Major shake-up in Police
President initiates debate on EC’s tenure of office
No more ban on 10 yr-old car imports
Adieu Victor Owusu
AMA to demolish houses soon
Women demand end to conflicts
GJA advocates gender policies in media houses
Re-open murdered Judges case
Why NDC did not attend anniversary
Kufuor can’t sell stinky jet
Millions spent on Kufuor’s House
Soussoudis’ guns - Court orders probe on permit
Parliament to review retiring age for lecturers
Major shake-up in Police
The Police Administration has announced major changes in the top hierarchy of the Ghana Police Service effective March 12, reports the Daily Graphic.
Mr P.K. Acheampong, Commandant of the Ghana Police College, now heads the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), taking over from Mr W.K. Aboah, who until the changes, doubled as the Director of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
Under Thursday’s reshuffle, Mr G.S. Aggor, Commissioner of Police (Administration), proceeds to the Ministry of Interior on secondment with Mr Kwasi Nkansah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), on secondment to the Ghana Standards Board, moving to the Police Headquarters to take charge of Administration.
Mr W.A. Kumi, DCOP, moves from the Western Regional Police Command to Accra to be in-charge of Technical and General Services, while Mr Yaw Adu-Gyimah, DCOP and formerly second in command in-charge of operations, assumes full control of the unit.
Mr J.C. Mprah, Commissioner of Police in charge of Technical/General Services is now the Commandant of the Police College with all Police officers on contract asked to proceed on leave with immediate effect.
Investigations by the paper revealed that more postings would be announced in due course.
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President initiates debate on EC’s tenure of office
The President, Mr J.A. Kufuor, on Thursday initiated a debate on the Electoral Commission (EC), when he expressed concern about the Commissioner’s tenure of office, says the Graphic
He was of the view that the absence of a timeframe within which Electoral Commissioners should serve could have the tendency to blight the country’s democratic dispensation and therefore suggested shorter terms for top echelons of the EC to avoid a situation where they might be influenced.
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No more ban on 10 yr-old car imports
The Weekend Statesman says the Year 2001Budget presented to Parliament on Friday morning by Finance Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo, was expected, among others, to provide respite to those whose vehicles have been impounded at Ghana’s ports for violating the ban on the importation of 10-year old vehicles!
Finance Ministry sources say the Minister was to set the stage for the fulfilment of an NPP campaign promise to scrap the law banning the importation of vehicles aged 10 years and above. Thus, even though a final decision on the issue has to be taken by Parliament, the budget will provide temporary relief to enable such vehicles to be cleared.
The VAT level was expected to be maintained with its area of coverage becoming wider.
“This year’s budget will also seek to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, through the introduction of a progressive tax regime,” indicated the source.
Reliefs were to be given to the poor while luxuries are targeted for tax increase. One such target is air travel, on which a special levy is to be slapped.
As part of measures to find out what went wrong, with a view to addressing them, the Budget was also expected to formally announce probes into about a dozen establishments, among them GNPC, TOR, BOST, SIC and SSNIT.
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Adieu Victor Owusu
The Statesman reports that President John Agyekum Kufuor has described the late Victor Owusu as the best President that Ghana did not have.
“Like a Moses, even though he pointed to a Promised Land and came close to it, he did not arrive,” the President stated in a tribute to the former Foreign Minister, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the Second Republic.
Paying tribute at a State Funeral at the for-court of the State House in Accra on Wednesday to the late Attorney-General, the President said: “It is comforting, though, that on December 16, 2000, when Victor Owusu breathed his last, the liberal democratic tradition for which he struggled for so long, had won the majority in the Parliamentary elections and was poised to win the Presidency. And he knew, thereby dying VICTORIOUS”.
The President said Victor in all aspects of his life, aspired to the best and to the pinnacle.
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AMA to demolish houses soon
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is soon to demolish a number of unauthorised buildings that dot the city, according to a Statesman report.
Briefing journalists after a visit to new developing sites on the Spintex Road in Accra, the AMA Metro Works Engineer, Lanquaye Wellington, said all unauthorised structures built on the public right of way will be pulled down.
He particularly listed 17 structures at the Kpoi Gonno Residential Area, which he said are located on land earmarked for schools, hospitals, lorry parks, shopping centres and recreational centres within the approved site for Hydraform Estates.
Wellington said on January 25, the AMA instructed the developers of the 17 illegal structures to stop building, but they have defied the order and the AMA has no option but to demolish them.
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Women demand end to conflicts
The Minister for Women’s Affairs, Mrs Gladys Asmah, is reported as saying that women had a role to play in mediation and peacekeeping, stressing that the issues of war and peace should not be left to men alone.
Speaking at a seminar commemorating this year’s International Women’s Day at the Trade Fair Centre at La, Accra, she said although many women’s groups and NGOs had condemned the proliferation of weapons, governments worldwide continued to indulge in excessive military spending.
“Women can effectively avert decisions leading to war when they are in positions to influence policies, take decisions and are well informed and empowered to take their rightful positions economically, socially and politically.”
The participation of women in conflict resolution, she stressed, should be seen as their right and their experiences recognised as valuable.
Mrs Asmah said the African Platform for Action and the Global Platform for Action enjoined all governments to ensure gender parity in peace negotiation and conflict resolution, hence governments should take concrete steps to involve women in conflict prevention management and resolution.
She stated that the NPP government was committed to addressing the issue of armed conflict, while the Women’s Ministry would create the environment conducive to the full integration of women into development process of the nation, as well as vigorously encourage the increase in participation of women in conflict resolution.
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GJA advocates gender policies in media houses
The President of the Ghana Journalist Association, Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, has called for the institution of gender policies in all media organizations in the country.
Such policies, she explained, would provide focus in dealing with issues affecting female media practitioners.
Speaking during a visit to the New Times Corporation, publishers of The Ghanaian Times, Weekly Spectator, The Evening News and Times Sports in connection with the commemoration of International Women’s Day, she said that such policies when instituted, would answer the numerous questions concerning job demands and female journalists readiness to meet them.
“Such issues as transfers of women could also be dealt with in gender policies”, she explained.
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Re-open murdered Judges case
The first Secretary for Youth and Sports in the former PNDC, Zaya Yeebo, who resigned after two years and went into exile, is reported by ‘The Evening News’ to have returned to Ghana last Friday bearing hard feelings towards Jerry Rawlings thinking he should not be forgiven for atrocities that he committed against the people of Ghana.
Of real interest to him is the case of the three High Court Judges and a retired Army Officer murdered in 1982.
Zaya said the murder was part of a chain of murders that took place in the country especially in the Volta Region, strongly suspecting that they were for ritual purposes.
He recalled how a particular chief in the Volta Region was arrested in connection with some murders and brought to Gondar Barracks but was released on the orders of Capt Kojo Tsikata (rtd) and Jerry Rawlings.
According to Zaya, the murder of the judges was a great worry to some of them in the PNDC government because they felt that if High Court Judges could be abducted and murdered then nobody was safe in the country.
“Again, we realized that Jerry wanted to use the murders of the judges to frame up those of us he perceived to be supporting Sgt. Aloga Akatapore in the struggle for supremacy within the PNDC and get rid of us”, he revealed.
He was of the strong opinion that those who masterminded the killings were still walking in the streets and described Amartey Kwei and others executed in connection with the case as “mere victims of other people’s machinations”.
“I am therefore, calling for the re-opening of the case. A special committee should be set up to delve into what actually happened. The committee should have the power to summon people like Jerry Rawlings and his wife to give evidence”, he stressed.
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Why NDC did not attend anniversary
The NDC, according to the ‘The Evening News’ says it did not receive any invitation to attend the 44th independence anniversary parade held on Tuesday nor any of the programmes lined up for the celebration.
It said only the General Secretary of the party was given an invitation in his personal capacity and not in the name of the party.
Mr Kwaku Baah, national vice-chairman of the NDC who disclosed this to the paper said also that even the former President and his Vice were not invited.
The State Protocol, however, on Thursday insisted that it has been inviting the party and its officials and made available to the paper documents on the various invitations extended to former President Rawlings, Alhaji Huudu Yahaya and others during public functions after they were voted out of power.
An official at the State Protocol said it is their responsibility to invite all political parties and their leaders to such state function.
He could not tell whether the invitation got to the leaders, but contended that since their names were on the cards and were received by official of their parties at their national headquarters, it was fair to presume that they had been duly invited.
Mr Kweku Baah, a vice chairman of the NDC, said when the party was in power, on such national occasions the State Protocol sent a lot of invitation cards to the various political parties to invite those they wanted and asked “but what do we see now?”
He said what the NPP government was doing would not unite the country and reminded the NPP that it does not command the majority, adding that, “The ration according to support among the population is 50-50, hence they must co-operate with us to move the country forward.”
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Kufuor can’t sell stinky jet
The second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Ken Dzirasah, is reported by ‘The Daily Guide’ to have observed that President Kufuor’s Executive alone cannot decide by themselves to sell the controversial Presidential Jet.
He said the voices of about three people from President Kufuor’s Executive on air, suggesting that the Presidential Jet acquired by the NDC is going to be sold is wrong.
Hon. Dzirasah who made the observation in a contribution to the President’s Sessional Address last Wednesday argued that Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution stipulates any transaction between Ghana and other countries to come to Parliament.
He said the President, during his campaign promised to sell off the Presidential Jet. This he said Kufuor could only do if investigations reveal that the NDC did not acquire it properly.
The whole issue, he said, should be brought to the House.
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Millions spent on Kufuor’s House
The Ghana Palaver says the refusal by President J.A. Kufuor to move from his house to stay in an official residence, immediately after being sworn into office, is now seen as a trick of getting his house renovated with state funds.
“Although Government sources are tight-lipped on the huge amount spent on the renovation of the house, construction experts estimate it to be running into millions of cedis.”
After the renovation, President Kufuor, has now reportedly, indicated his willingness to move to an official residence that was yet to be named but renovation works have already begun at both the Castle, Osu, and the Flagstaff House in Accra to be used as official residences.
Until his retirement, ex-President J.J. Rawlings stayed in the Castle for years as his official residence but on taking office, President Kufuor reportedly described its state unfit to be used as a dwelling place for a Head of State.
Observers wonder whether President Kufuor will refund the cost of the renovation, including the provision of air-conditioners, deep-freezers, “presidential furniture and carpets” when he finally leaves his present private/official home in the Airport Residential Area.
It will be recalled that Mr Kufuor’s “master”, the late Premier K.A. Busia, also used Government funds to transform his private house at Odorkor, Accra, into an official residence during his short stay in power.
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Soussoudis’ guns - Court orders probe on permit
An Accra Circuit Tribunal presided over by Judge Imoro Ziblim on Thursday ordered the Ghana Police Service to investigate the genuineness of the permit given by the former President Jerry Rawlings to his nephew, Michael Soussoudis, to keep weapons and assorted ammunitions in his house, says ‘The Ghanaian Chronicle’.
The prosecution team, led by Chief Inspector Antwi, challenged the authenticity of the permit, which was issued and stamped by the office of the ex-President on December 31, 2000, which was a Sunday, and expires on December 31, 2001.
However, counsel for the accused, Mr Amponsah Dadzie, explained to the court that his client provided various security services for the former President for which reason the office of the ex-President issued him with a valid permit to carry guns and other weapons in the discharge of his duty.
Pleading for bail for his client, counsel said that Soussoudis’ valid permit to possess weapons has not been recalled and as a law-abiding citizen he received a permit from the police to cover all his weapons.
Soussoudis, described by his counsel as a gun enthusiast and a weapons collector, was charged with illegally possessing firearms, but he pleaded not guilty and was granted 20 million cedis bail with two sureties to be justified.
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Parliament to review retiring age for lecturers
A back-page story of the Free Press states that Parliament will soon be requested to see to the up ward review of the compulsory retiring age of lecturers in the country’s Universities.
The Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, announced this when speaking at the 34th Congregation of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in Kumasi at the weekend.
He was of the view that, academic knowledge matures with age, and promised that the government would guarantee academic freedom to all institutions of higher learning so that they could generate ideas for the benefit of the whole country.
He called on the stakeholders, particularly industry and commerce and all those who stand to benefit from the skills of graduates to finance education.
Alhaji Aliu, entreated the graduates who might feel despaired over where they would be working after their national duty to the state to be at ease since the government was in touch with friends and partners overseas and was in discussions with other nations to put in place mechanisms to stabilize the economy to encourage manufacturing industries to produce more which requires more labour and create jobs.
The Vice-President who is an aluminus of KNUST, promised that the government would consider the possibility of granting tax exemption to individuals and organisations who donate freely to education institutions as the case had been in other countries.
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