Ghanaians trapped in northern Nigeria religious conflict. 213 to be brought home… Government provides $28,287
The 7billion cedis scandal at Bank of Ghana… Gavor, 2 others granted $500,000 bail each
Passport office to plug holes…to flash agents
GNAT thanks govt but asks for more
'NPP will revamp economy'
Gloom at barracks… Soldiers' pay cheques bounce… Trouble at Exchequer
Nkrumahist for NDC? No way! … Cries Dr Mahama
MP denies sex scandal
Veep's presence at PRINPAG function - irritates NPP
Dirty war against Arkaah exposed.
Trouble for Mills
Ghanaians trapped in northern Nigeria religious conflict. 213 to be brought home… Government provides $28,287
The government has released $28,287 for the immediate repatriation of 213 Ghanaians caught in the religious conflict in Northern Nigeria the Daily Graphic said in its lead story.
A Foreign Ministry source is reported as telling the 'Graphic' that the religious conflict that erupted in certain parts of Northern Nigeria, particularly Kaduna, after the imposition of Sharia law early this year, trapped some Ghanaians who are desirous to return home.
The source said some Ghanaians were killed while others sustained injuries but failed to give details. The 213 people to be repatriated have been identified by the Ghana Mission in Abuja as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
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The 7billion cedis scandal at Bank of Ghana… Gavor, others granted $500,000 bail each
In another front-page story, the Daily Graphic reports that two top officials of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), who were at the centre of the $1.5million fake cheque transaction, were on Monday arraigned at a Grater Accra Regional Tribunal charged with stealing.
The two, Sebastian Dick Kobla Nukpui Gavor, Director of Budget and Accounts Department, and Justice Ofosu Larbi, Deputy Director, Banking Department. With them in the dock, was Alhaji Sidiq, a businessman and chief of the Wangara community in Accra. All three have pleaded not guilty.
According to the report, the three member tribunal, chaired by Mr Justice Isaac Duose, granted each of three accused persons bail in the sum of $500,000 or its equivalent in cedis, with one or two sureties each to be justified. The case was adjourned to Monday, June 5, 2000.
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Passport office to plug holes…to flash agents
The Passport Office is introducing measures to tighten loopholes in its operations to prevent the fraudulent acquisition of Ghanaian passports, reports the Ghanaian Times.
According to the report, Mr J.A. Koomson Director of passports, who disclosed this Tuesday during the department's turn at the meet-the-press series in Accra, said the action is directed at aliens and 'middlemen' who through fraudulent means, acquire Ghanaian passports.
He is said the passport office together with security agencies had outlined measures that would help track down the fraudsters but refused to give details of the measures.
He urged the Ministries, Departments, agencies and other organisations connected with the issuance of important national documents such as birth and baptismal certificates, to exercise great caution and institute security measures in their work.
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GNAT thanks govt but asks for more
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in the Volta Region has expressed gratitude to the government for setting up a task force to address most of the issues over which its members embarked on their last strike action, reports the Ghanaian Times.
"We are grateful to our employers for responding favourably to our strike action", Mr. Jacob Anderson, Regional GNAT secretary, told newsmen on Tuesday.
The secretary said despite the response from the government, there were some unresolved issues seriously frustrating teachers in the region, among them are, the non-payment of medical bills and legitimate claims like transfer grants and 'T and T' to transferring teachers.
Mr. Anderson said since 1997, many teachers affected by transfers to and from the region have not had their legitimate grants, represented by a month's gross salary, paid although they have gone through the preparatory stages.
He called on the Minister of Education, the task force and the Director-General of the GES to take a proactive stand, regarding the teachers concerns and not to wait for things to get out of hand before they come with belated expressions of sympathy and appeals.
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'NPP will revamp economy'
The Evening News says the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has lined up a number of programmes, which are geared towards revamping the country's economy and making it more buoyant when they come to power.
According to the paper, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, presidential candidate of the NPP, in an interview, mentioned that the programmes include encouraging the private sector to promote growth, introduction of pragmatic policies to assist farmers to process their produce and the provision of storage facilities and scientific methods of farming.
The report quotes him as saying that the people living in deprived communities have now realised that the government they voted into power to manage the country's affairs cannot live up to their desired expectations. "Ghanaians now appreciate the need for a change "without which they know that development cannot go on," Mr Kufuor said.
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Gloom at barracks… Soldiers' pay cheques bounce… Trouble at Exchequer
The Ghanaian Chronicle says, soldiers are in a mournful mood because cheques for their fortnightly pay were dishonoured when they turned up at their various banks to cash them.
The paper says when it called at the Ministry of Finance to check on developments pertaining to the issue, Mr Moses Asaga, Deputy Minister of Finance appeared to be unaware of the situation and attributed the delay to "some internal problem".
The paper however says its investigation show that the Army's payroll with a number of banks, principally the Ghana Commercial Bank (Burma Camp branch) ran aground when cheques drawn out through Bank of Ghana were marked return to sender.
According to the paper, the Bank of Ghana had indicated that the cheques should be re-presented, an euphemism for "there is no cash in the bank to support the cheque.
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Nkrumahist for NDC? No way! … Cries Dr Mahama
The Free Press, in a front-page story, reports Dr Edward Mahama, presidential candidate of the People's National Convention (PNC) as saying that no true Nkrumahist would ever support the National Democratic Congress (NDC) because it belongs to the tradition of coup makers.
Dr Mahama, reacting to recent calls by some NDC sympathisers that all Nkrumahists should join the NDC, reiterated in an interview with the 'Free Press' that, as far as the PNC was concerned, the NDC was a government by default because it came to power through the barrel of the gun, adding that an honest and respectable Nkrumahist would not follow it.
He declared that the "NDC members are not legitimate sons and daughters of the Nkrumahist party and the PNC was ready to help any political party in Ghana to vote out the NDC from power.
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MP denies sex scandal
The Dispatch reports in its lead story that Honourable Edward Doe Adjaho, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Avenor and Majority Chief whip, has in a petition to the Vice President, Prof. J.E.A. Mills and the NDC's National Executive Committee, again denied allegations of immorality levelled against him by Mr Vincent Gassor, the 'founding father' of the NDC in the Akatsi District.
The petition denied allegations that he was involved in 'certain' activities with Ms. Judith Toklo, the estranged wife of one Mr Hugo Horgli, an ardent supporter of the NDC in the District.
The letter stated in part that: "We have our client's instruction to say that there is no iota of truth in the allegations made against him and particularly deny any wrong doing touching and concerning our client's association with Ms Judith Toklo whose marriage to Mr Horgli has long ceased to your knowledge. The impression you give as if the marriage is still subsisting is only mischievous to say the least".
It is recalled that in early April this year, Hon. Doe Adjaho denied allegations by the then Akasti District Chief Executive (DCE), Mrs Nazzah Gidiglo, that he "attempted to sexually assault her on the night of Saturday, March 27, 1999."
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Veep's presence at PRINPAG function - irritates NPP
The Palaver says key members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with strong links in the private press are reportedly mad at the new executives of the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) for inviting Prof. J.E.A. Mills, the
Vice President and NDC presidential candidate to its inauguration.
Palaver says its scouts gathered that at a meeting at the office of a leading member of the party, the NPP men admitted that Prof. Mills' address at the inauguration was largely used to successfully court most of the private press' sympathy.
"Kufuor's spin-doctors are alleged to be re-strategising to woo back the private press to continue with the anti-NDC bashing", the Palaver said.
According to the story, other NPP gurus have kept the telephones of some of the private newspaper offices buzzing for long spells to demand an explanation to their strange positive publicity stunt for the NDC flagbearer.
NPP, according to the Palaver, is said to be counting the cost of PRINPAG's action and the political leverage it has given Prof. Mills in the eyes of opposition party supporters.
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Dirty war against Arkaah exposed.
The weekly insight reports that former vice President K.N Arkaah is in the news again. This time as a victim of an apparently well orchestrated attempt to do damage to his reputation.
According to the paper, the vicious campaign against the former vice President appears to have official blessing and is designed to whitewash the first couple.
The paper states that at the centre of this campaign, is a book titled: “ Ghana, Peace and Stability” authored by Mr Kofi Quantson, a close associate of the President and Head of Narcotics Control Board, which seeks to confirm the allegation that the former vice President raped a young woman, Miss Jemimah Yalley while in office. It also states that the first couple had no hand in the leakage of the allegation to the press.
The paper states that, the book itself is riddled with factual inaccuracies. First, the name Mr. Roland Attah Kesson, then Chairman of the National Convention Party (NCP) is omitted from the list of the members of the Committee of Elders, who met with Mr Arkaah to discuss the scandal. It is also significant to note that at the meeting with Mr. Arkaah, it was Mr. Atta Kesson who first suggested that the vice President should resign.
The paper asks whether Mr Atta Kesson’s name was omitted to conceal the fact that the Committee of Elders or at least some of its members demanded the resignation of Mr. Arkaah.
The paper also declares that, Mr Quantson’s claim that Mr. Arkaah met with uncles of Miss Yalley also appears to be untrue but says it is significant that Mr Quantson quotes President Rawlings as confessing that he had never liked Mr. Arkaah.
The paper continues that perhaps Mr. Rawlings’ hatred for the former vice President may explain why Mr Arkaah continues to suffer from this unholy propaganda war against him.
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Trouble for Mills
The Weekly Insight states that Vice President John Evans Atta Mills has still not managed to overcome all his problems, after being selected as the Presidential candidate for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
According to the paper, his main problem has to do with whom to pick as his running mate as he has six contenders to choose from. The six, Alhaji Mahama, presidential adviser on governmental affairs, Dr Obed Asamoah, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Cecilia Johnson, Minister for Local Government, Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, General Secretary of the NDC, Dr Ibn Chambas, Deputy Minister of Education and Mr John Mahama, Minister of Communications, can all be described as safe bets.
The paper says, there is threat from the party structures in the Northern Region that the running mate must come from the North, limiting the choice to Iddrisu Mahama, John Mahama and Ibn Chambas and wonders what will happen if the Volta region which has been the backbone of the party is denied the vice-presidential slot.
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