The Independent
Thugs vandalising churches in Accra
Ghana Palaver
The Guide
Keta Sea Defence Project…Damning revelation
The Statesman
Government urged to check expatriates in mining
Daily Graphic
Sunyani drivers in violent demonstration
Ghanaian Times
President raps the cheating Lebanese
The Independent
In a front-page story, the Independent says a group of gangsters numbering about 12, went on the rampage attacking churches in the Accra metropolis, last Sunday.
According to the paper, this is the latest of such attacks believed to be the handiwork of the chiefs of the Ga Traditional Council, to be perpetrated by hired thugs as a way of ensuring the compliance with the ban on drumming by those ‘recalcitrant’churches.
The Independent says one of the churches which suffered the planned brutalities at the weekend was the "Living Life Ministry at Darkuman-Nyamekye in Accra. Quoting sources, the paper says the thugs arrived at the church in a Benz mini-bus at about 11.30a.m.,when the second service was in session.
According to the sources, the heavily drunk well-built thugs, wielding bottles and sticks, entered the church room and held the congregation to ransom, demanding the immediate stoppage of church because the "congregation was disturbing with their musical instruments".
Some men among the congregation who were taken aback, challenged the action of the mob and tried to restrain them from carrying the musical instruments away, but the thus threatened to kill anyone who would stand in their way. The sources said after the thugs had taken away the instrument and were about to leave, some members of the church who happened to know some of the gangsters, had a lengthy consultation with them after which the seized items were released to the church.
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The Palaver says its investigations have revealed a diabolical plan by an assembly member (name withheld) to undermine the Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Nana Akwasi Agyeman.
The paper in a front-page story, says the assembly member, who is a known NPP sympathiser, has been using his position to harass known NDC supporters in his electoral area, boasting that he "fears nobody".
According to the Palaver, on May 1,the assembly member’s conduct was reported to Nana Akwasi Agyeman, who allegedly invited him and advised him to stop his misconduct, but the advice rather infuriated him and he resorted to blackmailing the KMA boss.
The paper says the assembly member on May 4, this year, allegedly wrote letters addressed to the Ashanti Regional Minister, copied to the NPP Member of Parliament for Manhyia, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, the Minister of Local Government and the Asantehene’s office among others, claiming that Nana Akwasi Agyeman was disrupting his administration and other unsubstantiated accusations.
The Palaver says reports indicated that the media houses whose help the assembly member solicited to further his plans, have refused to go along with him because of the irrelevance of the arguments raised y him in the letter.
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In its lead story, the Guide says new information filtering in indicates that the state may not succeed in retrieving the 1.5 billion cedis paid to "Pentrexx Ghana Limited" in the demolition of structures in Keta in the Volta Region, as part of the Keta Sea Defence project.
According to the information, there was no signed contract document between the government and Pentrexx, for the demolition exercise. The Guide quotes a source as doubting the state’s ability to retrieve the money under such circumstance.
The Guide in another front page story, reports that thousands of Ghanaians living in the Netherlands (Holland) without valid documents, are being chased out of the country.
The paper quotes the reports assaying majority f Ghanaians in the Netherlands are in possession of false documents some of which belong to their friends and relatives.
Those whose documents are not genuine have gone into hiding to avoid arrest. According to the report, in November, last year, a Ghanaian fleeing from a Dutch police officer, fell into a canal in Amsterdam, and his almost decomposed body was found a month later. He has since been buried.
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The Ghana Mineworkers’ Union has called on the government to review the expatriate quota in the mining industry to ensure that only competent skills which are not available in Ghana, are recruited, reports the Statesman in a front page story.
The paper says the Union in a resolution adopted at its Delegates’ Congress at Tarkwa, in the Western Region, stated that the review will reduce costs, which, according to the union, form a substantial part of operational expenditure of mining companies.
The Union, the Statesman says, also called on the government to empower the Ghana Immigration Service and identified human resource experts to handle expatriate quota for the mining industry, which has been
Has been entrusted to the Minerals Commission. The unionists insisted that disparities in the remuneration of expatriates and their Ghanaian counterparts, should be seriously addressed by management of mining companies.
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The Graphic reports from Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region that 12 drivers suffered various degrees of injury when they clashed with security men deployed in various parts of the regional capital to maintain peace following a violent demonstration by drivers in the town yesterday.
According to the story featured on the back-page of the paper, the demonstration was in protest against the planned introduction of new driving licences and an alleged payment of 70,000 cedis per driver for a planned road safety workshop for drivers in the region.
The Graphic says scores of the drivers were arrested following the disturbances, which crippled economic and social activities in the town. According to the paper, it was pure mayhem as drivers wearing red bands went berserk deflating tyres and stoning vehicles which dared to operate.
It said drivers who were seen operating by their striking colleagues, had the tyres of their vehicles deflated. The Graphic quotes reports from certain parts of the town as indicating that some private cars were even attacked by the demonstrators for picking people to their various destinations, claiming that the gesture was defeating their action.
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The Ghanaian Times reports that the President, Flt-Lt Jerry Rawlings, has asked foreigners to respect the rights of their Ghanaian wives and children, when it comes to the inheritance of their property.
The paper says President Rawlings was speaking to the out-going Lebanese Ambassador, Dr Mounir Khreish at the Castle, Osu yesterday. He referred particularly to the unfair treatment meted out to Ghanaian wives of Lebanese, who are disinherited together with their children, when it comes to sharing of property and called on such foreigners to re-examine their conscience and do the right thing.
The President, the paper says, explained that most of the foreigners, particularly the Lebanese, married Ghanaians while doing business in Ghana. "If they become successful and decide to leave for their home countries, they do so, abandoning their children and their mothers.
When it comes to writing of wills, very often it is the children of their Lebanese wives who benefit at the expense of Ghanaian children", he is quoted as saying, adding: "All those doing that must re-examine their conscience and do the right thing.
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