Treatment for AIDS discovered?
Asantehene to set up AIDS research centre
Peprah on his way out!
Veterans to be ejected…As Legion Village is sold to ‘big men’
Fraud galore…Over 50bnC missing
Bleak Christmas
Treatment for AIDS discovered?
The Ghanaian Times reports in its top story that 96 people who have tested HIV/AIDS positive, are undergoing a special herbal treatment under the supervision of the Noguchi Memorial Medical Research Institute of the University of Ghana, Legon, and Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine at Mampong-Akuapem in the Eastern Region.
The Times says that Prof. K. Oppong-Buachie, Co-ordinator of the AIDS project, who disclosed this, stated that four national centres have been established in Ashanti and two in the Eastern Region, to facilitate the special medical treatment.
The paper says Prof. Buachie who was reacting to a Ghana News Agency story that the Noguchi Institute, in collaboration with St Dominic Hospital at Akwatia in the Eastern Region, has started an experimental treatment of AIDS, confirmed the Institute’s supervisory role. According to the story, 80 selected AIDS patients meet twice weekly at the Primary Health Care Department of the hospital for medication.
The story quotes Reverend Sister Miguera Keller, Co-ordinator of the department, as saying that so far, more than 220 HIV/AIDS patients from all over Ghana, have been registered.
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Asantehene to set up AIDS research centre
In an inside page story, the Daily Graphic also reports on efforts to contain the AIDS menace and says the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has initiated moves towards the establishment of an AIDS research and screening centre in Ghana, in collaboration with the World Bank. Otumfuo Osei Tutu is said to have already held discussions with officials of the World Bank and is currently preparing a working document for study.
The Graphic says Otumfuo Osei Tutu dropped the hint when "Miss Ghana ‘99", Miss Mariam Sugru Bugri, called on him at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi on Wednesday. According to the paper, the Asantehene said that if everything goes on well, the centre would be established in Kumasi and would facilitate screening of people for HIV/AIDS, free of charge.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu urged Miss Ghana to embark on an enhanced education programme to create awareness on the scourge of AIDS on the people, especially the productive youth.
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Peprah on his way out!
The dismissal bell has started tolling for Mr Kwame Peprah, the Minister of Finance, says the Ghanaian Voice in a lead story. According to the Voice, in just a matter of weeks, if not days, the man who has been the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) and chairman of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), will be shown the ‘executive exit’.
The paper says Mr Peprah’s ‘sins’ are said to be many, ranging from his handling of certain affairs of the DIC, the AGC turmoil, among others. The Voice says its sources has confided that "now, enough is enough and he has to go". The paper says that when it learnt about the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) probing some divested and yet-to-be divested companies, Mr Peprah was cold towards the SFO’s invitations so the battle was carried to his office for answers to certain questions.
The paper says it learnt that in the middle of the questions, Mr Peprah complained that he was not being treated well. It says while the SFO is yet to come out with its findings, the AGC financial turmoil came up and the government was not happy with certain unauthorised statements Mr Peprah was alleged to have made in London.
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Veterans to be ejected…As Legion Village is sold to ‘big men’
In a screaming headline story, the Ghanaian Chronicle writes on its front page that 60 impoverished veterans of the First and Second World Wars, who have been resettled at the "Veterans’ Village" in Accra, are to be ejected to pave way for the development of the area into residential complexes.
The story says the veterans, aged between 98 and 108, some of whom are amputees and blind, eke out a miserable existence in cubicles, while some sleep on the bare floor. According to the Chronicle, the ejection order was communicated to the veterans at a closed-door meeting held at the Village last Sunday by officials of the Veterans’ Association of Ghana (VAG).
The veterans are said to have complained that they were told that the land had been sold to "some big men" to build houses. The paper says when it contacted Lt-Colonel Nibo of the Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate for his comments, he said that the VAG Headquarters was the appropriate place to go.
The Chronicle says this was after Colonel Ametame of the VAG had directed the paper to the Ministry of Defence. According to the Chronicle, earlier Col. Ametame had refused to comment on the issue. He is quoted as saying: "How did you hear this? If you don’t know and you publish anything, you will see. Wait till an action is taken on this mater before you publish".
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Fraud galore…Over 50bnC missing
The Public Agenda quoting the Auditor-General’s report in a front page story, says that various government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s), have stolen, embezzled, wasted, mismanaged and misused amounts totalling more than 50 billion cedis.
The paper says payroll fraud, payment for goods that have not been supplied, embezzlement and debts, were some of the common problems identified by the report. According to the report, these incidences were wide-spread among almost all the MDA’s, with the Ministries of Health, Education, Finance, Lands and Forestry, Defence and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Controller and Accountant-General’ Department, accounting for a large amount of the losses.
Most of the monies could not be accounted for because the laid-down procedures for their disbursement were not followed, the Public Agenda says, quoting the report.
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Bleak Christmas
The Accra Mail observes that this year’s Christmas is fraught with the uncertainties of a market place that sees prices soaring, never showing any sign of coming down.
The paper in a front-page story, says economic events leading up to this year’s Christmas, are not fortuitous. It says the price of petrol, which forms the backbone of the economy, went up for the fourth time this year alone and is nudging the 5,000 cedis magic figure.
The Accra Mail notes that in June this year, fuel prices shot up from 855.50 cedis to 870 cedis per litre. The paper says earlier in May, the Bulk Oil Supply and Transportation Company Limited, announced a 15 per cent increase of petroleum products across board.
The company explained that the increases reflected the new changes in the exchange rate of the cedi, which has seen some reverses since June. The Accra Mail says the consequences of the sharp and rapid increases in fuel prices, was a 10 per cent hike in lorry fares slapped on the pubic by the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU). Quoting the customer price index for September, the paper says transport was among the sub-groups that recorded an increase of 2.5 per cent. "With only two months to Christmas, Ghanaians are not certain it would be a ‘merry Christmas’, much more a ‘prosperous New Year’ in 2000".
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