GRi Press Review
Ghana 05 - 06 - 2001
JJ stokes
the flame
Gov't fires
back
Avoid use
of violence
'Let not
party politics divide us'
Victims of
June 4 laud Parliament
Serial
Killer for court
17 perish
in accident at Ejisu
Bagbin
lambasts Rawlings
I was
against executions…But Boakye Djan & Co. wanted 'Blood to flow'!
And Boakye
Djan reacts
Alhaji
Inusah is a liar - Amoo
Inusah
loses mosque job
There is no
discrimination in issuing Bank licences… BOG
Don't play
tension matches at night
JJ stokes
the flame
The
Ghanaian Chronicle reports ex-president Jerry John Rawlings as telling NDC
faithfuls in Accra on Monday that the New Patriotic Party government under
President J.A. Kufuor was committing the same mistakes that brought about the
June 4 uprising in 1979.
In a mood
reminiscent of the 1979 era, he urged his supporters to start defying
authorities at their workplaces and wherever they find themselves.
According
to the ex-president, it is such spirit of defiance that gave birth to the June
4 uprising.
Clad in an
all-white attire and flanked by senior party members, he charged workers,
"Don't fold your hands in your tails; you must be able to stand up and
tell the Minister the truth other than that the whole system will collapse on
us."
The former
President was speaking at a public lecture to mark the 22nd
anniversary of the June 4th uprising, which led to the overthrow of
the Supreme Military Council then led by General Fred Akuffo.
The
ex-President said that he was not surprised at the expunging of June 4 from the
nation's calendar as a public holiday because he and the NPP do not see eye to
eye.
"You
can go and outlaw June 4 on paper, but the spirit and the conscience of June 4
cannot be removed from our minds; even Kufuor cannot change it," he
claimed.
He also
warned the NPP government to learn how to treat former heads of state stressing
that Kufuor must listen to the advice Obasanjo gave him recently in Nigeria
about how to handle past heads of state.
He further
accused the NPP of harassing the NDC supporters in vain and claimed that the
NPP had adopted such a strategy because the government cannot fulfill its
electoral promises to the people and therefore want to blame the past
government officials.
"During
the electioneering campaign we told the people the truth but they (NPP) told
the people lies with big promises and because of their inability to deliver
their promises, they are now indulging in what is called political trials
against our past ministers", he said.
More…/
Gov't fires
back
Leading
members of the Government reacted angrily at the harsh criticism thrown at them
by the former President, abandoning decorum and equaling him in offensive
rebuttals, almost descending into the gutter with Rawlings.
JJ had
spoken about President J.A. Kufuor in dismissive, disrespectful manner.
"He
must not bring his nonsense to me…," charged Hon Hackman Owusu-Agyemang,
the Foreign Minister, who had been described as a liar by Rawlings.
"He is
a bigger liar," Ms Elizabeth Ohene took offence at being lumped as a liar
too and repelled Rawlings rambling condemnation of the NPP leader.
Bristling
with anger, Elizabeth said that the Ghanaian people had rejected Jerry Rawlings
and his legacy by rejecting them conclusively in the elections.
She agreed
to suggestions that JJ was trying to incite people: "Rawlings wants to
bring the politics of infamy and incitement, but we have gone way past that,
we'll not descend into the gutter with him.
"Rawlings
calls myself, Mr Owusu Agyemang and President Kufuor "Liars". I cannot understand his obsession with the
use of the word.
"….
This is a rather contemptible way for Rawlings to talk… Kufuor has extended to
him all due courtesies… he should learn to do the same… If that is a threat we
accept it…
On JJ's
reference to ongoing trials as "political trials" and not legal
trials, Ms. Ohene noted that it is the courts, which decide the course of
trials in the country.
"… Due
process is being followed as of now. The NPP government has a "definite
vision, she'd stated."
GRi…/
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Avoid use
of violence
The Daily
Graphic carries that Vice President Aliu Mahama has cautioned students in
tertiary institutions against the use of violence as a tool for solving
problems.
He said the
use of violence to solve problems is alien to the country and its traditions.
Vice-President
Mahama gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf at the victory rally of
the Tertiary Students Confederacy of NPP (TESCON) at the Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology in Kumasi on Sunday.
The
Vice-President said the use of laid down avenues and due processes for seeking
redress is the hallmark of positive change and these should be the guiding
principle of students at all times.
He,
therefore, charged all members of TESCON to redouble their efforts at helping
to create peace and prosperity.
Vice-President
Mahama said if Ghanaians are today breathing the air of freedom and anxiously
waiting for the economic benefits of positive change, then, it is largely due
to the tenacity assignment of protecting and policing the December 2000
elections.
He said the
success of their efforts thus imposes another challenge on them to consolidate
the gains of positive change.
More…/
'Let not
party politics divide us'
Former
President Jerry Rawlings on Monday appealed to Ghanaians not to allow party
politics to divide their ranks at the expense of the economic reconstruction,
social renewal and stability of the country.
He said
differences in ideological positions and economic direction of Ghana among the
various political parties must not encourage their respective leadership and
rank and file to antagonise one another to the point of undermining the stability that the country
has enjoyed over the past two decades.
Former
President Rawlings was speaking at a public lecture marking the 22nd
anniversary celebration of the June 4 Uprising.
The lecture
whose theme was; "Ghana's Evolving Democracy: The Relevance of the June Four Action," was attended by
former Vice-President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills and other leading
functionaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
According
to former President Rawlings, political party activities seem to be poisoning
the minds of the people instead of encouraging "them to be each other's
keeper and contributing their quota towards the development of the country and
protecting her security".
"We
must grow above petty-mindedness in politics and stop tearing ourselves apart
and creating unnecessary tension that would degenerate into something
else," former President Rawlings said.
More…/
Victims of
June 4 laud Parliament
A group
calling itself victims of the June 4, 1979 Uprising have commended Parliament
for revoking June 4 as a national public holiday.
They
contended that the commemoration of June 4 as a public holiday served to remind
them of their horrendous experiences during the uprising.
Addressing
a press conference in Accra on Monday, a victim of the June 4 Uprising and a
spokesman of the group, Nii Yemoh, said, "The cancellation of the day as a
public holiday should serve as the last to be heard of June 4."
He said the
annulment of the day as a public holiday serves as the height of satisfaction
to be enjoyed by surviving victims of the uprising.
GRi…/
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Serial
Killer for court
The
Ghanaian Times says trial is expected to begin at the Accra Circuit Court on
June 29, of Charles Ebo Quansah, the self-confessed serial killer.
Quansah,
who has confessed to killing eight of the more than 30 women who were murdered
over the last eight years, was arrested in February but the news of his arrest
was not made public until last month.
Last May,
Quansah was put before court, presided over by Mr Justice Kwadwo Owusu, and was
remanded in prison custody. The prosecutor had prayed the court to keep Quansah
on remand to enable the police to conduct further investigations.
It is recalled
that on May 15, the Police formally announced the arrest of Quansah.
The
suspect, also known as Paapa Kwabena Ebo, had confirmed killing eight women
between 1993 and January this year by strangling them.
He was a
resident of Adenta but hailed form Komenda in the Central Region.
Quansah,
who is not married, claimed to have killed the eight women in Kumasi, in the
Ashanti region and Dansoman, Mataheko and Adenta, all in Accra. Police records
indicate that Quansah is an ex-convict.
He served a
jail term at the James Fort Prisons in Accra for rape in 1986. When he
completed the sentence, Quansah committed another rape offence and was jailed
for three years at the Nsawam prisons in 1987.
After
serving the second sentence, he settled at Ayigya, Kumasi, until 1997 when he
moved to Dansoman in Accra.
More…/
17 perish
in accident at Ejisu
Seventeen
passengers on board a Hyundai Grace mini bus from Bompata in the Asante Akim
South District of the Ashanti Region, were killed on Monday morning in a tragic
motor accident.
All the
occupants, including a pregnant woman and the driver, perished on the spot when
the bus collided with a petrol tanker at a spot near Ejisu-Bisease on the
Kumasi-Accra road.
Their
mutilated bodies were deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital mortuary
in Kumasi for autopsy and identification.
Police
sources said the tanker driver, who was heading towards Accra from Kumasi at
about 5.30 am attempted overtaking a tractor in a curve and in the process,
collided head-on with the on-coming bus and pushed it into a nearby valley,
crushing all the occupants to death.
Dauda
Dagarti, 51, the tanker driver, is being held in police custody to assist in
investigations.
GRi…/
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Bagbin
lambasts Rawlings
The
Minority Leader, Hon. Alban Bagbin on Monday lambasted former President Rawlings
for not providing good leadership for the nation after the June 4 uprising.
According to The Independent, the Minority Leader said, "The former
President did not provide good governance because he was not learned in law and
governance".
Hon Bagbin,
who made these remarks on LUV FM, in Kumasi, was expressing his view on the
celebration of June 4th uprising.
He also
said advisors of the former President failed him, adding that because of these
flaws the ideals of June 4th, which were probity and accountability
were not achieved.
"At
some point, I think he got disappointed, because he thought he was betrayed.
He did not
get support from his ministers and advisors, and not being learned in law, he
was depending on the advise of a lot of people and could not get his way clear
so he himself did not get a good leadership at the end of the day. This is
because he was supposed to correct his followers and if he could not do that
then it means he did not live up to expectation," he said.
Hon Bagbin
also admitted wrongdoing on the part of some government officials, adding that
those people should be identified and dealt with according to the law.
"Look
for the people who erred, those who committed crimes and those who went wrong
and handle them accordingly," he stated.
Asked
whether ex-president Rawlings was aware of the wrongdoings, Mr Bagbin said if
he was not aware, that in itself is a mark of bad leadership."
GRi…/
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I was
against executions…But Boakye Djan & Co. wanted 'Blood to flow'!
Mr Francis
Kojo-Smith, a former Legal Adviser to the erstwhile Armed Forces Revolutionary
Council (AFRC), has intimated that he was strongly against the executions of
the army officers who were executed by firing squad under the first
administration of Ex-Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, reports The Crusading Guide.
Besides his
role as a legal adviser to the AFRC, he said that he tried to ameliorate the
excesses of the regime. Frantic efforts, he maintained, were made by him to
stop the executions but the other members of the Council, including Major
Boakye Djan (rtd) - now domiciled in London - were insistent on letting the
blood flow.
Mr Francis
Kojo-smith, a legal practitioner cum journalist, disclosed these in an
exclusive interview with the paper when he paid a courtesy call on the paper
last week Monday.
He said he
was not happy that a person like General A.A. Afrifa - who was the Chairman of
the UNC Party led by the late Paa Willie and not a member of
Acheampong's/Akuffo's SMC governments - was captured, tied to the stakes and
shot.
According
to the ex-AFRC Associate, a list of 16 people, including civilians, had been
slated for executions but he pleaded with Chairman Rawlings not to kill them.
More…/
And Boakye
Djan reacts
Major (rtd)
Kwadjo Boakye Djan says he finds nothing new nor even surprising about the interview
granted to The Crusading Guide by Mr Kojo smith, one of the numerous close
functionaries of the June 4 Uprising in 1979.
"This
is not the first time that I have been made a target of this particular type of
smear allegations and the unprofessional manner he chose to make them. Knowing
his caliber as a professional lawyer who is trained to handle contested
evidence I expected something better than that from him", Boakye Djan was
quoted to have said.
"That
apart, it is one more example of the sorry spectacle of key AFRC persons
suddenly emerging from their long hideouts, in some cases over twenty years, to
make fantastic claims of what they did or did not do and what happened or did
not happen during their association with the AFRC.
On numerous
occasions in the past, I have had to resist the temptation of joining in that
unwholesome practice particularly from very senior professionals we had to work
with.
This time
round also, I find no compelling reason to break my restraint from joining in
the practice," he'd added.
GRi…/
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Alhaji
Inusah is a liar - Amoo
The
Statesman carries that Mr George Isaac Amoo, MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon, has
described Alhaji Issaka Inusah, NPP's 1996 Campaign Manager, as an unrepentant
pathological liar who should be avoided by right thinking members of the
society.
Reacting to
a claim by Inusah that he had applied to rejoin the NPP at the constituency,
Amoo said there is no record of his application.
Alhaji
Inusah, who still holds his NDC membership card, stunned Ghanaians two weeks
ago with his announcement that he was rejoining the NPP, but his announcement
has been greeted with protests and condemnations by NPP members. The NPP later
denounced his claim, saying he had not even applied to rejoin the party.
However,
appearing on a GTV current affairs programme anchored by Kwaku Sakyi Addo on
Sunday, Alhaji Inusah said he had filed his application at the Ayawso Wuogon
Constituency.
But in a
telephone interview on Monday Amoo, whom Inusah cited as one of his reasons for
defecting from the NPP, denied that Inusah had applied at the constituency.
"This
man is politically dangerous; people should beware of him," Amoo was
quoted to have said.
GRi…/
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Inusah
loses mosque job
Alhaji Inusah
Isaka's troubles are far from over, says The Accra Mail.
Ever since
they started when he defected from the NPP to the NDC, he has been wallowing
from one quagmire to the other.
He probably
holds the only title in Ghana's contemporary politics as a defector and
re-defector at the same time!
The Mail
says it has been reliably informed by his family sources that attempts were
made by some of his relations to stop him from organizing the press conference
at which he announced his re-defection from the NDC to the NPP to protect
himself and his family from further embarrassment.
The
embarrassment his well-meaning relations feared descended with full force in
the form of ostracism last week at the Abelenkpe Central Mosque where for a
long time he had been held in high esteem and was a member of the executive
committee of the mosque.
His antics
of defecting, re-defecting, with their attendant lies, deceit, and
unfaithfulness have sent shock waves to a cross section of Islamic clerics who
fear Inusah's lack of integrity could unjustifiably have a negative impact on
the image of Islam. For them it is not a matter of decamping from one party to
another which is the issue but rather the inherent traits of opportunism and
mendacity which are not in conformity with the dictates of Islam which he as a
Muslim opinion leader now represents.
After
deliberating on the issue of Inusah, the youth in the mosque have resolved that
to protect the image of their place of worship, his role as an interpreter for
the Friday sermons by the Imam should be stopped. Accordingly, he has been
written to and given the sack.
GRi…/
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There is no
discrimination in issuing Bank licences… BOG
The Ghana
Palaver says the Bank of Ghana on Thursday denied any discriminatory policies
in the issuance of licences to banking or financial institutions, saying it
grants licences only to promoters who meet its requirements in full.
Addressing
a Press Conference in Accra, the first Deputy Governor of the Bank, Mr Emmanuel
Asiedu-Mante, explained that the bank insists on the requirements to ensure the
integrity of the financial system and guarantee the safety of depositors'
monies.
The press
conference was to explain the bank's licensing requirements and to also debunk
impressions of discriminatory practices in licensing procedures published by
"The Independent" newspaper.
The paper
carried in its May 24 edition a headline, "Foul Play at Bank of
Ghana" in which it sought to create the impression that the bank
discriminates in issuing licences to applicants.
GRi…/
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Don't play
tension matches at night
The Sports
Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) has called for a total ban on evening
matches especially the high volatile ones to avoid another tragedy in future,
reports The Evening News.
The ban,
the SWAG said, would prevent drunken fans from hiding under the cover of
darkness to cause confusion at the stadium.
It would
also help reduce the likelihood of fans being chased into dark alleys in case
of riots.
The SWAG
said the dark alleys are potential sources of tragedy as was experienced at the
Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday, May 9, 2001.
These were
contained in a memorandum presented to the Okudzeto Commission by the SWAG in
Accra last week.
The memo
was aimed at making suggestions for the consideration of the Presidential
Commission on the Accra Sports Stadium tragedy, on how to make our sporting
installations safe for use by sportsmen and women, officials as well as
spectators.
In making
the suggestion, that high-tension matches be banned at night, the SWAG said it
was informed by what obtains in other professional leagues in the western
world.
GRi…/
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