Confusion over dodgy World Bank document - on Ghana
NPP's commitment to peace irreversible
SFO completes phase one SSNIT probe
Special courts for electoral offences urged
Kufuor in another accident
Reform is doing well
17 candidates withdraw
4 army officers arrested
Asantehene cautions Electoral Commission
NPP rehearses post-election violence at Ayawaso
Ashanti posts record production for 3rd quarter, 2000
Confusion over dodgy World Bank document - on Ghana
The Chronicle says the World Bank's office in Accra and Ghana's Ministry of Roads and Transport (MRT) are unclear about the authorship of a nine-page document on Ghana's Road Sector Development Programme which is riddled with significant errors and factually deceptive data but will form the basis of a donor's conference on Wednesday.
The directors of the Ministry have completely deny authorship of some of the key contents of the document but the local World Bank office, after weeks of pursuit by Chronicle, put the points to 'human error' and the fluidity of the data.
"The document had painted a rosy picture of Ghana's advanced road and transportation system and gone on to state emphatically that the country has eleven regional airports (not airstrips)," the paper said.
The size of debt to contractors had also been exaggerated to 500 billion cedis in an effort to tease out more money for the Ghanaian taxpayers but evidence at Ministry shows that the figure is no where near that, the paper revealed.
Ms Tawiah Addo-Ashong, in charge of Infrastructural Development in the local World Bank office said the document might have been computer generated by the Washington office and the other information on it may have kicked in automatically from data supplied over the years on the sector.
The road sector, which is the principal source of drain on the budget after education, has suffered from massive allegations of corruption over the years, states the Chronicle.
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NPP's commitment to peace irreversible
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated that it will continue to use legitimate peaceful methods to ensure the advancement of the country's democratic process, the Daily Graphic reports in a front-page coverage.
The party said its commitment to the forward march of the people, towards the establishment of a durable and true democracy in Africa, is irreversible.
Speaking at a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, Nana Akufo Addo, MP for Abuakwa, re-affirmed the party's commitment to 'a healthy political competition and a peaceful electoral process, devoid of intimidation and violence".
"Our crusade is for a free, just, peaceful and prosperous united Ghana, governed according to the rule of law and with respect for human rights," he said.
The NPP, Nana Akufo-Addo said, believes in multi-party democracy, stressing that even though the party was convinced that the 1992 and 1996 elections were far from fair, it accepted the results in order to put its legitimate political ambitions on hold in the interest of national peace.
In another front-page story headlined, 'Arrest trouble makers at Alajo', the NDC has called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to arrest and prosecute supporters of the NPP who attacked its supporters and vandalised its Alajo office.
The party said this would help restore sanity and prevent NPP supporters from taking the law into their own hands and unleashing violence on law-abiding citizens.
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SFO completes phase one SSNIT probe
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has completed the first phase of its investigations into alleged malpractices and fraud in the operations of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) writes the Ghanaian Times in its banner story.
The Office said that investigations are being conducted in phases because of the enormity of the Trust's problems.
Six people, including the Director-General, Mr Charles Kwame Asare, were questioned under the first phase.
Mr B.A. Sapati, acting Executive Director of the SFO, told the Times in Accra on Monday that his office, constitutionally had the legal mandate to investigate SSNIT in allying fears from a section of the public that it was under government control.
The SFO, he said, prosecutes on the authority of the Attorney-General, which was being misconstrued by some observers as limiting the powers of the body's Executive Director.
He said however, that with the constitution, it was impossible for the government, its agents or politicians to influence the SFO.
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Special courts for electoral offences urged
The civil Society Coalition has recommended to the Chief Justice, Mr Justice I.K. Abban, to establish specially designated courts to deal expeditiously and exclusively with electoral offences during and immediately after next month general elections.
The 17-member coalition comprising the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and institutions seeking a violence-free and peaceful elections, issued a communique in Accra on Monday to that effect.
TUC General Secretary and spokesman for the coalition, Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, said copies of the communique were to be presented to the Inspector General of Police, the Chief Justice, the Electoral Commissioner, the Minister of Interior and the Minister Responsible for National Security.
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Kufuor in another accident
The Evening News writes that barely a week after the presidential candidate of the NPP, Mr J.A. Kufuor, was involved in an accident near Buduburam in the Central Region, another fatal one involving his convoy occurred at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) junction in Kumasi on Monday evening.
Mr Kufuor escaped unhurt but one person was reported dead, with several others injured and are receiving treatment at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
An NPP source disclosed to the Evening News that following a tip-off that some people were planning to cause accident to Mr Kufuor's convoy, the drivers were alerted to be extra careful as they enter Kumasi.
It said shortly after the convoy drove past the KNUST junction, amidst a cheering crowd, a pick-up belonging to a political party emerged from nowhere and ran into the crowd killing one person instantly. The van reportedly again hit a taxi-cab which in turn hit two other vehicles.
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Reform is doing well
The Weekly Insight says reports reaching it indicate that the National Reform Party (NRP) is doing very well in its campaign effort.
"The Party is said to be doing particularly well in the Upper East, Upper West, Volta and Greater Accra regions. The reports also indicate that the NRP is doing well in certain parts of the Western Region…"
It says the NRP's style of campaign, which involves small meetings aimed facilitating direct contact with the people, appears to be paying off.
According to the Insight many political analysts it interviewed were emphatic that the NRP could neither win the presidential election nor secure too many parliamentary slots, however, it could very easily end up with five to ten per cent of total votes cast in the elections.
It is expected that most of the NRP's votes would come from the NDC and its success is seen as a direct threat to the chances of Vice President J.E.A. Mills and could push the presidential poll into a second round.
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17 candidates withdraw
The Dispatch reports that credible information reaching it indicates that 17 Parliamentary candidates have, as at November 13, withdrawn their nominations to participate in this year's Parliamentary elections.
Three are from the United Ghana Movement (UGM), two from the National Reform Party (NRP), one each from the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), EGLE, People's National Convention (PNC) and nine independent candidates.
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4 army officers arrested
Four army officers have been arrested and are currently in military custody in connection with the August 12, shooting incident at the Next Door beach resort at Teshie, a suburb of Accra, reveals the Dispatch.
The four are Capt. Asare, Lt. Lorkpa, Lt. Sasu and Lt. Annor. The fifth suspect, Lt. Parish, was found dead in some bushes shortly after the incidence, allegedly through suicide. The late Ayeh and some friends were relaxing at the beach resort but was hit by gunshots whiles dancing.
The shots were said to have come from a group of youngmen who had earlier engaged the bar man in a misunderstanding.
The youngmen were later found out to be part of army officers that had met to discuss anniversary function. A release from the Ghana Armed Forces described the incident as "criminal and dastardly activity."
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Asantehene cautions Electoral Commission
The Free Press reports in a banner story that the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has reminded the Electoral Commission (EC) of its responsibility to ensure free and fair elections devoid of acrimony and to distance itself from any form of cheating in the elections.
Speaking during a courtesy call on him by National Reform Party's (NRP) presidential candidate, Mr Goosie Tanoh, the Asantehene warned that Ghanaians would not allow politicians to turn the country into lawlessness.
He said that it was the responsibility of every registered voter as well as the political parties themselves to ensure peaceful elections as well as stability in the country.
He said Ghanaians would like to hear from the parties what they would do about health, education, roads and agriculture, adding that these are issues, which will promote the welfare of the people.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II noted the civil and four-time military rules of the country's past and said Ghana, for the last eight years have seen a stable democratic government.
The nation, he said, belong to all Ghanaians and that no one person had a more important role to play than the other nor was any single Ghanaian more important than the rest and therefore called for respect for the constitution.
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NPP rehearses post-election violence at Ayawaso
The Ghana Palaver says the NPP, caught in the throes of another electoral failure is gradually but systematically revisiting the path of its predecessors by unleashing the most abhorrent form of violence on NDC supporters nation-wide. This time around it is the NDC office at Alajo, a suburb of Accra, which was vandalised.
The NPP characters are said to have vandalised the house of one Mohammed Ibrahim, an NDC youth activist, razing to the ground his wooden structure while breaking into pieces, furniture and other equipment that they laid hands on.
Their next point of target was the NDC office, which they vandalised while attacking the occupants, leaving many injured. Supporters of the NDC reportedly did not return the attack.
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Ashanti posts record production for 3rd quarter, 2000
Ashanti Goldfields has shown clear signs of recovery, despite the still depressed global market gold prices by posting record production levels for the third quarter of 2000, writes the High Street Journal (HSJ). Group operating costs also declined to their lowest level since 1996.
Group gold production for the period, rose to 448,208 ounces, the highest quarterly production ever achieved by the company and a significant increase over the 379,534 ounces achieved during the corresponding quarter of 1999.
The record productions for the third quarter of this year, was largely due to the commencement of operations at Geita in Tanzania, in which Ashanti has a 50 per cent equity stake. The mine, commissioned in September, reportedly churned up 75,063 ounces for Ashanti.
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