Govt urged to help check corruption
Tribal tension mounts at Kintampo
Latest on Jack Beblie
Military ‘adventurers’ blamed for Africa’s poverty
Four Saga officials help police in coke case
Ghana Keeps Faith with Africa Dev. Bank
The government has been urged to muster the political will to effectively tackle the problem of corruption since there are enough laws on Ghana’s statute books empowering the executive to do so.
The Weekend Statesman in a front page story reports Mr Justice P.D. Anin, a retired Supreme Court Judge as saying there is no need to enact new laws to deal with corruption. Mr Anin, who is also a former President of the Gambian Court of Appeal, was speaking at a garden discussion on: "Corruption and the Adjudication Process in Ghana", organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs in Accra.
The paper says Mr Justice Anin referred to the recent announcement by President Jerry Rawlings that the government will soon come out with a code of conduct for public officers and said that such a code already exists in the 1992 Constitution.
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In a front page lead story, the Free Press says the commercial town of Kintampo in the Brong Ahafo Region, was thrown into turmoil and pandemonium when on May 21, this year, contingents of police and soldiers in armoured vehicles from Sunyani, Techiman and Wenchi descended on the town during a session of the district assembly to vote on the ‘controversial’ nomination of Mr Stephen Kunsu, as the District Chief Executive.
The paper says the contingent, led by the Regional Minister, Mr Donald Adabre and his deputy, Alhaji Kwadwo Maama Adam, took positions at the district assembly building and other strategic points in the town under the guise of maintaining law and order while in reality, there had been no reports of disturbances or inter-sectoral clashes in the town. According to the Free Press, observers therefore saw the presence of the security forces as a calculated
Ploy to intimidate the assembly members to confirm the appointment of Mr Kunsu, whose nomination had met with opposition from a cross-section of the people in the district.
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Return to top Ghana Palaver
According to the Ghana Palaver sources, Regimental Sergeant-Major (RSM) Jack Beblie, is gravely shocked by allegations of his involvement in the daylight robbery of 2.4 billion cedis worth of gold Bars belonging to Amansie Resources, a mining company in Ashanti.
The paper in a front page story says Jack Beblie is even more shocked on realising that his relation, including his own son, Jack Jnr., were apparently involved in the operation, quoting the sources.
The Palaver says in spite of his ill-health, Jack Beblie has indicated his determination to assist the investigation team in hunting his relations who are said to be involved in the robbery, until they are arrested. He said that is the only way to help clear his name as well as the institution to which he belonged. Quoting the sources, the Palaver says Jack Beblie had to suspend his treatment abroad and fly back home when he was informed about the allegation of his involvement in the robbery case.
The paper says Jack Belie, meanwhile, has been released on bail.
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The Ghanaian Chronicle in a front page story reports Professor Richard Joseph, a Fellow of African Covenant of the Carter Centre in the United States, as blaming military rulers for stalling the development of democratic practice in Africa. "The role of the African in contributing to the building of democracy on the continent, has been dislocated by military adventurers", he is quoted as saying.
The paper says Prof. Joseph, a professor of Political Science at Emory University in the United States an observer of the 1992 general elections in Ghana, made this observation at a round-table discussion organised in Accra by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) on: "New Covenant Agenda for Africa.
The discussion brought together the academia, parliamentarians, the media, civil society leaders and the diplomatic community. Prof. Joseph slammed the non-committal approach of some African leaders to democracy, a phenomenon he described as "dangerous" and called on Africans to strengthen and support institutions whose functions impinge on the practice of democratic governance, the Ghanaian Chronicle said
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The Ghanaian Times reports that four officials of Saga Ghana Limited, a shipping agency at Tema,were yesterday picked by the security agencies in connection with the discovery of compact parcels concealed in three out of 400 bags of rice in a 200-footer container at the Tema Harbour.
Three bags of the consignment were each found stuffed with 2,22 kilogrammes of suspected cocaine which were delivered by the vessel "CMBT Asia" at the Tema Port on March 20, this year.
The suspects: Ken Arthur, Shipping Manager of Saga, Emmanuel Thompson-Addo, Deputy General Manager, Sanniez Cornelius of Nedleyd Shipping and J.T.B. Addison, Import and Claims Manager of Saga, were picked up at their offices on the orders of the Minister in charge of National Security, Mr Kofi Totobi Quakyi.
The Times says that last Monday, following a tip-off officials of the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), security agencies and the Narcotics Control Board, led journalists to inspect a 200-footer container shipped from Surinam through Britain to the Tema Harbour. Upon examination of all the 400 bags of rice in the container, three parcels of suspected cocaine, each weighing 2.22 kilogrammes were discovered.
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In a lead headline story, the Graphic reports that Ghana has settled all her financial commitments, both In terms of share subscription and loan repayments, with the African Development Bank AfDB. Ghana has also been rated among the best African countries in terms of AfDB-financed project execution.
The Graphic attributed the disclosure to Mr Moses Asaga, Deputy Minister of Finance at the 35th and 26th annual meeting of the bank and the African Development Fund (ADF) respectively in Cairo, Egypt.
The paper says the meeting brought together more than 1,000 participants, including African Ministers of Finance, Governors of Central Banks, chief executive of commercial banks, representatives of multinational and regional institutions, external shareholders of the bank and the media.
Mr Asaga is reported as saying that in view of the good performance of Ghana with the ADF, the government and the AfDB will soon conclude discussions on the 1999-2000 programme under which the bank will finance and co-finance a number of projects in Ghana.
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