Arms cache…Two Nigerians held
Arms cache uncovered
Parliament set for big battle over courts
Govt suspends mobile phone licensing
Kufuor booted out of United States Congress
NDC govt under severe pressure
Arms cache…Two Nigerians held
Arms cache uncovered
The two national dailies, the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times give prominence on their front pages to the discovery at Tesano in Accra, of a large quantity of arms belonging to two Nigerians.
The Graphic reports that two Nigerians appeared before an Accra Circuit Tribunal yesterday, charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and possessing firearms without authority. The Times, on the other hand says two Nigerians were yesterday arraigned at an Accra Circuit Tribunal, charged with possessing 2,717 arms and ammunitions without lawful authority.
Both papers mention the Nigerians as Uzaek Uzondo Alo, 30, a driver also called Ekpechu, and Christian Obi, 33, a farmer. The papers say the two suspects, who pleaded not guilty, were remanded in prison custody until November 1. The Graphic says a third accomplice is, however, at large and the tribunal has issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
The paper says a Ghanaian, Bradford Sakyi Djan, who claimed ownership of the house where the 40-footer container and its contents were found, has been granted a 50 million-cedi police enquiry bail with two sureties to be justified.
The papers say that the prosecution told the court chaired by Mrs Frances Owusu-Arhin, that following he recent spate of armed robberies in Ghana, and based on information that some people were loading arms and ammunition onto a foreign vehicle at Tesano, the police a surveillance.
On October 11, a team of detectives and uniformed police personnel arrested the two Nigerians at House Number 49, Tesano, along the Nkrumah Circle-Abeka Road. The police discovered 2,717 pieces of shotguns and ammunition concealed in a specially designed compartment of a vehicle bearing a foreign number plate, BS 834jjj.
The two papers say a search of the house also led to the discovery of five more boxes of ammunition and 184 cartons of "Baikal" single-barrel shot guns. IN the 40-footer container also were 276 pieces of shot guns, 10 cartons of "Folding Pump Action" single-barrel shotguns and 14 cartons of "Mosberc" single-barrel shot guns.
According to the prosecution, upon interrogation, the suspects claimed that they arrived in Ghana by road with the vehicle from Nigeria on October 8. They said one "Kodjo", an accomplice at Tudu in Accra, who sent them to the Tesano house to convey the goods to Kumasi, hired them. hired them.
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Parliament set for big battle over courts
In its top story, the Statesman says Parliament reconvenes today with a big challenge by the ruling party to the Minority to disturb the present judicial system.
The paper says among the various issued to be dealt with during the meeting, will be a Constitutional (Amendment) Bill which seeks among other things, to amend the Constitution to raise the Regional Tribunals to the status and the same jurisdiction as the High Court.
The Statesman says according to a memorandum accompanying the bill, signed by Dr Obed Asamoah, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Article 137 (2) of the Constitution, which gives right of appeal from "a judgement decree or order of the High Court or a Regional Tribunal to the Court of Appeal", has been one of the causes of delays in the courts.
The memorandum, the paper says, has stated that Article 137 (3) has resulted in a situation where "every order, including interlocutory orders, given by the High Court or Regional Tribunal can be appealed against all the way to the Supreme Court, while the substantive case still stays at the court below pending the outcome of the appeal".
The Attorney-General is reported as stressing that the provision as it stands, has been "used to cause interminable delays that lead to protracted litigation and absolute frustration", and proposes that the Article needs to be "reined in".
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Govt suspends mobile phone licensing
The High Street Journal reports the Communications Minister, Mr John Mahama, as announcing a fortnight ago that the government has temporarily suspended the licensing of new mobile cellular operations in Ghana.
The move, he said, is to streamline the operations of existing cellular operations to ensure efficiency. Five mobile phone operators are currently licensed, namely, Mobitel, Cellular, Spacefon, Westel and Ghana Telecom. Mr Mahama is quoted as saying that by the end of the year, a permanent National Communications Authority with the full complement of staff, will be set up to, among other functions, streamline the operations of cellular phones.
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Kufuor booted out of United States Congress
According to the Ghana Palaver, when the presidential candidate of the NP, Mr. J.A. Kufuor, embarked on his last fund-raising visit to the United States, he had another plan.
That was to talk to the leading Congressmen of America to stop using the government of Ghana as an example of the success story on economic and social reforms on the African continent in particular and the Third World in general. The paper says report by its scouts in the United states, indicated that the NPP presidential candidate went to the Capitol Hill to plead for the tightening of financial support for the NDC government.
Mr. Kufuor, the Palaver says, however, had the shock of his life, when a leading Congressman told him in the face that members of Congress knew much more about what was happening in Ghana than the presidential candidate did and that the Congress would support every effort Ghana needed in her bid to sustain its current economic reform. According to the paper, to Mr. Kufuor’s surprise, he was told right in the face that if he had come to Congress to solicit for support against aid for the Ghana Government, then "he had gone to the wrong place".
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NDC govt under severe pressure
The Guide in a front-page story, says President Jerry Rawlings’ NDC government seems to be under severe pressure, which is seen by some Ghanaians as descending from a cliff into a valley.
According to the paper, the NDC government has lost control of the management of the affairs of the nation and has resorted to panicky and ad-hoc solutions to problems.
The Guide observes that in a matter of two months, about four major policies of the government have been thrown overboard by the civil populace, through protests and demonstrations and threats of strike actions.
It says the recapitulation of the government on major policy issues, one after the other, is all ample testimony that the NDC government may be "at the end of the road and running just to remain where it is".
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