this particular case, however, the Commissioner has been absent for the previous two sittings the case has been called.
The contempt case was instituted after the Osu Community Tribunal chaired by Mrs Ivy Heward-Mills had ordered Nii Okine Adjei to release the $225,000 to the Nigerian, Alexander M. Kekeula, a Liberian, John Farla Saah and a Sierra Leoean, Omandi Husseine Odipo. But he refused to release the money and later filed an appeal at an Accra Regional Tribunal.
According to the story the CEPS Commissioner seized the money from the three after it was seized at the Kotoka International Airport on suspicion that it was laundered drug money. He later transferred the case to the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) minus the dollars.
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Cash crisis hits NEC
The Ghanaian Chronicle reveals in another story that six months to this years' general elections, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) is facing serious financial, material and logistical problems, which could seriously affect the conduct of the elections if the EC is not bailed out.
The paper says it gathered that the situation is so serious that the NEC sent an SOS call to the donor community to assist it at a marathon meeting with the donor partners behind closed doors in Accra last week.
No pledges were however received at the meeting, sources revealed. NEC sources say almost all the regional offices are struggling to grapple with transport and human resources problems, which have so far slowed down preparation for the December 8 elections.
The paper states that the government subvention to the NEC for this year has also not been forthcoming while it is yet to finish disposing off old ballot boxes and papers used for last elections.
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Kufour's running-mate
The Ghana Palaver reports that investigations by the paper has revealed that Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, the campaign Manager of J.A Kufour is the main power-broker as to who the party's flagbearer should designate as his running mate.
According to the paper the campaign manager who is believed to have borne part of Kufour's re-election expenses and that of Mr S.A Odoi-Sykes is alleged to be manipulating the choice The paper continues that Jake Obetsebi Lamptey have hatched a secret plot with some of his close business friends to push for a candidate of his choice. It states that the choice would surely come from Jake's circle with Nana Akufo Addo and Major Quashigah lobbying Jake for the job.
Even though Mr Odoi Sykes seem to be against the manipulations by Jake as to who to occupy the position, he has no other option than to pledge his support in a typical "he who pays the piper calls the tune" fashion, concludes the paper.
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Dan Botwe against Kufour's strategy
The Ghana Palaver in another story says a leading member of the NPP (name withheld) has revealed to the paper that the Party's General Secretary, Mr Dan Botwe is anti-Kufour as he keeps undermining his flagbearer's effort at impressing the electorate.
According to the paper the party's scribe is said to have played a fast one on Kufour and his close associates by pretending to be with them.
The paper asserts that Dan Botwe keeps complaining about Kufour’s style of leadership to his party men, dwelling heavily on his weak platform talk as being the bane of his party.
The NPP General Secretary lamented to the leading figure in confidence that Kufour is creating more problems for the party than envisaged. He is alleged to be angry at the way and manner the party's campaign is being prosecuted citing poor strategy and Kufour's colourless messages as a debilitating factor that could derail their ambition
According to the paper, the leading figure revealed that the Scribe's beef also stems from the centralisation of power and the authority in Kufour, who has been accused of directing party affairs from his Airport West residence.
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