Make salt second 'cocoa' - says governor of Bank of Ghana
Parliament reconvenes today
Police can't prosecute… at regional tribunals
Revision faces problems
Stop trumpeting doomsday scenarios
NDC co-chairman distorts history… "His submissions at Ho were intellectually dishonest and historically fallacious."
NPP raps David Kanga
Kweku Baako calls Rawlings' bluff
Kofi Wayo slams NDC…They are selfish and incompetent
Volta still NDC World Bank
Make salt second 'cocoa' - says governor of Bank of Ghana
The Daily Graphic caries on its front-page a recommendation from the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, to the country's business community to consider making salt production another "cocoa" for the country.
He is quoted as saying: "As a country, we have depended on cocoa as the main prop of our economy for almost one century now, the time has come for us to have another "cocoa".
Speaking at a meeting with captains of business and industry drawn from the Association of Ghanaian Industries (AGI), Ghana Chamber of Commerce and the Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF) to discuss issues about the economy, Dr Duffuor said: "We must find another 'cocoa' and that 'cocoa' must be salt".
The Governor said that in the West African Sub-Region, Ghana is best suited to supply the salt requirements of land locked countries and those along the coast.
"What we need is efficient processing equipment to carry out the drive and it is a big challenge that we have to embrace", he said.
Dr Duffuor who expressed commendation for the efforts made in salt exports in the country told the meeting that the time has now come for salt export to be taken as a serious venture.
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Parliament reconvenes today
The Daily Graphic in its centre page says Parliament reconvenes Tuesday after a 38-day break quoting a business statement for the first week signed by the majority leader and leader of the house, Dr Kwabena Adjei, stated that MPs will be exceptionally busy during the meeting in view of the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.
The statement stressed the need for judicious management of time and said question time should not exceed one hour at any sitting.
Only four questions, the statement said, should be scheduled for a day's sitting and no MP would be allowed to ask more than three questions.
The paper says, the first week's proceedings are expected to feature the Ministers of Finance, Youth and Sports, Education and Health, who will appear before the house to answer questions from members.
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Police can't prosecute… at regional tribunals
The lead story of the Ghanaian Times says the court of appeal has unanimously ruled that police prosecutors cannot initiate and conduct criminal prosecution at any of the regional tribunals because they are limited by law to carry out such legal duties.
The paper says the ruling followed a criminal appeal filed before the court of appeal by a Cape Coast lawyer, Mr Ebo Barton Oduro, in a land case involving his client, Nana Kwesi Tandoh, a chief and an African American investor, which is pending before the Central Regional Tribunal.
According to the paper, the court, presided over by Mr Justice J.A Afreh, held that "in view of article 88(3) and (4) of the constitution, Section 56 of Act 30 and E.I. 4 of 1976, the police prosecutor before trail tribunal had no authority to initiate and conduct the criminal prosecution in the case before the regional tribunal".
The police prosecutor in the case "was certainly not acting on behalf of the Attorney General', therefore, the proceedings were a nullity".
The paper says its sources at the tribunal registry said by, inference, the ruling applied to all police prosecutors at all the regional tribunals, except police officers who are professional lawyers.
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Revision faces problems
The Ghanaian Times in another front-page story reports that its investigations have shown that inadequate supply of registration forms is hampering the revision of the voters' registration exercise at many poling stations.
At the Anglican Junior Secondary School Polling Station, Mr Felix Owusu Akomeah, the registration officer, said he had exhausted the 25 registration forms supplied to him, early on Saturday and many eligible voters, mostly the youth, who turned up to register had to go home disappointed.
The paper says as at 11:30 a.m. when the GNA arrived, there was no registration forms available for the centre, although a request had been put in for the forms.
A similar report, also featured on the front page of the Evening News. It however says the Electoral Commission (EC) has expressed satisfaction about the initial response to and general proceedings of the ongoing revision of the voters' register.
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Stop trumpeting doomsday scenarios
The Evening News on its front page says Mr Laary Bimi, chairman of the National Commission for Civil Education, has urged leaders of the various political parties to have trust among themselves and stop trumpeting doomsday scenarios in this election year.
At a round table meeting with executives of the various political parties in Accra held under the theme: "Building a bridge of Trust Among Political Parties in Ghana," he is said to have mentioned that in the country's march towards the sustenance of democracy, leaders of society must eschew inflammatory utterances and provocative acts".
Mr Bimi said the absence of trust in any human relations induces distrust, suspicions and bitterness and such conduct sends wrong signals to the rank and file of the citizenry.
He is said to have disassociated himself from the doomsday assessment by some people and asked Ghanaians to thank God for the peace and stability the country is enjoying as compared to other neighbouring countries.
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NDC co-chairman distorts history… "His submissions at Ho were intellectually dishonest and historically fallacious."
The Crusading Guide says in its lead story that Mr Issifu Ali, co-chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has argued that the erstwhile PNDC regime led by Ex-Flt. Lt. Rawlings inherited a state of "economic gloom" and "national disintegration" after the coup d'etat of December 31, 1981.
Mr Ali made these observations at the recent extraordinary NDC congress at Ho where he painted a very gloomy picture of the economic history of Ghana prior to the unconstitutional disruption of civil political authority by ex-Flt Lt Rawlings and some soldiers of the Ghana Armed Forces on December 31, 1981.
The paper says, a highly placed official at the Ministry of Finance, when asked to comment on the NDC co-chairman's submissions, dismissed Mr Ali's account, describing it as an "intellectually dishonest and historically fallacious account of contemporary Ghanaian politico-economic evolution which would not help the government to find the appropriate solutions to our national problems".
According to the paper, the Ministry of Finance official who pleaded strict anonymity for obvious reasons, reminded Mr Ali that it was not true that Ghanaians have been queuing for years for toilet rolls until the advent of the 31st December Coup d'etat.
He is quoted to have reiterated that, "I wonder where Mr Issifu Ali was at the time because indeed the Limann government has succeeded within the first six months of that regime, to restore the essential commodities supply situation including that of petroleum supply.
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NPP raps David Kanga
The Statesman in an inside page story says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has criticised the Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC), David Kanga, for his 'arrogant response' to a recent suggestion by its flagbearer, J.A. Kufuor, for the decentralisation of the commission.
In response to Kufuor's call for the appointment of regional electoral commissioners with the powers to declare election results in their respective regions, Kanga is quoted to have stated: "Ghana is not a federal state to appoint regional electoral commissioners".
Expressing the party's rage at the response, the party chairman, S.A. Odoi Sykes, said Kufuor's suggestion was made for the consideration of all stakeholders in the December elections and not just the EC.
This, he is quoted as saying, was based on the belief that such an arrangement would help eliminate the strong public suspicion that figures and results sent from the constituencies are sometimes changed or doctored.
Odoi Sykes, who is said to have advised Kanga to study Articles 51 and 52 of the constitution to educate himself on the possibility of delegating powers to regional EC representatives to collate and declare election results in their respective regions, also reminded him of his position as "a public servant in a very sensitive area" and again, advised him to show courtesy to all, including presidential candidates.
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Kweku Baako calls Rawlings' bluff
The Independent reports that the editor of the Crusading Guide, Kweku Baako Jnr. has called the bluff of President Rawlings to stay in Ghana when he hands over power next January.
Speaking at a symposium on Press Freedom and Ghana's Democratic Dispensation at the Commonwealth Hall at the University of Ghana last week, he is quoted to have said that President Rawlings is not the first president to have stayed in Ghana after handing over power; "Ankra, Afrifa, Limann and even he Rawlings in 1979 stayed in Ghana when they handed over power.
"Mr Rawlings should not waste our time with such utterances when he knows that it is not a precedent he is setting."
Recounting the experiences of the media under Rawlings, Mr Baako is said to have mentioned that the period from 1982 to 1992 saw the muzzling of the media and questioned the basis of those who argue that the private press is too harsh on the government saying: "freedom must be fought for and until tyranny is removed from Ghana, the press will be in the fore front to check it".
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Kofi Wayo slams NDC…They are selfish and incompetent
The Guide’s front page story says, Charles Kofi Wayo, the "Nima boy"-turned- millionaire and successful international businessman, has thrown a challenge to the government to let him manage the country for only four years to ensure a change the 'dead' economy of the country and make it like that of South Korea.
According to the paper, Wayo says he was compelled to throw the challenge because the deprivation facing majority of Ghanaians is unprecedented and terrible.
All those in ministerial positions are sycophants who do not only lack the proven managerial instincts but are selfish and only think about themselves and their immediate families, he is said to have added.
"Ghana is sitting on billions of dollars and large reserves of natural resources but look at the state of things, terrible. After 20 years of NDC government being in power, the masses continue to suffer and are deprived of basic needs like water, health services and schools but they cover their incompetence and mismanagement with unfavourable world prices of gold and cocoa".
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Volta still NDC World Bank
The lead story of the Ghanaian Democrat quotes the Volta Regional Chairman of the NDC as stating that; "contrary to the very wrong impression being created by the opposition, especially the NPP, that the Volta Region is slipping through the hands of the NDC, the opposition is rather the case. You can see things for your self. We are still and for ever solidly behind the NDC".
He said; "I don't know why the NPP, especially, was thinking that they can capture the NDC World Bank and why they even thought the people of this region will ever abandon the NDC."
Mr Nunyuie, who according to the paper made these statement in an interview with the Ghanaian Democrat at the Dela E.P. Cathedral, Ho, during the NDC extraordinary congress, stated that the NPP is only day dreaming and advised them to look outside the Volta Region if they really want votes.
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