Press
Review 02 - 10 - 2000
The
Ghanaian Times
Withdraw
observer status - Afari Gyan
Daily
Graphic
Govt
doles out 990m cedis as incentive
Ewurafua
Hawkson grabs Miss Ghana crown
The
Ghanaian Chronicle
Parliament
probes judiciary
The
Ghanaian Voice
Another
presidential debate in the offing - Mills to attend
The
Dispatch
Peprah
to account for 715m cedis
Public
Agenda
Confusion
- over fuel crisis
Ghana
Palaver
Fuel
queues vanish
The
Ghanaian Times
Withdraw
observer status - Afari Gyan
Dr
Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission, (EC) is reported by
'The Ghanaian Times' in its lead story to have asked election observers who are
prejudiced against the fairness of the December presidential and parliamentary
elections to withdraw their observer status.
"Some
people have pre-positioned themselves against the elections on the presumed
grounds that there will be unfairness. This is unfortunate, as they seem to
have compromised their integrity. They should therefore drop out as
observers", Dr Afari-Gyan is quoted as saying.
The
EC boss, speaking at two-day national training workshop for the "training
of trainees for the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODECO) in Kumasi
at the weekend, pointed out that elections observing was an onerous mission of
fact finding and not fault finding.
"The
exercise needs absolute openness in which observers must be professionals
perceived by the public as worthy of integrity", he said.
He
cautioned that election observing should not be done from the perspective of
what was going on in someone's country because every country had its own rules
and regulations.
GRi…/
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Daily
Graphic
Govt
doles out 990m cedis as incentive
The
Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Christopher
Ameyaw-Ekumfi, is reported by the Daily Graphic as saying in a banner story
that the government has paid 990 million cedis to teachers in deprived areas as
incentive to promote education there.
Prof.
Ameyaw-Ekumfi, speaking at the 40th anniversary and speech and prize
giving day of the Sunyani Secondary School, said each beneficiary received 1
million cedis.
He
said more teachers would benefit from the facility and other incentives like
bicycles in the years ahead and urged teachers to accept postings to rural
areas, adding that to further boost their morale, those who serve for three
years, based on their performance, could be promoted.
The
Director-General, according to Graphic, urged rural communities to complement
government efforts by creating conditions that would attract teachers to those
areas.
More…/
Ewurafua
Hawkson grabs Miss Ghana crown
Maame
Ewurafua Hawkson, a 22-year-old student, was in the early hours of Sunday,
crowned Miss Ghana 2000 from among 19 contestants, Graphic reported on its
front-page.
The
new Miss Ghana according to the paper is the proud owner of a brand new VW Golf
4 salon car, a two-bedroom house with a fully-fitted kitchen, ticket to the
Miss World pageant, a 3 million cedis cash and 300,000 cedis monthly allowance
for a year.
19-year-old
Ama Abrefa-Agyeman, also a student, placed second while 23-year-old Naa Koshie
Heward-Mills, yet another student, took the third position.
Second-placed
Ama received a set of furniture, a TV/Video deck and 2.5 million cedis while
Naa Koshie was rewarded with a set of furniture, a double door fridge, a cooker
and 2 million cedis.
GRi…/
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The
Ghanaian Chronicle
Parliament
probes judiciary
The
Ghanaian Chronicle reports that Parliamentarians have begun a probe of alarming
developments in the financial administration of the Judicial Service, but run
into a dramatic situation when the Acting Financial Controller, Mr. W.K. Nketia
lost his composure and collapsed in a heap under interrogation from the
Honourable MPs.
The
probe, reportedly, had begun a fortnight ago and hit its high point the
previous Tuesday, when the former finance man, Mr. Fordwor, challenged and
contradicted accounts on some financial transactions relating to the purchase
of a generator among others.
Fordwor
according to Chronicle, tendered in documents showing the signature on a
contested pay voucher for a 7kva generator allegedly bought from one of the
companies involved in fraudulent dealings with the service and fingered by the
auditors, Integrated Electrical Service (IES).
Judicial
Service, it is reported, was looking for a 500kva genset for the courts but a
dispute emerged as to the capacity of the genset eventually purchased with some
claiming that it had a much smaller 135kva capacity.
The
paper says by the time it exited from monitoring the in-camera sitting inside
the Speaker's chambers, an order was expected to be given to haul in the other
supplier, Tractor & Equipment to testify.
The
ongoing probe, Chronicle says, was sparked by an explosive and damaging
Auditor-General's report for the period 1994-1997 and received precipitation
when attempt was made to string and scapegoat an officer through his dismissal
early this year but a courageous challenge by him turned the table on his accusers.
GRi…/
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The
Ghanaian Voice
Another
presidential debate in the offing - Mills to attend
The
Ghanaian Voice says there is a presidential debate on the horizon and that it
can confirm that this time around with proper consultation and all involving
programming the Vice President of Ghana Prof. John Atta Mills will contest and
bring life into it.
The
Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) are said to be putting the programme of
bringing the presidential candidates contesting the December 7 elections
together, with Professor Djangmah handling the planning.
"As
at now the programme is on the drawing board and the various parties will all
input into the programme to assure that all the candidates attend it," the
paper said.
Voice
recalls the withdrawal of Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills from the recent
forum involving 6 presidential candidates because he was engaged in matters of
the state.
GRi…/
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The
Dispatch
Peprah
to account for 715m cedis
The
Minister of Finance, Mr. Kwame Peprah, is reported by the Dispatch to have been
asked to appear before Parliament and explain how a total of $110,000 (715
million cedis at current rates) transferred since 1994 have, to date, did not
reach their destinations.
The
House's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) detected that the amount had been
transferred between the Ghana missions in Moscow and London.
Eighty
thousand dollars was transferred from the Moscow Embassy to London in 1994,
while $30,000 was also transferred from the London Mission to the Moscow
Embassy.
Hon.
Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Vice Chairman of PAC, reportedly made the disclosures when
he presented the committee's report on the Auditor-General's report on the
Statements of Foreign Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the First Half Year
Ended June 30 1997, to the House last week.
Dispatch
quotes him as saying that the management of the country's foreign exchange has
not been the best, hence such monies should not be left unaccounted for.
He
stated that Mr. Peprah during his presence in the House, will be asked to
confirm or refute allegations by the September 4, 2000 edition of 'The Ghanaian
Chronicle' that he guaranteed a 27million-cedis loan to Quality Grains Limited
which was not paid, thus compelling the government to shoulder $10 million of
the said amount.
GRi…/
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Public
Agenda
Confusion
- over fuel crisis
The
Public Agenda says in a front-page story that there is confusion over the cause
as well as solution for the crippling fuel shortage, which hit the country's
transport system a few days ago.
It
says, while some opinion leaders are calling for fuel price increases claiming
the current price is at the bottom of the shortage, others support government's
position that there should be no cause for the increase.
A
couple of divergent views on the issue, according to the paper, were
dramatically highlighted during Joy FM, an Accra radio station Frontpage
programme last Friday.
Deputy
Minister of Mines and Energy, Mr. Simon Abingya, Minority spokesman for the
ministry, Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah, Dr Charles Wereko Brobby, an energy consultant
and a presidential candidate and Kofi Koomson, Editor of the Ghanaian
Chronicle
could not agree as to what the appropriate stance should be.
Whereas
Dr Brobby and Kofi Coomson had argued that price increase must be made now to
avoid a much higher adjustment after the elections Mr. Abingya disagreed with
them, arguing that the maintenance of current prices was not election based.
He
also submitted that the current shortage was also limited to Accra and
temporal.
The
Agenda quotes Mr. Kan-Dapaah to have, on his part, marched prices with the
exchange rate of the cedi to other currencies and said this is very much based
on how the economy is managed, adding that if it had been properly managed, the
problem would have been minimised.
GRi…/
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Ghana
Palaver
Fuel
queues vanish
Fuel
queues in Accra melted on Friday as more filling stations received supplies
from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ghana Palaver said.
"The
queues started disappearing on Friday evening as the government announced that
TOR had struck a deal with the Nigeria Petroleum Corporation (NPC) for 30,000
barrels of crude oil daily from November 1," the paper stated.
A
180-day credit facility, according to the story, is being favourably considered
by the Nigerian authorities to assist Ghana find a way out of the current fuel
crisis that has hit Accra and its surrounding areas.
A
number of filling station attendants that the Ghana News Agency reportedly
talked to stated that they had enough petrol and expressed the hope that their
allocations would not dry up.
The
paper recalls Accra and Tema early last week smarting under a serious fuel
crisis as fuel pumps ran dry and with only trickles from the refinery.
GRi…/