Drastic fiscal measures soon; Selormey hints of new tax measures
Uncertainty over Nov. 4 demonstration
Towards election 2000…Kufuor can’t do it alone
Konadu demands "personal apology" from Editor and Co.
Ghana loses millions of development funds
Drastic fiscal measures soon
Selormey hints of new tax measures
Both the Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times capture on their front pages the statement on the state of Ghana’s economy, delivered in Parliament by Mr Victor Selormey, Deputy Minister of Finance yesterday.
The Graphic reports that the government is to take drastic and pragmatic fiscal measures in response to the present crisis facing the national economy. The Times, in its account, reports Mr Selormey as hinting yesterday that there is the need for the introduction of new tax measures to cover recent shortfall in the revenue receipts.
The paper Mr Selormey in his "state of the economy" statement", served notice that the authorisation of the introduction of the new tax regime might soon be sought from Parliament.
The Graphic in its report says as part of the measures, administrative and other tax procedures will be heightened while more tax revenue will be raised through existing and new measures.
Mr Selormey is quoted as saying that borrowing from domestic and external sources will also be stepped up while grants from external donors will be sought. The Times reports Mr Selormey as saying that since the announcement of budget, several factors have occurred together to produce a serious impact on the economy.
"These events, have forced budgeted revenue receipts to drop from 6,063 billion cedis to 5,985 billion cedis while financing has increased from 668 billion cedis to 793 billion cedis. The Graphic, continuing, says Mr Selormey said Ghana needs to demonstrate to its external partners that it is aware of the problems and prepared to confront it.
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Uncertainty over Nov. 4 demonstration
In a front-page story on the proposed demonstration by the opposition parties, the Independent reports that there is a cloud of uncertainty over the planned November 4, nation-wide demonstration by the opposition parties.
The paper says it had reported earlier on a statement signed by the General Secretary of the NPP on behalf of opposition parties that they had all agreed to embark on a nation-wide demonstration to protest the general mismanagement of Ghana by the ruling NDC.
However, it says, hours after the statement, one of the opposition parties, the United Ghana Movement (UGM), led by Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, disassociated itself from the planned demonstration.
The Independent says the Public Affairs Officer of the UGM, Mr Joseph Essilfie Otoo, in a statement, said that the party was not privy to the demonstration and had not been informed by the organisers. But according to Mr Dan Botwe, he had spoken to a representative of the UGM, whom he declined to name.
The paper says at the time of going to press yesterday, representatives of the Convention Party (CP)and the NPP confirmed that a meeting had been planned for yesterday afternoon to get firm commitments for the demonstration.
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Towards election 2000…Kufuor can’t do it alone
The Guide says an NPP member, popularly called Daavi Ama of Dimples Junction in Accra, has blamed past presidential aspirants of the party for being part of its state of unpreparedness towards the 2000 general elections. Daavi Ama is reported to have blamed Prof.
Albert Adu Boahen, the 1992 flagbearer and Messrs Da Rocha and Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, both former national chairmen of the NPP, and the Council Members of the party, for not actively supporting Mr J.A. Kufuor, the NPP presidential candidate for the 2000 elections, to effectively mobilise resources to fight next year’s polls. According to the Guide, Daavi Ama did not spare all the presidential aspirants in the 1998 NPP Congress, whom, in her view, have reneged on their pre-congress promises to support whoever became the flagbearer.
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Konadu demands "personal apology" from Editor and Co.
In a front-page splash, the Crusading Guide says for publishing that the First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, and her children were the first group of people to ‘sample’ the newly-acquired presidential jet, its Editor and Publisher, have been asked to "personally apologise to the First Family in an unqualified manner".
The paper says the demand forms part of relief being sought by the ‘First Family’, through Nana Konadu’s solicitors, Vanderpuye Law Consult, in a complaint which was lodged with the National Media Commission by the law firm and on behalf of the First Lady.
The Crusading Guide says other relief are that the Editor and Publisher should write "retracting this falsehood against the First Family in bold headline as in the article complained of in the front page, undertake to cross-check any future "so-called investigative materials with the First Family before same is published", and any other reliefs the National Media Commission deems fit.
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Ghana loses millions of development funds
The Accra Mail reports Mr Victor Selormey , a Deputy Minister of Finance as saying that only 25 per cent of Ghana’s development projects are completed with the funds earmarked for their implementation, with the remaining 75 per cent returned to the World Bank chest.
According to Mr Selormey, it is in the light of this, among other project implementation problems that the government wants to engage the services of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in analysing, implementing and monitoring government projects.
The Accra Mail says Mr Selormey, who announced this at a workshop to discuss constraints in the implementation of projects in Ghana, is quoted as saying that if the resources provided are efficiently used, poverty would be eradicated. The workshop was organised by UNOPS in collaboration with the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) and the World Bank.
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