Single National Insurance Scheme? It's not feasible says health ministry
Accreditation board receives 80 applications for tertiary institutions
Riots at Bibiani- one illegal miner shot dead, DSP's residence burnt down.
Three-year old mails arrive
'You have rulers, not leaders' Kofi Wayo's stormy Saturday at Nima.
Atta-Mills can't rule Ghana - J.A. Kufour.
Ho not set for NDC
Rawlings lies to the world about the economy.
Police fail in black market chase
Single National Insurance Scheme? It's not feasible says health ministry
The Daily Graphic reports in its front page story that the Ministry of Health has declared that a single National Health Insurance Scheme is not feasible due to economic constraints.
The report said the proposed 6000 cedis per person per month derived from a pilot project on the scheme conducted in the Eastern Region in 1996 and 1997 was found to be too high and quotes deputy minister of health, Dr Moses Adibo, as saying, "this amount was considered too high taking into consideration the current levels of salaries and the findings of the World Bank study which showed that 31 percent of the population live below the poverty line".
He said only 10 to 15 percent of the population are salaried workers, it was therefore found not feasible to ask those in the informal sector to pay such an amount on a regular basis, instead, the ministry intends to encourage community-based insurance schemes.
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Accreditation board receives 80 applications for tertiary institutions
In the centre-spread of the Daily Graphic is story that the National Accreditation Board has received 80 applications from churches, organisations and individuals seeking approval for the establishment of universities and other tertiary institutions in the country.
According to the report, the Minister of Education, Mr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, who announced this, expressed concern about the churches apparent withdrawal from participating in the provision of pre-tertiary education and taking prestige in the establishment of universities.
“Although there is the need to place emphasis on university education, a lot has to be done by stakeholders to improve upon pre-tertiary education to ensure that students enter university well prepared,” Mr Spio-Garbah said and charged heads of educational institutions to get involved in the management of the finances of their establishments, assuring them that the ministry will provide the necessary logistics to enable them work more efficiently.
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Riots at Bibiani- one illegal miner shot dead, DSP's residence burnt down.
The Monday issue of the Graphic reports that one person was allegedly shot dead when illegal miners and the police engaged in a fierce gun battle at Bibiani last Thursday.
According to the story, the miners, popularly called 'galamsey operators', were alleged to have gone on the rampage and engaged the police in a gun battle after they had failed to gain access to the central mining pit of the Ashanti Goldfields Bibiani Limited (AGBL).
In the process, the illegal miners allegedly vandalised the property of the company and the residence of the District Police Commander.
The report said the body of the illegal miner, which is yet to be identified, has been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital morgue for autopsy while 70 people have been picked up in an operation mounted by a joint police and military team.
The suspects and some of the stolen items, which have so far been retrieved, have been sent to Sekondi-Takoradi for further investigations. Damage caused as a result of the riots is estimated to be more than 1 billion cedis, says the report.
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Three-year old mails arrive
The Ghanaian Times reports in its lead story that about 117 bags of badly tampered and backdated letters and parcels have been dumped in Accra by the Nigerian Postal Agency.
According to the story, some of the letters and packages, dated as far back as June 1997 and were from the United Kingdom, USA, France, Germany, Canada and Hong Kong among others.
Some of the packages contained medications, biscuits and clothing, which were in very bad conditions, making it difficult to identify the owners, were delivered in two consignments on March 16 and April 17 this year.
A source at the Ghana Posts company, told the paper that the first consignment, mainly from Germany was delivered via the Aflao border which was contrary to an agreement reached between the two countries that the mails are to be airlifted between them
Following protests by the GPCL, the next consignment, which had a covering letter attesting to the fact that some of packages had been tampered with, was delivered by a chattered flight, FRN 505, since Nigeria airways had problems with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority.
According to the story, sources close to the GPCL and Nigerian authorities said letters of complaint would be forwarded to the concerned countries of origin, and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to seek ratification.
Meanwhile efforts are being made to ensure that those letters and parcels, which have clear addresses, are delivered to the adresses as soon as possible, the story added.
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The Ghanaian Chronicle writes in its lead story that Vice President, John Atta Mills has turned down pieces of admonition from certain friends to go in for ‘Kpele Kpedzi’ (Native Charm) for protection saying ‘the joy of the Lord is his strength’.
According to the report, Mrs Molley Anim-Addo, Founder and Chairperson of ‘Friends of Professor Mills of the NDC’, during the inauguration of the Ho branch of the club, said that contrary to the advice, Professor Mills has a powerful prayer group, which always intercedes for him.
The report says the Vice President told Mrs Anim-Addo on one of his trips outside the country that he did not need protection from any source, other than divine protection from the Almighty God.
Mrs Anim-Addo is said to have described Professor Atta-Mills as a real embodiment of wisdom and knowledge adding that “he is a man of principles and the kind of person Ghana is looking for. He is our think tank and we want to give him the support and place to lead the country into the 21st Century”.
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'You have rulers, not leaders' Kofi Wayo's stormy Saturday at Nima.
In anther front page story, the Ghanaian Chronicle reports Mr Charles Kofi Wayo, a US based Ghanaian business tycoon, as saying that the current economic crises that the nation is going through can be attributed to lack of genuine leaders to steer the affairs of the nation.
"Our country is in deep trouble because we have rulers not leaders", he is quoted to have said at the launching of the Charles Wayo fan club at the Dunia Cinema Hall at Nima on Saturday April 22 where he announced his intention to contest the East Ayawaso Parliamentary seat in this year's elections.
According to the report, Mr Wayo said the face of almost every Ghanaian shows that they were suffering, but the leaders seem to care less about the plight of the people adding that something was wrong with the nation and the time has come for Ghanaians to rise up and fight for their rights.
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Atta-Mills can't rule Ghana - J.A. Kufour.
The Guide says on its front page that the ability of Vice President Professor J.E.A. Mills to rule this nation after President Rawlings has seriously been put to question.
He is seen as someone who talks too much but does little because he has no powers to do the things he says, The paper says in the report which it attributes to a press statement issued by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) J.A. Kufour in Accra last Wednesday.
The paper quotes Mr Kufour as saying that "three years after Prof. Mills has assumed the chairmanship of the government's Economic Management Team (EMT), he and his team has only succeeded in accelerating the downward slide of our economy".
He is said to have attributed the situation to an arrogant refusal of the NDC to listen to others, including the NPP, and noted that the current economic crises facing Ghanaians, compounded by the uncontrollable fall in the value of the cedi in relation to other foreign currencies, has been described as a loss of control of the economy by the ruling NDC government.
"Their silence in the face of the unprecedented plunge of the cedi against all currencies, 33 percent for last year and 28 percent in the first three and half months of the year, shows that they have no idea of what to do", the paper quotes him as saying.
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Ho not set for NDC
The Independent in its lead story reports that the excitement and funfair that oftentimes preceded National Democratic Congress (NDC) Delegates Congresses is non-existent in the supposed stronghold of the party, Ho.
The report said as the Volta regional capital braces itself for the NDC, the euphoria cannot be measured with the charged atmosphere that preceded the previous congresses in Cape Coast, Sunyani and Sekondi in previous years.
The report however did not rule out the possibility that a burst of lightening may breath life into the lifeless indigenes, as the event draws near.
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Rawlings lies to the world about the economy.
The Public Agenda devotes the whole of its front page to a story in which it reports that at a time of palpable economic crises and uncertainty, President Rawlings has in an interview published in the international magazine, Newsweek, sought to paint
Ghana as an economically successful country brimming over with foreign investments.
According to the report, President Rawlings in an advertorial interview in the April 17 2000 issue of the magazine said his PNDC/NDC government has "succeeded in halting the downward spiral of the economy".
The report said Rawlings' claim of a buoyant economy comes at a time when most Ghanaians are worried over the state of the country's economy. A time when even self-employed bakers have gone on strike and traders are threatening to close shops because of the alarming decline of the cedi.
It adds that Rawlings' claim is contradictory to those of his own ministers who have publicly accepted that the economy is in crisis and are busy looking for credible excuses for the current economic mess.
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Police fail in black market chase
The Statesman in a front-page story reports that the recent police swoop on black-maketeers notwithstanding, business at the Cowlane in Accra is in full swing with its undercover operators witnessing a massive currency exchange involving $500,000 at black market rates less than 24 hours after the swoop.
According to the paper, the failure of the police swoop to make the desired impact apparently resulted from inadequate preparation by the Striking Force, which seemed to have been stampeded by media reports and public opinion into an ill-timed and misdirected operation.
The report says inadequate preparations, if not ignorance of the police, was reflected in the fact that the operation was limited to the Zongolane and the UTC areas, leaving the more brisk marketeers at Cowlane laughing all the way to the "treasuries" in their bedrooms.
The report says its investigations have revealed that the Police might have confused Zongolane with Cowlane when in fact they were two different places.
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