GRi Press Review 24 - 11 - 2000
NDC candidate embezzled 10 million cedis
'Rebel' MPs hold NDC to ransom
da Rocha takes on Rawlings / Rawlings is a bad example
EC unhappy with police
Send clear signals
Arrest NPP top hierarchy - Inusah
Opinion poll gives Kufuor 52% victory
The NPP agrees to trial of Sankoh in Ghana if…
NDC candidate embezzled 10 million cedis
The Dispatch says Vice President J.E. Atta Mills, is leading a divided
National Democratic Congress (NDC) into the election as evidenced in the way
and manner the selection of their Parliamentary candidates became acrimonious.
Sections of the party are said to be still fuming and are paying back,
big time. The paper says available documents to some media houses reveal that
Mr Albert Okpoti Botchway, who paid 100 million cedis for one NDC manifesto
during its launch, was dismissed in 1990 from the State Insurance Corporation
(SIC) for embezzling 10 million cedis being Money-Back Premiums.
Okpoti is contesting the Ablekuma North parliamentary seat on the NDC's
ticket. A letter headed 'Summary dismissed' addressed to Mr Botchway indicated
that he was being dismissed following his embezzlement of the Premiums
amounting to 10,107,550.00 cedis.
The October 9, 1990 letter also indicated that Okpoti was to be handed
over to the police for prosecution and recovery of the amount.
He, per a letter of July 25, 1991 reacted regarding repayment of
6,160,000 cedis, however, a September 9 memo by SIC said Botchway had to pay to
cover amounts purported for the firm which he had fraudulently retained for his
personal account, plus a 20 per cent surcharge.
When some NDC officials were contacted about their knowledge of the
issue, one of them indicated, "we did not know, but how would that affect
his performance as a Member of Parliament."
GRi…/
'Rebel' MPs hold NDC to ransom
The Ghanaian Times says some 'rebel' Members of Parliament (MPs) of the
NDC who decided to contest as independent parliamentary candidates after
failing to get the party's approval for re-nomination are holding their party
to ransom with fantastic demands as condition for backing out of the race.
According to Mr A.A. Munufie, Ghana's Ambassador to La Cote d'Ivoire
and co-chairman of the NDC, deselected MP, Madam Gladys Abena Nsowaah of
Kintampo Constituency is demanding 100 million cedis, a three-bedroom house and
a car. Nsowaah is said to be already having two cars as a result of being an MP
for two terms.
Another one, Mr Ishmael Ibn Abdallah, the Kintampo constituency
chairman of the party, also contesting the same seat, requested to be settled
with a poultry farm stocked with 4,000 birds. Mr Munufie said it was
unfortunate that the NDC's own 'children' should behave so unreasonably.
GRi…/
da Rocha takes on Rawlings / Rawlings is a bad example
The two papers carry comments from Mr B.J. da Rocha, an eminent lawyer
and elder statesman on utterances from the President, Flt. Lt. Jerry John
Rawlings on the Constitution.
The Evening News reports that Mr da Rocha has, in a press statement,
called on the Council of State, the Regional House of Chiefs and other opinion
leaders to advise President Rawlings not to do anything to undermine the
Constitution of the land.
The President, he said, should show commitment and respect for the
Constitution.
He alleged that at every gathering, which President Rawlings has
addressed in the course of the present electioneering campaign, he has singled
out the country's constitution for attack.
"I think the time has come for those who believe in the rule of
law and democracy under the constitution to stand up to be counted. It is time
to remind the President that what he is doing is an attempt to undermine the
constitution and that he is wrong in doing so," he said.
The Guide in its report stated that Mr da Rocha has appealed to
President Rawlings to leave the National Constitution, which he swore to
preserve, protect and defend, alone.
"I appeal to the President to remember his oath of office and to
stop trashing and trivialising the constitution. I call on the Council of
State, the Houses of Chiefs and other leaders of opinion to advise the
President that he is setting a bad example in the contemptuous way he speaks
about the constitution. He should set a better example for the commitment to
the constitution," Mr da Rocha said.
More…/
EC unhappy with police
The Electoral Commission (EC), according to the Evening News, has
expressed concern about the lukewarm attitude being adopted by the Ghana Police
Service in dealing with cases of electoral fraud and malfeasance.
Mr Damuah Agyemang, Chief Director of the EC, told the paper in an
interview that in spite of numerous complaints of electoral malpractices lodged
with the police, none had been sent to the courts for prosecution. He described
the attitude of the police as inimical to the sustenance of the country's
infant democracy.
GRi…/
Send clear signals
The Democratic People's Party (DPP) has called on the Chairman of the
Electoral Commission (EC) and other stakeholders to refrain from making
individual and personal pronouncements on issues relating to the electoral
process, reports the Daily Graphic.
It said such pronouncements have the tendency to confuse issues and
thus the stance of their organisations and endanger the country's fragile
democracy.
The Chairman of the party, Mr Dan Markin, making the call in Accra on
Thursday, said the independence, impartiality and the confidence the populace
has in a referee in every contest are crucial just as the statement and
judgement the referee makes.
He expressed concern about how the EC could, under two days from the
confession of Alhaji Isaka Inusah that the NPP rigged the 1999 Ablekuma Central
bye-election, pass judgement on it without investigating the allegation.
More…/
Arrest NPP top hierarchy - Inusah
Alhaji Isaaka Inusah, the former campaign manager of the flagbearer of
the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called for the arrest of the top hierarchy of
the party for the Ablekum Central bye-election fraud, a front-page capture of
Graphic stated.
Speaking at a mini rally at Chinderi on Wednesday, Alhaji Inusah, a
defector to the NDC, insisted that the NPP rigged the bye-election, which was
held in Accra in March last year.
The former campaign manager mentioned the names of some top men of the
NPP as those who organised the rigging.
He said the NPP was out to cause confusion by insisting that it will
win this year's elections when it is clear that it will lose and advised
Ghanaians to rally solidly behind the NDC and return it to power to ensure the
further development of the country.
GRi…/
Opinion poll gives Kufuor 52% victory
The Weekend Statesman reports that the NPP flagbearer, Mr J.A. Kufuor,
is the presidential candidate most trusted to provide the development needs of
Ghanaians, according to preliminary report of a survey of voter’s opinions,
conducted by the School of communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.
Of 5,000 eligible voters sampled from 23 constituencies in all the
regions from October 5 to 10, 52.1 per cent respondents had trust in Kufuor,
followed by 312.4 for NDC's Prof. John Atta Mills and PNC's Edward Mahama at
7.81.
Prof. Gorge Hagan of the CPP scored 4.5 per cent, NRP's Goosie Tanoh,
3.2, UGM's Dr Wereko-Brobby, 0.4 and Dan Lartey of the GCPP, at 0.1 per cent.
NPP parliamentary candidates were similarly trusted with 50 per cent
compared with 25.9 for NDC candidates.
The survey predicted a high voter turn out for next month's elections,
as 96.9 per cent said they would have voted if elections were held on the day
of the interview.
The NPP, 32.2 per cent, and NDC, 29.8 per cent, were the best known
among the seven parties contesting the elections.
GRi…/
The NPP agrees to trial of Sankoh in Ghana if…
The Ghana Palaver says the security of Ghana is under threat stemming
from a secret agreement reached between the leadership of the NPP and militants
of Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary Front (RUF) of Sierra Leone for their leader to
be tried in Ghana should the NPP win the presidential election.
The agreement was reached over a month ago when Sankoh's wife visited
Ghana and held discussions with some leading members of the NPP. The first
part, already set in motion, is the nomination of a lawyer, Capt. Nkrabeah
Effah Dartey, the party's parliamentary candidate for Berekum, to serve as
Sankoh's defence counsel.
The paper states a detailed plan drawn up by the RUF and a cabal in the
NPP to stage-manage a jail break and set the rebel leader loose on the
sub-region if he is sentenced to death.
The paper says the secret pact between the NPP and the RUF will greatly
undermine Ghana's security, as it will allow the members of Sankoh's gangsters
to build military bases in the country.
GRi…/