Bomb scare at La Palm Royal
Reconstruction of the Accra-Yamoransa road… Work starts in Nov.
Jack Bebli for tribunal on Monday
Reform disowns Agbmavi
Would Rawlings ever want to be president of Ghana again after 2001? …Let's leave that to God - He tells BBC
NPP reacts sharply… NDC, Konadu, bunch of liars
Peprah at it again… 200 million cedis spent at daddy's funeral, carried shoulder high
NPP cries "we no go sit down!"
Volta NPP Chairman, secretary suspended… Party in disarray
SOS saves life of Fred Addae
Bomb scare at LA Palm Royal
The lead headline of the Ghanaian Times carries a report on a bomb scare at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra on Wednesday afternoon which sent guests, staff and management of the hotel running for their dear lives.
According to the report, a male caller who spoke English but in a slow and typical local accent, told the hotel telephonist that he had planted a bomb at the hotel. He then demanded one million dollars as ransom or the whole hotel edifice would tumble to the ground.
The report says an evacuation exercise, which lasted well over two and half hours, began almost immediately while ballistic experts from the Ghana Armed Forces, the police and other security agencies mounted an intensive search of the hotel premises.
After a long search, however, nothing was found and the place was declared safe.
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Reconstruction of the Accra-Yamoransa road… Work starts in Nov.
The Daily Graphic, in its banner headline, reports that construction work on the 115- kilometre Accra-Yamoransa Road, which forms part of the Trans-West Africa Highway, will begin in November this year.
This follows completion of the new road designs, which were drawn in 1993 and is expected to be executed within 33 months with a projected cost of $85 million.
Funding for the project, 17 kilometres of which will be a dual carriageway with the remaining 98 kilometres a single carriageway, is being provided by the Japan Bank for International Co-operation and the Government of Ghana, Dr Frederick Y. Addo-Abedi, Deputy Chief Executive of the Ghana Highway Authority said in an interview with the Graphic in Accra yesterday.
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Jack Bebli for tribunal on Monday
In another front page story, the Daily Graphic reports that Alhaji Sheikh Shebu, alias RSM Jack Bebli, alleged to be the brain behind the highway robbery of eight boxes of unrefined gold valued at 2.4 billion cedis, belonging to Amasie Resource at Amansie in the Ashanti Region on February 16, last year, is to appear before an Accra Community Tribunal on May 29, for committal proceedings to begin.
The report says a source at the Attorney General's Department, who disclosed this to the Graphic said Jack Bebli will then join six others to stand trial at an Accra High Court on Tuesday, May 30, for their alleged involvement in the crime.
The other six are Philip Asamoah alias Agingo, Isaac Frimpong, alias Nii Baby Tei, Patrick Boakye Mprah, Corporal James Doli, Augustus Oko Odartey and Kofi Boakye, alias Kofi Bebli.
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Reform disowns Agbmavi
The National Reform Party (NRP) has denied the allegation that its constituency chairman at Ho East has fled his hometown, Kpetoe, to avoid arrest following his involvement in a smuggling case and assault on a female customs officer, reports the Evening News.
According to the report, Mr Winfred Osei-Wusu, interim Natiuonal Organiser of the party in an interview with the paper said the name Sylvanus Agbemavi cannot be found anywhere in the party's register.
Mr Osei-Wusu further said the Ho East constituency is an area which the party is yet to elect officers to man it’s affairs, noting that the party as at now appoints its officers to interim positions and unless congress is held, nobody can hold himself or herself out in any substantive position.
Mr Osei-Wusu said the NRP is taking a serious view of the matter because it is not normal for the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) to be interested in the party affiliation of suspected offenders.
He described the allegations as part of an anticipated ploy by people who feel threatened by the strong in-roads the NRP is making into their strong holds to intimidate, undermine and tarnish the image of the party in order to maintain the control they have over those constituencies.
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Would Rawlings ever want to be president of Ghana again after 2001? …Let's leave that to God - He tells BBC
The Crusading Guide, with a 1979 photograph of President Rawlings handing over power to Dr Hilla Limann on its front page, presents an analysis of an interview President Rawlings on his recent visit to Abuja on an ECOWAS mission, granted Shola Odunfa, BBC's Nigeria Correspondent.
According to the report, President Rawlings was asked: "After this term (second presidential tenure), do you see yourself coming back sometime later, in the future to be the president of Ghana?" to which he answered: "I don't Know. I think that is something we will have to leave to God."
The report suggested that the answer the president gave is "as interesting as it is intriguing," and agreed with an unnamed Western Diplomat, who contended that after ruling for almost 20 years, it would have been much more appreciated and a vote for democracy, if the President had been categorical and stated that he had had enough of the Ghanaian Presidency, instead of seeking refuge in what God may or may not do in the future.
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NPP reacts sharply… NDC, Konadu, bunch of liars
The Guide says in a front page story that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) now seems poised to meet the ruling Notional Democratic Congress (NDC) boot for boot in all forms of propaganda, and is bent on exposing the ruling clique and their persistent misinformation to the public.
According to the paper, the party's Deputy Minority Leader and MP for Takoradi, Mrs Gladys Asmah, last Tuesday tore the First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings to shreds when she debunked what the party described as a "bunch of lies" peddled by Nana Konadu against the NPP at Cape Coast.
Mrs Asmah advised Nana Konadu not to bring the high office of the presidency into disrepute by trading in "blatant lies".
Nana Konadu, the paper says, on her tour to Cape Coast told the people and the nation that the NPP has written letters to the World Bank, IMF and other donors not to fund the development projects of the NDC government, as a result of which the NDC cannot provide development projects to the people.
Reacting to this at a press conference, the NPP said: "that statement is a blatant lie because the NPP has never written to any bilateral or multilateral agency or institution asking them to cancel or delay any aid or donor support to Ghana."
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Peprah at it again… 200 million cedis spent at daddy's funeral
The Independent reports that after the monumental birthday bash two years ago, the man responsible for Ghana's finances, Kwame Peprah is in the news again.
The report says this time round, Mr Peprah may not be in the same joyous mood that came with his chalking the 50 year milestone, yet the opulence that characterised Peprah at 50 was present if not at a more frightening tempo at his father, Robert Kwasi Martin Peprah's, final funeral rights at Mampong in Kumasi.
For people of his upper class suburb, the Peperah funeral could form the basis of assessing how future funerals could be performed.
The report says Peprah is said to have spent 200 million cedis on food and drinks alone and described the funeral as "a gross display of wealth and opulence and perhaps a befitting farewell for a man who has produced the energy and economic brains in the person of Richard Kwame Peprah.
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NPP cries "we no go sit down!"
In its lead story, the Accra Mail reports that the NPP has in an unprecedented move served notice of its preparedness not to continue to remain sitting ducks in the face of attacks from the ruling NDC which it alleges engaged a number of it supporters to put fear in people during the recent registration exercise.
Mr Kwamena Bartels, MP for Ablekuma North, said 'we will not provoke violence but we will not remain sitting ducks for our supporters to be maimed. We shall respond should we be attacked'.
According to the paper, the Greater Accra leadership of the party at a press conference chaired by the Regional Chairman, Mr Jake Obistebi Lamptey, disclosed that a number of their men are suffering from injustices being perpetrated by police personnel. He named the commander of the Kaneshie Police Command, Supt. Amamoo, as one of the culprits in perpetrating unjust attacks on NPP supporters in matters emanating from the registration exercise.
He said a number of NPP supporters have, in curious circumstances, been framed up and charged with electoral fraud in circumstances which according to the NPP smack of a design to tag the party the villain in the discredited registration exercise.
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Volta NPP Chairman, secretary suspended… Party in disarray
The Ghanaian Democrat says signals coming from the National Executive Council (NEC) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) indicate that the Volta Regional Chairman , Mr E.K. Vorkeh and his Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Kojo Nuworsu a.k.a. Kenwuud, have been slapped with a suspension order.
The paper says information reaching it indicate that the two officers have been the brains behind the factionalism of the NPP in the region, and their conduct for such action is not in consonance with the aims and aspirations of the party.
It quotes a source close to the party headquarters as saying allegations of misappropriation of party funds made against Emmanuel Nworsu, the Regional Secretary since 1992 are being investigated.
The source said the NEC of the party has taken a serious view of the behaviour of the regional secretary as regards his irresponsible role in breeding factionalism in the party at a time when all efforts were being made to heal all wounds.
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SOS saves life of Fred Addae
The Graphic Showbiz reports that the Ghanaian community in Amsterdam, Holland, virtually pulled Fred Addae from the jaws of death last month when they flew the ex-actor back home.
The report says Fred Addae, famous for his roles in the Osofo Dadzie television drama series had been taken ill in Holland for sometime. Despite frequent medical treatment Fred showed no signs of improvement and his condition grew worse by the week.
Realising how bad the situation was, the Ghanaian community in Amsterdam sent an SOS to its members asking each person to contribute five Guilders in aid of the ailing actor.
The report says the exercise paid off and on May 8, Fred Addae was flown to Accra where he was immediately admitted at the Korle Bu Hospital.
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