Trades Union Congress lauds budget
‘Imposters deprive government of revenue’
Tsikata
versus Attorney-General - delayed opinion causes confusion
Luxury
lifestyle of Tsatsu’s wife and pal
Registered
unemployed youth to know fate soon
I
only apologised for Veep - Rawlings
Gun-pulling headmaster flee from missile-wielding students
Astrologer
explains spousal murders
Accra (Greater Accra) 08 March 2002 - The Trades Union Congress (TUC) on Thursday lauded this year’s budget statement and economic policy but urged the government to translate its ideas into reality. It explained that the macroeconomic stability of the past year had not translated into significant gains for the pockets of workers and all Ghanaians.
Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwaah, TUC Secretary-General, said this at the TUC’s news conference in Accra to comment on the budget. The TUC regretted that a new daily national minimum wage was not determined before the budget was presented to parliament, saying that indeed, the living conditions of most working families continued to be extremely precarious.
“Levels of income continue to be the most important measure of well-being for working people and the TUC believes that the problem of low wages and salaries has to be tackled to make the necessary contribution towards the achievements of equity in social well-being in Ghana,” he said.
Mr Adu-Amankwah said that the TUC looked forward to an early determination of a new daily national minimum wage, and in a manner that shows a commitment on the part of the government and employers to move towards the attainment of a living wage in the country. He reiterated the Congress’ need for a national transitional plan for economic salaries and wages to be commensurate with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) publicized transitional plan to enable domestic consumers to pay economic tariffs for utilities.
On the intended privatisation of the water sector, the congress believed that the sector required urgent restructuring that must nonetheless, be driven by an open and careful national consideration of the options that were available. “We are extremely wary of the current attempts at privatising the water sector and we are doubtful of their good benefit to the people of Ghana,” he pointed out, saying that the government should pause to reconsider its current direction on the matter.
The TUC further expressed concern about the continuing separation between urban water, provided by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and rural water, by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA). It appreciated the government’s plan to prioritise infrastructure, agriculture and rural development, as well as enhanced social services with emphasis on education and health and private sector development.
Mr Adu-Amankwaah said: “Under infrastructural development, congress appreciates the government’s plan to reconstruct three major trunk roads namely Accra-Aflao, Accra-Kumasi and Accra-Yamoransa roads and in addition, undertake work on a number of trunk and feeder roads spread over the regions of the country.”
Asked about the TUC’s position on the restoration of End-of-Service Benefit (ESB) since it was not mentioned, Mr Adu-Amankwaah noted that the issue had not been settled and that they intended to get to the bottom of it. He said that currently, a Technical sub-committee of the Tripartite Committee was winding up work on a draft report, which would be discussed at its next meeting. To ensure improvement in the implementation of objectives, there was the need for urgent close monitoring of the budget by the appropriate public body. - The Ghanaian Times
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 08 March 2002 - Top men in a cross-section of the financial
institutions have welcomed the introduction of the Prime rate by the Bank of
Ghana and say that it poses a challenge to the institutions. However, some say
there should have been some amount of consultation with the partners in the
sector.
Last
Friday, the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Paul Acquah, announced a Prime
rate of 24.5 per cent and indicated that the bank would announce a new rate
when it is necessary to do so. Prime rate is the benchmark that banks often use
in quoting interest rates to their customers. It depends on the cost of funds
to the bank.
Reacting to
the rate, Mr Dan Gyimah, Managing Director of the National Investment Bank
(NIB), said, “It is a good idea because it is a useful guide in our operations.
It will enable us to see the difference between inflation rate and interest
rate reduction.” However, he said “it poses a challenge to all of us because we
have to work extra hard to ensure that we do not price out of the market.
Indeed, we have to match cost of mobilisation and cost of operation to stay in
business,” says Mr Gyimah.
Mr S.
Welbeck, Managing Director of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) shares
the same sentiments that the banks need to work extra hard. “We have to come up
with new packages. We now have to do proper banking especially those who were
reaping from treasury bills would have to move quickly with the new products to
survive.
Lenders must be prudent to ensure that they do not create a yawing gap between
expenditure and revenue to enable the financial institutions to stay afloat.”
On his part, the Executive Head of Treasury of Barclays Bank, Mr Felix
Nyarko-Pong, says: “It is a positive development that the Monetary Committee
has introduced under the new Bank of Ghana Law. “That is the practice in many
advanced countries and it is a useful strategy. We now have to wait and see how
it will impact on the economy and we pray that it remains positive.”
Reacting,
the Executive Chairman of Databank Financial Services Limited, Mr Ken
Ofori-Atta, also sees the introduction of the Prime rate as a good sign.
“Developed countries use them and as the economy stabilises it is necessary to
have Prime rate. For us in the capital market it serves as a useful tool to
create various instruments. There will be initial resistance because some of
them are not used to do things that way. However, with time, things will fall
in their places,” says Mr Ofori-Atta.
Standard Chartered
Head of Treasury, Steve Williams, says the Prime rate is long overdue but he
expected a lot of consultation to have gone on to ensure effective
implementation. He argued that there was no need to rush without a thorough
consultation with the partners. “Should that have delayed a month, it would
have been better and teething problems would be avoided,” says Williams.
His
expectation was that the bankers association representative on the monetary
committee should have consulted the partners in arriving at the rate so that
there would be no problem. - Daily Graphic.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 08 March 2002 - Ninety per cent of all initial documents
submitted by importers to the various inspection agencies are fake. The
Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, who made this known,
said the situation has deprived government of substantial revenue, which could
have been used to enhance the development of the country.
He was
jointly inaugurating the Committee on Customs Revenue Reconciliation and the
Appeals Committee on Customs Valuation in Accra on Thursday. Dr Apraku
expressed concern about how importers and agents collude to suppress invoices
as a means of denying the state its legitimate source of revenue.
“I am even
informed that there have been cases where some unscrupulous agents, after
collecting monies from unsuspecting importers, later doctor the original
documents and manage to pay less and eventually pocket the rest of the money,”
he said.
He noted
that the government owes the people a duty to provide basic amenities such as
electricity, good roads, schools and hospitals and will, therefore, not
countenance any act of fraud. The minister, therefore, mandated inspection
agencies to report importers and agents who submit fake documents to customs
officials attached to them for their arrest and prosecution.
“By their
actions, these people have declared an economic war on our government and we
shall not hesitate to marshal all resources at our disposal to expose and bring
them to book,” he said. Dr Apraku said the development of the country is a
shared responsibility and called on all to assist in uprooting “this evil from
our midst.”
He said
under the Destination Inspection Agreement, the inspection agencies are
required to provide government with monthly reports on total revenue payable
and revenue actually collected by customs officials. This, he said, is to
enable government to monitor the payment of duties and other taxes by importers
and noted that reports showed a total revenue payable and actual collection by
CEPS.
He pledged
government’s determination to ensure that leakages in the revenue collection
are plugged without delay. Dr Apraku said since the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) Agreement on Valuation does not allow all problems associated with
valuation to be brought to the Appeals Committee, there is the need to strengthen
and reinvigorate the internal appeals procedures of the Customs Excise and
Preventive Service (CEPS) at its various points to check valuation problems.
He said it
is in recognition of this that the ministry has employed the services of the
inspection agencies as a measure to assist customs in meeting the demands of
WTO and also to realize Ghana’s gateway of the West Africa sub-region. – Daily
Graphic.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 08 March 2002 - The decision by the Supreme Court to give its
decision on a case of such immense public interest and asking the public to
wait twenty days before offering them the opinion that guided the decision has
been diversely criticised. The disquiet has been due to the heated and
partially informed discourse the case has generated.
In fact,
the absence of the written judgement, especially the opinions of the majority,
has meant that the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice’s application for a
review is stayed until they are able to study the judgement after March 20. The
situation has been described as “judicial limbo.”
People have
wondered why the court rushed to give the decision when time was not of
essence. In other common law countries, judges usually defer written opinions
on decision when a delay may cause to invalidate the remedy sought, such as in
abortion. Also, newspaper reports this week have speculated on suspicion of
personal bias influencing the decision.
Admittedly,
the Chief Justice has set to, what he calls, ‘minimise the mounting criticisms
and persistent public outcry against the judiciary in our justice delivery and
to restore public confidence.” Some detractors have even alluded to the fact of
“regional imbalance.”
For
example, whereas there is only one Ashanti on the bench, the Chief Justice, the
Volta Region boasts of three judges, namely Messrs Adzoe, Kpegah and Adjaben.
But, looked at from another view, the Akans have a preponderant representation
in the persons of Bamford-Addo and Sophia Akuffo (Easter Region), Acquah
(Western Region), Ampiah (Central Region), and other non-Akans, namely Atutuba
(from the North) and Lamptey (Ga).
In an
article to be published by The Statesman of next Tuesday, the author, Osei
Bonsu, argues that the Supreme Court’s ruling of February 28 on the Tsatsu
Tsikata case “appears to have put the Chief Justice in a dilemma, which may
prompt him to rethink and amend his stance on empanelling of Judges on the
Supreme Court on constitutional matters.”
He quotes
S.Y. Bimpong-Buta, the foremost authority on Legal Interpretation, as saying
that there had been “imaginary and unproved but disturbing allegations of
political bias in the empanelling of the justices of the Supreme Court.” It was
in recognition of this perception, Osei Bonsu points out, that Mr Justice E.K.
Wiredu issued a practice direction that, “where practicable and especially in
Constitutional matters, all available justices of the Supreme Court have a
constitutional right to sit, or at least (7) justices of the court.”
Osei Bonsu
writes that it should be obvious to the Chief Justice that his decision to
request all nine available Judges to sit was a big gamble. It must be in light
of this difficulty that the two Appeal Court Judges, namely Justices Afreh and
Wood are slated for promotion. Osei Bonsu talks about the limited circumstances
in which a losing party would be allowed to seek a review.
Quoting
from the leading authority of Re: Krobo Stool (no 2), “it appears that counsel
for losing parties are under the misapprehension that the reviewability of a
matter is determined by numerical factors and that any decision of the court
which is not unanimous must be subject to review.”
The delay
in the opinions of the judges has opened up the judiciary to speculations and
criticism. The practice of delayed opinions have come under sure scrutiny. Some
commentators have argued that the judge’s stance is difficult to comprehend
when they could only reach a decision based on the ratio from the opinions,
which they are taking about three weeks to articulate. - Daily Graphic.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 08 March 2002 - As the nation awaits the reasons the Supreme
court have assigned for granting the relief sought by Tsatsu Tsikata, one-time
Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), which has
consigned the Fast Track High Court into oblivion, Public Agenda can reveal
that Tsatsu’s newly wedded wife, Esther, and personal aid, Quincy Kwasi Sintim
Aboagye, live in luxury in Texas, the Southern States of America, where US
President George W. Bush was Governor until he made it to the White House.
Esther,
former wife of Mr Kwasi Baah Boakye, one of President Kufuor’s recently
sworn-in Ambassadors, owns a mansion at 5539 Woodland Glade Drive, Houston. She
also has a private office block at 11111 Wilcrest Drive, Houston, Texas while
Sintim Aboagye is the proud owner of a $1.4 million executive mansion with
wife, Shirley, at 5203 Norborne Lane, Houston, TX 77069.
According
to Public Agenda sources in the United States, Quincy recently moved from a
home between Belt 8 North and Rankling in Houston. Both Tsatsu’s wife, (maiden
name Esther Cobbah), former Head of Public Affairs of GNPC and Quincy flaunt
their wealth openly, sources Agenda spoke to said.
Quincy has
a fleet of three expensive cars in his garage at home. He drives around in
silver metallic S-Class Mercedes Benz 600 valued at $70,000. He also owns a
$56,000 light brown 1990 model Jaguar and a Lincoln Navigator (Sur) valued at
$54,000, on the American car market.
Not too
long ago, a Government announcement to grant Parliamentarians in Ghana $20,000
loan to each Member of the House generated an uproar. Most Ghanaians argued
that in a highly indebted poor country like Ghana, it would be too much to
grant such services to members of the august House.
Meanwhile,
Agenda sources in the United States and Europe attest to the fact that Quincy,
until recently a sole representative of GNPC in North America, is a regular
visitor to Europe capitals like London, Paris, Berlin etc, on business trips.
He is said to accompany Tsatsu on all official trips in Houston when Tsikata,
one-time law lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, was Chief Executive of
GNPC.
Public
Agenda can confirm that Quincy Kwasi Sintim Aboagye was involved in acquisition
talks with some Nigerian business partners for the acquisition of the Saltpond
Oilfields. The acquisition could now be said to have stalled following the
removal of Tsikata as Chief Executive of the GNPC and the loss of the 2000
Presidential and Parliamentary Elections by the national Democratic Congress.
A close
ally of ex-President Jerry Rawlings, Tsatsu is alleged to be the brain behind
almost all the atrocious laws passed by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
(AFRC) and the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). Analysts say, he
was one of the main brains behind the crafting of the Transitional Provisions,
which were virtually smuggled into the 1992 Constitution.
Under
Clause 34 Sub Section 5: “It is not lawful for any court or tribunal to
entertain an action instituted in respect of an act or omission against a
person acting or omitting to act, on the instructions or authority of the
Provisional National Defence Council or the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
or a member of the Provisional National Defence Council or the Armed Forces
Revolutionary Council and alleged to be in contravention of any law, whether
substantive or procedural, in existence before or during the administration of
the Provisional National Defence Revolutionary Council.” – Weekend Agenda
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 08 March 2002 - The fate of the 950,000 unemployed youth who
were registered by the government in October last year will be known by the end
of this month. At the moment a budget proposal to cater for those who
registered is ready for cabinet’s consideration.
Mr Emmanuel
Bartey, Project Manager of Action for Employment Generation (APEG), which
initiated the exercise, told “The Evening News” in an interview that the major
work on the exercise has been completed. According to him, work on the
remaining few regions are at their final stages and the Institute of
Statistics, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana
would submit the report by the end of the month.
He said the
exercise had delayed because of the volume of work, as the youth had to respond
to 43 questions. Mr Bartey said the respondents would be grouped into six
categories based on their response after which they would be attended to by the
government.
The project
manager said the first group would be those to be trained in the fields or
trade of their choice. The second group, he said, would go under apprenticeship
based on their already acquired skills and would be attached to master
craftsmen and equipped with the needed tools afterwards.
According
to him, those who already have some entrepreneurial skills and wished to set up
their own business would form the third category and would be assisted by AFEG
to do so. The fourth category, he said would be those based on their background
can be placed in on-going projects. He explained that such people can be
recruited into the Police Service, Prisons Service the Fire Service and other
public institutions.
Mr Bartey
said the fifth category would be made up of JSS and SSS graduates who have good
grades. He said the last and sixth category would include those to be trained
in various vacations and integrated into the society.
Mr Bartey
denied rumours that the exercise was imposed on the government by the World
Bank, which is not ready to provide funds. He emphasized that the project was
the brain child of the President and it was put forward at the National
Economic Dialogue (NED). He said the World Bank had nothing to do with the
project, but the government would not hesitate to accept any offer by the World
Bank. – The Evening News
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Techiman
(Brong Ahafo Region) 08 March 2002 - Former President Jerry Rawlings has said
that he did not in any way query the vice-President for being late to the
funeral of the late Alhaji Maida, former NDC regional chairman at Tamale. “I
only apologized on behalf of both of us for keeping the crowd waiting under the
scorching sun for so long.” He stated.
The
ex-President gave the explanation when he addressed a cross-section of NDC
supporters at Techiman in the Brong-Ahafo Region on Wednesday. He made a
stop-over on his way to Accra from Tamale to console Mr A.A. Munufie, NDC
co-chairman, who had lost his wife and son within two months.
Flt-Lt
Rawlings said, “most of the people had fainted at the time we arrived, after
calling on the two Imams, and it was only fair to apologise for myself and for
the Vice-President.” He, therefore, wondered how a mere apology could turn the
other way round, saying, the country needs peace, unity and love.
The
ex-President said, “a government’s responsibility is to ensure peace and not
disunity. I believe in justice and want to see it prevail, let us all love
peace and have respect for the truth.” The former President could not help
nodding his head when an 18-year-old girl, Irene Kuruwa, recited a poem,
“whatever you do people will talk about you,” and urged him to stand firm.
Flt-Lt
Rawlings called on members of NDC “not to regret that the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) is in power. “Let us respect them for the seat they are occupying,
because we have loaned it to them for four years, after which we will take it
back.” Filled with optimism, the ex-President indicated “if election should
take place today, NPP knows it will lose by 120 per cent.” He explained that
the NDC’s loss in the election “is a beautiful learning process for all of us
because it has offered Ghanaians the opportunity to discern between the right
and wrong.
Noting that
some NDC members were not behaving well by allegedly receiving monies and
defecting to other parties, Flt-Lt Rawlings indicated that it was important for
the party to increase the number in Parliament since that is “the only way to
slow down the wrongs of the NPP.”
“Let’s
eschew bitterness, forge ahead for success,” he added. Touching on the
unconstitutionality of the Fast Track Court, the former President was of the
view that the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice “should not be made a
scapegoat. The entire government should take the blame.”
Alhaji
Kwadwo Maama Adam, the Brong Ahafo Regional Chairman of the party, in his
welcome address pointed out the brutalities meted out to NDC supporters in some
parts of the region about which the police had done nothing. He cited Kintampo,
where the constituency chairman had about 17 of his motorbikes burnt, saying,
although the police have been informed, no action has been taken. – The Evening
News
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 08 March 2002 - Mr B.J. da Rocha, leader of Ghana’s negotiation
team on the Review of VALCO Agreement, has been exposed as being an “employee”
of VALCO’s, resident director, Charles Mensah.
This dual
role places serious question marks about the so-called “difficulties” being
encountered in the negotiations, an issue which has reportedly been dragged by
VALCO to court, for legal direction. There is therefore, a general demand for
Mr da Rocha to leave the team, honourably and as a matter of principle.
According
to a despatch received from a concerned citizen America, and confirmed in local
circles, Mr da Rocha’s close business relationship with Charles Mensah dates as
far back as the early 1990s when he was engaged as a Senior Fellow at the
Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the Accra-based private think-tank founded
and funded by the latter.
There are
many publications of the IEA, which stand in the name of Mr da Rocha. It is
here that the Conflict of interest arises. For, many are those who now doubt
the genuineness of the so-called impasse, which has stalled the course o the
negotiations.
Questions
are being raised as to whether the whole “scenario” is not only being staged to
pull a fast one on Ghanaians, to the advantage of the foreign company.
Charles
Mensah, according to the latest information, is still the head of the IEA,
despite a recent internal arrangement, which has changed his title from that of
an Executive Director to President. To worsen matters, Charles Mensah’s close
working relationship with da Rocha is known to the directorship and ownership
of VALCO in the United States.
If for
nothing at all, one can well imagine the real relief felt at the VALCO
headquarters, when they found no other person than Mr da Rocha, who works hand
in glove with their resident director in Ghana, leading a Government team to
the negotiation table. For whether, da Rocha, charges like “a bull in court” or
not, no one expects him to behave in a way as to embarrass his longtime
employer and friend.
These are
the concerns being raised in many quarters, following the discovery of the
clear case of conflict of interest, despite the widely-publicised “tough”
opening stance, taken by da Rocha as an “evidence” of independence and
particularly of his determination “ to secure a fair deal for Ghana”.
A letter
received from one such concerned citizen from America, asks: “How do we know
for sure that the negotiation dynamics we are witnessing are not pre-arranged
or orchestrated to give the semblance of a ‘fight’, while VALCO plays along,
confident of a favourable ‘delivery’ as an end-game?
“VALCO,
like any other profit-making enterprise, should not be expected to do what is
right on some more morality basis. Ghanaians (local authorities), therefore,
have a duty to ensure that multi-nationals play by the established rules (as prevails
in their home countries) and should sanction any attempt by such companies to
aside-step regulations, through the use of dubious comprados and self-serving
agents.
As usual,
it is the Ghanaian taxpayer’s interests that are likely to suffer from this
‘staged’ negotiations, unfolding amidst the encircling gloom of power outages
in the country. The responsibility for ensuring that no self-dealing occurs in
this all-important negotiation is, therefore, ours. We should demand that Mr da
Rocha excuses himself to set our minds at ease.”
The letter
further drew the attention of both President J.A. Kufuor (Mr Zero Tolerance)
and Mr Emile Short of the Commission Human Rights and Administrative Justice
(whose own ‘house’ is becoming problematic with some ‘rights’) to this serious
anomaly, which has virtually put the nation “on sale.”
Meanwhile,
Mr da Rocha has been spotted riding in a “brand new” dark green Nissan patrol,
said to have been “acquired,” in the “heat” of the current stalled
negotiations. Although eye-brows have been raised by “close” observers, it is
difficult, due to legal hindrances, for one to lay a finger on the source of
the “new arrival”. – Ghana Palaver
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Duayaw Nkwanta (Brong Ahafo Region) 08 March 2002 - Mr J.E. Adjei, headmaster of Boakye Tromo Senior Secondary Technical School (BTSSTS) at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Brong Ahafo Region, on February 20, this year, shocked the town-folk when he pulled a gun and opened fire on students who were demonstrating against him over what they called lack of transparency in the running of the school.
Chronicle gathered that after the headmaster had fired the warning shot the students charged on him, forcing him to run for his dear life. The students then went on the rampage destroying property, which the school authorities valued at ¢16 million. Sources close to the Chronicle explained that for some time now, the students and the headmaster had been at each other’s throat over the direction of his administration.
Any time that the issue of the mismanagement of the school was raised by the students, the school’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) was ready to jump to the side of Adjei, until recently when it realised that all was not well with the school, a source disclosed.
Chronicle gathered that the straw that broke the camel’s back was that the students were asked to pay ¢30,000 cedis each per term for their hostel bed, and as majority of them could not afford it they had to end up sleeping on the bare floor. All efforts to get their grievances addressed by the school authorities did not receive any favourable result. Chronicle learnt that Adjei, alias Kwadwo Sardine, aggravated issues when in the course of the demonstration he ran to his room, pulled a gun and fired twice to scare the students away, Chronicle learnt.
All attempts to speak to Adjei proved futile, but when Chronicle reached Mr S.K. Ayensu, the acting Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Education, he said he was only informed of the demonstration and the subsequent closing of the school on Monday, March 4.
“In fact, I was only informed by the Board of Governors of the school only yesterday (March 4) about what was happening at BTSSTS and I was supposed to be at Duayaw-Nkwanta to see what was actually going on there but due to some other pressing issues the trip was cancelled but I will be in the school on Thursday,” he said.
Ayensu said he had not been briefed on the issues at stake, particularly the allegations of impropriety against the headmaster and, therefore, could not comment on them and what had brought the name of the school in sludge. The school has since February 21 been closed down, but as at Thursday March 7 efforts were being made by the PTA to resolve the issue. The first meeting on Monday, March 4 ended in a stalemate as tempers flared up.
Some of the allegations against the headmaster also touched on the use of two different receipt books by the authorities for school fees collection and the payment of different school fees by students offering the same course. Currently, the school has a single Mathematics tutor who is even a retired teacher. To rob salt on injury, Chronicle learnt that the retired tutor is having problems in handling the Modern Maths.
The school is currently without a Literature tutor due to the differences between the head master and the only Literature master in the school. Adjei is also accused of failing to account for what was realised by the school during the 10th anniversary celebration and many other serious malpractices that have the possibility of setting him and the parents on a collision course. - The Ghanaian Chronicle
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Ho (Volta Region) 08 March 2002 - There was a near disaster at the Ho sports Stadium as 90 per cent of the Heads of Department and Service Commanders on dais were found muffling when the master of ceremony announced the recital of the National Pledge.
So embarrassing was the situation that the MC, Lt Afrifa, of the Medium Mortar Regiment had to arrest the issue by reciting the pledge all by himself loudly through the public address system provided by the Information Services Department.
The occasion was the parade of security services and school children to mark the country’s 45th Independence Anniversary at Ho. Unlike last year when NPP colours were totally absent from the celebration, a lone NPP flag this time stood hoisted alongside the National Flag and those of the security services.
In attendance were six contingents, two from the Military and one each from the Police, Prisons, Fire Service and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) with 12 officers and 180 smartly dressed men and women drawn from other ranks. The Parade commander was Captain John Kpeglo of the Mortar Regiment with the Regional Minister, Hon. Kwesi Owusu-Yeboa, as the reviewing officer who also read the Vice-President’s address. - The Ghanaian Chronicle
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 08 March 2002 - A renowned Ghanaian Astrologer, Dr Baldwin
Badoo, has explained that the increased spate of wife murders is due to the
fact that Mars, the god of wars and conflicts is ruling the year 2002. He noted
that the red planet was in the horoscope at the beginning of the year and
therefore, rules the year.
Dr Badoo
notes in his 2002 Guide that, “Mars, the Red planet and the god of wars and
conflicts rose on the New Year’s Day.” The Guide was published in November last
year. “This will, of course, create great crises for many Heads of State and
exacerbate the combat and aggressive instinct in man, leading to strikes,
violent demonstrations and crimes mostly against women and children during the
particular months when Mars forms adverse aspects with the other planets in
2002.
In recent
times, there has been a rise in crime particularly, the murder of wives,
violent demonstrations by students and armed robbery. According to the Guide
book, “though there are no extraordinary aspects formed by the dominant and
ruling planet, Mars, that can lead to World War, there are likely to be international
tension and increased conflicts in hot spots like the Middle East.”
On Ghana as
a nation, the Guide book notes that since Mars rules the year, “No
astro-analyst will ask any government to be complacent about the security of
the state during the months when Mars may cause troubles, violence and so on.
Such periods are January, April, May, June, July, October and November.
The Guide
says in its forecast that the year 2002 is a Year of Economic and Social
reconstruction reforms due to the abundance of Mars’ constructive energy,
backed by Uranus and Neptune restructuring and reforming factor of two planets
in many parts of the World.
The Guide
said the year 2002 is a Mars-ruled year as the first day and first hour fell on
Tuesday, Mars Day. “Thus under normal circumstances, the year will be tainted
by martial influence of war, bitter peace, flare-ups in already troubled spots
and so on with global economy and recession coming under control,” Dr Badoo
added. – Daily Graphic.
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