GRi Press Review
Ghana 28 - 06 - 2001
Accra
flooded …but Meteo says '95 was worse
48
Engineers, Air Force on rescue operation
Business at
a halt
Kwofie is
new FA boss …Abedi, soccer envoy
New
currency coming
Kan Dapaah
reels under Sahara heat
Akata Pore
on June 30th murder - "It won't go away unless …"
Chief executioner
maintains contact with 'The Rawlingses' for cash!
Video shows
banned at Duakwa
Revamping
NDC is a priority – Alabi
Accra
flooded …but Meteo says '95 was worse
The
Ghanaian Times says six hours of torrential rains in Accra on Wednesday brought
life to a halt. The rain, measured at 91.4 millimetres, by the Meteorological
Services Department, was said to be the highest for a single day so far this
year.
Starting at
5.30 am in the northern metropolis, Madina, Legon, Adenta, Achimota, Taifa,
Odokor and others very early in the morning, the rain prevented commuters from
beating the early morning rush-hour.
The road
between Tetteh Quarshie Circle and Legon was cut off around SECAPS when the
Onyasia River overflowed its banks onto the road. The road later caved in due
to the weight and pressure of the river forcing the one-way by-pass in the area
to be turned into a double road.
In the
south, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle was also rendered impassable by the flooding of
the Odaw River. There were reports of scattered accident across the metropolis
due to poor vision and some vehicles falling into gutters due to misjudgement
of the borders of the roads.
Other
reports indicated that due to the intensity of the floods in certain parts like
La, Osu, Alajo and Odawna, people were forced to climb to high places and onto
trees to avoid being washed away.
Wednesday's
floods in Accra could however, not be compared to what happened in the
metropolis on July 5, 1995, according to the Meteorological Service.
Sources
close to the service said the floods of 1995, which came after a nine-hour
rainfall, were recorded at 258 millimetres with the intensity of 64 millimetres
in 12 minutes. The 1995 rains were the heaviest to have hit Accra since 1936.
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48
Engineers, Air Force on rescue operation
The
48-Engineer Regiment on Wednesday carried out an operation in Accra, to rescue
a number of people including pupils who were trapped in their homes and schools
as a result of floods which engulfed parts of the city after heavy rains in the
morning, reports the Daily Graphic.
The team,
which started off at Dzorwulu, used boats to rescue people trapped in their
rooms, as well as those who had swam to safety on trees and roofs top.
In some
instances, personnel of the regiment had to let down ladders into rooms through
windows to enable people who had been trapped, to climb up to a level where
they could be helped to safety.
Other
patrol teams, comprising Fire Service personnel and the police, working under the
National Disaster Management Organisation, also carried out similar operations.
More…/
Business at
a halt
Business
activities came to a halt at the South Industrial Area in Accra on Wednesday,
as the premises of a number of companies were filled with floodwaters,
following a morning downpour.
The worst
hit companies include Mitsui Electronics, Azar Paints, Toyota Ghana Limited,
Francis Darkwa & Company Ltd., Namco, Beeyeman Ltd., Letap Packaging and
Wire Weaving Ghana Ltd.
Workers of the
affected companies were struggling to get out of the premises as the
floodwaters reached waist level when the Graphic visited the areas at about 12
noon.
Some
company vehicles and others belonging to staff were submerged.
The
predicament of the companies was compounded when power supply was cut by the
Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) following the heavy rainfall.
Customers
who had called at the flooded companies to do business, obviously not
anticipating such a situation, had to abandon their business plans.
More…/
Kwofie is
new FA boss …Abedi, soccer envoy
The long
search for a substantive head for Ghana football's regulatory body ended on
Wednesday when Ben Koufie was elected as the new chairman of the Ghana Football
Association (GFA) Management Board. He promise to steer the sport back to the
enviable position the country once held internationally.
Koufie, 69,
became the automatic choice after the other candidate, Abedi Ayew Pele,
withdrew his candidacy at the eleventh hour to render the election a one-horse
race.
Pele, 37,
the former national skipper, stepped down because he "was coming in to
learn" and also believed Koufie "was more experienced for the
job". He thus, becomes an automatic member of the GFA Management Board.
On the day
that he relinquished the opportunity to become chairman of the soccer
controlling body, Pele, was appointed Ghana's Soccer Ambassador Extraodinaire'
by President John Agyekum Kufuor.
The
three-time African best footballer, who brought honour to Ghana football during
his illustrious playing career, will, in his new role, campaign for the success
of the game in and out of the country.
A statement
issued from the Office of the President and signed by the Government's
Spokesperson, Ms Elizabeth Ohene, said Pele was appointed because of the honour
he brought to the nation and the continent during his playing days and is
expected to use his new role to 'campaign for the success of the game in and
out of the country'.
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New
currency coming
The
Ghanaian Voice says six months into his presidency, President JAK, is almost
ready to fulfill an aspect of his campaign promises.
According
to the paper, sources have confided that with the cedi now stable at ¢7,300 to
the dollar, the situation is now ripe for the change of the current cedi to a
new one, in fulfillment of an electioneering promise made by then presidential
candidate JAK.
The
take-off point is September this year.
"Now
that the cedi is almost stable against the major currencies, it is now feasible
to restructure the cedi to be at par with those holding the present
currency," volunteered a source.
The Voice
says the arithmetic of the situation is that if you hold the new cedis it will
be as good as the dollar.
"If
you are paid 7,300 a month, you will get one cedi," it said.
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Kan Dapaah
reels under Sahara heat
The
Minority caucus in parliament has called on the Minister for Energy, Hon.
Albert Kan Dapaah to immediately resign from his position, writes The
Independent.
The group
has also called on the government to institute a probe into the oil-lifting
contract between Sahara Energy Resources and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to
save the country from incurring huge financial losses.
Explaining
their position, the Minority Leader, Hon Alban Bagbin, said the Minority could
reveal that the contract was fraudulently entered into and that the continued
stay in office by the Minister would obstruct effective investigation to
unravel the secrecy surrounding the contract.
At a press
conference at the Parliament House, the Ranking Member for Energy, Hon Abraham
Kofi Asante disclosed that the first oil-lifting under the Sahara contract
began on April 1st 2001, but the contract was signed on May 25th,
2001 according to Hon Kan Dapaah when he appeared before the House on May 30th
to answer questions relating to the contract.
According
to Hon Asante, Sahara Energy Resources only has a representation in Abuja in
Nigeria but it is a company incorporated and registered in the Isle of Man with
a stated capital of US $1 million only.
He stated
that the contract is superfluous in that in it all the executing parties have
stated responsibilities which is clearly stated in the agreement and thus
questioned why Sahara should be paid substantial amounts to ensure that parties
under the contract with TOR do what they are obliged to do.
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Akata Pore
on June 30th murder - "It won't go away unless …"
Sgt. Daniel
Allolga Akata Pore (rtd), a key figure in the defunct Provisional National
Defence Council (PNDC), has stressed that the murder of the three High Court
judges and a retired Army Officer on June 30, 1982 by operatives of that regime
(PNDC) will not go away unless something is done about it.
"Oh!
Yea, people cannot just get up and varnish in the middle of the night and the
perpetrators will think that it will ever go away. No! I think that it is right
for the Government to rightly look at it otherwise it will never go away",
Sgt. Akata Pore told the Crusading Guide.
Akata Pore,
who is in exile in London, said it was not only the people who were directly
affected by the heinous act that he was talking about but also the families of
the murdered people.
"But
someone like me whose name was mentioned, and I am as angry as you can imagine
that my name should ever be linked to such a crime, he underscored, adding,
"And it is not a crime that someone like me would ever want to be accused
of. I will welcome any opportunity to clear my name," he said.
More…/
Chief
executioner maintains contact with 'The Rawlingses' for cash!
The
Crusading Guide reproducing a story it carried in its December 28, 2000 –
January 3,2001 edition says on-gong investigations by the paper have
established that the Chief Executioner in the infamous June 30, 1992 murder of
the three High Court Judges and a retired Army Major, Lance Corporal Samuel
Amedeka, has consistently maintained contact with Mr and Mrs Rawlings ever
since he escaped from lawful custody in Ghana in June 1983.
The paper
says sources close to the Presidential Household have intimated to the paper on
condition of strict confidentiality, that Lance Corporal Amedeka who is a
"wanted man", had over the years written a couple of letters to Mr
and Mrs Rawlings, requesting for financial assistance which the Rawlings
allegedly obliged.
The source
underscored that Amedeka who crossed to Lome, Togo, in 1983 following the jail
break at the Nsawam Prisons in the wake of the June 19, 1983 abortive coup
against the erstwhile PNDC, with the assistance of a Colonel (identity
withheld) who was then highly-placed in the Border Guards, had been receiving
huge sums of money from the Rawlingses via this same Colonel who was still serving
in the Ghana Armed Forces.
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Video shows
banned at Duakwa
The Chief
of Agona Duakwa, in the Central Region, Nana kojo Amuakwa V and his elders have
banned commercial video show operators from plying their trade in the town with
effect from June 17, 2001, according to The Daily Guide.
The
directive which came after a meeting at the chief's palace is meant to control
youth immorality and to enable school pupils' concentrate on their school work
and use their free time for more productive extra curricula activities.
The chief
and his elders noted that films shown by commercial video operators are mostly
ones that appeal to the base passions of the youth and will therefore not be
beneficial to good character formation of young people.
GRi…/
Revamping
NDC is a priority – Alabi
Members,
supporters and sympathizers of the National Democrat Congress (NDC) have been
urged to concentrate their energies, time and resources in revamping the party
and anchoring it on a solid foundation to enable it to recapture power in the
2004 general elections, the party's mouthpiece, The Ghanaian Democrat, reports.
Mr Joshua
Alabi, Chairman of the Greater Accra Reorganization Committee of the NDC, who
gave the advice, pointed out that once a more cohesive and dynamic party was
built, it would be easier to accommodate legitimate desires of individuals for
positions in the party as well as market whoever was chosen to lead the party
into the 2004 elections.
Mr Alabi
was speaking at separate party reorganization meetings in a number of
constituencies in the Greater Accra Region.
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