Police question 5 over forged tape
Probe source of recorded tape
Federal state better for Ghana
Japan blackmails Ghana
Enrolment declines at Police schools
The race for NDC vice-presidential slot…
Ahwoi wins award
North still to produce enough food…But shortage anticipated
Police question 5 over forged tape
Probe source of recorded tape
Both the Ghanaian Times and the Daily Graphic, writing under different headlines, reports on a recorded tape said to impute serious criminal acts to President Jerry Rawlings, which was broadcast by ‘JOY FM’ Radio Station.
The Times reports that a high-powered investigation team, led by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Peer Nanfuri, yesterday quizzed five people in connection with the broadcast of a tape by JOY FM on Saturday, October 30, during a programme on ‘Newsfile’.
The Times names them as Mr Yaw Amfo-Kwakye, managing director of Kenetic Communications Limited, publishers of the ‘Statesman’, Mr Mawuko Zormelo, news editor of JOY FM, Mr Mawuli Ocloo, general manager of JOY FM and Mr Kwasi Twum, chief executive of Multi Media.
The Graphic, on the other hand, says the government has directed the Inspector-General of Police to investigate the source of a recorded material, which imputed serious criminal acts to the President.
The Times says a police statement issued in Accra said that the investigations followed directives from the Interior Minister for thorough investigations into the latest publication of the "Weekend Statesman" with the headline: "Tapes from the Rawlings Episode", and the subsequent broadcast of the tape by JOY FM on its ‘Newsfile’ programme.
The Times quoting the statement, says Mr Yaw Amfo-Kwakye told the investigators that the was simply delivered by an unknown person to his messenger, Samuel Okyere, who in turn, handed it over to him. The Graphic says a statement issued in Accra and signed by the Minister of the Interior, Nii Okaija Adamafio at the weekend, said the investigations are also to establish the persons behind the audio tape.
The statement said the "Weekend Statesman" in its October 29 to November 4 issue, carried a front-page story headlined "Tapes from the Rawlings Episode", in which it imputed serious criminal acts to the President.
According to the Weekend Statesman, its story was based on an alleged audio tape conversation between one Albert and an unidentified person or persons. The statement said the publisher of the Weekend Statesman has delivered a copy of the tape to the Interior Minister.
The Times, quoting the statement says following consultations, Nana Akufo Addo, the owner of the Weekend Statesman authorised the publication of the manuscript of the tapes. "Thereafter they sent copies of the recordings to the IGP, the Minister of the Interior and the Attorney-General", the statement is quoted as saying.
According to the statement as reported by the Times, "Government will go to every length to establish the source of the recording and the persons behind it. "All persons in he matter are, therefore, advised, in their own interest, to co-operate fully in the investigations" said the statement.
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The Ghanaian Chronicle
Federal state better for Ghana
In a front-page banner, the Ghanaian chronicle reports that a former student leader, now a medical doctor practising in the United States, has called for a federal structure, rather than a unitary state for Ghana, as part of political reforms to move the nation forward.
"The reason why I say this is because I think the system we have now is that losers lose the game and winners take all. So in effect, it means those who win the big election every four years, are excluded from the gamble" Dr Arthur Kennedy, is quoted as saying in an interview.
The Chronicle says Dr Kennedy, who was president of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) in the 1980s and fled Ghana to avoid prosecution by the defunct Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), stated that the present political arrangement does not allow for voter preference expressed in the election to be manifested in decision-making that affects him.
He is reported to have said for example, that the people of Ashanti voted clearly for the NPP, but their regional minister comes from a different party. "So in this case, I see a situation where the NPP could have contested for the seat of the governorship of the Ashanti Region and won.
Another party like the People’s National Convention (PNC) could have won in the Upper West. This, therefore, means that the Opposition leaders have a role to play as governors or people, who man provinces, and come the next election, they can come and compare their administration with that of others", he is quoted as saying. According to Dr Kennedy, under a federal system, the parties in power in the regions would be able to implement their manifestos, based on which they were voted.
The Chronicle recalls that some 50 years ago, the National |Liberation Movement, led by Baffour Osei Akoto, campaigned for a federal system of government during the pre-independence election in 1951. The paper says the Convention People’s Party, which fought the poll on a platform of a unitary government, opposed this.
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Japan blackmails Ghana
In its lead story, the Public Agenda reports that Ghana’s biggest bilateral creditor, Japan, has asked the Ghanaian Government to choose between enjoying Japanese aid or benefiting from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Relief Initiative on offer to 41 states, including Ghana.
The paper quotes a Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Moses Asaga, as disclosing in Accra that the government is negotiating with the Japanese Government to defreeze the $51 million facility, which it has held up because Ghana is listed among the HIPCs.
The Public Agenda says Mr Asaga’s disclosure highlights the increased vulnerability to which Ghana has become exposed, as a result of the economic problems that his colleague, Mr Victor Selormey, admitted in Parliament last week. According to the paper, its efforts to get a reaction from the Japanese Embassy in Accra, proved futile. The Public Agenda says Ghana is the highest recipient of Japanese aid in Africa.
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Enrolment declines at Police schools
The Accra Mail says that reports from the Police Depot Schools in Accra, indicate that an upward revision of the fees per term this year, has drastically affected enrolment in the schools as some parents have withdrawn their wards.
The paper quotes a source at the school as disclosing that the high increase, which is about 100 per cent, has resulted in less than 20 pupils in each of the four class one classrooms, a decrease from the previous academic year in which each class had not less than 45 pupils.
According to the source, parents are now sending their children to schools at Alajo, also in Accra, because the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme to ensure enrolment of pupils in public schools, is being defeated by the incorporation of unauthorised fees into the system.
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The race for NDC vice-presidential slot…
In a front-page story, accompanied by pictures of five NDC stalwarts, the Ghanaian Voice says at the time of going to press, four prominent names in Ghana’s political circles and all of whom are known to hail from the northern part of Ghana, had been mentioned as having an eye on the vice-presidential slot of the ruling NDC.
The paper names them as Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Presidential Adviser on Governmental Affairs, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Deputy Minister of Education, Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, General Secretary of the NDC and Mr John Mahama, Minister of Communications.
The Voice says that although there has been as yet no official confirmation as to who the party’s presidential candidate will be, there now appears to be very little or no doubt that President Jerry Rawlings’ "Swedru Declaration", in which he expressed interest in supporting Vice-President Atta Mills should he be nominated, has sealed the Number One position.
According to the paper, the struggle for the Number Two slot became an open secret, when the media leaked information that Dr Obed Asamaoh, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, who is the longest-serving Minister under the Rawlings PNDC and NDC governments, was being tipped to take up Prof. Atta Mills job when the latter moves up to occupy the presidential seat.
The Voice says its ‘usually well-placed’ sources indicated that the alleged choice of Dr Asamoah, based on his expertise and experience, which will be of immense benefit to Prof. Mills should he assume the leadership, has not gone done well with some people from northern Ghana.
To them, as a reward for their loyalty to the Rawlings regimes (PNDC and NDC), it is their turn to enjoy the vice-presidential slot.
According to the paper, while the main aim of the northerners appears to dislodge Dr Asamoah, the problem now is which of the four personalities from the North will be pitched against Dr Asamoah. The Voice says, however, that under the NDC constitution, it the preserve of the presidential candidate to choose his running mate.
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Ahwoi wins award
In a its lead story, the Ghana Palaver reports that Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has been given international recognition for "intellectual and practical contribution to the development of participation strategies for poverty eradication".
The paper says in the citation accompanying the award of a shield presented to Mr Ahwoi for this year’s "Habitat Scroll of Honour Awards" in Beijing, China, the Minister has been recognised as "the architect of Ghana’s national programme of decentralisation".
"Through his initiative, decentralisation in Ghana has increased popular participation in local decision-making and redistributed resources through state transfers and ceded revenues.
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North still to produce enough food…But shortage anticipated
The Ghanaian Democrat says that despite the havoc caused to farmlands in the North by the recent floods, the Northern Region is still on course to produce enough food to feed Ghanaians in the coming year.
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Joshua Alabi, is quoted as given this assurance in an interview at Tamale. He is reported as saying, however, that food production would be reduced considerably. "Definitely, we cannot reach last year’s outputs but the situation is not as alarming as one would expect next year".
According to the Regional Minister there are still some food items like corn and rice in stock from last year, and these will go a long way to avert any food crisis next year. He is said to have expressed gratitude to President Jerry Rawlings for "dashing to the North a day after his return from Libya to see things for himself", when he learnt of the floods.
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