Brave cops
honoured
'Dead man'
resurrects, asks to be baptised
Attempt to
steal dead body fails
Court
charges absconding fraudster
Senior
Pastor swerves fiancée
Headmaster
pockets examination fees
Residents say danger not over
The chiefs
and people of the Mampong Traditional Area have held a grand durbar at
Asante-Mampong, in honour of the local police and the youth for their exceptional
bravery and gallantry in neutralising the recent armed robbery at the agency of
the Otuasekan Rural Bank in which two policemen were killed, reports The
Ghanaian Times.
The story
says Constable G.W. Awere on guard duty at the bank was shot and killed by the
robbers during the raid while Corporal William Kusi was shot dead in a
confrontation between the police and the robbers.
But
enjoying the massive support of the youth, the police and the military later
cornered the robbers, killed three of them and arrested three others.
The youth,
acting in concert with the police and the military, also retrieved about ¢27
million out of the nearly ¢45 million stolen in the bloody broad daylight
robbery.
The
Mamponghene, Dasebre Osei Bonsu II, announced a cash award of ¢2 million
donated by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for the police and the youth
in appreciation of their outstanding display of gallantry.
The
Asanteman Council, he said was considering the possibility of offering
scholarship awards to children of the two dead policemen to enable them to
further their education.
More…/
'Dead
man' resurrects, asks to be baptised
Family
members who were preparing to send their dead relative to the mortuary were
stunned when he suddenly woke up and called for a Roman Catholic priest to
baptise him.
The
Ghanaian Times, which carries the story, says Opanin Kwasi Mensah, 80, died at
home on Thursday night at "Number Three", a suburb Sunyani.
As the
family members were about to send him to the Sunyani Government Hospital
mortuary on Friday, he woke up at 11 am. The family, after recovering from the
shock, obliged his request and quickly brought in a Catholic Priest, Rev Father
Augustine, who performed the baptismal rite and conferred the name, "Joseph"
on him, after which he died.
A family
source told the 'Times' that Opanin Mensah died at 2 pm on Friday and the body
was deposited at the hospital's mortuary. According to the source, Opanin
Mensah claimed that he met some people on his 'death journey' who prevented him
from entering a room because he was not baptised. He put up a fierce challenge
but the people would not budge. He
suddenly came back to life while he was insisting to enter that room.
According
to the paper, its efforts to contact Father Augustine proved futile as he could
not be reached at his office.
GRi…/
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Attempt
to steal dead body fails
A 39 year-old
man, filled with anger and disappointment that his friend, domiciled abroad has
refused to send him money, decided to apply a rare kind of 'juju' on the friend
to remit him on a regular basis.
Kwadwo
Ofori, therefore, consulted a Mallam at Nkoranza, near Sunyani, who told him to
bring a dead body for the preparation of the "remote control"
money-remitting charm.
The
Spectator says Ofori, a resident of Berekum, thus went to the Berekum Holy
Family Hospital Mortuary with the sole aim of stealing a corpse for that
purpose. But he, reportedly, was eluded by luck as he was spotted by a mortuary
attendant, Mr George Adu and Ofori, upon a hot chase after he took to his
heels, was arrested and handed over to the police.
He was
arraigned before the Berekum Circuit Court on October 24, charged with unlawful
entry and attempt to steal. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and the court,
presided over by Justice R.K. Asare, remanded him in prison custody.
More…/
Court
charges absconding fraudster
An official
of the Rights of the Child Foundation has been put before the Madina Circuit
Tribunal on a charge of fraud.
The
accused, John Deebge, is alleged to have defrauded a businessman, Lampson
Alhassan of 4,000 Deutsche Marks under the pretext of his organization.
According
to Inspector Agnes Hamenoo, Lampson who lives at Akatsi Abor in the Volta
Region, for some time now expressed interest to travel to Europe and was
introduced to Deegbe, who promised to assist Lampson and demanded 4,000
Deutsche Marks from him as part payment to enable him process his travel
documents.
However,
after collecting the money, in May this year, Deegbe went into hiding. Lampson
reported the matter to the Madina Police who traced Deegbe and upon his arrest,
admitted having defrauded Lampson but pleaded with the police to give him time
to refund the money. The police acceded to his plea and granted him bail.
But Deegbe
instead, pulled a fast one on the police. He absconded and went into hiding
again. He was arrested after intensive search and charged with fraud.
GRi…/
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Senior
Pastor swerves fiancée
A US-based computer
analyst, Ms Mindy N. Asiedu, 30, who for two years had been the fiancée of
Pastor Samuel K. Bonsu in Accra, does not have to contend only with a broken
heart but also the paid of retrieving an amount of $15,000 she allegedly
expended on the pastor, reports The Mirror.
This, the
paper says, was after Pastor Bonsu, the second in command of Alive Chapel
International, had broken his promise to marry her and gone ahead to marry
another woman. His action has apparently put his honeymoon on hold as the police
in Accra are looking for him to answer charges of fraud leveled against him by
Mindys’ family.
A source at
the Greater Accra Regional Police Command is said to have revealed that the
father of Mindy, Mr Yaw Asiedu, also based in the US but currently in the
country, made a report to the police that his daughter, who was in love with
Pastor Bonsu, had sent a faxed message from the US alleging that the 'Man of
God' has defrauded her to the tune of $15,000.
Mindy
reportedly named her two uncles, Mr C.O. Asiedu and Nana Anim Awuah, and her
sisters, Veronica Frimpong and Patience Awuah, to represent her interest and
retrieve her money.
More…/
Headmaster
pockets examination fees
The Mirror
writes that a headmaster who allegedly pocketed a total of ¢595,000 in
examination registration fees for 17 JSS finalists at Gomoa Abonyi in the
Central Region, has appeared before the Agona Swedru Circuit Court.
The
headmaster, Joseph Kweku Yeboah, 59, was also a former assemblyman at one of
the suburbs of Agona Swedru in the Central Region.
He pleaded
not guilty to the 17 counts of stealing, explaining that the parents of the
prospective candidates did not pay the fees of ¢35,000 each on time, adding
that even though he had refunded their monies which enabled them to register,
he had been demoted from headmaster to an ordinary teacher. The judge, Mr. P.K.
Richardson, has granted Yeboah a ¢500,000 bail with one surety.
Chief
Inspector Janet Dorku, told the court that somewhere in September, 2000, Yeboah
collected ¢35,000 from each of the 17-final year students of the Gomoa Abonyi
DC Junior Secondary School under the pretext of registering them for the BECE
examination in April this year.
On the date
slated for the examination, Yeboah detailed one of his teachers to accompany
the students to the examination center at Gomoa Asebu. However, on their
arrival, they found that their names and index numbers could not be traced on
the Master List.
The
prosecutor said with disappointment written on their faces, the candidates returned
home and informed their parents who in turn informed the management of the
school about their wards' plight.
She said
the management of the school had discussion with the headmaster to ascertain
why he failed to register the students after collecting their registration
fees. When he could not give any tangible reason, he was handed over to the
police.
GRi…/
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The Daily Graphic reports the Water Resources Commission (WCR) as declaring water from River Asuman as safe and not posing any danger to the health of humans, flora and fauna, making use of the river, which has been contaminated through cyanide spillage.
It said the spillage that occurred at Ghana Goldfields Limited in the Tarkwa area has not raised the cyanide levels of the Huni and Asuman rivers, as levels of a cyanide level upstream of the spill and those of the two tributaries are almost at the same concentration.
The WCR further said although there was a slight increase in total cyanide at Huniso, a town nearby, this might be due to inherent conditions prevalent in the water, because Huniso is farther downstream the site of the spill than Abekoase, which is closer town.
These were contained in its findings following a directive by the Environment and Science Minister, Prof Dominic Fobih, that the commission should examine water samples from the river to ascertain independently the cyanide levels, following the spillage at the Ghana Goldfields Limited mine on October 16.
The examination was to establish the status of the water quality and determine the gravity of the situation. “This notwithstanding, the mining agencies need to be more careful in their operations in order to avert such occurrences that could endanger human and aquatic life when they happen,” WCR cautioned.
According to the commission, the results of its examination showed that the concentrations of cyanide at the sampling locations, six days after the spill were below the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guideline values, “and as such does not pose any health hazard to the communities that live along the river”.
More…/
Mr Timothy Scott, Metallurgical Manager of Goldfields Ghana Limited, has said that the cyanide spillage that occurred at the mine was immediately contained and the residents warned against drinking the contaminated water.
Speaking in an interview with the Graphic at the mine site, Mr Scott denied that fish and other life forms in the water died as a result of the spillage, adding that at the time of the accident measures were taken to detoxicate the rivers that were affected even though the level of spillage posed no health hazard to either man or fish.
He indicated that extra-containment measures have been put in place to avoid future accidents and reduce risk to residents should any such accident occur.
More./
Residents say danger not over
The chiefs and people of Abekoase in the Western Region, one of the two towns, which are reeling under the possible effects of the recent cyanide spillage into their only source of drinking water, have cautioned against any attempt at underestimating the danger by the spillage.
They maintained that the fact that there has not been any fatality so far as a result of the spillage does not mean the long-term effects of the lives of the people in the area should be glossed over. This sum up the concerns of the people interviewed during a random survey conducted by a Graphic investigative team currently touring the affected areas.
They have, therefore, called for impartial analysis of the situation to ensure that all necessary remedial measures are put in place to ensure that the people are not exposed to any health and environmental hazards.
According to them, the quest for economic viability through mineral prospecting should not be pursued at the lives of the people. Consequently, they have appealed to President J.A. Kufuor to personally intervene to ensure that “the right thing is done at he right time”.
GRi…/
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