Tragedy hits Aburi girls… Driver, student die in accident many others sustain injuries.
Police, fans clash at Oguaa… Over 40 wounded.
Court invites Mamponghene… He's to answer for contempt.
Head teacher demoted for boozing
Gavor: Please deal with me
Northern faction dares NDC leadership
No way - EC tells opposition
NDC MP stopped donor funds for development
MAB introduces Transcash into money transfer market
Gen. Hamidu or Hawa
Twenty industries to face court action
Tragedy hits Aburi girls… Driver, student die in accident many others sustain injuries.
The Daily Graphic reports in its lead story that panic-stricken parents, guardians and friends of students of Aburi Girls Secondary School on Saturday besieged the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, following reports that some of the students on a trip to Mfantsipim school at Cape Coast, were involved in a fatal accident at Okyereko on the main Accra-Cape Coast Road.
The driver, Kwesi Koranteng, and a student died on the spot while about 80 other students sustained various degrees of injury. The name of the dead student is being withheld by hospital authorities for ethical reasons. The two bodies have been deposited at the 37 Military Hospital morgue for autopsy.
The report, which was also given front-page prominence by the Ghanaian Times, says the students were on their way to Cape Coast for a drama exchange programme with the Mfantsipim School when the accident occurred.
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Police, fans clash at Oguaa… Over 40 wounded.
The Daily Graphic reports on its back page that a violent clash between the police and football fans at the Cape Coast Stadium after the Dwarfs versus Kotoko titanic league match yesterday, left more than 40 people, including three policemen, critically wounded.
The report says the fans also caused extensive damage to the newly constructed dressing room while two police vans, which had been abandoned by the police in the course of the pandemonium, were severely damaged.
The violence erupted when the police in their bid to protect referee Alex Kotey, who handled the match, from missile throwing fans fired tear gas into the northern stands where Dwarfs supporters normally occupy.
As the fans ran helter-skelter, for their lives, most of them were caught in a stampede. The police are said to have compounded the situation when they fired more tear gas into the fans.
The paper says, but for the timely intervention of the Cape Coast Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Percy Eshun, the three police men who were left at the mercy of the angry fans would have been lynched.
Mr Percy Ashun described the incident as unfortunate and uncalled for, adding that the police over reacted in their attempt to protect the referee.
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Court invites Mamponghene… He's to answer for contempt.
The Ghanaian Times, in a front page story, says a Kumasi High Court has ordered the president of the Mampong Traditional council, Nana Osei Bonsu, to appear before it today without fail to answer contempt charges.
The court presided over by Mr justice G.M. Quaye, gave the order when Nana Bonsu failed to appear before it on May 15 following a case in which Nana Adu Ameyaw II, Efiduasehene, has filed an ex-parte motion at the court for contempt against him.
The grounds for the application are that Nana Bonsu has brought the authority and administration of the law into disrespect and has interfered with the pending litigation in utter disrespect for the Kumasi High Court.
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Head teacher demoted for boozing
The Ghanaian Times in another front page story says Mr Vincent Tengah, Headteacher of the Boana Local Authority Primary School, has been demoted by the Nkoranza District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) for persistent absenteeism and drunkenness.
The report says Mr M.K. Nsowah, District Director of Education, meted out the punishment when he visited the area last Wednesday, following complaints by the School Management Committee (SMC) and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).
Mr Tengah has been relieved of his post and his assistant, Mr Stephen Appau, instructed to manage the school until a substantive head teacher is posted to the school.
According to the report, Mr Tengah, for seven months- between October 20 last year and May 17 this year - attended school for only 19 days.
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Gavor: Please deal with me
The Ghanaian Chronicle reports that fresh information on the scandal at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) suggest that Sebastian Gavor has admitted to 'error of judgement' on hindsight and may have been overzealous in the role he played in the US$ 1.5 million transaction.
Mr Gavor is quoted to have stated that "I may have been guilty of a serious lapse of judgement but I am happy that the actions I took did not stem from self-interest nor from a desire to take advantage of the system but from a genuine desire to lend a helping hand to deal with the myriad of problems facing the country. I may have failed at that but I guess that is what over-zealousness can cause".
This, the report says, was contained in a letter he wrote to Dr Kwabena Duffour, Governor (BoG) on April 25, 2000. He is said to have asked the bank to hold him responsible for any lapse.
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Northern faction dares NDC leadership
The Ghanaian Chronicle also reports in a back-page story that a union of citizens from the three Northern Regions and various Zongo communities throughout the country, calling itself COZONGO, has dared the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to make the right choice of a Northerner as a running mate or face the consequences.
The report says the association wants the Veep slot to go to a Northerner as an 'agreed condition' and not on merit, else they would take a decision "to make or break".
"We are not asking for a favour. This is a genuine demand. We want the Veep slot, simple and clear", executives of the Ashanti branch of COZONGO are quoted to have complained to the Chronicle.
According to the report, COZONGO's Regional Chairman, Mr Mohamed Moro, a former NDC MP for Asokwa East, in the company of Mr Abubakar Hasan Iddisa, former assemblyman of Old Tafo and co-ordinator, and Mr Dinnis Kombat, former militiaman and organiser, said the Northerners had contributed to the growth of the (P)NDC in diverse ways and needed to be compensated for their sacrifices.
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No way - EC tells opposition
The Public Agenda reports that despite a threat by the opposition parties to stage a mass protest if the Electoral Commission (EC) fails to extend the just ended registration for voters, the EC says it will not take any decision until the records have been collated from the various regions.
Mr David Kanga, the Deputy Commissioner for operations of the EC is quoted to have told the Public Agenda that "if they (opposition parties) want to demonstrate let them go ahead but we are not going to set any date or time until all the reports are in".
It is recalled that following reports that the registration exercise, which ended recently, was poorly planned, the Joint Committee of the opposition parties namely the New Patriotic Party, the National Reform Party, the Convention People's Party and the United Ghana Movement on Friday threatened to stage a mass demonstration if the EC does not extend the registration period.
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NDC MP stopped donor funds for development
The Dispatch reports in its banner headline that a letter from the ruling National Democratic Congress' (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo Constituency, Hon. Joseph Yaani Labik, has cut off funds to the Bimoba Literacy and Farmers Co-operative Union (BILFACU), a local non- governmental organisation (NGO) at Bunkpurugu in the East Mamprusi District of the Northern Region.
The report says, a letter dated August 14, 1997, to one of BILFACU's major donors, a Canadian called Jack Flowers stated that "all further assistance to BILFACU be halted now until sanity is injected into the organisation and the leadership/management crisis in it is resolved".
According to the report, in an April 30, 1997 letter, the Ghanaian Programme Co-ordinator of CUSO in West Africa, Mr Labik sent the letter stopping the funds in spite of several interventions by leaders in the community for to change his mind because of the positive developments the BILFACU has brought to his constituency.
The report suggests that Hon. Labik's action is politically motivated given the fact that he had earlier, written to the to BILFACU Board of directors that the then acting co-ordinator of BILFACU, Mr. Kanturib Wurinsiat had been nominated a candidate of the People's National Convention (PNC), which he described as "a party opposed to the government party".
He is said to have requested the immediate removal of Mr Wurinsiat from BILFACU "to avert a possible withdrawal of its Certificate of Registration as an NGO".
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MAB introduces Transcash into money transfer market
The High Street Journal says as part of its efforts to mobilise foreign exchange resources, the Metropolitan and Allied Bank (MAB) last week signed an agreement to collaborate with Ghana Posts to deliver monies transferred by its counter parties, Transcash International, UK, to beneficiaries in all the regions of the country.
The pilot project, dubbed "Transcash", has since its inception in December 1999 assisted the MAB to mobilise over £600,000 of which more than 60 percent has been remitted through Ghana Posts.
Alhaji Razali Mohamed, Senior General manager, MAB, is said to have stated that the collaboration effort with Ghana Posts will enable the bank to provide its money transfer service to the very door-steps of customers at both the remitting and the receiving ends.
He added that with more than 4000 post offices throughout the country, the bank will be able to deliver monies received from overseas through post offices in every district and village.
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Gen. Hamidu or Hawa
The Accra Mail carries a front-page story touching on the courting of the media by Vice President Prof. John Evans Atta Mills. The story also looks at media acceptability of Mr. J.A. Kufuor’s likely running-mate, which the paper places between General Joshua Hamidu and Madam Hawa Yakubu, basing its reports on speculations.
According to the Accra Mail, the acceptance speech of Prof. Mills on his election as the National Democratic Congress’ flagbearer, went down well with the media while he received a booster last week when addressing the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) during the inauguration of its new executives.
The paper attributes the cordial reception to Prof. Mills to his press-friendly body language towards the media and states that barring any mishap, he can assume that his campaign will be free of press bashing with his only landmine now being his choice of a running mate.
On a running mate for Mr. Kufuor, the Accra Mail says both General Hamidu and Madam Yakubu are said to be in private discussions with the NPP flagbearer.
The paper angles both persons to press favourability and says Madam Hawa Yakubu is extremely photogenic and a darling of the Ghanaian media, especially the same group that gave thumbs up to Prof. Mills.
On his part, General Hamidu, the paper says has been in exile for over two decades and is not known by large sections of the Ghanaian press. “Whether that will stand him in a good stead, should he get the nod from Kufuor, will depend to a large extent, on how he will holds himself when he is confronted by this vibrant press”.
Madam Yakubu and Gen. Hamidu are from the same geographic area generically referred to as the North but belong to two different ethnic groups, the Kusasi and Dagomba that are however tied, having their roots in the Mole-Dagbani stock.
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Twenty industries to face court action
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has given 20 industrial firms in Accra, Tema and other parts of the country 30 days to reduce their pollution levels or face prosecution, reports the Ghana Palaver.
The paper names some of the companies as Pioneer Food Company, Ghana Textiles Printing Company Limited (GTP), Tema Lube Oil Company and Ghana Agro-Food Company (GAFCO).
Dr. Peter Acquah, Executive Director of EPA, is reported to have said this in Accra at a workshop on guidelines for the sound management of biomedical waste in Ghana.
Dr. Acquah said the waste generation and discharge of the affected firms are beyond the approved threshold, adding that the industries that do not meet the 30-day deadline would be prosecuted.
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