Three million professionals abandon Ghana
135 adults learn to read
Fight over booty lands three in big trouble
Man dupes firm of 242,000 dollars
Moves to decongest prisons
Hidden weapons, a threat to NPP Gov’t.
NPP prosecution won't halt NDC's reorganisation
NPP divided in the North
President Kufuor to receive award in the US
200 million-dollar scandal rocks Judiciary in Ashanti Region
Killers for court in Kumasi
Re: Soldier found to be armed robber
Three million professionals abandon Ghana
It is estimated that over three million Ghanaian professionals have left the shores of the nation since independence to seek for greener pastures.
The Ghanaian Times, which carries the story, says this is due to the complete stagnation and under- development of the country’s economy leading to extensive unemployment and the inability to broaden access to quality education and healthcare.
The Attorney- General and Minister of Justice, Nana Akuffo Addo, at the inauguration of the Chartered Institute of Administration, Ghana, in Accra described as alarming the way the youth were fleeing the country, especially at a time that the nation was in dire need of high quality professionals to regenerate and expand the economy towards the desired sustainable growth.
Nana Akuffo Addo urged up and coming professionals to join in the relentless quest of finding lasting solutions to improve and propel the economy thereby making Ghana a leading player on the global market.
About 40 per cent of Ghanaians live below the poverty line and because of that the structural transformation of the national economy as envisioned in the IMF and World Bank Economic Recovery Programme has not occurred, he observed.
Over 80 per cent of the country’s foreign exchange receipts still come from the traditional commodities namely cocoa, gold and timber, he stated and therefore stressed the need for all Ghanaians to strive to rationalise the situation to boost the country’s economy.
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The Ghanaian Times reports the minority group in Parliament as stating that they are committed to the National Reconciliation Process in the country. However, the group emphasised the need for the reconciliation process to be devoid of partisan consideration in order to achieve its objectives.
Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, a ranking member of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, made these remarks at the opening of a three-day workshop on “National Reconciliation Bill” at Elmina in the Central Region.
He said while the minority group considered the national reconciliation as important, it should not emanate from the circles of one political party in the country or viewed as ‘wall paper’.
Rather, he said, “the economic and political dimension of the country should be looked at in addressing issues geared towards a national reconciliation”, and added that the views of the public are also crucial for the success of the exercise.
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Over 130 adults learn to read
One hundred and thirty-five adult literacy learners have graduated after a three- year training programme organised by the Evangelical Lutheran Church, in collaboration with the Non- Formal Education Division (NFED).
The learners, who were drawn from five farming communities in the Central Region, also undertook training in vocational and management practice skills, aimed at equipping them to be self-employed and to run their own businesses efficiently.
At a graduation ceremony at Gomoa Budumburam, a farming community in the region, the Executive Director of the Lutheran Media Ministry, Mrs Akosua Eghan, said the spiritual needs of the people have to be complemented by developmental projects to enhance the quality of their lives.
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Fight over booty lands three in big trouble
The Daily Graphic says three persons, including a Jamaican, who engaged in a violent and bloody scuffle at Fish Pond, New Achimota in Accra, during a misunderstanding over the sharing of proceeds from their alleged export of narcotics, have been arrested by the police.
They are Dean Osburne, the Jamaican, Ernest Obeng and David Addison, both Ghanaians. During the fight, Osburne inflicted cutlass wounds on the legs and left arm of Addison, who had earlier bitten off the Jamaican's finger and smashed the front and back windscreens of his Toyota Land cruiser vehicle.
Addison is on admission at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, where he is said to be responding to treatment, while Osburne and Obeng are in police custody pending investigations, according to Dr. Kofi Kesse Manfo, Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, who also said in an interview that after their arrest, Addison, who sustained more serious injury during the fight, revealed that they operated a company registered officially for yam exports as a cover up to smuggle large quantities of marijuana to Europe and other countries.
He said the fight ensued at Obeng's residence on Saturday 20 October 2001, when Addison complained that, as the person who concealed the marijuana in the yams, he was not getting a good deal.
Obeng was also quoted as saying that the amount paid to him after the export of a recent consignment fell shot of 30 million cedis. This, according to the commander, angered Obeng who felt his role as the shipping agent, owner of the company is more important, and this resulted in a fight between them.
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Man dupes firm of 242,000 dollars
The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has arrested a 61 year-old man for allegedly duping an Egyptian firm of 242,000 dollars under the pretext of supplying the firm with 96 kilos of gold.
The suspect, Nana Kwame Gyamfi, who also doubles as the Managing Director of Unity Investment Ghana Limited, an unregistered company, is in the custody of the security agencies.
The paper reports a source at the BNI as disclosing in an interview that the complainant, whose name is being withheld, had several discussions with the suspect for the supply of 96 kilos of gold to his company in Egypt.
The source said the complainant allegedly gave Nana Gyamfi 242,000 dollars for the purchase and the cost of freight of the gold to Egypt on a Lufthansa aircraft through Frankfurt.
The complainant also provided Nana Gyamfi with an aircraft ticket for Cairo for the payment of the balance of 480,000 dollars after the confirmation of the goods as gold.
On 17 October 2001, Nana Gyamfi notified the complainant in Cairo that he had shipped the goods and asked the customer to check on it at the airport.
The purported gold bars allegedly arrived in Cairo on 20 October 2001, but after Customs inspections, the items were detected to be wooden bars weighing 52 kilos.
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Moves to decongest prisons
The Director General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Richard Kuurie, has stated that the service is consulting with the police and the judicial services to find an effective means of decongesting the country's prisons, The Daily Graphic reports.
Mr Kuurie told stakeholders consultative meeting on developing an effective justice model using victim-offender mediation in Accra that without the collaboration of these agencies, efforts, aimed at decongesting the prisons would achieve little results.
The Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), a non- governmental charitable organisation, which promotes human rights for prisoners while working to help ex-convicts to successfully integrate into their communities, organised the meeting. The programme is part of its African Transformative Justice Project (ATJP), being carried out in three African countries including Ghana.
According to the Prisons Director, all the prisons in the country are overcrowded resulting in poor health services to inmates, inadequate feeding and the spread of infectious diseases. He expressed concern about the situation where some prison officers have to use their own monies to buy medication for prisoners who fall sick.
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Hidden weapons, a threat to NPP Gov’t.
Top Officers of Military Intelligence (MI) have warned that the NPP government could be taken by surprise if investigations concerning hidden weapons were handled with kids' gloves, writes The Chronicle.
This is because soldiers loyal to the former NDC government have for strange reasons refused to surrender sophisticated weapons in their possession.
The paper says yet to come to the fore is a significant revelation picked up by it’s intelligence a couple of weeks ago, that a pile of Rocket Propelled Guns (RPG) and various deadly assault rifles were uncovered in a cardboard hidden in the office of the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 64 Infantry Regiment.
According to sources, a Board of Enquiry has already been set up to investigate the circumstances that led to the hiding of such a large consignment of deadly weapons in the office covered with papers.
The paper says it further gathered that a large cache of ammunition and heavy weapons have also been uncovered in the home of a soldier with the 64 Infantry Regiment (name withheld) who is currently on a peace mission in Sierra Leone. This follows the discovery of several weapons at his base at Asutsuare.
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NPP prosecution won't halt NDC's reorganisation
The Former Western Regional Minister, Mrs. Esther Lily Nkansah, says though some members of the regional and national re-organisation committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are being prosecuted by the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the practice cannot stop them from achieving their objectives of ensuring that their party returns to power.
She said those who are being prosecuted by the government constitute about 15 per cent of the entire membership of the committee, adding that they have started devising a strategy that would ensure that their plight did not have any adverse effect on the work of the committee.
Mrs. Nkansah, who was speaking at an NDC meeting organised by members of the Shama Constituency branch of the party at Shama on Tuesday 23 October 2001, alleged that besides what is happening at the national level, supporters of the party at the grassroots have been subjected to unending harassment, making it difficult for some of them to even identify themselves publicly with the party.
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NPP divided in the North
The Evening News reports that contrary to official pronouncements, indications are that the NPP is heading for a serious crisis in the Northern Region.
The existence of splinter groups within the party in the region especially, those based at Tamale, all trying to call the shots, is gradually tearing the party apart.
As a result, opinion on the appointment of a Minister for the region among the party faithfuls has not been unanimous. The outgoing Northern Regional Minister, Ben Bukari Salifu was the first to suffer from such political machinations. All sorts of unprintable information were circulated about him in the municipality including, leakages involving his official jobs.
A group calling itself Concern NPP Supporters Club eventually emerged and issued a threat in the October 8, 2001 issue of a private newspaper, to embark on a demonstration on 15 October 2001, against the Regional Minister. The group, among others accused Bukari Salifu of awarding contracts to their political opponents.
However, after several interventions, the group in a letter dated October 10, 2001 and signed by Alhaji Tuuna Yakubu, spokesman and Napari Nagumsi secretary, indicated that they had called off the demonstration “as a sign of respect to our humble and noble Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama”.
The group called on the NPP to do something about the numerous concerns it had raised, and four days later, the Minister was affected by the President's re-shuffle. He was sent to the National Development Planning Commission, as a Minister of State a position most political analysts view as demotion and a "Siberia".
Presently, another group is threatening to take to the street against the appointment of Price Imoro Andani, Tamale Municipal Chief Executive (TMCE) as the Northern Regional Minister.
According to the paper, information gathered by its correspondence, indicate that the group is claiming that Prince Andani is too strict and that during his tenure as the MCE, he did not give the youth in particularly, the needed attention as members of the party.
A source close to the MCE and Minister-designate, insists that he would not allow himself to be held to ransom and therefore, he had refused to talk to that group.
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President Kufuor to receive award in the US
The Ghanaian Voice carries that President John Agyekum Kufuor will receive an award at a Dinner Dance in New York City on 13 November 2001. The award will be presented by the African-American Institute (AAI) on behalf of Ghanaians.
The presentation of the award should have been made on 21 September 2001 but for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre twin tower in New York and Pentagon, it had to be postponed.
The Dinner, which is New York's largest annual event focusing on Africa will be attended by hundreds of guests representing a wide cross section of Business, Education, Governments, Diplomatic and Civic Leaders from around the world.
According to the paper honoured Guests will include President Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana and President Abdulaye Wade of Senegal.
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200 million-dollar scandal rocks Judiciary in Ashanti
Region
Workers of the Kumasi Ashanti New Town branch of the Judicial Service are strongly demanding immediate probe following an alleged robbery of a staggering amount of 200 million dollars, being money collected by three tribunals at Ashanti New Town in the form of fines among others from convicts.
According to the Voice, insiders claim that a group of armed robbers, who allegedly broke into the ground floor of the first tribunal by passing through the toilet, had their ‘field day’, causing the alleged scandal. It also said, even though this incident happened in September this year, the officials kept it a secret.
The shocking aspect of the alleged scandal, according to the paper, was that although the Tribunal has two crack watchmen, nobody heard the alleged break in at the ground floor, suggesting that some "big shots".
A worker, who pleaded anonymity, elaborated how the deal has affected the operations and finances of the outfit, and wondered why such huge amount was kept there instead of the bank.
“We suspect a complete foul play”, two other workers snarled. Several interviews conducted with workers indicated that there was a move by some big men at the judiciary to keep the deal secret. They therefore appealed to the relevant authorities to set up a probe to ascertain the facts of the allegations.
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Killers for court in Kumasi
A Kumasi High Court would next week begin hearing the case in which some three armed robbers who allegedly shot and killed a Kumasi-based taxi driver after snatching his cab from him.
The Daily Guide carrying the story, says the case, which would be heard on Wednesday 31 October 2001, follows an order by a Kumasi Community Tribunal that the case goes before a higher court for trial.
The suspected armed robbers are Mallam Mustapha Danah, 35; Hamza Issa, 22, a driver and Nurudeen Sulemana, 18, a butcher. They are charged with conspiracy to rob and robbing with violence
Mr. Agyeman Duodu, a Senior State Attorney at the Ashanti Regional Attorney-General's Department (A-GD), disclosing this to the paper, said on 15 July 200, the three suspected armed robbers tied the neck of Paul Agyeman 35, now deceased with a nylon rope after which they persistently hit his head with a garden hoe until he died.
After killing him, they dumped his body in the bush behind Opoku Transport Sawmill at Aboabo-Mempeasem a suburb of Kumasi. They then entered the deceased's Hyundai Excel taxi cab with registration number AS 9625 Q and sped off to Tamale in the Northern Region.
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Re: Soldier found to be armed robber
Inspector Kwesi Ofori of the Ashanti Regional Police Public Relations Directorate has explained that since Sergeant Fosu Addo, a serving soldier in the Fourth Battalion of Infantry (4BN) in Kumasi is still under investigations, it would be wrong to say that he is an armed robber.
The Ashanti Regional Police Command was reacting to a story published in the Wednesday 23 October 2001 edition of the Crusading Guide, which suggested Sergeant Addo is an armed robber.
"He is just assisting the police in their investigations into the robbery case at Mampong", Chief Inspector Ofori said and insisted that since the Inter-Security Committee made up of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the Ghana Police Service has established no prima facie case, it would be presumptuous to brand Sgt. Addo as an armed robber.
This is because the soldier was granted bail after police preliminary investigations into the case at Mampong and was subsequently released to his Unit Commander in the army.
It would be recalled that in the said story, the paper alleged that a serving soldier in Kumasi had been arrested along side four other armed robbers in connection with a recent armed robbery case at Ashanti Mampong in the Ashanti Region.
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Cantata is a music and dance drama performance on the national television station that has been airing almost religiously every Sunday afternoon for close to four years and has enjoyed wide patronage among ordinary audiences.
Like many drama programmes on GTV, Cantata has been operating on a very tight budget that does not allow it much room to operate. Although it has a couple of minor sponsors from time to time, the show has not been able to attract devoted sponsors to guarantee its sustenance.
Recently it was rumoured that the show was going to be placed on the “death list,” a fate that has been suffered by other television drama programmes.
But producer of Cantata, Nana Bosompra, appears determined to keep the show going. More often than not, he says, he has had to use his own money to pay for ‘this and that’. “What the actors and actresses are paid is nothing to write home about. Most of us do this out of love for the show and the urge to sustain its aims,” he told a reporter of this paper on Tuesday 23 October 2001, just before they went into the studio to shoot.
Just watching a rehearsal session as the group prepared to shoot an episode gives one the impression that everyone working on the programme wishes it to succeed. “GTV itself is doing its best to ensure that the overhead cost for a single episode which currently runs into over 20 million cedis, is somehow lessened but sponsors are desperately needed for the show,” Nana Bosompra said.
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