More troubles for
Malam Isa
64th regiment
will not be replaced
Research
Institute loses valuable scientific database
Eighteen placed
in police custody for arson
Odinga to be
deported
Fire Service
recruits challenge authorities over payments
Rawlings' fate on
line
MPs in silent
boycott
31st DWM had no
permanent staff
“I still insist
that Kan Dapaah lied through his teeth” - Adjaho
Deputy Minister
denies allegations by his boss
Alhaji Sherrif
succeeds Vice President as chairman of association of contractors
More troubles
for Malam Isa
The Chronicle
reports that another tragedy has hit the former Minister of Youth and Sports,
Malam Ali Yusuf Isa, who is currently serving a four-year jail term for
stealing and causing financial loss to the state.
According to
Salifu Ali, junior brother of Malam Ali Yusuf Isa, the former Minister’s Nissan
pick-up vehicle that conveys him from the Nsawam Prison to the courts, has been
stolen.
Salifu Ali is
reported to have disclosed that on 22 October 2001, he woke up at about 6.30 am
to discover that his brother’s Nissan pick-up with registration number GR 5456
F, which was parked on a street at Nima, a suburb of Accra the previous night,
had been stolen.
He gave the
engine number of the stolen car as T. D. 27352920 and the chassis number as V.
B. M. 2144645.
Salifu Ali who
provided a certified true copy of an extract from the Nima Police Station dated
the 22 October 2001 and signed by him to support his claim, said it’s been a
week since he reported the matter to the police, but there is still no trace of
the pick-up van.
He added that
each time he goes to the police for enquiries, all they keep telling him is
that they are still searching for the vehicle. When the Nima Police were
contacted for details of the theft, the District Commander drove the paper’s
reporter out of his office with words such as “Go away, go away from my office,
you always politicise issues and make money out of it. There are so many cars
stolen, why are you demanding that of Malam Isa?”
More…/
64th regiment
will not be replaced
The Minister of
Defence, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, and his military chiefs have denied that there
are moves by the Ghana Armed Forces or the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government
to create an elite fighting force to replace the 64th Regiment Battalion put in
place by ex-President Rawlings at the onset of the 31st December, 1981 coup
d’etat.
They also denied
the existence of any military training camp anywhere in Ghana where a selected
group of soldiers have been training to protect the President.
At a charged
press conference held at Burma Camp on Monday 29 October 2001, Dr. Addo Kufuor,
while conceding rights of journalists to inform and educate the public, also
pointed out that the Ghana Armed Forces drawn up its own plans and programmes
as an institution, and which they are obliged to carry out in the interest of
national security.
“I respect your
right to know and inform the public but sensitive information will not go out
from here to cause anxiety to the general public and the investment community.”
The Defence
chiefs admitted that there are military exercises going on at the Shai Hills,
but stated that they have nothing to do with the creation of any elite force
for any military purpose.
More…/
The world Bureau
of Scout has expressed reservations about activities of the Ghana National
Scout, and ordered an immediate probe into their activities.
The Chronicle
which carries the story, says some of the activities of the National scout that
are expected to be probed include visa racketeering, abuse of funds and human
trafficking.
The paper says
its investigations confirmed by official sources indicated that the National
Executive of the local scout, based on request of the World Bureau in charge of
international scouting, will set up an immediate probe into activities of the
scouts here in Ghana.
According to Mr.
Isaac Arday, the newly elected national Chief Scout Commissioner, anyone found to
have committed any illegal act, will be dealt with according to law.
GRi…/
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Research
Institute loses valuable scientific database
The Building and
Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) has lost 30 years of valuable scientific database for the study
and control of destruction of building sites by termites.
This follows the
destruction of institute’s experimental test site at Fumesua, near Kumasi, to
make way for the construction of an inland port.
The President of
the Research Staff Association (RSA) of the CSIR, Dr G.K. A. Aflakpui,
announced this at the association's 13th Annual General Meeting at the Soil
Research Institute at Kwadaso near Kumasi.
According to the
Daily Graphic, Dr Aflakpui also mentioned the forceful takeover of the Central
Agricultural Station at Kwadaso by the chiefs and people of the area. The
station is the home of the quality protein maize varieties project and many
more agricultural technologies, which contribute not less than 3.4 trillion
cedis annually to the country’s Gross National Product.
"It was a
very pathetic scene as research scientists and their technicians looked on
helplessly while bulldozers were commandeered by the chiefs to destroy some
long and short term experiments, including those of some PhD students and
foreign donor-assisted projects, such as the GTZ funded West African Seed Development
Unit and the Food Crops Development Project funded by the African Development
Bank," he disclosed.
Dr Aflakpui noted
that as a result, the station is on the verge of losing over 200 acres of its
most productive land, developed over the years.
More…/
Eighteen
placed in police custody for arson
The Daily Graphic
carries that there was pain, anguish and terror in the otherwise peaceful
fishing village of Tettegu near Weija in Accra, last Sunday when a group of
people stormed the town and set four houses ablaze.
Wielding
cutlasses and other offensive weapons, the rampaging group also inflicted
multiple cutlass wounds on a number of residents, creating panic. The police
have so far arrested eighteen persons in connection with the attack and arson.
The Odorkor
District Police Commander, Superintendent William Jib Kwanair, said in an
interview that their arrest followed a report by the Chief of Tettegu, Nii Kofi
Kumah.
Nii Kumah was
said to be holding a meeting with his elders to discuss the construction of a
bridge over River Densu to provide access to the village, which is often cut
off during the flooding of the river, when the incident occurred.
Superintendent
Kwanair said so far, nine people have been treated and discharged in connection
with the attack. He said even though he
police are still investigating the cause of the incident, it is believed that
it might have some connection with the chieftaincy and land disputes at Aplaku,
near Accra.
GRi…/
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Odinga to be
deported
The Evening News
says it’s enquiries from the Ministry of the Interior revealed that Albert
Hamid Odinga, the supposed Belize national, whose arrest near former President
Rawlings’ house generated controversy, is to be deported soon. The major
problem relates to the fact that Odinga does not possess any documents relating
to his nationality.
"Even though
it is generally believed that Odinga is from Belize, he has no documents to
this effect," said, Mr E.P.D. Barnes, Chief Director of the Ministry of
the Interior in response to a questionnaire sent to the Ministry.
According to him,
the Ministry is ‘sorting out things’ and Odinga would be deported as soon as
this is resolved. Meanwhile, the paper claims to have picked signals that
frantic efforts were being made to unravel the mystery surrounding Odinga's
stay in Ghana. But, as to how this is being done and when investigations would
be completed, the security authorities are tight-lipped.
The other twist
to the Odinga story is the Habeas Corpus writ filed by his lawyers, challenging
his continuous detention. They are demanding that, he should be put before a
law court and tried. In the absence of any such trial, the detention would be
deemed inconsequential.
More…/
Fire Service
recruits challenge authorities over payments
Some personnel of
the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) who recently underwent a successful
officer training course for six months have complained about the justification
in their superiors’ bid to compelled them to pay an up front fee of 2,000 cedis
per day for the period of their training.
The Evening News
says not satisfied with the non-transparent manner in which the monies were
demanded at the eleventh hour of their recruitment, they have questioned why as
a security institution the GNFS should demand monies from recruits ostensibly
to feed them.
A few of the officers
who spoke to this paper on conditions of anonymity were emphatic that neither
the Army, Air Force, Navy nor Police Services were known to collect monies from
recruits on engagement.
However, the
Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Mr Elias Adablanu has denied that the monies were
extorted from them, saying the money collected from the 140 recruits was just
to supplement what was provided by the government during the six-month training
period.
“The money was
only 2,000 cedis a day and was meant to provide a decent meal, three times a
day. How can someone feed himself on this amount a day?” He questioned.
GRi…/
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Is Rawlings'
fate on the line?
The Statesman
recalls that it is exactly two years today, 30 October 20001, when it provoked
a political storm with the publication of the story on the now infamous
"Rawlings Tape". The
publication allegedly landed the management and some reporters in police cells,
whiles some people who did not have any links with the paper, were interrogated
and a radio journalist also lost his job.
But after two
years, the "investigations" promised, or rather threatened, by the
then government have never taken place giving credence to the paper’s popular
view that knowing the story may be true, the past government deliberately swept
the matter under the carpet and never dared to bring it out into the open.
Following the
Attorney-General's recent disclosure on a national television programme that
the matter was being investigated, there now appears to be the possibility of
the truth being finally told, and some likely prosecutions.
In the Statesman
30 October 1999 issue, it carried a story headlined "Tapes from the
Rawlings Episode". The story touched on the alleged role of former
President Rawlings in an attempted abduction and murder of the Rt. Rev. Palmer
Buckle, Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, bombing of Accra Ringway Hotel, the
attempted bombing of Provident House also in Accra, the arson at the residence
of the late Tony Gbeho and the attempted bombing of the residence of Capt Kojo
Tsikata.
The tape, which
featured a conversation said to have taken place between a woman alleged to be
a friend of the former President and his aide, Albert Gbafa, seemed to point at
the long hand of the then President in all these sordid events. The reaction of
the then government was instant and bore all the hallmarks of the typical
authoritarian regime.
Yaw Amfo-Kwakye,
Managing Director of Kinesic Communications, publishers of the Statesman, was
promptly arrested and detained, while the then Chief Reporter who investigated
and wrote the story, Ferdinand O. Ayim, was picked up at one o'clock in the
morning by heavily armed policemen in two jeeps, who ‘turned his house inside
out’ searching for the tape and hauled him to Police headquarters, without a
search warrant or an arrest warrant.
The owner of the
paper, Nana Akufo-Addo, Member of Parliament for Abuakwa constituency, and the
Office Assistant, Samuel's Okyere, were also hauled to Police Headquarters.
More…/
MPs in silent
boycott
The Statesman in
another story claims there is evidence of a silent boycott by Members of Parliament
(MPs) since the House resumed a fortnight ago.
This action, the
paper says is attributed to the MPs’ unhappiness with the way the Executive,
particularly the President, dealt with the issue of the 20,000 dollar-car loan
for MPs. Much to their chagrin, President Kufuor, upon his return from Cote d'
Ivoire suspended the move to grant loans to MPs.
Even though
business in Parliament immediately on resumption from recess is often very
slow, two weeks of deliberations of the Third Meeting of the House has been
badly hit by lack of quorum to adopt an important motion.
The motion is on
"the report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Auditor-General's
report on the Public Accounts of Ghana for the period ended 31st December and
other Agencies (MDAS) of the Central Government (Judicial Service)".
The motion that
generated lots of criticisms from both the Majority and Minority benches, has
since the past three sitting days, been unable to get the nod of the House,
though it has always been printed on the Order Paper, that serves as the agenda
for each day's sitting.
According to the
paper, speculations running around the corridors of the House are that “the
honourable MPs are flexing their muscles to let the Executive realise that what
is good for the goose is good for the gander”.
Sampling
conducted among a number of MPs from both the Majority and Minority groups has
shown that almost all the MPs are unhappy with the public bashing received.
GRi…/
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31st DWM had
no permanent staff
Contrary to
general perception, the 31st December Women's Movement (DWM) had no permanent
staff working on the ADB-funded Women's Community Development Project,
according to the Crusading Guide.
The staff of the
Movement were civil servants who have returned to their posts since the
beginning of this year. A Report dated 13 August 2001 compiled by the
Supervision Mission of the African Development Bank/African Development Fund
(ADF) that visited the country from 21 July 2001 to 13 August 2001, made this
disclosure.
It added that
there was an outstanding government counterpart contribution of 73,000 dollars
for the Women's Community Development Projects.
The Projects had
been implemented by the Movement and supported by an ADF loan and a TAF grant
amounting to UA 1.82 million and UA 0.44 million respectively. It was approved
on 18 June 1991 and became effective on 23 December 1992.
According to the
Report, the micro-credit funds have not been distributed since January 2001 and
that the funds are currently deposited in PMU accounts with district branches
of the Ghana Commercial Bank.
However, the
report noted that the DWM does not have the capacity to administer the fund.
More…/
“I still
insist that Kan Dapaah lied through his teeth” - Adjaho
The Member of
Parliament for Avenor, Doe Adjaho, has reiterated that the Energy Minister,
Albert Kan Dapaah, lied through his teeth when he said that 7 trillion cedis
out of the government’s targeted revenue of 13 trillion cedis was going to be
used for debt servicing, though Parliament had approved 4.4 trillion cedis for
that exercise.
Speaking in
reaction to a front page story in the Crusading Guide, with the headline
"ADJAHO SHOT OFF TARGET,… He Only Needed To Check His Figures Before
Calling Me A Liar" published in the 25 - 31 October 2001 issue, the MP for
Avenor stated that the Energy Minister had lost credibility for making the
above statement, which was earlier carried by another local newsaper.
Kan Dapaah in the
paper’s last edition had described as unfortunate a statement by Doe Adjaho on
a Sunyani-based radio station and subsequently on an Accra-based radio station
to the effect that he (Kan Dapaah) had lied by saying that 7 trillion cedis was
going to be used for debt servicing.
Mr Adjaho
referred to the Parliaemntary Hansard to prove his point, saying, “We are
dealing with figures”. According to him, Kan Dapaah mentioned 7 trillion cedis
as the money meant to service Ghana's foreign debt. "But look at the Hansard", Mr Adjaho said, pointing to
the 4.4 trillion cedis. "This is
what we have approved", he asserted.
He further
explained that the 7.7 trillion cedis included the external debt of 4.4
trillion cedis and other components like pension and gratuity, interest on
domestic debt, District Assembly Common Fund, Road Fund and Education Trust
Fund as stated by Mr Osafo Maafo as Government obligations.
GRi…/
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Deputy
Minister denies allegations by his boss
Mr Issah
Ketekewu, Deputy Northern Regional Minister, has expressed surprise at the allegations
leveled against him by Mr Ben Bukari Salifu, the outgoing Regional Minister,
that he had condoned with other groups to kick him out of office prematurely.
The Ghanaian
Times writes that Ketekewu who was reacting to a news item in the Monday 29
october 2001 issue of this paper that he was engaged in a power struggle with
Mr Salifu, called for a full-scale investigation into the matter, saying that
the results should be made public.
Stating that the
allegation was unfounded, Mr Ketekewu said "Mr Salifu is a full Minister
of State while I am a Deputy Minister, so how do I usurp his powers when I
don't have the constitutional mandate to do so?"
He added: "I
am not the one proposed as the Regional Minister but a different person, so
there is no reason why I should be eager to see him out of his office."
The Deputy
Minister said that it was unfortunate that the outgoing Minister had accused
him of failing to co-operate with him, saying that the Minister rather, never
handled him well.
He alleged that
following the announcement of the re-shuffle, Mr Salifu immediately stopped
coming to the office as a result of which work at the Regional Co-ordinating
Council was grinding to a halt.
Mr Ketekewu said
that he decided to take charge of all correspondence but referred to the
Minister, all those that needed his attention. He therefore wondered how such
an act could be interpreted as "usurping the powers of the Minister".
More…/
Alhaji Sherrif
succeeds Vice President as chairman of contractors association
The
Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has been replaced as the Northern Regional
chairman of the Association of Road Contractors, following his election as the
Vice-President of the Republic. His successor, Alhaji I.M. Sherrif, Managing
Director of Savanna Construction, was elected unopposed at the weekend.
This is to allow
him enough time to concentrate on his new responsibility which is more
demanding. Until he assumed the
position of Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama managed his own construction
firm, Lidra Construction Company Limited..
Alhaji Amadu M.
Aminu, Technical Adviser to the Association attributed reports of alleged
shoddy works being executed by some road contractors to their lack of technical
expertise.
GRi…/
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