A-G challenge EC over qualification
Mills or Kufuor unlikely to win first round
NDC can't win - Owuraku Amofa
Rigging not possible - says Judge, Lawyer
disagrees
Inusah's dramatic U-turn - I did not rig Ablekumah elections
NPP collapsing in Volta Region
Stability of cedi in sight - says Governor of
Bank of Ghana
Nanfuri denies seeing posters and billboards
IFC assists Ghanaian enterprises with $111.22m
A-G challenge EC over qualification
The Ghanaian Times says in a front-page story
that the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Obed Asamoah, has
challenged the Electoral Commission's (EC) position that only photo identity
card holders can vote in the December 7 presidential and parliamentary
elections.
Dr Asamoah in a reaction to the EC's stance on
the validity of thumbprinted identity card for voting, quoted Article 42 of the
1992 Constitution and stated that any Ghanaian who is 18 years and has his or
her name in the voters' register qualifies to vote.
The EC, he said, cannot use administrative
instructions and procedures to amend the constitution and by that
disenfranchise numerous Ghanaians who, through no fault of theirs, could not
secure the photo identity cards.
He said it was wrong for the chairman of the EC
to say only photo identity card holders can vote, especially when it (EC) had
earlier said thumbprinted identity card holders could do so.
More…/
NPP insists on use of photo IDs
The Times in another story reports the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) as saying that the use of photo identity cards (ID) will
ensure that fictitious names in the voters register are eliminated.
"We know that the compiled register
contains more names than it should, which may be due to the inability of the EC
to remove the names sometimes called 'ghost names," Mr Haruna Esseku,
Deputy National Campaign Manager stated, adding that the insistence on the use
of photo ID cards by all the political parties except the NDC would make it impossible
for the really dead and the 'ghosts' to vote.
Mr Esseku advised those still without one to
avail themselves for it, since the exercise is ongoing until November 30.
He argued that although the Constitution by
Article 42 allowed every citizen of 18 years and above to vote, it had also
entrusted the registration of voters to the EC.
GRi…/
The Public Agenda says whereas last week's
announcement of pre-election polls put the NPP ahead and brought jubilation in
its camp, the information sparked off annoyance, jeering and rejection in other
parties.
The exercise, conducted by researchers of the
School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, put Kufuor tops with 52.1
per cent in voters perception in his ability and capacity to meet their needs,
and the NDC's John Atta Mills follows with 31.4.
PNC's Dr Mahama, 7.8 per cent, CPP's George
Hagan 4.9, NRP's Goosie Tanoh, 3.2, UGM's Dr Wereko-Brobby, 0.4 and GCPP's Dan
Lartey 0.1 follow in that order.
"The polls do not reflect what is on the
ground," protested George Quaynor-Mettle, the NDC's propaganda
secretary."
His reaction, according to the paper echoes
those of representatives of the Reform Party and the UGM.
A member of a group working for Atta-Mills
campaign equally wrote off the report saying their own research indicated
Kufuor is unlikely to win a first round victory although there is the
possibility for a run off if he maintains the 40 per cent he had in the last
election.
Mr Larry Adotey, UGM's vice presidential
candidate, obviously surprised at his party's poor showing in the survey
defended that the UGM was more popular than what the report indicated.
GRi…/
Mills or Kufuor unlikely to win first round
The Dispatch, predicting excitement in the
presidential race than the parliamentary in the December 7 elections, says its
research points to a potential second round voting for the candidate of the
ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) Prof. J.E. Atta Mills and Mr J.A.
Kufuor, of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The paper says its research into voter
representation in the 1996 elections showed that President Rawlings' 57.4 %
performance was dependent on his popularity that ensured him electoral
victories in some areas where the NDC had even lost in the parliamentary.
The NPP's score of 65.8 per cent and 43.3 per
cent of votes cast in Ashanti and Greater Accra regions respectively, were
however through voting on party lines rather than being personality based.
The story says even without the National Reform
Party (NRP), the NDC candidate, Prof. Atta Mills, would have had to work real
hard to get the required 50 per cent plus one vote.
"Thus, with the advent of the REFORM, no
matter how one views their support base, there is little doubt most of the
votes they would be getting would be coming from the NDC's basket", the
paper said.
GRi…/
NDC can't win - Owuraku Amofa
The NDC Presidential candidate, Prof. Mills
especially, and the party as a whole cannot win this year's elections, deserted
Egle Party National Chairman and Deputy Minister of Communications, Owuraku
Amofa, is reported by the NPP News as having stated.
Amofa, currently at an undisclosed location in
the United States with his family, said through a spokesman, that Prof. Mills
and an NDC victory is too ominous a prospect to contemplate since it is bound
to set the country back, at the best.
He expressed disgust with the management style
of the Vice-President who has been shrouded by the very clique that ensconced
President Rawlings in their ideas, which eventually turned to be more in the
parochial interest than that of the nation.
This clique, whose imposition have forced Prof.
Mills to abandon the principles that endeared him to some of them, are the same
that shot down the proposal to make Dr Obed Asamoah the party's vice
presidential candidate.
He identified them as the very ones who
presided over the brutal application of the rules of probity and accountability
in the early days of the PNDC and yet, are today, the greatest beneficiaries of
the system and own huge investment companies.
The Egle Chairman cautioned that any mistake by
Ghanaians resulting in another term for the NDC would compound the situation,
since the country would then be treated with outright contempt by the string
pulling clique, who at this stage, would be under the illusion that they own
the country.
GRi…/
Rigging not possible - says Judge, Lawyer
disagrees
The Accra Mail reports that an Appeal Court
Judge, Mr Justice Kwame Afreh, has given Ghanaians an assurance that given the
measures adopted by the Electoral Commission for next week's presidential and
parliamentary polls, it would be difficult, if not impossible for anyone to rig
the elections.
"Some of the fears expressed about rigging
are exaggerated; writers need to allay such pessimism through their articles.
The rules are clear and transparent to have an honest voting system," Mr
Afreh, who was opening the last in the series of seminars on 'Peaceful, Free
and Fair Elections', told journalists on Thursday.
Mr Afreh's submission is viewed by the paper as
capable of giving the EC, which has been struggling with a credibility crisis,
as capable of giving it the needed confidence.
Mr Akoto Ampaw, a private legal practitioner,
however, did not sound as optimistic as the judge and entreated medial
practitioners to assert their role in exposing electoral fraud and malpractice.
"These offences," he said, "do
not occur only on Election Day since rigging can take place long before
Election Day."
He said it is the responsibility of the media
to mount pressure to curb electoral fraud.
GRi…/
Inusah's dramatic U-turn - I did not rig Ablekumah elections
The Ghanaian Chronicle reports that barely 48
hours after a 100 million cedis libel suit had been filed against him, Alhaji
Issaka Inusah, the controversial cheer-leader of the NDC flagbearer Professor
Atta Mills' team has made a sudden U-turn.
He has denied the story attributed to him as
saying the New Patriotic Party (NPP) rigged the 1996 Ablekuma bye-elections in
a statement at an NDC rally at Takoradi on Sunday.
According to him, his lack of proper
understanding of the Akan language led him to make the statement that he was
part of the NPP team that rigged the bye-election.
"What I wanted to say was that I was a
member of the NPP as a political party that rigged the elections", he said
in fluent Fanti, distancing himself from the categorical statement of facts
that he had made over the last several days and ignited insecurity and
controversies.
He said that calls for his arrest for
committing such a serious crime of rigging was uncalled for because he was not
a participant.
He still insists however that the bye-election
was rigged and would make facts available and make sure those involved are
imprisoned.
GRi…/
NPP collapsing in Volta Region
The Ghana Palaver reports that the Volta Region
NPP is locked up in petty squabbles with the regional executives and some of
their parliamentary candidates not on talking terms.
A leading member of the party in the region, Mr
Tommy Amematekpor, has been accused by his executive of feeding the party with
false information on the party's chances in the region.
The paper says its sources indicates that while
Tommy has assured the national leadership that they are set to wrest Ho Central
Constituency and that of North and South Tongu from the NDC, his colleagues
disputed his claim.
NPP's Lawyer Ohene, visiting the region on
November 18, is said to have identified the conflicting report.
He reportedly rushed public address systems,
posters and T-shirts of Von Barkustein, the parliamentary candidate for Ho
West, to Ho for immediate use and realised to his utter amazement that the
executives are not on the ground but rather relate their imaginary state of
affairs to the national leadership in the comfort of their homes.
GRi…/
Stability of cedi in sight - says Governor of
Bank of Ghana
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Kwabena
Duffuor, has conceded that monetary management this year has proven to be the
most difficult in recent times but the stability of the cedi appears to be in
sight, reports the Daily Graphic.
Dr Duffuor backed his claim with figures that
showed monthly depreciation of the cedi dropping from about 7.2 per cent during
the first eight months of the year to about 2.4 per cent since September.
Speaking at the annual dinner/dance of the
Chartered Institute of Bankers (Ghana) in Accra at the weekend, he said the
severe trade shock with the attendant foreign exchange shortage in the face of
escalating crude oil price posed serious difficulties for macroeconomic
stabilisation during the first seven months of the year.
The issue needing to be addressed, according to
him, is how to forestall the recurrence of a similar crisis in future.
He explained that the country, as a short-term
measure, sought foreign inflows, which, combined with restrictive monetary and
fiscal measures, have enabled Ghana to stem the rapid depreciation of the cedi
since July, this year.
He added however that the pressures in foreign
exchange market are still persistent and in the long-term the country needs to
increase her export earnings.
GRi…/
Nanfuri denies seeing posters and billboards
The Independent reports that the normally very
serious and taciturn Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Peter Nanfuri, on
Thursday caused a paroxysm of laughter and general hilarity among pressmen when
he said because he goes home late in the night he hasn’t seen posters and
billboards of political parties in the streets of the capital.
"I normally go home very late at night and
so I have not seen them", the IGP stated causing loud bursts of laughter
among the journalists at a meeting between police top brass and the press in
Accra.
Some senior officers, according to the paper,
could not help grinning or covering their mouths to control the laughter when
they heard their boss' amazing statement.
The IGP had furthered however that he had
handed over the task of removing the offending political posters and billboards
to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) with some policemen assigned.
GRi…/
IFC assists Ghanaian enterprises with $111.22m
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the
private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is assisting 6 Ghanaian enterprises
with a total funding of 111.22 million dollars to enable them expand their
operational activities this year, the High Street Journal (HSJ) said.
Ghana Telecom Limited (GT), which has secured
100 million-dollar facility tops the list. The IFC assistance will part-finance
a 216 million-dollar project which will enable the nation's GT expand its
operations
Five other companies, including the SSB Bank
Limited ($10m) and NIIT Computer Training School ($230,000) and Enterprise Life
Assurance Company Limited ($250,000) are benefiting from the donor assistance.
The IFC has since 1988 invested in several
companies and organisations in Ghana, top on the list being the Ashanti
Goldfields Company Limited.
GRi…/