GRi Press Review
Ghana 06 - 06 - 2001
We'll be
loyal to state
I am ready
for Jake - Bagbin
Aliu
identifies why corruption abounds
Accra
flooded
1979
killings were useless
Tony Aidoo
strikes back at Hackman
Azaa
investors dupe Ghana and Banks
"We
will not return to exile"
GPRTU owes
˘7 billion
Even NDC
alarmed at utterances
Ghana is in
deep crises
We'll be
loyal to state
The acting
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Major General Seth Obeng has given the assurance
that the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) would remain loyal to the government and
protect the Constitution at all times to ensure the country's accelerated
development, the Daily Graphic reports.
He said
nobody would be allowed to play the military against the current government
adding, "I have personally told the President of the unquestionable
loyalty of the GAF to his government."
The acting
CDS described as unfortunate remarks that have been made in certain circles
that the military is only pretending that it respects the current government.
Major
General Obeng gave the assurance after Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, the Minister of
Defence, in an address to officers and men of the Three Garrison at Sunyani on
Tuesday, drew the attention of the military to the remarks made by ex-President
Rawlings at a forum to mark the June 4 Uprising in Accra on Monday.
More…/
I am ready
for Jake - Bagbin
The
Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin, has said he is not worried at
all by the suit filed against him at the courts by the Minister of Presidential
Affairs, Mr Jake Obetsebi Lamptey seeking aggravated damages for slandering
him.
"I am
ever ready for Mr Obetsebi Lamptey; I love going to the courts," he said.
Mr Bagbin,
who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli North, was speaking at a
public lecture in connection with the 22nd anniversary celebration
of the June 4 uprising in Accra on Monday.
He said no
amount of intrigues by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to silence him
and any other functionaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) by using
the courts would pay off, since he is prepared to defend himself against
charges preferred against him by Mr Obetsebi Lamptey.
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Aliu
identifies why corruption abounds
Vice-President
Aliu Mahama has observed that the problem impeding the fight against corruption
in the society is that the various institutions charged with the task have not
been strengthened enough to effectively perform their duties, reports The
Ghanaian Times.
The
institutions, he said, lacked financial and human resources to operate the way
they should.
Alhaji
Mahama made this observation in a speech read for him at the opening of the
Fifth National Governance workshop on Anticorruption in Accra on Tuesday.
He said,
"we need to synchronize the powers of CHRAJ and the Serious Fraud Office
(SFO) and use the findings of the Public Accounts Committee to pursue sanctions
against persons who corruption findings are made."
To that
end, the Vice-President stressed the need to re-visit the assets declaration
rules and clarify the position with respect to public appointees interest in
ongoing enterprises.
More…/
Accra
flooded
The Times
says its fears of imminent ills in Accra that could result from a heavy
downpour are being manifested as the rainy season progresses.
A few
minutes rain on Tuesday gave meaning to its call for a task force to start
doing something about the perennial floods that hit the metropolis during the
season.
Areas most
affected were the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, parts of the Accra North Industrial
Area, North Kaneshie and some parts of Abossey Okai.
The floods
were such that vehicular and human traffic were brought to a halt in some areas
whiles rain water entered the living quarters and offices of others.
Some
courageous people, who had to go at all cost, had to make through floodwater,
sometimes up to their knees, to get to where they were going.
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1979
killings were useless
The
Dispatch carries that as supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
thronged the Accra Arts Centre last Monday to listen to a series of lectures to
mark the 22nd anniversary of the June 4 uprising, some senior
members of the party were at a meeting, assessing the role the revolution
should play in the re-organisation of the party. Majority of those present were of the view that the June 4
executions of the eight senior military officers, including three former Heads
of State "were useless" and should not be the centre of the NDC's
re-organisation.
A
spokesperson for the group, who spoke to the paper on condition of anonymity,
decried the inability of the NDC government and the Provisional National
Defence Council (PNDC) to stamp out corruption by sacking senior government
officials against whom corrupt findings had been made. No serious attempt was
also made to have them refund the monies or properties seized to the State.
One area
which the group could not agree on, according to the spokesperson was how to
let ex-President Rawlings play an important role in the NDC's future plans
without him bringing along the June 4 ideals which they all admitted "were
outmoded and outdated".
The group,
which said it would soon submit a paper on certain issues affecting the party,
said one of the things they believe would hamper the NDC's re-organisation
efforts is to re-assure Ghanaians that recent reports of greed, corruption and
embezzlement on the part of some leading members of the NDC did not symbolize the
nature of all the NDC members.
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Tony Aidoo
strikes back at Hackman
The
Ghanaian Chronicle says ex-President Rawlings' key macho-hatchet man, Dr. Tony
Aidoo has launched a rapid counter attack on critics of his master Jerry
Rawlings, cussing the Foreign Minister Hon. Hackman Owusu and describing him as
a 'bufoon'.
"He
had to be restrained by presenters on radio from unleashing a torrent of abuse
on the Minister," the paper said.
Tony was
bristling over the Foreign Minister's obviously erroneous threat to consider
withdrawing the privileges of the ex-President over his carping remarks and
broadside on Hon. Hackman Owusu. Rawlings had called him a liar.
Screamed
Aidoo last night, "Who is Hackman! Who is Hackman? Who is he? He has no
power to do that; he has no moral authority…," challenging the honourable
Foreign Minister's statement which he described as a direct threat to the
constitutional order.
He even
complained that the radio stations were repeating Hackman's offending
statements over and over again.
Aidoo who
is a leading member of the NDC observed that there was a lot of paranoia in the
country over the threat that Rawlings posed but he said people should remember
that it is the same coup-maker who channeled his energies into directing two
democratic elections and took a bow after his term had ended.
Tony also
had harsh words for Ms Elizabeth Ohene.
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Azaa
investors dupe Ghana and Banks
The Ghana
Free Zones Board (GFZB) has been turned into a conduit, through which
questionable and dubious foreign investors in collaboration with their local
front-men are not only defrauding the country's local banks by false pretends and
representations but are using properties of unsuspecting Ghanaians as mortgages
and collaterals to cause more havoc to the economy.
According
to the Free Press, information reaching it showed that already several eminent
commercial banks in the country have fallen victims to the international fraud
scheme running into several billions of cedis, which, for lack of traceable
means to locate the culprits the debts are being written off.
The paper
says this could be the reason for the provocative interest rates on bank
borrowings by local customers.
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"We
will not return to exile"
Members of
Peace Seekers, a non-governmental organization of PNDC torture victims and
returnees from exile, have said they do not want to see this country plunged
into mayhem as a result of ex-Flt. Lt. Rawlings' tirade against the government
on Monday, at the Arts Centre in Accra.
Mr Abubakar
Alhassan, a spokesman for the group, told the Accra Mail on Tuesday that for
those of them forced to flee into exile due to Rawlings' destabilization capers
against past governments, his Arts Centre threats and insults were not going to
be trifled with. "This is because
we do not want to go back into exile," he said to the Mail.
"If
Rawlings is not checked, he will try to do to Kufuor what he did to Limann in
1981. We have just returned from long
periods of exile, we do not want another coup that will send us out
again."
Public
opinion so far has been overwhelmingly against the ex-Flt. Lt. with some people
openly calling for his arrest on grounds of incitement to treason, according to
the paper. Others have also appealed to UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to
revoke the largely symbolic one year "volunteerism' job given him for
actions contrary to the spirit of democracy.
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GPRTU owes
˘7 billion
The Ghana
Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) is to be compelled to pay over ˘4.2
billion ($600,000) to the state, according to The Evening News.
The amount
is the accrued interest on GPRTU's non-full payment of the purchase price of
the divested Willowbrook Ghana Limited.
Out of the
principal purchase price of ˘3.5 billion, GPRTU paid only ˘658 million to grab
Willowbrook Ghana Limited.
The
outstanding ˘2.9 billion has, however, accrued an interest payment of ˘4.2
billion ($600,000) over the past six years.
Investigations
conducted by the paper have established that the GPRTU is reluctant to pay the
outstanding principal of ˘2.9 billion ($417,000) to the state, let alone the
accrued interest of ˘4.2 billion ($600,000).
Despite the
transport body's reluctance to pay the amount, it has been established that the
GPRTU is equally unwilling to strike partnership with credible foreign
companies to transform Willowbrook Ghana Limited.
Investment
watchers posit that GPRTU entrapment into the divestiture of Willowbrook was
purely for political expediency.
Sources say
but for the frequent interventions by certain key NDC gurus, the DIC would have
easily ignored GPRTU to partake in the divestiture of Willowbrook.
It was also
revealed that shortly after GPRTU had paid the initial deposit of ˘658 million
($94,000) to the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), it attempted
striking partnership deal with Apercon, a Hungarian motor company, to run
Willowbrook but the deal fizzled out.
The Evening
News says currently, Detroit Motors of the United States of America has
expressed interest in buying Willowbrook.
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Even NDC
alarmed at utterances
The Daily
Guide says it can reveal on authority, that there is a divided opinion within
the NDC party over the inflammatory outbursts, made by Ex-President Rawlings at
the Arts Centre in Accra last Monday.
Reacting to
Rawlings' warning that there would be a volcanic eruption if the ruling NPP
government did not desist from what he called "the arbitrary arrest of
members of his party", a group of concerned NDC members have taken serious
exception to the ex-President's ominous and inflammatory outburst.
They have
therefore called on their leader to moderate his speech since in their view, as
an ex-President, Rawlings has the moral obligation to make sure that his public
utterances aim at healing the wounds of this nation to ensure perpetual peace
and tranquility.
These views
were express freely and candidly to the Guide immediately after the
ex-President finished his extempore speech to thunderous applause of the
party's bigwigs and faithfuls.
The
concerned NDC activists said that now that the country was still at its
teething stage trying to nurture democratic principles and accountability, it
would be wrong for the NDC, which is unarguably, the largest opposition party
in the country to criminalise every action of the ruling government.
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Ghana is in
deep crises
The Weekly
Insight writes that for the vast majority of underprivileged Ghanaians there
have been no signs that their lot will improve in any significant way in the
very near future.
Since
January this year, all the indications have pointed to a very bleak future of
increased unemployment, homelessness, malnutrition and limited access to social
services such as education and health.
Food
prices, which serve the best indicators of the health of the economy for most
Ghanaians have shot up by more than 300 per cent over the last five months and
they are continuing to rise.
"In
January, an 'Olonka' of gari sold for ˘4000 but it is now being sold at
˘10,000. An 'Olonka' of maize which was selling at ˘2000 in January is now
available for ˘5,000.
A ball of
fante kenkey which sold for ˘400 is now being sold at ˘1000. The smallest ball
of Ga Kenkey is now sold for ˘500 instead of ˘200 and the biggest ball is
selling for ˘1000 instead of ˘300."
In addition
to rising food prices, the prices of petroleum products have risen by between
60 and 67 per cent whilst utility tariffs have shot up by about 100 per cent.
Apologists
of the Kufuor administration reportedly, say that the worsening economic
conditions are the result of the plunder of state resources and the general
mismanagement of the national economy by the Rawlings regime.
They claim
that it will take sometime to stabilize the situation and put in place policy
measures, which would arrest the decline and create favourable conditions for
alleviating poverty.
Dr Kwesi
Nduom, Minister for Economic Planning and Regional Integration said on a
Television discussion programme that the enormity of the economic problems
forced his government to opt for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative,
which is expected to free substantial funds for the implementation of a poverty
alleviation programme which his Ministry has drawn up.
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