Census won't be extended… says Govt. Statistician
AGC, Anglogold strike deal
Salary talks on course
Tema census officials call for extension
Tema Drydock dries up!
Kwesi Nduom eyes Ato Quarshie’s seat
NDC scared of Reform Party
Why NPP postponed its congress
Another Woman Escapes Death
Annor Yeboah wants to kill me- Priest
Girl, 17, gives birth in dormitory
Club Pleasure train takes off from Ho
Hip life Contest Launched
The Daily Graphic reports that there will be no nation- wide extension of the census, which ends on Sunday, 9 April.
According to the paper Dr. K.A Twum -Baah the acting Government Statistician in a telephone interview said should there be reports of some areas being left out, such areas would be covered in mop up exercises.
The paper says he denied the likelihood of an extension in view of the seeming slow rate of coverage in some areas.
The paper continues that Dr. Twum said the mopping up exercise could only be carried out in selected areas within the districts. But he said it is premature to start thinking of such an exercise because the census Secretariat has receive reports from 30 out of the 110 districts and is expecting others from about 55 districts by the close of work today to enable it clearly asses progress so far.
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AGC, Anglogold strike deal
In another front-page story the Graphic writes that the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) has sold 50 percent of its interest in the Geita project in Tanzania to Anglogold Limited, the worlds largest gold producer.
According to the report Ashanti and the South African based Anglogold have also agreed to form a strategic alliance in future mining projects on the continent and their respective countries.
The Graphic says the two have signed an agreement that ensures that Ashanti receives $205 million from Anglogold who will also provide $ 130 million for the project.
A statement issued in Accra yesterday, according to the paper, said the two companies intend to enter into a joint venture to govern the operations and management of Geita, which has five million ounces reserves.
The paper says the two will have equal representation and equal voting rights in the Geita Company, which is expected to be commissioned by the end of June.
The Graphic says the first chairmanship will be a joint one and the joint committee will be chaired on rotating basis by representatives of the two companies. It also says, although Anglogold produces 5.8 million ounces a year, Ashanti will have pre-emptive rights over the other's interest in the joint venture.
The rights will not apply in the event of a change of control either by Ashanti or Anglogold.
GRi../
The Ghanaian Times report that the Civil Servants Association of Ghana (CSA) says negotiations for salaries and wages for the year is already in progress and therefore it has nothing to say about issues raised by the Concerned Civil Servants Association of Ghana (CCSG).
The Times, which says it reached Mr. S.A. Chigabatia, CSA’s Executive Secretary on phone, said the Secretary refused to comment on issues raised by CCSG claiming his Association was still negotiating and that the concerned body is not a recognized unit from their fold.
“I do not know what you want me to tell you; As far as I am concerned, we are still negotiating”, he is quoted as saying.
Mr. Chigabatia is said to have explained that under the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS) annual negotiations are held with the Central Management Board, by the various workers’ groups after they had submitted their proposals.
The Times recalls Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare as haven’t said in Wednesday’s Times that as at mid-March, the groups had not presented their proposals for negotiations to commence.
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Another story on the front-page of the Times says officials handling the Housing and Population Census in the Tema Municipality have asked for extension of time because with only three days left for the excise to end officially, less than two-thirds of the population in the area are believed to have been counted.
According to the Greater Accra Regional Census Committee through which the appeal was made, the exercise have been slowed down due to obsolete maps that are being used.
The story says whereas some maps estimated a population of 100 houses, real figures on the ground numbered above 700.
The story adds that delays have also been caused by the large size of some households, siting an enumerator who as a result has been able to reach only 85 out of 500 houses that have been listed.
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The parliamentary caucus of the New Patriotic Party is in contact with the Electoral Commission in efforts to stop the use of military personnel at polling stations during presidential and parliamentary elections because the Party is opposed to it, reports the Evening News.
In a front-page story the paper quotes Mr. Eugene Atta Agyapong, NPP member for Abetifi as saying during a trainers workshop of party agents that the use of the military alongside the Prisons and the Fire Service scared electorates during the 1996 elections.
Mr. Agyapong is reported to have therefore asked the trainees who shall man the polling stations to be extra vigilant urging that they should go back and examine the voters register and help remove all ghost names as well as those who are deceased.
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The Crusading Guide reports that the main dry dock of the former Tema Shipyard & Drydock Corporation, which was taken over by Penang Shipbuilding & Construction Sdn. Bdh., a Malaysian company, has virtually grounded to a halt after just three years under the new management.
The story says the yard that was touted as West Africa’s showpiece for the repair and maintenance of ships has lost its premier customers who have expressed their dissatisfaction with the quality of service since 1996.
The dry dock’s plight, according to the Crusading Guide, is compounded by the fact that not a single new customer has signed on to the its yard since the new management took over.
The story continues that while the dry dock’s activities has halted, the company’s resources, including thousands of dollars, are being siphoned to support the activities of ‘Business Focus Ghana’, a sister company which is developing an Export Free Zone on the Tema-Aflao road.
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The Crusading Guide has another front-page story that says Dr. Ato Quarshie, NDC MP for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo Abirem (KEEA) Constituency is set to receive a strong challenge from Dr. Kwesi Nduom, poised to contest the seat on the ticket of the Convention Party (CP) in this year’s elections.
According to the story, Dr. Nduom, described as a brilliant Economic Consultant cum Business executive, in his capacity as Assemblyman of Akotobinstin electoral area in the constituency, has endeared himself to the masses through his patriotic and public-spirited services.
“His humility and modesty; his strategic thinking approach; his earlier decision to seek office at the District Assembly level and his intention to compete on the Parliamentary after withdrawing from the CP Presidential primaries; his practical contributions to community development; all go to show the kind of politician he is; a sincere, very calculating, humane and practical man”, a pro-Nduom advocate is reported as saying.
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The Guide reports that the effective mobilisation tactics being employed by the leadership of the National Reform Party (NRP) in the Ashiaman constituency to attract followers and sympathises to the party for the 2000 elections seems to be paying off.
The report says if a counter approach is not deployed swiftly, the Ashiaman constituency hitherto regarded as the NDC's easy win area shall be swept away by the NRP come election 2000.
It said sources have it that the ward-to-ward propaganda being carried out there by the NRP is superb, and the level of interest expressed in the NRP by people in the constituency is enough pointer to a looming danger for the NDC.
The sources are quoted as saying that the leadership of the NRP, until they left, formed the mainstream of the NDC's cadre's reposonsible for the NDC’s wins in the past two elections.
The paper quotes one source as saying “those same talents are now being used in efforts at consolidating the position of the young NRP in the country, and that is working perfectly, bearing fruits here, with even my wife and the children urging me to join them".
The NRP was borne out of the Reform Movement, populist movement of cadres that sprung out of the mainstream NDC.
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The Guide writes that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has postponed its annual congress slated for Ho, the Volta Regional capital.
Official reasons for the latest postponement, according to the paper, is to allow maximum participation by the party's polling agents in the voter register when it reopens later this month.
The Guide, however says a party source indicates that there was a serious fear on the part of the flag-bearers faithfuls, of a possible motion for a vote of no confidence being brought up against Mr. J. A. Kufour, at the congress.
Another reason for the postponement, according to another source is the lack of money for the party to organise the congress, which will cost 30 million cedis. "The party is broke we can't even organise a congress how can we organise a national campaign to win an election".
The report also says that the insiders said, although the party is not in power yet, it has more goodwill than any other party. “What we lack is the leadership to tap on this goodwill to move us on to victory".
The Guide says when it asked the officials why they thought only Kufour should look for the funds for the party, the sources said, "we are not saying Kufuor alone should look for the money, it is impossible for him alone to do that"
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The paper says, Barbara accepted a lift from Adjei in a taxi at around 7pm after she had attended a funeral at the UTC area.
According to the paper, on their way home, Adjei who was sitting beside her at the rear seat, and never proposed love to her, started fondling her, and even though she protested he continued doing it.
She said whiles she continued to protest, Adjei ordered the driver to stop for her to get down and also instructed the driver to kill her.
The story says, Barbara ordered the taxi driver to stop, but rather than obey her, the driver followed Adjei's instructions and branched off at a junction. The taxi is said to have slowed down and picked up another man who covered Barbara’s face with a substance believed to be chloroform.
The paper continues that Barbara woke up to find herself in ropes at about 11pm in front of her house, where she was shoved out.
The story says she shouted for help and was rushed to the hospital but whiles she was being examined at the OPD, she saw Adjei and his colleagues walking in. Barbara was reported as telling the P and P that she believes she would have been murdered for ritual purposes had it not been that she was menstruating. She is said to have caused the arrest of the driver and Adjei.
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Pastor Walley Wanted by Police
The P and P also reports that the General Overseer of the Power Chapel International, Pastor Ken Walley makes nonsense of the biblical exhortation to abstain from fornicating.
According to the paper for well over a year now, he has been living together with a young female member of his church, Efia as man and wife although he has not formally married her.
When the woman's parents who were not happy about the relationship protested, Rev. Walley went into hiding with her, the paper said and continues that all efforts to find her proved futile. As such, the girls parents were forced to lodge a complaint with the police.
According to the paper, sources close to Efia's family say Efia who was a student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, dropped out in March last year because Pastor Walley had prophesied that she must do God's work. She later enrolled in a Bible school but dropped out to become the sole student of Pastor Walleys home tutoring.
The paper says she left her parent’s home in January this year with the Pastor condoning. The police, the paper says have asked the public to help in its investigations to find the two.
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The Accra Mail devotes many of its pages this week to one subject, reconciliation in Ghana. It writes that if there is one word, which has raised passions in contemporary Ghanaian politics, it is reconciliation.
It continues that this is somewhat ironical, because the word itself stands for the most ennobling qualities in man so why would it be so controversial and to some people even scatological.
The paper says it took the issue to Mr. Kwame Pianim an economist and a former member of the NPP, who has recently started a campaign for a national government and he said Ghana is in a crucial stage and needs a face change.
He is quoted as saying, "this is not business as usual. The national interest must be supreme". Mr. Pianim is said to have explained that national reconciliation is the process of rectifying the errors of the past- in our case over the limited period of 1979 to 1992. He said it also includes exorcising the past in order to confront the future together as a group with a common objective and destiny.
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The Weekend Chronicle reports an ex-associate of Rev. Dr. Annor Yeboah, General Secretary of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) as stating that the Reverend wants to kill him.
According to the paper, the ex associate, Rev. Joseph Edmund Kusi Tabiri, was answering the final question posed by the prosecutor during a lengthy cross examination on Wednesday in a case in which he has been charged with stealing funds belonging to the CAC in 1998.
Reverend Tabiri who is also charged with resisting arrest and possessing a club at the time of his arrest denied going into hiding. He is quoted as saying, "I did not want to resist arrest. I was pleading with the police to allow me to go in my own car instead of in Rev. Annor's because he is after my life. But they jumped on me and beat me up and bundled me like firewood into the Reverends car" the paper quotes him as saying, adding that the club was harmless.
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The Weekend Chronicle also reports that a first year student of the Boa Ampoasem Secondary School (BOASS) at Dunkwa in the Central region on Monday 13 March stunned her colleagues when she gave birth to a baby boy right in the dormitory.
The paper says unknown to the school authorities, Gifty Nkansah, 17, was seven months pregnant at the time she was admitted into the school early this year.
The authorities say they were beaten to it because the medical report on her had not given any hint of the pregnancy, according to the story, which continues that even though her colleagues suspected she was pregnant, Gifty attributed her protruding belly to fibroid insisting that she was supposed to undergo an operation to get it removed during the holidays.
But in the morning, Gifty is said to have gone into labour in the dormitory and delivered the baby with the help of some of the schools kitchen staff.
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The Club Pleasure train, the only one that goes round the ten regions of Ghana giving a ride to beauties who qualify for the finals in Accra is ready to set off this weekend, reports the Graphic Showbiz.
Once again the train will take off from the Volta regional capita, Ho at the Woezor Hotel on Saturday. The paper says two beauties and two dance champions one for highlife and the other for free style will book places on the Club Pleasure train to the final to be held later in the year.
According to the Graphic Showbiz the master of ceremonies for the maiden show at Ho will be Pikuss Laryea and Kwame Sefa Kayi of Radio Gold. Adjetey Sowah and KKD, the 1999 Dance Champion, will be available to thrill the audience.
The prizes for the regional contests in the beauty segment, according to the paper, will be 500,000 cedis for the first, 450,000 cedis for the second and 300,000 cedis for a third place winner.
The paper says the best highlife and best Freestyle champions take 400,000 cedis each. Prizes for the contestants in the final event of the Miss Ghana pageant include VW Golf 4 Saloon car, a two-bedroom house with fitted kitchen, ticket to Miss World and 3million cedis cash.
The Paper says, the first runner up is expected to get a 20 inch colour Television, video deck, a set of furniture and 2.5 million while the second runner up receives a double fridge, a set of furniture, cooker and 2million cedis. Fourth to twentieth placed contestants get 2 million cedis each plus eighteen other exciting prizes.
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The showbiz also reports that the National Hiplife contest was launched at Shakys spot at Achimota last weekend. The ceremony was reportedly attended by personalities from Ghana Breweries, other corporate bodies and the youth.
Mr. Lawson, managing director of Shaky's Leisure Resort is reported to have said whiles launching the programme, that although hiplife has unearthed our youths great talent, they should be careful not to loose track in the promotion of our indigenous music which is the integral part of our cultural heritage.
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