GRi Press Review
Ghana 07 - 05 - 2001
14 Women
die from rupture of uterus
Polytechs
must link up with industry - President
Ghana needs
investment center in London -JH
Kume Preko
killings
Tribunal
orders A-G to take action on Ex-DCE
982 million
cedis fraud at Bank of Ghana
VAT rate to
stay
Review
National Service Act - Legon NPP appeals
CPP
chairman wants victory in 2004
We'll flush
out all evil doers
BOG
Officials explain why Saturday Banking was abolished
14 Women
die from rupture of uterus
Rupture of
the uterus has become a common cause of mortality among pregnant women in the
Upper West Region.
Records
available to the Daily Graphic indicate that between March 1999, and March this
year, 14 out of 35 pregnant women with ruptured uterus who were admitted at the
Wa Regional Hospital died.
Dr Serafin
Palmas Mora, Cuban Obstetric and Gynaecology Specialist at the Wa Regional
Hospital attributed most of the ruptured uterus to the use of herbal
concoction.
He said 22
out of the 35 ruptured uterus victims were only rushed to the Wa Hospital for
treatment, when their health conditions deteriorated, after "their trusted
herbalists" had failed them.
Dr Mora who
was speaking at a scientific health forum at Wa at the weekend said 23 out of
the 35 babies delivered by women with the ruptured uterus problem died from
complications.
He called
for intensive educational campaigns in the rural communities on integrated
health care delivery and pregnant women in particular.
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Polytechs
must link up with industry - President
President
Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, at the weekend charged polytechnics to immediately
explore practicable programmes aimed at linking local industries and ensuring
cross-fertilization of ideas for the nation, reports The Ghanaian Times.
In a speech
read on his behalf at the first congregation of the Kumasi Polytechnic covering
five batches of candidates totaling 1,302 who studied in the institutions between
1995 and 1998, the President underscored the government's commitment to
strengthening polytechnic education in the country.
He said,
"we need to recognise that the nation's economic recovery programme and
the nation's ability to achieve its anticipated goals depend very much on the
availability and contributions of the technical workforce whose skills are
relevant to the successful operations of local industry and commerce".
He said it
was necessary to appreciate the unique character of polytechnic institutions in
terms of their mandate and programmes, as well as the type of human and
material resources they required to function effectively.
The
President said that it behoved on the government, private enterprise and
individuals to endeavour, collectively to provide the means of quality training
in the polytechnics to produce middle level technical manpower that would meet
the high standards demanded by industry.
More…/
Ghana needs
investment center in London -JH
The
minister of Government Business and Chairman of the National Planning
Commission, Mr J. H. Mensah, has suggested the establishment of an investment
center in London to enhance investment inflows to Ghana.
The Centre,
to be located at the High Commission, would be manned by a core group of Ghanaian
experts in the financial sector and some staff of the High Commission and would
be responsible for mobilizing private flows of investment for the country.
Mr Mensah
made the suggestion at a meeting of Ghanaian experts in the financial sector,
organized by the Ghana High Commission in London, to discuss the country's
economic problems and to explore areas of assistance.
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Kume Preko
killings - Police report found!
The Daily
Guide carries that the non-indicatable report on the fateful 'Kume Preko'
demonstration of May 11, 1995 has been found.
The shocker
though is that, despite the fact that four citizens lost their lives plus
strong incriminating evidence, glaring complicity and proven involvement of
government agents, no one was accused and no one was consequently charged.
On the said
day, a civil group calling itself "Alliance for Change" jointly
headed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the current Attorney-General and
Minister of Justice and other Human Rights activists organized a Peaceful
demonstration "against the high cost of living in the country."
In the
course of the demonstration, it was violently disrupted by presumed agents of
the then ruling government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) resulting
in fatalities and destruction of properties.
Other
leading members of the demonstration which attracted over 300,000 participants
were: Messrs Akoto Ampaw, a human rights activist; Kweku Baako Jnr., Editor of
the Crusading Guide; Kakraba Cromwell, Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe, Victor Newman, Kweku
Opoku and Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Editor of Insight and Dr. Charles Wereko Brobbey.
A summary
on the report giving a background to the establishment of the Police Committee
of enquiry into the incident said the then Minister of Interior, Col. (rtd)
E.M. Osei-Wusu in a May 15 1995 letter directed the Inspector-General of Police
to set up a Police Committee of Enquiry to investigate fully the violent event
that led to deaths injuries to people, and damages to properties, with the view
to establishing liability for these incidents and other related matters".
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982 million
cedis fraud at Bank of Ghana
The
Dispatch says an audit check at the Kumasi branch of the Bank of Ghana (BOG) as
at March 7, 2000 revealed "a cash shortage of 982,335,000 cedis,"
with credible indications that pressure is currently being mounted to stall
prosecution of those involved.
They
include Mrs Janet Gyimah-Kessie (former Regional Manager); Mr Ellis Obir
(former Banking Manager); Mr Simon Kwadje (former Issue Manager) and Mr Okae
Boadi (former Security Guard). Their dockets are said to have been sent to the
Attorney-General's office in Kumasi, awaiting prosecution to start.
Excerpts
from the 38-page Report of the BOG Committee of Enquiry into the financial
malpractices at the Kumasi branch, according top the Dispatch, revealed that
the amount was lost through three main methods.
These
include Mrs. Gyimah-Kessie's scheme with a group of staffers since August 1997,
stealing during working hours and unlawful entry and stealing from the vault.
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VAT rate to
stay
The New
Patriotic Party's (NPP) mouthpiece, the NPP News carries that Finance Minister,
Hon Yaw Osafo-Maafo has assured that the VAT rate of 12½% will be maintained
despite pressures on government to increase it.
Speaking to
newsmen on his return from a World Bank/IMF Spring meeting in Washington DC, he
said that the NPP government resisted strong pressure from the Bretton Woods
institutions to increase the rate of VAT in order to generate more revenue for
the ailing economy.
This, he
explained, was because of the government's belief that the solution to the
problem of revenue generation was with the spread of the tax net and not the
increase in percentage.
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Review
National Service Act - Legon NPP appeals
A number of
issues have been cited by Mr Yaw Dwomoh Mensah, the University of Ghana branch
chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as factors that contributed to the
violation of Act 426 of the National Service Scheme by the Service personnel in
the country, writes the Free Press.
Mr Dwomoh
in a statement explained that the scheme had not been properly reviewed since
its introduction in 1975.
As such,
both the Scheme and Service personnel had encountered a number of problems such
as non-acceptance of postings to certain parts of the country, abstaining from
postings and lukewarm attitude towards the scheme, which were deemed a
violation of Act 426 of the Scheme.
He noted
that on the part of the service personnel, problems such as low allowance which
does not make ends meet, long distance placement without considering the
background of the personnel and the delay in payment of allowances, coupled
with incomprehensible deductions which change national service to
"national suffering" were the contributory factors.
He urged
the government to review the Scheme especially the placement exercise and the
allowance to reflect the needs of the personnel to ensure efficiency at the
designated stations.
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CPP
chairman wants victory in 2004
The Accra
Mail quotes Dr Abubakar Alhassan, national Chairman of the Convention People's
Party (CPP) to have on Thursday, appealed to supporters of the party to show
greater commitment to its cause to regain its former status.
He said the
party would win the next elections if the members were ready to sacrifice and
contribute towards re-organisation and revamping of its structures.
Alhaji
Alhassan made the appeal when he and some national executive members met with
the Upper West Regional Constituency executives at Wa in one of several
meetings being organized by the party to re-activate its grassroots structures
and mobilise support for the 2004 elections.
He said
though the CPP had only five months to campaign for the last elections its
performance gave an indication that "we can win if we organsie well".
The
national Chairman said CPP had supported the NPP for strategic reasons and not
because the two parties have similar programmes.
"That's
why we have been speaking against attempts by the government to privatize
water, which is basic human need," he cited.
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We'll flush
out all evil doers
The Western
Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo says the government does not believe
in witch-hunting, but it will relentlessly pursue its objective to flush out
those evildoers who have plundered state resources to the detriment of the
economy, reports The Independent.
The
Minister reiterated the government's stand in his address to the Western
Regional House of Chiefs during his maiden visit to the House at Sekondi on
Thursday April 26, 2001.
He said
that evildoers found to have cheated the country would be made to face the law
because the NPP's belief in the rule of law.
The
Regional Minister appealed to Nananom to contribute to the efforts of the
Kufuor administration to ensure good governance in the country.
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BOG
Officials explain why Saturday Banking was abolished
The High
Street Journal (HSJ) says reasons are emerging as to why the Bank of Ghana
(BOG) decided to direct the country's commercial and merchant banks to stop
operating banking services on Saturdays.
The
directive, which took effect late last month meant that the banks can only
operate on weekdays, Monday to Friday.
The banks
have since the announcement protested vehemently, but the BOG has refused to
budge.
Curiously,
though, the apex bank has declined to explain to the public why the decision
was made, giving an opportunity for senior banks to act bemused by the whole
issue.
However,
last week, the HSJ learnt from a senior BOG official that the central bank took
the decision in order to encourage the commercial and merchant banks to extend
their banking hall hours on weekdays.
The central
bank's reasoning the official said was that its client banks do not operate
long enough on normal working days and therefore lack justification for
operating for limited hours on Saturdays.
The BOG is
therefore insisting that the banks extend their normal bank hall hours before
Saturday banking can be considered.
Currently, commercial and merchant banks open their banking halls to
customers between 8:30 am to 3.00 pm on weekdays as is the norm in neighbouring
Nigeria.
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