GRi Press Review
Ghana 15 – 05 – 2001
We’ll pay
off 9t Debt
Court to
rule on preliminary objection
E.T. Mensah
released
Selormey's
lawyer reacts
Ga youth
told to exercise restraint
BNI storm
E.T.'s homes
Survivors'
account of their ordeal
AFC wants
police report published
Ghana wins
banana war
KEEA NDC
cautions opponents
Confusion
at Accra Markets
GNAT oppose
sacking of Aburi Girls Head
We’ll pay
off 9t debt
President
J. A. Kufuor on Monday pledged his government’s determination to pay off the
country’s domestic debt of over 9 trillion cedis by the end of his tenure
office, state paper, the Daily Graphic reports.
He said the
successful attainment of this objective would lead to saving over 1 trillion
cedis in domestic debt payments.
Consequently,
he called on Ghanaians to put aside their political, ethnic and religious
differences and work together for the common good of the country.
President
Kufuor was speaking in Accra at the opening of a two-day National Economic
Dialogue tasked with the objective of building consensus to accelerate national
economic growth and development.
A broad
spectrum of stakeholders from civil society, government and non-governmental
institutions are participating in the dialogue, which would also set the target
for the nation’s growth, according to Graphic.
He said the
government needs the partnership of civil society, hence the need for all to
strategise together and find ways of creating wealth and ensuring progress for
the country.
President
Kufuor offered a ray of hope for all Ghanaians when he described the future of
Ghana as a “bright one”.
He stated
that a number of positive signs are becoming increasingly clear, and gave an
indication that Ghana’s development partners have signaled their intention to
write off significant amounts of her external debts through the HIPC
initiative.
More…/
Court to
rule on preliminary objection
The Fast
rack High Court trying Mallam Ali Yusuf Isa, the ex-Minister of Youth and
Sports, on charges of stealing and fraudulently causing financial loss to the
state will today rule on a preliminary objection raised by his counsel against
the second charge.
The court,
chaired by Mr Justice Julius Ansah, an Appeal Court judge sitting as an
additional High Court judge, set the date after hearing submissions from both
the defence and prosecution.
Mallam Isa
has pleaded not guilty to both charges and has been granted bail in the sum of
500 million cedis with a surety to be justified.
Objecting
to the charge at Monday’s sitting, the new lawyer of the ex-minister, Mr
Ambrose Dery, said the charge infringed on the fundamental human rights of his
client and should, therefore, be declared unconstitutional.
GRi…/
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E.T. Mensah
released
The
Ghanaian Times reports that Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, former Minister of Youth and
Sports and MP for Ningo-Prampram, was on Monday released from the Bureau of
National Investigations (BNI) cells, where he had been held since Saturday.
A radio
news bulletin, which announced his release, said however, that further
investigations were being carried out into his activities but did not explain.
Earlier, a
leading member of the party and MP for Kumbungu, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni,
described Mr Mensah's, arrest as the latest in the series of harassment of NDC
members.
He told Joy
FM that blaming Mr Mensah for the anti-Police and anti-government protests was
an attempt to look for scapegoats.
Mr Mensah,
who voluntarily presented himself to the BNI on hearing that the security
agencies were looking for him, has denied the allegations.
He told Joy
FM that the closest he came to the youth of Nima was at the 37 Military
Hospital when a parliamentary delegation visited the victims of the disaster.
His lawyer,
Mr Bram-Larbi, said that his client was interrogated for only 15 minutes before
being detained.
Another
statement issued by the Minority in Parliament, signed by Mr Doe Adjaho,
Minority Chief Whip called for his immediate release.
More…/
Selormey's
lawyer reacts
Counsel for
Mr Victor Selormey, former Deputy Minister of Finance, has reacted to a
front-page story carried by the 'Times' on Thursday May 10, with the headline,
"Selormey's Bombshell".
In a
rejoinder to the story, signed by Mr Kwaku Baah, his solicitor, said that
"the issues reported in the story are very prejudicial to the defence of
Mr Victor Selormey who has been charged with offences in connection with some
of those very matters."
It said
that it was never true that Dr Boadu never provided any such consultancy
services' as reported in the paper, and described the story as containing
"very serious factual falsehoods.
"It is
also not true that the vehicle for which an amount of money was paid has not
landed on the shores of Ghana.
"Indeed
the vehicle has been in Ghana for more than two years and is currently being
held in the custody of the police as an exhibit in the ongoing investigations.
The
rejoinder described the publication in the 'Times' as a 'trial by media', which
could seriously compromise Mr Selormey's right and interests.
It asked
the media to allow the due process of law to take its course.
More…/
Ga youth
told to exercise restraint
The
interior Minister, Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, on Monday appealed to the
youth of the Ga Traditional Area to exercise restraint in their dealings with
the churches.
He said
that attacks on churches as happened at the Osu Headquarters of the Christ
Apostolic Church (CAC) by some angry Ga Youth amounted to the people taking the
law into their hands.
The action
of the club-wielding youth was a demonstration of the displeasure with the
church's violation of the one-month ban on drumming and noisemaking instituted
by the Ga Traditional Council.
Speaking to
the 'Times' on Monday, the Minister stated that the action by the youth
amounted to taking the law into their own hands, an action, which usurped the
power of the constitution.
"What
the aggrieved persons should have done was to report violators to the law
enforcement agencies and not physically implement it by themselves," he
stressed.
The
Minister added that in as much as the Ga youth would want the ban to be
respected, they should exercise restraint and allow the law to take its course.
He also
appealed to the religious bodies in the Greater Accra Region to be circumspect
in their activities in order not to provoke any preventable violence.
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BNI storm
E.T.'s homes
The
Chronicle says operatives of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) on
Monday sensationally stormed the West Airport and Prampram homes of embattled
former Youth and Sports Minister, Enoch Teye Mensah for what sources said was a
search for arms.
This
followed intelligence reports that linked the Member of Parliament for Ningo
Prampram to a well-rehearsed strategy to further escalate the general state of
disorder in certain parts of Accra.
"Hon.
Enoch Teye Mensah's State-of-the-art palatial houses, just about ten blocks
away from the President's house was liberally searched following hints that
linked him to possible attempts to smoulder last Saturday's Nima
violence," sources close to the action said.
An aspect
of the investigation into the infamous E.T.'s suspected role was dropped by the
Interior Minister, Alhaji Malik Alhassan on a GAR radio interview when a
presenter teased the story out of the tough MP/Minister.
Hon
Alhassan was quoted to have said on national radio on Monday that E.T. Mensah
was invited for interrogation following intelligence reports received in which
he was quoted to have sniggered during a conversation about how "our plan
is working."
According
to other reports, the former Minister was at the time conversing with someone
whose identity has not been revealed.
Details
about the operation has been sketchy and Chronicle could not confirm by Monday
evening whether guns were retrieved.
GRi…/
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Survivors'
account of their ordeal
Scores of
survivors and eyewitnesses of last week's disaster at the Accra Sports Stadium
where about 130 people were trampled or suffocated to death have, according to
Free Press, placed the blame for the debacle squarely on the police personnel.
Dozens of
survivors interviewed by the paper at the 37 Military Hospital and the Ridge
Hospital revealed that after the policemen on duty had pumped round after round
of teargas canister into the panicking crowd, resulting in a stampede, they
callously refused to go to the aid of the trampled and suffocating victims.
It was
mainly due to the heroic and prompt action of some spectators and other bystanders
that many lives were saved on that Black Wednesday.
Eyewitnesses
revealed that after the police had fired the first round of teargas into the
stands and the spectators were fleeing, those in the opposite stands realised
that a stampede was happening and they rushed unto the pitch to plead with the
police to stop firing the teargas but they were ignored.
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AFC wants
police report published
The
Crusading Guide carries that soon after the historic "Kume Preko"
mass demonstration that left four innocent people dead, the then National
Democratic Congress (NDC) Government headed by Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings,
set up a Police Departmental Enquiry to look into the killings.
The report
was never made public and six years after the dastardly incident, the Alliance
For Change (AFC), the organisers of the demonstration which torpedoed the VAT
when it was first introduced, has called on the current Government to publish
it (the report).
The call
was made last week Thursday at a press conference.
GRi…/
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Ghana wins
banana war
The Accra
Mail carries that the Minister of Finance Yaw Osafo Maafo returned from the
just ended Africa Caribbean Pacific/European Union conference on Saturday with
good news for the country's troubled banana industry.
"The
banana war between Ghana, a non-traditional exporter and the European Union,
which had raged for several years, had ended".
The Mail
says during the period of quota system Ghana had to buy quotas from traditional
exporters like Cote d'Ivoire before she could export to Europe, which almost
brought the banana industry to its knees and set the EU and Ghana on a
collision course.
However,
beaming with smiles at a press briefing on Monday, Maafo Announced the
abolishment of quota system that restricted entry of Ghana's banana to European
markets.
Ghana could
therefore, now export any quantity of banana to any European market form July
1, 2001.
"We
have now to be competitive and produce quality banana to penetrate the European
market," the Minister said.
GRi…/
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KEEA NDC
Cautions Opponents
The
Ghanaian Democrat says the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) branch of the
National Re-organisation Committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
has stated that it would resist with considerable force plans allegedly hatched
to undermine Dr Ato Quarshie, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency,
by his political opponents.
It said
reports reaching the committee indicate that such opponents of Dr. Quarshie are
recruiting people in the area to undertake a massive demonstration against him
in the shortest practicable time.
A statement
issued by the secretariat of the committee at Elmina furthered that information
that it gathered also indicates that the intended demonstration is meant to
erode the credibility and image of Dr Quarshie, whom such opponents have
falsely described as non-performing in Parliament.
According
to the statements, the massive infrastructural development in the constituency
attests to the fact that the KEEA MP has, to a greater degree, met the
expectation of the broad masses of the people during the last eight years.
"The KEEA
boasts of a massive road network which no other constituency in the country can
boast of and this is due to the instrumentality of Dr Quarshie, who had also
assisted a number of communities to undertake self-help project to improve
their lot," it said.
The
statement said the KEEA has enjoyed relative peace since Dr Quarshie became an
MP and, therefore, called on the people to reject any negative influence by
certain personalities in the area who are bent on destabilising his activities
in the constituency because he beat them in the last parliamentary elections.
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Confusion
at Accra Markets
The
Statesman says the markets of Accra, run by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly
(AMA), have now become theatres of conflict between the genuine traders and NDC
activists, who have had control of them for a number of years.
The traders
are not happy with the control of those markets by the NDC activists, who are
either members of the 31st December Women Movement, the Young
Traders Association, or the Verandah Boys and Girls.
The paper
says it has learnt from the Agbogbloshie, Salvation, Mallam Atta, Santana,
Tesano, Kantamanto, New Fadama and Makola markets, where the problem is more
pronounced, that unless the authorities act promptly, the crisis could
degenerate into a big time conflict that could shatter the peace of the city.
The problem
stems from what the traders call "over-exploitation" by NDC appointed
"market leaders," especially those known as "market
queens." These are women who have
nothing to do at the markets except to impose and collect unauthorised levies
and tolls on persons selling at the markets.
The traders
charged that hundreds of millions of cedis that should legitimately go to the
AMA have been finding their way into the pockets of individuals, as a result of
the reckless decision by the previous administrations of the AMA to hand over control
of the markets to the NDC activists.
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GNAT oppose
sacking of Aburi Girls Head
The Ghana
National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has spoken against the way and manner
Mrs Grace Ansah Otu, Headmistress of Aburi Girls Secondary School (Abugis) was
asked to proceed on leave by Mr Alex Tetey Enyo, Director-General of the Ghana
Education service recently, reports The Daily Guide.
The Aburi
Girls Headmistress was directed to proceed on leave following the alleged
sexual abuse of 17 students of Aburi Girls Secondary by the School's
mathematics master.
A statement
signed by Mr Paul Osei-Mensah, General Secretary of the GNAT disagreed with the
interdiction of the school's headmistress on the grounds that since there has
not been any prima facie case of negligence established against Mrs Grace Ansah
Out, it was wrong to interdict or ask her to proceed on leave.
The
statement reminded the GES that heads of institutions are public officers and
as such controlled and governed by the relevant laws, rules and regulations as
well as the existing norms and conventions applicable to public officers generally.
In the
candid opinion of the GNAT the action taken against the headmistress does not
conform to the tenets of social justice.
To ensure
the spirit of fairness therefore, the GNAT advised that the sanction invoked
against the Aburi Girls headmistress should be reversed.
The GNAT
General Secretary said the manner in which Mrs Ansah Otu was asked to proceed
on leave raises a lot of questions, stressing that the interdiction of the
Abugis headmistress without recourse to the existing norms and conventions, was
rather disturbing and unjustifiable.
GRi…/
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