NDC MPs begin 4-day boycott of Parliament
Court overrules objection
Serial killer arrested
Disaster victims’ families get moneys
Nima riots – 4 to be charged
Osafo Maafo goes to war
Arrest could derail reconciliation – Bagbin
More arrest expected
Ex-tribunal chairman in Jail
I saw E.T. Mensah incite Nima boys – MP
NDC MPs begin 4-day boycott of Parliament
NDC Members of Parliament on Tuesday resolved to abstain from the work of Parliament for four sitting days in protest against what they termed “the unlawful arrest and detention” of Mr E.T. Mensah, MP for Ningo-Prampram, state daily the Daily Graphic reports.
The members have demanded an apology from the government “for the arrest of our colleague on flimsy and unsubstantiated allegations of inciting the youth of Nima to riot”.
The NDC Parliamentary Caucus described the arrest and detention of Mr E.T. Mensah as another clear example of “the well-rehearsed plan of political harassment and intimidation”.
The Minority Leader, Mr A.S.K. Bagbin, who announced the decision of the NDC group at Parliament House in Accra, said the caucus views the arrest as an affront to Parliament as an institution and the Minority Group.
“We see the stony silence of our Honourable colleagues in the Majority side as a tacit approval of the Executive,” he said.
Mr Bagbin said the caucus finds the arrest and detention of Mr Mensah on trumped-up charges an affront to the dignity of Parliament and in contravention of the 1992 Constitution.
“In any case if it were proved that he asked the Nima youth to demonstrate their anger at the death of their colleagues, Mr Mensah’s arrest would still be unjustified.
“After all the present Attorney-General and other high ranking members of the NPP led their supporters on rampage on several occasions from the Radio Eye demonstration to the Kumepreko marches. They were not arrested for inciting demonstrations”, Mr Bagbin said.
“In all respected democracies, Members of Parliament are accorded the highest immunity and privileges to enable them to uphold and defend the principles of Parliamentary democracy, rule of law, and constitutional governance”, the Minority Leader pointed out.
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Court overrules objection
The trial of Mallam Ali Yusuf Isa, the dismissed Minister of Youth and Sports, began at the Fast Track High Court in Accra on Tuesday after the court overruled a preliminary objection raised by the defence against his second charge of fraudulently causing financial loss to the state.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Julius Ansah, an Appeal Court judge, sitting as an additional High Court judge, ruled that there was nothing unconstitutional about the second charge as claimed by the defence.
Counsel for the ex-minister, Mr Ambrose Dery, had argued at last Monday’s sitting that the charge of fraudulently causing financial loss to the state infringed on the fundamental human rights of his client and should therefore, be declared unconstitutional.
Mallam Isa has pleaded not guilty to two counts of stealing and fraudulently causing financial loss to the state and has been granted bail in the sum of 500 million cedis with a surety to be justified.
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Serial killer arrested
The Ghanaian Times carries that 36-year Charles Quansah, has confessed to being a serial killer since 1993.
The suspect, also known as Paapa Kwabena Ebo, is said to have confirmed killing eight women between 1993 and 2001 by strangling them.
Quansah, a driver mechanic and a citizen of Komenda in the Central Region, is not married.
He has been on court remand since his arrest in February at his Adenta residence.
He claims to have killed the eight women in Kumasi and three areas in Accra- Dansoman, Mataheko and Adenta.
Quansah is said to have refused to talk on the issue after his arrest until last Tuesday, May 8.
The Director of the Police Public Relations Directorate, Superintendent Richard Baduweh, told newsmen in Accra on Tuesday that police and prisons records had revealed that Quansah is an ex-convict. He was in jail at the James Fort Prisons for rape in 1986.
When he completed the sentence, he committed another rape offence and was jailed for three years at the Nsawam Prisons in 1987.
After serving the second sentence, Quansah settled at Ayigya, Kumasi, until 1997 before moving to Dansoman in Accra.
In September last year, Charles moved to Adenta in Accra.
Mr Baduweh said that police investigations into the serial murders in Accra was intensified a year ago with the setting up of a Special Investigation Team which include experts in crime scene management and interrogation.
Added to that, the police last two weeks received assistance from experts from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the form of scientific investigation support.
“The FBI has collected physical evidence to their laboratory for further scientific analysis and a report on it would confirm other pieces of evidence at hand for the prosecution of Quansah to begin.”
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Disaster victims’ families get moneys
Families of victims of the May 9 Stadium disaster, on Tuesday started claiming the 2.5 million cedis cash relief package the government promised as compensation for them.
Three parents and representatives of families received theirs on Tuesday after they satisfied all the requirements at the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council.
They are Alhaji Haruna Musah, father of Abdul Issa, 22, Mr Mudusir Ahmed, who collected for Rasaak Maamudu, 19, and Alhaji Seead Abdul Dahma, and his wife, Hajia Sirino Mumuni, who lost their two sons, Mohammed Fulani, 28, and Awudu Issah, 19.
The presentation was made by Sheikh I.C. Quaye, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, in the presence of the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharabutu.
The requirements are the production of a death certificate, a witness and the filing of a form
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Nima riots – 4 to be charged
The Dispatch says four people, including a Member of Parliament (MP), a former MP, an Assemblyman and an official of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), (names withheld) are likely to be charged in connection with last Friday’s riots involving some youth at Nima.
Security sources said they have evidence of the various meetings held between them and the youth. They will be put before court by Monday, May 21.
The sources hinted that statements have been taken from some of them whilst two others, likely to be charged with the four, are said to be on the run.
In another development, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Ningo-Prampram, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, was released last Monday afternoon on a 10 million cedis bail to report to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) at 6:00 pm every day. Mr Mensah, who is also the Youth Organiser of the NDC, told the BBC in an interview that he was detained in a mosquito infested cell, where he slept on a student mattress for two days and was questioned in connection with the riots.
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Osafo Maafo goes to war
'General' Yaw Osafo Maafo, on Tuesday reached deep into his guts and gave the most aggressive all-action speech of his life at the conclusion of the two-day ‘Economic dialogue’ in Accra, writes The Ghanaian Chronicle.
It was an address which, according to the paper, stirred the emotions of the audience and participants and struck trepidation in the hearts of corporate debtors who had contracted loans that were cumulatively sapping the financial sector – a whopping 4.3 trillion cedis.
The Minister who was bailed to pledge the commitment of Government on a wide-ranging action plan adopted at the two-day conference chilled his audience with graphic easy-o-understand factuals on the state of economy.
Obviously armed with new hard data, Osafo Maafo read the horrifying statistics: 51 percent of all internally generated revenue goes into servicing debts, (both internal and external), 46 percent of all revenue also goes into payment of statutory payments of wages and salaries!
Clearly, the auguries were stark enough to fire the ‘General’ for war. And he demonstrated that he had fire in his belly by defining pragmatic objectives and isolating the only way out of what he categorically described as ‘economic crisis’
“We’ve got to do a lot about increasing revenue and nobody (donors) will bring money to us just to pay salaries, we’ve got to generate funds internally… something is fundamentally wrong with our revenue generating systems," he noted.
Then he read the riot act.
All debtors who collectively, have taken from grant monies and advances from financial institutions would soon be getting knocks on their doors.
The records, which showed a startling figure of 4.3 trillion cedis in unpaid advances would be published in the newspapers, while the establishment of fast track commercial court had been discussed with the Attorney General’s office for quick disposal of such cases if it meant going to court to retrieve such monies.
He said exemptions for all NGO's (Non-Governmental Organisations) had been abolished except for those with educational projects.
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Arrest could derail reconciliation – Bagbin
The Minority leader in Parliament, Hon. Alban S.K. Bagbin has warned that the harassment of opponents of the government as animated in the arrest and detention of the former Youth and Sports Minister by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) could derail efforts at national reconciliation.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Nadowli-North described the MP’s detention as “illegal” and chided President Kufuor for not showing some modicum of restraint in the way his government handled the matter.
“If you are calling for reconciliation and then some groups are seen as targets of your action, definitely there is no way that you would expect them to come before you and try to reconcile with you,” he stressed.
He told the Chronicle minutes after addressing a news conference during which the minority announced a one week boycott of parliamentary proceedings, that so far as the minority was concerned the arrest of Hon. Enoch Teye Mensah sent the wrong signals about the government’s commitment to national reconciliation.
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More arrest expected
The Weekly Insight says at least 30 leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and associates of the former first couple are expected to be arrested within the next four weeks.
The arrests are part of the process of investigating crimes against the state allegedly committed by these functionaries and associates.
Some of the arrests, which have been effected already allegedly follows disclosures made to the police by Dr Albert Barnafo, a close associate of the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.
Dr Barnafo is being investigated in connection with some World Bank contract awarded by the Ministry of Works and Housing.
He has also been asked to explain how $2 million got missing from the accounts of the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited.
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Ex-tribunal chairman in Jail
In an ironic twist of fate, an ex-chairman of the public tribunals in the PNDC era, who sent hundreds of fellow Ghanaians to jail is now languishing in jail himself, the Free Press writes.
The ex-tribunal chairman, Mr Addo-Aikins has been incarcerated at the James Fort Prisons for the past month because he could not get anybody to stand surety for him, even though he had been granted bail. He was sent to court for embezzling 8000 dollars belonging to a client.
According to informed sources, sometime in 1994, a client of Addo-Aikins instructed him at the time when he was in private practice as a lawyer to sue Alitalia Airlines for the loss of his luggage after travelling on the airline and his luggage got missing.
Eventually the airline paid a compensation of 8000 dollars to Addo-Aikins on behalf of the client, which started the trouble.
Addo-Aikins, according to the Free Press, embezzled the money and started tossing the client up and down.
Suspecting foul play, the client contacted Alitalia and was informed that the compensation had already been paid to his lawyer.
He therefore sued Addo-Aikins in a civil suit to recover the money and judgement was given in his favour, but Addo-Aikins begged the court to be given time to pay the money.
When the stipulated time elapsed, he failed to pay the money and asked for another extension.
After several such extensions, the client became fed-up and reported the failure back to the court.
In April this year, Addo Aikins was eventually dragged before an Accra High Court and asked to show cause why he should not be jailed.
Even though he was eventually granted bail, nobody was willing to stand surety for him and he was sent to James Fort Prisons.
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I saw E.T. Mensah incite Nima boys – MP
The MP for Assin North, Hon. Ken Ohene Agyapong has declared, according to the Daily Guide, that he was around when Hon. E.T. Mensah incited the Nima boys to go on demonstration last Friday.
He said he heard E.T. incite the boys to demonstrate against the NPP, sing anti-NPP songs and blame the government for the tragic event at the Accra Sports Stadium last Wednesday, May 9, 2001 that claimed 126 lives.
This came to light when after Parliament had risen on Tuesday, a cross section of MPs from the NDC and NPP engaged in a hot exchange of words that nearly resulted in the exchange of blows.
Members of the NDC side had refused to take part in the day’s deliberations, in protest against E.T. Mensah’s arrest and detention over the Nima incidence.
At the time of the Parliamentary sitting, the NDC caucus, which had finished with a pres conference trooped to the lobby of the House.
When Parliament therefore adjourned, the NPP members met the boycotting NDC members in the lobby, where the serious exchange took place.
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