NDC
won't con voters
President
kneels … to plead for MP
NPP
cautions against vote rigging
Presidential
race - REFORM, CPP to help NPP
Rawlings
blames opposition for motorway accident
Faustina
Nelson resurfaces
Graduate
teachers stick to demands
Danger!
Kufuor
vindicated
NDC
won't con voters
The
Daily Graphic says President Jerry John Rawlings has assured Ghanaians that NDC
will not use deceit and manipulations to win the forthcoming elections.
Addressing
a durbar of chiefs and people of Kenyasi No. 1 and 2 in the Brong Ahafo Region
on Friday, President Rawlings said the party would let the electorate know the
true situation in the country and also respect their sensibilities.
He
said the people are the kingmakers and, therefore, their elected
representatives owe it a duty to respect their wishes and aspiration.
He
asked the people to make informed choice in the December 7 polls since national
elections are not occasions for experimentation.
President
Rawlings said the opposition parties are aware of their inability to match the
NDC in terms of performance and have, therefore, resorted to spreading spurious
allegations as a way of discrediting the government.
More…/
SSNIT
welcomes parliamentary probe
The
Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT),
Mr Charles Asare, is reported by the Graphic in another story as stating that
the management of the trust welcomes a parliamentary enquiry into allegations
being levelled against it by sections of the media.
He
said the SSNIT welcomes the investigations and pledged that it will co-operate
with all investigation teams established since SSNIT has done nothing wrong or
has nothing to hide.
Mr
Asare, who made the pledge at the closing ceremony of the first quadrennial
delegates conference of the National Pensioners Association in Accra on Friday,
said the management is aware of the Trust's under-formed investments at the
centre of the allegations and have initiated measures either to divest it's
interest or restructure them for improved performance.
"We
admit that there are some challenges in the investment areas; we also need to
improve on our operational performance and more importantly find a way to
improve service delivery," he stressed.
GRi…/
President
kneels … to plead for MP
The
NPP News
Kufuor
vindicated
The
Ghanaian Times reports that President Jerry John Rawlings, at the weekend went
on his knees while addressing a political rally at Asutifi North constituency
and pleaded for forgiveness for Mr Emmanuel Baah-Danquah, NDC parliamentary
candidate for the area.
As
he rose, he explained that his action was not for show but to lead the way that
political leaders in whatever capacity, should be humble enough to respect the
electorate, whom he described as kingmakers, the paper said.
President
Rawlings then called the MP up stage and asked him to apologise to the people,
in similar manner, for the wrongs he might have committed against them during
his term of office.
The
President then asked the gathering to consider the future of the country before
casting their votes in the December elections, stating that its outcome was
very crucial for the continued development of the nation.
More…/
NPP
cautions against vote rigging
Mr
J.A. Kufuor, the New Patriotic Party's flagbearer, at the weekend cautioned
against the rigging of the December 7 elections and said that the Electoral
Commission would be held responsible if such a thing should happen.
Speaking
at the party's regional rally at Koforidua where a teeming crowd of supporters
defied a downpour to attend, he said he was optimistic that the NPP would win
the elections because Ghanaians were fed up with the 20-year rule of the
NDC.
The
NPP flagbearer said it had become clear that the NDC government had no plans to
stabilise the cedi against the dollar to bring hope to Ghanaians.
He
intoned that an NPP government’s four-years rule would bring positive changes
in the lives of Ghanaians as against the NDC's 20 years.
GRi…/
Presidential
race - REFORM, CPP to help NPP
The
Dispatch says on-going research regarding the December 7 Presidential and
Parliamentary elections indicates that the presence of the Presidential
candidates of the National Reform Party (NRP) and the Convention People's Party
(CPP) on the ballot is going to help the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic
Party (NPP).
The
two parties, according to the paper, will be drawing votes from the candidate
of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), making it difficult for him
to get the needed 50 per cent plus one of valid votes cast to win at first
ballot.
Mr
Goosie Tanoh of the REFORM is said to be drawing votes, mainly from the NDC and
also from the youth, who constitute about 60 per cent of the voter population.
Quite a sizeable number of cadres are with the REFORM and doing the leg work in
the traditional vote basket of the NDC - the rural areas.
A
strengthened CPP, according to Dispatch, obviously works to the disadvantage of
the NDC.
Many
of the CPP's above 50 years supporters will not normally vote for the NPP,
bearing in mind the problems between the CPP and the Danquah-Busia traditions.
However, the Nkrumaist group's restructuring will this time around give these
votes to them instead of the NDC, according to the paper’s analyses.
GRi…/
Rawlings
blames opposition for motorway accident
President
Jerry John Rawlings last Saturday took a serious swipe at the opposition and
the private media, describing them as partly responsible for the motor accident
involving the first family and some four others on his entourage on the
Accra-Tema Motorway, reports the Independent.
The
accident claimed the lives of four members of the President's guards and a
civilian.
Also
involved in the accident were his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and one of
their daughters, believed to be Ezenator, who escaped with minor injuries.
"I
won't blame the driver who caused the Motorway accident much. I will blame him
for only 50 per cent. Much of the blame should go to opposition and their
private radio and newspapers whose nonsense has led to indiscipline on our
roads," he said.
President
Rawlings accused the opposition and the private media for provoking defiance
against authority, which according to him, has led to a high rate of
indiscipline in the society.
More…/
Faustina
Nelson resurfaces
The
paper in another front-page capture says the unusual silence of the otherwise
flambouyant and very vocal Faustina Nelson, national Vice-Chairperson of the
NDC was at the core of the conjectural game in the aftermath of the selection
of Martin Amidu as the running mate of Prof. Atta Mills.
Her
unusual silence after the choice of Amidu ahead of her favoured Dr Obed
Asamoah, the Attorney-General, had generated a crowd of speculation among which
was the perception that she had left mainstream politics.
The
paper says that last Saturday, Mad. Nelson explosively resurfaced at Koforidua
at the party's regional rally.
Although
she could not explain her absence from the party's programmes, her presence
reportedly helped to galvanize the Vice-President's campaign machine.
GRi…/
Graduate
teachers stick to demands
Graduate
teachers who recently embarked on a strike action to press home their demands
for the rationalisation of their salary structure, promotion and improvement in
conditions of service, said they will continue to seek a review of their whole
salary structure and a separate treatment from the one given to non-graduate
teachers.
The
Public Agenda, in its centre-spread, reports the aggrieved teachers as saying
that it is a great disincentive for them to be lumped with non-graduates
considering their number of years spent to obtain academic excellence and the
fact that their colleagues elsewhere are earning higher salaries.
Some
graduates in an interview with the Agenda called for a critical examination and
review of the practice where 'Certificate A' holders are used as the entry
point for all categories of teachers.
Mr
Oromasis Abbey, spokesman for the National Association of Graduate Teachers
(NAGRAT), said a proposal was presented to Ghana Education Service Director,
Prof. C. Ameyaw-Ekumfi, on October 19 but they are yet to receive any response.
NAGRAT
has since the last five years been battling the GES for a categorisation that
would recognise their status as graduates teachers.
A
threatened strike action by the association saw GES in a hurriedly arranged
meeting but the outcome never saw the light of day.
GRi…/
Danger!
The
Accra Mail in its lead story reports that barely 30 days to the Presidential
and Parliamentary elections, it has stumbled over a memo purported to have come
from the NDC General Secretary, Huudu Yahaya to Kofi Totobi Quakyi, head of
National Security, that could plunge Ghana into danger.
The
unsigned memo which has its full text published in the paper and has the
subject 'ACTION 2000', acknowledges the NDC's failing fortunes and spells out
plans to tamper with the electoral process to ensure an NDC victory.
It
sets forth the mechanism for a repeat performance of Elections '92 and '96.
The
Mail says even as critics of the NPP have it that the party has been condemned
to perpetual opposition, it would seem that the NDC has also been condemned to
winning only elections with huge question marks of integrity and with Rawlings
in power and tele-guiding things.
Huudu's
memo to Quakyi for them to employ means that are patently dishonest and
dishonourable to win Election 2000 is said to more than anything underscore
this concern.
Ghana
got away remarkably peaceful in 1992 when the opposition had cause to complain
and in 1996 too but the paper asks whether the country would be peaceful for
the third time if there are grounds for the opposition to suspect that the
process has been tampered with to disadvantage them.
GRi…/
Kufuor
vindicated
The
NPP News says the constant lamentations by NPP flagbearer, Mr J.A. Kufuor
concerning the slide of Ghana from the proud Gold Coast to the Poor Coast under
the (P)NDC has been vindicated by a US based economic think tank which has
virtually damned the economic performance of the country under Prof. J.E.A.
Mills.
The
Index of Economic Freedom, an annual publication of The Heritage Foundation and
The Wall Street Journal, last week released the report of a survey on 155
countries, with the badly performing state of Ghana's economy, especially, over
the past four years, clear for all to see.
The
report shows that in 1996 and 1997, Ghana scored 3.40 annually, and
deteriorated in performance in 1998 to 3.20, descending further in 1999 and
descended further in 1999 and 2000 to 3.10 annually.
NDC's
flagbearer Mills, has since 1997 been in charge of the economy in his capacity
as chairman of the Economic Management Team.
The
report said Ghana, according to the World Bank group, possessed the highest per
capita income in Africa at independence but poor economic policies led to a
slow deterioration in per capita income, and per capita GNP remains far below
its 1960 level of $459.
It
made reference to the country's current struggle with budget deficits and the
difficulty of creating a market-friendly environment.
Mr.
Kufuor, according to the paper, has repeatedly identified the root of Ghana's
problems and the predicament of its people as bad leadership and has challenged
Ghanaians to try the NPP in December to see the reversal of years of economic
decline.
GRi…/