22-man team to review education reform programme
B.A. Mensah
says forget reconciliation
Four foreigners held for illegal entry
E.T. Mensah
and the ¢77 billion sports empire
Ashanti NDC
denies accusations of corruption
'Reconciliation
must cover only military regimes'
Kuntoh let
me down - Rawlings
The Ghana Police Service is developing a community policing policy as part of measures to improve security in the various communities, according to the Daily Graphic.
To this end, 76 police officers currently undergoing a four-week course in Accra are expected to make inputs to help facilitate the projgramme.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ernest Owusu-Poku, who opened the course, urged the officers to be proactive in their duties in order to demystify policing and promote law and order in the country.
The course, which is being organised by the Ghana Police Service, is to equip divisional, district and unit commanders with new trends in policing. The IGP said the command course is aimed at reinforcing the fact that policing is part of a complex social network, which, together with other social partners, work to attain the noble ideals of freedom, justice and democracy.
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22-man team to review education reform programme
Efforts to renew the education reform programme will get a big push when a 22-member committee is formed next month. The committee, which will be inaugurated by the President, will comprise representatives of identifiable groups such as the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), religious bodies, business/industry, academia, and other individuals, among others.
A source close to the Ministry of Education, in an interview with the Graphic, could however, not tell when the committee will be expected to complete its work, but said it will start work immediately after its inauguration.
Touching on the terms of reference of the committee, the source said it will be tasked to look at how pre-school could be mainstreamed into the formal educational system.
It said the committee will also look at post primary and secondary education in terms of their duration at the junior secondary and senior secondary school levels respectively, adding that it will also be tasked to consider the possibility of encompassing the two levels (JSS/SSS) for a duration of about seven years.
The source said the committee will be made to place greater emphasis on technical and vocational education to see how best they can be smoothly absorbed into the tertiary level, that is, the polytechnics.
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The Minority Spokesman on Finance, Mr Moses Asaga, has alleged that the mass of Ghanaians have regretted voting the National Democratic Congress (NDC) out of office in the last general elections.
This is because the people found the cost of living and the prices of goods and services more bearable last year than what pertain at the moment.
Mr Asaga, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nabdam, said this when he addressed the constituency delegates’ congress of the NDC at Tongo. The congress, in an election, retained the old executive under the chairmanship of Mr P.V. Kuug, with Mr E. Aduko and Ms Veronica Kpeong as Secretary and Treasurer respectively.
The rest are Messrs Sumaila Panka, Organiser; Stephen Kin, Youth Organiser; Yizukkoni Tindana, Propaganda Secretary, and Ms Assibi Balemba, Women’s Organiser.
Mr Asaga noted that the claim by the Kufuor administration that the cedi has been stabilised and inflation has dropped is artificial and intended to satisfy the International Monetary Fund.
He said the reality of the situation is that the broad masses of the people are facing difficulties, especially high prices charged by the utilities for their services.
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Customs officials in the United Kingdom have intercepted 30 kilogram’s of cocaine, which was being sent to that country by a London-based Ghanaian businessman.
The Ghanaian suspect (name withheld) is currently in custody in London awaiting trial. The cocaine was neatly concealed in a suitcase. The suspect has since refused to talk to investigators, apart from saying that the “goods” belong to someone whose name he only gave as Alhaji and another as Auntie Esi, who he claimed was also on board the flight.
A source at the Narcotics Control Board, which disclosed this in an interview, said local security personnel have also begun investigations into the matter to apprehend his accomplices.
It said the investigations would also find out how the cocaine left the ports of the country without detection. Source said the suitcase in which the narcotic drug was found contained nothing else and this baffles the intelligence network because it wonders how the suitcase left the airport undetected.
It said the investigations will also help establish security personnel who were on duty at the time the cocaine and the passenger left the country. The suspect, according to investigations so far carried out lied to the security agencies in London when he claimed that he hails from Axim in the Western Region.
In a related development, a travel agent and an official of the British Airways are helping the security agencies in their investigations into an attempt by the two to export 49 kilogram’s of Indian hemp.
They were arrested at the AFGO Cargo Village when they attempted to check in 20 kilogram’s of the drug but the X-ray machine exposed them. The source said upon their arrest, the two claimed that the cargo belonged to a passenger who had checked in one similar baggage at the Departure Hall.
It said the two claimed that the cargo was far in excess of the required tonnage by the airline and it was advised that they send the other baggage to the AFGO Village to check it in as an unaccompanied cargo.
The source said the passenger is alleged to have asked the airline official and the travel agent to do that on his behalf, which they readily tried to do.
CEPS officials reportedly, detected that the baggage contained something unusual and insisted on opening it but the suspects objected to it, insisting that the passenger would have to be present. After a heated debate, the baggage was opened and found to contain 20 kilogrammes of Indian hemp. When CEPS officials moved to the main airport, the passenger had escaped and left a baggage, which was retrieved and found to contain 29 kilogrammes of Indian hemp.
The airline official and travel agent are on bail while a search for the passenger has been intensified.
GRi…/
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B.A.
Mensah says forget reconciliation
The debate
on reconciliation gathers momentum in an out of Parliament. While the Minority
demands an apology from the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, and the Majority
stick to its guns, other citizens suggest the calling off of all reconciliation
efforts, saying there is nothing to reconcile writes The Weekend Statesman.
One such
person, according to the paper, is B.A. Mensah, whose company International
Tobacco Ghana Limited (ITG), was seized by the PNDC in 1989. He says there is
no need to go over what has been done already after the overthrow of the 1st
and 2nd Republics.
He argues:
“If we were to follow the biblical exhortation, “Do unto other as you would
have done to you,” then we would be forced likewise to put Rawlings and co
“before a firing squad without trial. That is what they did to others.”
The
Minority’s call for extending the period of enquiry to Ghana’s independence he
says, is “nonsensical and simply delay tactics. Those who should have been
reconciled have all died or been killed by Rawlings’ men. What remains to be
done is to proceed with criminal prosecution - without delay.”
B.A. Mensah
gives four reasons why it is only military regimes that need to account; two of
them are: “Firstly, we did not vote them into power, they took power by force
and without mandate. Secondly, they perpetuated the worst crimes, atrocities,
cruelties and murder that our society has experienced in its forty-year history.
GRi…/
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Four foreigners held for illegal entry
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has arrested four foreigners, who entered the country illegally through some unapproved routes along the Aflao Boarder.
According to The Ghanaian Times, the four, a Chinese, two Nigerians and a Nigerien were arrested on November 23, 2001, when they attempted crossing into the country through unapproved routes. A statement issued in Accra on Thursday by GIS Public Relations Unit said documents on the arrested people were being processed to pave way for their prosecution.
Meanwhile, Nana Owusu- Nsiah, Director of Immigration has reminded Ghanaians and foreigners crossing the boarders, that it was illegal to travel into and out of Ghana through unapproved routes. He also reminded the travelling public, that it was an offence under the Immigration Act 573, Act 2000, for anybody to travel through unapproved routes.
GRi…/
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Government cannot locate Bantama Military Barracks to another site to allow for expansion works at the Komfo Anokye Training Hospital (KATH) due to lack of funds. Minister of Defence, Kwame Addo Kufour told Parliament on Thursday, according to The Ghanaian Chronicle.
The decision which scuppers a request submitted to government by the authorities of KATH in March last year, was taken because the project demanded a lot of cash flows, which government could not provide, he explained.
The hospital had requested for the Barracks located in the centre of town to be relocated to the Kwadaso Military Barracks, which is outside of town. The relocation of the Barracks includes housing numerous military installations consisting of 4 Medical Reception Stations, 4 supply Depots, 2 Field Ordinance Companies among others.
The Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia was of the view that, the complete resettlement alternative to numerous military installations and facilities has not been planned for by the military and therefore relocation of the Bantama Barracks will not be possible.
GRi…/
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E.T.
Mensah and the ¢77 billion sports empire
The
cash-strapped Ministry of Youth and Sports is grappling with a multi-billion
Center for Sports Excellence commissioned by former Minister Enoch Teye Mensah
in his hometown Prampram, says the Weekend Agenda.
Planarchitects,
the private consultants engaged by the ex-Minister has presented an estimate
for an expenditure of ¢77 billion over three phases to complete the project to
provide Ghana with international standard sports facilities but current
Minister Edward Osei Kwaku insists the grandiose project does not feature in
the plans of the Ministry, one of the poorly resourced in the country.
Sources at
the Ministry told the Agenda that the siting of the project and its grandiose
nature were influenced by the former Minister, who is also Member of Parliament
for Prampram.
They contend
that if there was the need to undertake such a major project, it ought to be
sited at the National Sports College at Winneba, which was purposely set up to
aid the development of sports in the country.
"The
Institute," according to a proposal from the consultant, "is to be
provided with international standard sports facilities which will project Ghana
as the focus of sports theory and practice within the West African sub-region.
Speaking to
the Agenda, Hon Osei Kwaku said his ministry has no resources to embark on such
a gigantic project. “At the moment, our priority is to dug out and replace the
tartan tracks at the Kumasi and Accra Sports stadiums to provide training and
facilities for athletics competitions.” He said because money is a constraint,
the ministry intend to concentrate first on the Kumasi tracks.
He said
after the tartan tracks had been replaced, his ministry would turn its
attention to upgrading playing fields around the country, which have very
appalling facilities.
GRi…/
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Ashanti
NDC denies accusations of corruption
Mr Emmanuel
Nti-Fordjour, Ashanti Regional Vice-Chairman of the National Democratic
Congress (NDC), has denied accusations of financial impropriety and corruption
made against him and other members of the Regional Executive by a group calling
itself the NDC Action Forum and signaled his intention to institute legal action
against them.
He said he
found it irritating and nauseating the unrelenting campaign of deliberate lies,
twisted facts and injurious attacks on his person and other leading members of
the party by the Forum to "incite public anger and hatred against
us".
Mr
Nti-Fordjour was addressing a press conference to respond to the recent call
for a probe of the Regional Secretariat and said he had already instructed his
lawyers to initiate legal action against the President of the Forum, Mr A.K.
Mensah.
He said the
Regional Executive had been open, transparent and accountable in the financial
management of the party.
"To
impute corruption, malfeasance and naked stealing to us is, therefore, not only
mischievous but an incredible height of dishonesty anyone could go, he said,
adding "we have tolerated and accommodated the irritating noises and
ranting of the group for far too long".
Mr
Nti-Fordjour repeated that the Forum was unknown to the NDC and that it was up
to create confusion and division among the rank and file with a view to
disintegrating the party.
GRi…/
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'Reconciliation
must cover only military regimes'
The Evening
News quotes the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Dan
Botwe, as saying that the proposed National Reconciliation Commission should
limit itself to the excess of the various military regimes since independence.
He
emphasized that the commission must pay attention to the regimes of 1966-69,
1972-79 and 1982-92 since abuse of human rights and other inhuman treatments
were meted out to people in military regimes.
In an
interview with the paper, Mr Botwe however, said that genuine reports made
against certain individuals during civilian regimes should not be ignored by
the commission.
"If in
the course of the commission's sittings a report is made against somebody in a
past civilian regime, the commission should have the discretion to open up that
case so that in the end a true reconciliation can be achieved," he said.
According
to Mr Botwe, the Reconciliation Commission is not aimed at harassing or
witch-hunting anybody but to promote national unity and progress.
He said the
Progress Party from which the NPP emanated, ruled Ghana for only 27 months and
would not bother to subject that regime for scrutiny.
Citing
examples of human rights abuses in civilian regimes, Mr Botwe noted that people
who held different political opinions were wrongly arrested, detained and
sometimes had their hair shaved between 1992 and 2000.
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Kuntoh
let me down - Rawlings
The 21
youth of the NDC who had a meeting with their leader and founder, Flt-Lt- John
Rawlings, might have left his Ridge residence wondering what fate holds for
their party.
An insider
told the Evening News that the briefings the youth received clearly indicate
that there were serious cracks at the top that could affect the fortunes of the
opposition NDC.
Apart from
the list of certain people they were asked to vote for at the forthcoming
national delegates conference, the former President also expressed his feelings
to the youth about certain issues within the party. According to the paper, he
touched on the recent alleged armed robbery attack on his bodyguard, Patrick
Kuntoh, his problem with party guru Dr Obed Asamoah and the Muslim Ramadan.
The former
President is said to have expressed his disappointment on the way Kuntoh handled
the robbery issue. He was not happy that his bodyguard easily succumbed to what
he called NPP pressures instead of fighting it out.
Flt-Lt
Rawlings is on record to have cut short his visit to Botswana when he was
informed about the alleged attack on Kuntoh. Aides of the former President
tried to impute political motives to the incident, but police investigations
later proved that could have been a hoax.
Kuntoh
himself made it clear on radio interviews that he wanted people to put the case
to rest. He said he was in farming to push the government's agricultural policy
and would not want to be drawn into politics.
According
to insiders ex-President Rawlings said his only problem with Dr Obed Asamoah
was that he (Obed) wanted to bring back to the party people like Captain Kojo
Tsikata (rtd) Dr Kwesi Botchway, Ghana's longest serving Finance Minister and
Mr Paul Victor Obeng (PV) former PNDC member. Jerry reportedly, told the youth
that he would not allow that to happen.
GRi…/
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