Government policy to be more human-centered
Cholera outbreak in Kumasi…One dead, 42 on admission
Ghana Bar Association threatens court action over jet if…
Kufuor’s running mate…Three join the race
Frenchman on the run…As police smash fake currency syndicate
Ghana spends 4bC on arms from South Africa
Military doctors take five times civilian pay
Atta Mills is still No. 1 choice
Daily Graphic
Government policy to be more human-centered
The Daily Graphic in its lead story, reports the Minister of Communications, Mr John Mahama, as disclosing that the focus of government policy will now be towards more human-centered development. He said this would involve a conscious effort to improve incomes, create jobs and strengthen the earning capacities of the people to enhance their living standards.
The Minister is said to have made this disclosure on a "Joy FM" programme ‘Front Page’, at the weekend. According to Mr Mahama, the emphasis of the government over the past one and half decades has been to build a strong infrastructural base upon which the socio-economic take-off of Ghana would be based.
He is quoted as noting that infrastructure such as electricity, potable water, good roads hospitals and schools, have taken up an overwhelming proportion of national resources, leaving relatively smaller amounts for improving the personal emoluments and other areas of needs for the people.
The Minister said that with the laying of such a strong foundation, the government in the next coming years, especially in the year 2000 and beyond, would institute a social safety net and strengthen the means of livelihood for Ghanaians, making them more comfortable than they are at present.
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Cholera outbreak in Kumasi…One dead, 42 on admission
In another story, the Graphic reports that 42 people have been admitted to the Komfo Anokye Polyclinic in Kumasi, who are suspected to be suffering from cholera. One child was said to have been pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The paper says 30 out of the number were admitted yesterday alone with symptoms of the disease, such as vomiting and frequent passing of watery stool. According to the Graphic, the cholera outbreak, which started in July, this year, with a few reported cases, has now assumed alarming proportions.
Currently, the recovery ward of the hospital is said to be congested with some of the patients sharing beds while others are sleeping on the floor and on benches.
The Graphic quotes Dr E.Appiah-Denkyirah, the Ashanti Regional Director of Health Service, who has already visited the ward, as describing the situation as a ‘disaster’. He has therefore directed the nurses to concentrate on providing treatment first before asking the patients or their relatives to go through the procedure for treatment and admission to forestall fatalities.
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Ghana Bar Association threatens court action over jet if…
The Ghanaian Chronicle reports that the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has demanded that state officials who were responsible for the transaction leading to the acquisition of the new presidential jet, should be personally surcharged with whatever cost the state has incurred in the process.
According to the association, this is because the purchase of the aircraft without the necessary budgetary allocation and without recourse to Parliament, was unlawful and subversive of the rule of the constitution. The Chronicle in a screaming headline story, reports that the intended action of the lawyers was contained in a resolution adopted by the association at its meeting in Kumasi and read at a news conference in Accra by the president of the GBA, Mr Joseph Ebow Quarshie.
The paper says Mr Quarshie, in an answer to a question, disclosed that the GBA would go to court to seek redress if the government fails to address their concern, stating that the General Council of the Bar would take such action to uphold the rule of law.
He is reported to have noted with concern the purchase of the new jet which he said had come in the wake of serious social and economic malaise in Ghana and at a time when the old presidential jet had not been technically declared unsafe. According to Mr Quarshie, this portrays the government as grossly misplacing its national priorities and evidence of lack of sensitivity to the plight of Ghanaians.
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Kufuor’s running mate…Three join the race
The Ghana Palaver writes on its front page that the race for J.A. Kufuor’s running-mate is said to have assumed a complex dimension with more ‘ambitious personalities throwing their hats into the ring’ for consideration.
According to the paper, Mrs Gladys Asmah, Alhaji Mustapha Idris and Malik Alhassan Yakubu, MPs for Takoradi, Gukpegu-Sabongida and Yendi, respectively, who were earlier promised the Interior portfolio by Mr Kufuor, have all shot themselves into the front-line following the inability of the power-brokers in the NPP to settle on a candidate.
The Palaver says Mr Kufuor himself is believed to be lobbying the ‘henchmen’ to consider Alhaji Mustapha Idris. The paper says, however, that its scouts have indicated that Mrs Asmah has a bright chance as she is seen as compromise candidate following the bickering and animosity building among the other contestants. It says the chances of Major Courage Quashigah, the national organiser, have nose-dived in recent times, as the party’s inner circle still suspects his total loyalty to the NPP.
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Frenchman on the run…As police smash fake currency syndicate
The Police Buffalo Unit in Kumasi is reported to be searching for a French national, Jean Poirot, believed to be the brain behind a fake foreign currency racket operating in Ghana.
The Ghanaian Times in its leader, reports that Poirot is said to be involved in a recent big fake dollar deal in Kumasi. The story names three of his Ghanaian accomplices who have been arrested by the police, as Anthony Kroah, 48, a self-styled building contractor, Eric Bimpong, 34, driver and Charles Adjetey, 36, teacher.
They are said to be based in Accra. The Times quotes Police Inspector P. Ampadu-Okyere of the Buffalo Unit, who briefed the press, as saying that the police had information that some people had arrived in the metropolis from Accra and were dealing in fake currency.
The story says the police, acting on the information, spotted a Datsun taxi with the registration number GT 9143 Q, while the three suspects standing by. Soon another taxi arrived and Anthony approached it and collected a big brass box which contained the fake dollars, from a man (name withheld). noticing the presence of the police, Anthony and the two other accomplices, sped off in their taxi but they were arrested. According to Inspector Ampadu-Okyere, Poirot met Anthony in France and had discussion on establishing a herbal clinic in Ghana. Poirot who had arrived in Ghana on September 28, this year, introduced the man in the other taxi to Anthony as a partner in the business.
The suspects decided to change the fake dollars into local currency to start the business, the Inspector is reported as saying.
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The Dispatch
Ghana spends 4bC on arms from South Africa
In a front page splash, the Dispatch says its in-depth investigations in Ghana and South Africa over the past three weeks, have revealed that Ghana bought from South Africa, arms and military equipment to the tune of $51,589,331, about 4 billion cedis, between 1996 and 1998.
According to the paper, the military hardware included ‘sensitive major significant equipment’ (SMSE), ‘sensitive significant equipment’ (SSE), ‘non-sensitive equipment (NSE) and non-lethal equipment’ (NLE). The Dispatch says Ghana was not the only country that bought arms and military equipment from South Africa, adding that there were also Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Cameroon, Algeria and Angola.
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Military doctors take five times civilian pay
The Public Agenda says doctors in the hospitals earmarked for military take-over, who accept to work under military administration, stand to earn several times their present salaries. According to the paper, this is because military doctors get five times more salary than their civilian colleagues do.
The Public Agenda says the salaries of nurses at the Ridge Hospital in Accra, who signed up with the new administration, have already been increased by nearly 50 per cent. It says a medical doctor at the 37 Military Hospital takes home 1.7 million cedis a month while those who work at public hospitals receive 391,000 cedis. Senior Medical Officers and Principal Medical Officers at the hospital are said to be paid 2 million cedis and 2.4 million cedis respectively while a Senior Medical Officer in a public hospital takes home 548,000 cedis a month.
The Public Agenda says a confidential document on the new pay structure of nurses at the Ridge Hospital made available to the paper, indicate that the take home pay of a Staff Midwife at the hospital is 569,746 cedis a month, adding that before the take-over, a Staff Midwife was receiving 266,315 cedis per month.
A Principal Nursing Officer under the new military administration, will be paid 830,000 cedis, more than 280,000 cedis above what a Senior Medical Officer working under the Ministry of Health receives, writes the Public Agenda
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Atta Mills is still No. 1 choice
The Ghanaian Voice says Vice-President John Atta Mills, who has been tipped by President Jerry Rawlings to succeed him in the year 2000 elections, is still the favourite choice of the NDC, the international community, donor agencies and people who matter on the diplomatic scene.
The paper says according to highly-placed sources in London and certain states in the United States, the NDC members favour Prof. Mills by 65 per cent with 15 per cent supporting the candidature of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings.
The Voice says the First Lady is being promoted as a contingency plan in case Vice-President Mills falters. "When President Rawlings met President Clinton during their three previous encounters, he disabused the American President’s mind that the First Lady will step into his shoes.
And we know J.J. as someone who will not lick back his sputum", the paper quotes the sources as saying.
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