Senior Secondary Schools cry for 30 per cent gov't subvention
Mining company conducts feasibility study on concession
Information Technology Industry receives a boost
Give back
arms to my colleagues - W.O.I. Kuntoh
Efia
Nkwanta Hospital plans midwifery course
Businessman
drags State Insurance, Unique Trust to Police CID
Rawlings
asks ex-ministers not to leave - ex-Minister
Something
done for Limann and family in housing and finance
$5m
demolition job defended!
Nana Acheampong sets up studio
Ghanaian painter wins bronze prize
Ishmael
Addo in France for trials
Senior Secondary Schools cry for 30 per cent gov't
subvention
The Daily Graphic reports that academic work is gradually grinding to a halt in most senior secondary schools, following the inability of the government to absorb the recent 30 per cent increase in boarding fees.
The president of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr James Berko, who was speaking at the opening of the 39th annual conference of the CHASS in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, said, six weeks after re-opening of schools, academic work is grinding to a halt as a result of the government's inability to make funds available to the schools to cover the increase.
The government recently announced its intention to absorb the 30 per cent increase in boarding fees of senior secondary schools.
Mr Berko said even though scholarships granted are yet to be received by the schools, "we are expected to feed the students. You can imagine the plight of our colleagues in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions, who solely depend on scholarship grants to feed their students", he said.
In a related development, the Minister of Education, Professor Christopher Ameyaw- Akumfi, has stated that the government has not reneged on its promise to absorb the recent increase in boarding fees of senior secondary schools.
More.../
Mining company conducts feasibility study on concession
Bogoso Goldmine Limited (BGL) is said to be conducting feasibility studies on 15 million tones of gold bearing sulphide material in its concession area.
The Managing Director of BGL, Mr Richard Gray, who disclosed this in an interview, said if the concession becomes attractive, a 20 million cedis bio-oxide process plant will be built to treat the gold bearing sulphide ores.
The Daily Graphic, which carried the story reports him as saying that BGL is also pursuing a very active exploration programme on the Western area of its mining and exploration leases.
He stated that the company has signed joint venture agreements with holders of property rights at Pamipe, Flagbase and Amenfi in the Western Region and said full exploration programmes are being developed for implementation, and expressed confidence that the company would find sufficient oxide ores on the property.
More.../
Information Technology Industry receives a boost
The Daily Graphic says the Information Technology (IT) industry in the country has received a boost with the entrance of Simply IT, a service provider in the industry.
The company, which was incorporated in Ghana early this year, seeks to address the IT needs of the country through the provision of state-of-the-art technology laboratories to provide wide IT environment.
Mrs Edith Ameyo Uyoubukerbi, Managing Director of the company, said in an interview that the focus of Simply IT is to assist individuals and small to medium scale enterprises to large corporate bodies to improve upon their IT infrastructures.
She said the company will offer high-end technical training which has been designed to meet the demands of the IT industry in the country. "Our approach is to provide a value-added service and to work with you to develop solutions that do not just apply ideas from outside but which improve the knowledge and capacity of institutions", she said.
GRi.../
Give
back arms to my colleagues - W.O.I.
Kuntoh
The
Ghanaian Voice reports that W.O.I. Patrick Kuntoh who cheated death by the skin
of his teeth on October 23, has appealed to the Director of Bureau of National
Investigations (BNI), Ellis Owusu Forjour, to give back to his colleagues their
arms that have been confiscated.
His plea
reportedly, follows the gun battle between him and some unknown armed
assailants at his residence. The ex-soldier had repossessed his confiscated
licensed firearm a few days before the unexpected attack on him and had used it
during the onslaught to defend and saved his life.
W.O.
Patrick Kuntor who is an ex-body guard of ex-President Rawlings claimed in an
interview with the paper that this government does not have to fear from
anybody because coups are far fetched and that ex-bodyguards have the need to
protect themselves against certain characters that may wish to tamper with
their lives.
He claimed
that but for the largesse of Director of BNI he would have been a gonner by
now. “Those people who invaded my house didn’t know I was armed. They did not
even know that I had collected my weapon before I traveled to my farm. I know
my other colleagues who have been arrested and re-arrested may fall into same trap
in which I was.”
More…/
People who
are anticipating a fight between the Minority in Parliament represented by Hon.
Alban Bagbin on one hand, President J.A. Kufuor, Nana Akufo-Addo, Jake
Obetsebi-Lamptey and Kwamena Bartels on the other will have to hold their
breaths and wait for some time.
According
to The Voice, sources at the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative
Justice (CHRAJ) said CHRAJ would have to serve the petition to the four affected
persons, wait for their comments before moving forward.
“After the
four have responded, we will send their comments to the petitioners who will
indicate their reactions before we call for a hearing on the case,” the source
said.
It might be
recalled that Hon Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader in Parliament, last Friday on
behalf of the Minority, sent a petition to the CHRAJ on the ¢41 million that
was spent on security extension works on the President’s residence.
The
Minority, in the petition, claimed that in spite of what Hon Kwamena Bartels
and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey would want the people to believe they found something
wrong with the whole renovation works.
GRi…/
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Some
continuous students of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) are reported to be
over-burdening fresh students to the university’s campus by sub-letting their
rooms to them whiles others are selling beds to them on contract basis.
These are
happening amidst the rocketing cost of tertiary education in the country,
according to The Evening News, which also carries that its investigations have
revealed that the rooms were leased for between ¢600,000 and ¢1 million whiles
the beds were sold between ¢400,000 and ¢600,000.
It was also
realised that the fresh students paid for both the rooms and beds for a
considerable number of two semesters depending on one’s bargaining power.
However, while some freshmen and women are paying without hesitation, others
have great difficulty settling the payments.
The paper
says its information indicated also
that the continuing students especially those at level 400 are the brains
behind these illegal business because they are left with some few months to
complete their various courses.
More…/
The Youth
Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described the latest act of
ex-President Rawlings as a diabolical agenda to subvert the NPP government by
undermining the confidence of the international community.
This, it
said, at best, is to create an atmosphere of instability and uncertainty and
thereby, discourage investment in the country, or at worst, to provoke a
violent change in the political direction of this country.
In a
strongly worded statement read by John Boadu, the Wing’s spokesperson at a news
conference on what they term as a subversive conduct of the former President,
J.J. Rawlings, they said, “history has taught us how intoxicated the former
President is with power, and how he has to be forced at every turn to
relinquish it”.
The
statement described President Rawlings’ utterances on the attack on his former
aide-camp, W.O. Kuntoh as sheer mischief, which was spanned into an assassination attempt.
Mr Boadu
noted that, ex-President Rawlings’ claim would have been justified if he had
rushed down to show solidarity with his former aide-de-camp if he had indeed,
been a target of an assassination attempt. It, however, said the incident was
one of the numerous robbery attempts, only that this time it was against a
seasoned soldier associated with the former President.
The
statement questioned why the former President created a deceptive and alarmist
impression of the situation in Ghana in Botswana, and on what basis did he
arrive at that hasty and false conclusion? It further questioned why the former
President, in the face of the evidence on his return, insisted on labeling the
ordinary act of armed robbery an assassination attempt.
More…/
Fragments
of the Auditor-Generals report on District Assemblies that has raised a furore
between the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the 31st
December Women’s Movement (DWM) continue to filter out although both the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the DWM have vehemently protested
against the Ministry’s conduct in making it public.
The Evening
News writing on the issue says in the Bole District of the Northern Region,
groups such as the Veranda Boys and Girls, the Association of Committees for
the Defence of the Revolution (ACDRs) and the Private Voluntary Organisations
(PVO) joined the DWM in milking the assembly periodically from the Common Fund.
On July 26,
1999, the PVOs were given ¢100,000 for travel and transport, ¢185,000 for
furnishing ACDR offices and another ¢100,000 as Travel and Transport (T &
T) to the District Organiser of the ACDRs. Again, on September 7, T & T of
¢160,000 went to the PVOs, ¢100,000 to the ACDRs and ¢114,000 for repairs of
motor.
The paper
says what appears rather surprising in the report, is the dolling out of
various sums of money to “organise end of year party for cream of NDC in the
district.” Other payments made out of the fund went to support ACDR day in
Tamale and Kumasi and to purchase materials for the offices of Veranda Boys and
Girls, extend electricity to the DWM office at Sawla and purchase materials for
the DWM Day Care Centre at Kulmasa. The list, according to the paper, is a tall
one.
Since the
Deputy Minister for Local Government, Capt (Rtd) Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey
disclosed at a news conference in Accra that several assemblies doled out
monies to finance NDC activities, particularly, the DWM, the latter has
condemned the action of the Minister, suggesting that it is one of several
machinations to destroy the Movement.
GRi…/
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Efia
Nkwanta Hospital plans midwifery course
The Efia
Nkwanta Regional Hospital at Sekondi in the Western Region will begin a
midwifery programme in the first week of November this year. A provisional
accreditation had been issued to the hospital by the Ministry of Health to
begin the programme, according to a story in ‘The Ghanaian Times’.
Alhaji Dr.
Mohammed Bin Ibrahim, Western Regional Director of Health Service, told the
paper in an interview that the midwifery college would initially admit 20
students for a three-year diploma course. The intake would increase by 100 per
cent by the next four years.
He said the
commencement of the programme follows a satisfactory report submitted by two
separate inspection teams commissioned by the Ministry of Health to examine
facilities at the Efia Nkwanta Hospital and the state of preparedness of its
Nurses Training College (NTC) to deliver the programme successfully.
GRi…/
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Businessman
drags State Insurance, Unique Trust to Police CID
The
Chronicle reports that RICASBED Ghana, a limited liability company engaged in
general merchandise, has accused Unique Financial Trust Services Limited
(Unique Trust) and some officials of the State Insurance Company (SIC) of using
its land title deeds on a hotel to conduct business to the tune of ¢1.4 billion
without the consent of the management of the company.
In a
petition to the Commissioner of Police (CID) copied to the Ministry of Finance,
the Bank of Ghana and the Insurance, the solicitors of RICASBED, KAG LAW
Consult stated that credible evidence at their disposal indicates that Unique
Trust used their client's title deeds to carry out some loan transactions.
The
petition alleged that in 1999, Unique Trust used the title deeds as security
for a guarantee bond on a loan of ¢450 million, for which a premium of ¢6
million was paid to the SIC. Again, in November 2000 the same document was used
as security for another guarantee bond to secure another loan for which another
¢6 million was paid as premium to SIC. The company said a receipt was duly
issued by SIC for both payments.
"We
were able to uncover that they have used our title deeds for other subsequent
transactions when upon our request the officials of SIC brought us our file and
we found receipts covering these strange transactions on the file," stated
Mr. Bediako, Managing Director for RISCABED.
Unique
Trust has, according to the Chronicle, however, denied using RICASBED land
title deeds for any transaction. Commenting on the issue, Major John E. Nyen
(rtd), Deputy Chief Executive in-charge of Administration at Unique Trust,
admitted that there were indeed such transaction between his company and
RICASBED, but denied the use of the documents in question as collateral for any
guarantee bond.
More…/
Rawlings
asks ex-ministers not to leave - ex-Minister
The former
Deputy Western Regional Minister, Hon. Seidu Paakuna Adamu, has quoted
ex-President Jerry John Rawlings as having ordered all his former ministers who
have got appointment with international organisations abroad and are about to
leave the country to suspend the trip till investigations into their tenure of
office by the new government were completed.
According
to him, ex-President Rawlings’ order was based in the confidence that he has in
the ministers who served in his government and, therefore, wanted them to stay
in the country till the investigations were completed.
Speaking at
the Sekondi constituency congress of the NDC at Sekondi last Saturday, Adamu
said it was based on the order given by the ex-President that all ministers who
served in his government are still in the country because they themselves know
that they have not committed any economic crime.
According
to Adamu, the new NPP government knew that most of the NDC ministers who were
lecturers before entering politics would get appointment in some of the
international organisations outside the country so they were going to use that
as a propaganda tool to announce that the ex-ministers have fled the country.
Adamu, who
is also the Member of Parliament for Bibiani, called on NDC supporters not to
be afraid of the allegations being leveled against the NDC ministers that they
have stolen state funds, adding that the new NPP government has got nothing to
do to them because they have not committed any crime.
GRi…/
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Something
done for Limann and family in housing and finance
Concerned
Ghanaians and political analysts over the years have been criticising the
PNDC/NDC administration of ex-President Jerry John Rawlings for not taking good
care of the late President Hilla Limann.
However in
reaction to a question on an Accra private television, TV3, former First Lady,
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings said something was done for Dr Limann in terms of
housing and finance.
The
Crusading Guide, writing on the issue quotes her as saying however that she was
not going to go into details since she did not have figures. "I believe
that what was done for President Limann and his family - be it housing, be it
financial, - I'm not going to go into it because I don't have the figures; but
I know that something was done", she was quoted to have stated.
Nana Konadu
suggested that the NPP Government was not doing enough, as required by the
constitution, to resettle her husband, Mr. Rawlings.
Pressed
further, she contended that if the host of the programme had known the
Constitution very well he would have known what should have been done to her
husband, adding that on a number of occasions some people had been commenting
on the issue.
She
referred to an alleged argument by Jake Obestebi-Lamptey that if much hadn’t
been done for a sitting President then an out-gone one could wait until the
former was properly handled and insisted that there was no need to compare her
husband's regime's treatment of Dr. Limann to the current NPP administration's
handling of the resettlement package for Mr Rawlings, saying that during the
revolutionary era, "everything was turned upside down".
Mrs
Rawlings said "if because things were done in a certain way from an
unconstitutional rule to a constitutional rule they (things) must be
perpetrated in a constitutional rule to another constitutional rule then all of
us must say okay." She insisted that the two situations were different and
therefore must not be compared.
More…/
$5m
demolition job defended!
Parliamentary
Hansard for 1999 deliberations sighted by the Crusading Guide reveals that
former Minister of Defence in the NDC era, Lt Col. (rtd) E.K.T. Donkor had
defended the demolition of the $5 million Pier Hotel at the Airport Residential
Area on a number of grounds.
Answering a
question put to him at the time by Hon. J.H. Mensah, then Minority Leader, the
former Defence Minister said the demolition of the hotel - which was to
accommodate some of the participants of the African-American Summit held at the
time - was legal but he was unable to provide concrete proof of who personally
and/or officially ordered the Military's involvement in the demolition
exercise, because according to him, that was "classified
information".
He
submitted that "the legality of the assistance rests on three sources of
authority which are all found in the constitutional laws of our country. He
quoted Article 210 (3) of the 1992 Constitution under which the
Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces - the President - has the power to
deploy the Armed Forces for both the defence of Ghana and for civilian roles
that contribute to the development of the country.
Explaining
further, Lt. Col. (rtd) E.K. Donkor made reference to the preamble of the Armed
Forces Act 1962 (Act 105) to buttress his point.
The
ex-Defence Minister said the second source of authority was the defence policy
of Ghana, which directs the Armed Forces to perform roles that contribute to
the social, economic, political and cultural development of the country.
"It is
precisely in this context that the Armed Forces provides such non-military or
civilian services such as search and rescue operations, air-link operations,
naval patrols for the protection of Ghana's maritime interventions during
periods of disaster, aero-medical and rescue operations, aerial survey and
mapping, construction of bridges and other civilian structures, security of
bullion transportation and 'so forth and so on", he underscored.
Lt. Col.
E.K.T. Donkor referred also to the bye-laws of the District Assemblies which
empower the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to demolish structures which are
illegally constructed, as the third source of the legality of the exercise.
"Mr.
Speaker" (referring to Justice D.F. Annan, the then Speaker of Parliament)
"the exercise, for us, was legitimate because AMA, acting by its Chief
Executive Officer, requested the Ghana Armed Forces for assistance for this
exercise; and if it were not legitimate, they would not have done it," he
had stated.
GRi…/
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Nana Acheampong sets up studio
Music supreme Ernest Nana Acheampong has established a new
audio recording studio in Kumasi in the Ahanti Region.
According to the Graphic Showbiz, the studio, Owoahene Audio Logic Recording, estimated at several millions of cedis undertakes all aspects of technical production in music, programming and arrangements of songs.
The fully stocked studio boasts of equipment needed for quality recording as well as professional compact disc recorders, a 32-track tascam mixer, 3000 CD sampler and an array of computers.
The Sound Engineer and Technical Head of the studio, Nana Yaw Owusu, said in an interview that Nana Acheampong established the studio to help improve the quality of Ghanaian music production to meet the international standards that he has been exposed to.
He said Edward Kwesi Boateng's 'Adea Mepe Da Wenim' and Augustina Addison's 'Volumes 4 and 5 Akokyem Di Dew' are some of the new works that have been recorded at the studio, and are enjoying favourable air-play and patronage.
More.../
Ghanaian painter wins bronze prize
Dynamic painter, Wiz Kudowor, has pushed Ghana's standing on the world map of visual arts by another notch by grabbing the bronze prize in the 10th Osaka Triennlae, a world renowned contemporary art competition recently organised in Japan.
The Osaka Triennale, which began in 1990, had 11,497 entries from 3,821 artists from 99 countries for the 2000 competition. After a massive screening exercise, only 149 high quality entries were accepted for the competition.
South African couple, Maraloki Lambert and Hertell Brigitte clinched the grand prize with a huge mixed media board titled "Marginal Sanctuaries", while the silver prizes went to Yankee Kenji of Japan and Tillers Imants of Australia.
Wiz Kodowor's 160 x 160cm "Icons of Profound Thought" won the bronze prize alongside Zhang Dali of China, Than Thin of Malaysia, Siturek Antonin of Czech Republic and Jolly Nicholas John of the United Kingdom (UK).
"Icons of Profound Thought" explores symbols reflecting a common tradition. It also dwells on African icons, ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics, contemporary symbols, alphabets and other personal icons that have been designed to achieve a global feeling of positivity, fullness and the essence of life and humanity.
Kudowor has also exhibited his works in Germany, Turkey, Netherlands, Italy, Canada, Czech Republic, Republic of South Africa, Cote d' Ivoire and the United States of America.
GRi.../
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
The Appeals
Committee, has ruled that Berekum Arsenals be declared losers in their game
against Kumasi Asante Kotoko for fielding George Brown who, Kotoko say,
returned to the country after a stint outside without an International Transfer
Certificate (ITC) and was therefore unqualified to play, reports the Africa
Sports, a bi-weekly.
In a
similar case last year, it was asserted that Brown did not indeed return with
an ITC but both the Disciplinary and Appeals Committee said they found no
reason to implicate Accra Great Olympics, Brown’s club at the time.
The latest
ruling is a departure from that but it has left Arsenals fuming. Four points is
to be deducted from their build-up, meaning they would slip into the relegation
quagmire while Kotoko get two points for the game which ended in a draw.
Arsenals
contention is that once the Status Committee of the FA declared the player
floating, it was well within their rights to use him. Their founder and
chairman, Alhaji Moro, said he was shocked by the decision claiming the Appeals
Committee is only trying to appease Kotoko in the wake of their (Kotoko)
constant criticisms of the soccer ruling body. “They are cheating us because we
are a small club. This is not fair,” he said.
More…/
Accra
Hearts of Oak’s leading striker, Ishmael Addo, left Accra on Wednesday evening
for France for yet another round of trials. The prolific goal-scorer has
already been to Germany, Turkey and Italy on similar missions in search of a
professional contract.
Confirming
his trip to the Africa Sports, the two-time goalking and currently leading the
goal scoring chart in the premier league, said he would be away for two weeks.
Addo was however tight-lipped over which French club he was joining.
GRi…/
Send your
comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com