Rescind decision – Speaker appeals to NDC MPs
‘Nima riot not by accident’
Indian deported
Mallam reveals rot at Ministry
Banks to reschedule 3tr cedis of govt’s debt
Interdicted policemen recalled
Obed condemns E.T’s arrest
Woman exposed killer
Minister raps NDC
CHRAJ calls for ceasefire
Angry Ga Youth storm confab centre
Government team meets religious bodies
Don’t use E.T. as scapegoat – Dr Mustapha
Rescind decision – Speaker appeals to NDC MPs
The Daily Graphic says the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, has urged the NDC MPs boycotting Parliament in protest against the arrest and detention of Mr E.T. mensah, MP for Ningo Prampram, to consider the serious repercussions of their actions on the promotion of democracy in the country.
He said by their boycott, the NDC members are jeopardising the work of Parliament and this could stunt the growth of democratic governance.
Speaking at Wednesday’s sitting of the House, Mr Ala Adjetey said it was unfortunate that the NDC ignored simple parliamentary procedure by failing to inform him of their decision and only did so late afternoon on Tuesday, after holding a press conference to inform the world that they were boycotting the House for four days in solidarity with Mr Mensah over his arrest and detention at the weekend.
The speaker said he impressed upon the Minority Leader, Mr A.S.K. Bagbin, who later called on him, in the presence of the Clerk of Parliament, Mr Owusu Ansah, to ask his colleagues to reconsider their stand.
“Though Mr Bagbin promised coming back to brief me on the latest development, he has not done so”, he said.
Mr Ala Adjetey said "in the circumstances, I consider that they have not changed their mind, but business should go on as usual".
The Speaker said it is, therefore, necessary that every member of the Majority side, including the Regional Ministers who are MPs, come down and take part in the deliberations of the House.
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‘Nima riot not by accident’
The National Security Advisor, Lt. General Joshua Hamidu (rtd), has stated that there is enough evidence to show that the riot by the youth of Nima in Accra, last Friday, was not a spontaneous action.
He said the youth who went on rampage that day, were influenced with money and drugs to engage in those acts.
General Hamidu who was speaking to newsmen in Accra last Tuesday, said whilst some were from Nima, a number of them, were “rented”.
He also announced that there is evidence of a calculated attempt by some people to destabilise the country.
According to General Hamidu, information reaching the security agencies has revealed that a group of people have vowed to cause mayhem in the country from May 15 to June 4 and in the process destabilise the country after five months in office of the NPP Government.
“We will not relent on our effort to bring to book anyone who attempts to destabilise the country”, he warned.
He said it is unfortunate that at a time that government has put in place structures to turn the country’s ailing economy around, “a group of selfish people are using stolen money to entice people at the lower level of society, for whom the government is striving to make life better”.
He pointed out that the NPP Governemnt has been given the mandate to rule the people for four years and repeated the warning that the security agencies would not tolerate any acts that would interrupt the smooth administration of this government.
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Indian deported
A fifty-seven year old Indian Palmist and Astrologist, who has been practising in the country since March this year, without a work permit, has been deported to serve as a deterrent to other foreign nationals who flout the country’s immigration laws.
Professor Devinda Singh, who did not have a resident permit either, was arrested by officials of the Ghana Immigration Service on May 7 at the Rex Hotel, Kokomlemle in Accra where he practised his trade of telling the fortunes of clients and prescribing solutions to their problems.
He charged the numerous clients who thronged his hotel room everyday, between 10,000 thousand cedis and 50,000 thousand cedis.
He has been advertising in the local newspapers since his arrival, the latest in the May 13 edition of The statesman where he invited people to come and have their “fortunes truthfully told to help you with the solutions of all kinds of problems, luck, love, business, health, marriage, protection from witchcraft, magic and all kinds of bad shadows”.
Prof Singh also described himself as a specialist in the treatment of asthma, piles, diabetes, ulcer, infertility and other health problems using herbs form India.
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Mallam reveals rot at Ministry
Startling revelations of corruption and alleged financial malpractices at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, were on Wednesday made by the defence counsel at the trial of Mallam Ali Yusuf Isa, former Minister of Youth and Sports in connection with the missing 46,000 dollars, writes The Ghanaian Times.
At the fast-tack court in Accra on Wednesday, it was revealed that a bill of 450 million cedis issued by Ashtead Company Limited to cover a number of footballs purchased for the Ministry, was rejected by the dismissed Minister because only three footballs could be produced.
Another bill of 500,000 cedis for the purchase of five wall clocks, was also rejected by Mallam Isa.
The ex-Minister further protested against an invoice for 3 million cedis submitted for the repair of a television set in his office, because I was too exorbitant.
It also came out that the former Minister protested against an expenditure of 30 million cedis for bringing down the scoreboard of the Accra Stadium for repairs.
During cross-examination by defence counsel led by Mr Ambrose Dery, the Chief Director for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr Daniel Piime, said that all the revelations were true.
He admitted that a tour of the storehouse of the Ministry to check out the footballs purchased, only revealed three balls for which the 450 million cedis bill was issued.
The Chief Director again admitted that Mallam Isa also rejected another bill of 500,000 cedis for the purchase of five wall clocks instead of two, as counsel suggested.
Mr Piime said that when Mallam Isa took office, certain things listed in the inventory such as two wall cocks and a television set, were not available as indicated.
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Banks to reschedule 3tr cedis of govt’s debt
The banks have agreed to restructure 3 trillion cedis of the nation’s total domestic debt into medium and long-term bonds.
Consequently, the government will enjoy a relief of 1 trillion cedis within the next 18 months.
The total national domestic debt currently is over 9 trillion cedis.
Dr Jean Aka, president of the Ghana Association of Bankers and also, managing director of Ecobank Ghana Limited, said these at a news conference at the just ended National Economic Dialogue on Tuesday.
He explained that the restructuring did not mean that the banks were writing off the debt owed by government.
Dr Aka stated that even though the banks had agreed in principle to the government’s request, there were certain issues that needed to be addressed by government.
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Interdicted policemen recalled
The Police Administration has lifted interdictions imposed on some of its personnel by the former Inspector General of Police, Mr Peter Nanfuri, reports The Evening News.
According to Superintendent Richard Baduweh of the Police Public Relations Directorate, those whose interdictions have not been lifted are the ones suspected to have been involved in criminal cases.
To this end, all affected personnel should do well to contact their Regional as well as their Districts Commanders for more clarification and any other matter related to the interdictions, he advised.
In an interview with “The Evening News”, he explained that those who feel their names are still on the interdiction list should contact the Police Public Relations Directorate for further consultation.
The former IGP, it is alleged, never hesitated to interdict policemen upon the slightest allegation without first investigating the issue, yet, the policemen after staying home over months without doing any work, returned to their base to collect accrued salaries, the toil of the Ghanaian taxpayer.
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Obed condemns E.T’s arrest
The former Attorney General and Minster of Justice, Dr Obed Yao Asamoah has described the arrest of the former Youth and Sports Minister E.T. Mensah, as a panic reaction from an insecure government.
In an interview with The Independent, Dr Asamoah said the high-handedness shown in the arrest of Hon. E.T. Mensah “shows the method by which they have been governing”.
He said the government’s method, which is being carried out by the police and other security personnel had so far been used for the arrest and harassment of former government officials, adding “but this is totally wrong”.
According to Dr Asamoah, if any member of the old regime or any citizen is suspected of any wrong doing, the logical thing was to take such people to the courts for due process of the law to take its course.
He said the government’s action is curtailing the freedom of some members of the old regime.
Asked to comment on Obed’s swipe on the government, Nana Akufo-Addo, the current Attorney General declined but said the former Attorney General has the right to say anything he wants to say.
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Woman exposed killer
The Daily Guide says it can, with all authority say that it was a woman who leaked the activity of 36-year-old Charles Quansah, alias Paapa Kobina Ebo of Komenda in the Central Region to the police.
Quansah told BNI officials that he personally killed eight women in Kumasi, Dansoman, Mataheko and Adenta-all in Accra.
Sources indicate that on one of his nocturnal murderous acts, Charles woke up one night and went out, leaving a girlfriend he had sent home to spend the night with in bed.
The girl waited for hours without seeing him but when Charles finally got back in the wee hours of the following day, the she became suspicious of him.
"We learnt that he looked very ruffled, unkempt and was in a state of tiredness, giving a picture of some one who had engaged in a physical struggle with someone else," states the Guide.
The girl, who will forever remain anonymous reportedly, questioned Charles about where he had been and his suspicious physical state, to which he could not offer any meaningful explanation.
The suspicions of the girl heightened, but ‘she remained calm even though fear began to take control of her’ the source said.
When the day broke, there was news that a woman had been killed somewhere in Accra, a news item that further raised the suspicions of the girl who by then had left Charles’ home for her own house.
Unable to contain and keep her suspicions to herself she reported the matter to the police, who reportedly quickly picked Charles and began interrogating him.
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Minister raps NDC
The Deputy Minister-designate for Interior, Hon. Yaw Barimah last Monday brushed aside the opposition NDC’s quick reference to its members picked up by the security services as scapegoats, describing it as a ploy to black mail the government.
According to him, the opposition’s haste to call its members scapegoats without finding out from the security services why they were picked up or detained for questioning, is a diversionary action to prevent the government from doing what it should do.
“To say that nothing should happen to them because they belong to that (former) government, is to blackmail the government from doing what it should do,” emphasising that nobody is above the law and therefore whoever is implicated in any issue would be investigated.
Hon. Baimah, also the MP for Koforidua, was reacting to the NDC’s press statement over the detention of former Youth and Sports Minister, Hon. Enoch Teye Mensah for allegedly inciting the youth of Nima to go on rampage, and for utterances during the detention of Mr Victor Selormey, former deputy Minister of Finance, which was corroborated by former President Rawlings.
“Is it that perhaps some persons belong to the leadership of a political party and therefore are not beyond interrogation?” he wondered.
Hon E.T. Mensah, the National Youth Organiser of the former ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) became the latest victim of the party’s top notch to be detained for questioning by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
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CHRAJ calls for ceasefire
Ghanaians, according to the Crusading Guide, have been reminded that the nation had already been traumatised enough by the May 9, 2001 Accra Sports Stadium tragedy and that it is not the wish of any well-meaning Ghanaian to see the nation plunged again into another tragedy arising out of religious conflict which could be saved if tackled at the proper time.
In a release signed by two Deputy Commissioners of the Commission, Mr Benjamin Kwesi Oppong and Mrs Angelina Mornah Dormakyaareh, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) expressed concern about the development that was unfolding as a result of the ban on drumming and noise making declared by the Ga Traditional Council.
On Sunday, May 13, 2001, there was a confrontation between the Christ Apostolic Church International at Osu, a suburb of Accra, and some youth in the area over the use of drums during the course of the church service.
CHRAJ described the situation as very volatile and dicey and called on all parties who had taken a centre stage in the conflict to exercise restraint and enter into a dialogue without any delay and bring the situation under control.
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Angry Ga Youth storm confab centre
The Ghanaian Voice reports that hundreds of angry Ga Youth from Osu on Monday May 14 stormed the entrance of the Accra International conference centre to register their protest over a number of issues including the banning of drumming and dancing in the metropolis.
The youth who shouted slogans such as “Kufuor go to Kumasi and rule, “Accra is for Gas” and “we shall resist any attempt by any group of people to impose their authority over us”.
The over 1000 angry youth who were in an uncompromising mood, had to be dispersed by a combined team of the police and the military.
The timing of the youth action, the Voice says, was quite a puzzle to onlookers since simultaneously, the National Economic forum was being held at the International conference Centre, which the president addressed.
The heavy military presence did not deter the movement of the angry youth.
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Government team meets religious bodies
The Accra mail carries that the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Sheikh I.C. Quaye has called for frank and creative decisions, which will enable the county to find a lasting solution to the perennial religious conflicts Ghana has witnessed these past few years.
Religious conflicts, he said, have the potential of eroding out hard earned image as an oasis of peace and stability in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Minister was speaking during a meeting organised between a government team and representatives of religious bodies in Accra to find a lasting solution to the impasse between the Church and the Ga Traditional Council.
Another meeting was held on Wednesday between representatives of the Ga Traditional Council and the regional administration.
It would be recalled that there were violent confrontations last Sunday between the Christ Apostolic Church and some traditionalists sat Osu.
The religious bodies were represented by the Rev. Aboagye Mensah, Sheikh Mahmud Gedel, Rev. Ekow Woode, Rev. E.A. Ayisi and Rev. E.A. Akomeah. The rest were Rev. Richard Siaw and Mr. Benedict Assorow.
One of the clerics in his submission queried why the correspondence on noise making was directed at the religious bodies only as though they were the only noisemakers in the city. “What about motorists and hawkers?” he asked.
He however stated that the church was in favour of an amicable settlement of the impasse.
In his submission, a representative of Muslims, Sheikh Mahmud Gedel, stated that development can only be possible in an atmosphere of peace and stability and therefore called on religious bodies and traditionalists to live in harmony.
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Don’t use E.T. as scapegoat – Dr Mustapha
The Member for Parliament for East Ayawaso, Alhaji Dr Ahmed Mustapha has appealed to the NPP government and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to desist from using the MP for Ningo Prampram and the National Youth Organiser of the NDC, Mr. E.T. Mensah as a scapegoat for the Nima Youth demonstration, the party's mouthpiece, The Ghanaian Democrat writes.
Dr Mustapha, according to the paper, said the arrest of Mr Mensah for allegedly instigating the Nima demonstration is unfortunate and an insult to the intelligence of the Nima people.
These were contained in a statement Dr Mustapha issued to the press in the aftermath of the demonstration and the subsequent arrest of Mr Mensah.
He said the reality is that “there is a deep feeling of anger and anguish as well as resentment towards the police whose handling of the riots at the stadium left much to be desired.”
The Nima MP said that this is not the first time residents of East Ayawaso, especially Nima-Mamobi have embarked on street demonstration in protest against one thing or the other, adding hat “the fact that few of the demonstrators shouted political slogans does not mean that such protests are politically motivated.”
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