Sales Assistant to hang - Court rules
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2003 - An Accra High Court has sentenced a sales assistant of EMBC and Trading Company Limited to death by hanging, after a seven-member jury pronounced him guilty of murdering a Lebanese national, Tallal Bou Cheidid, his employer.
The court, presided over by Justice Yaw Apau, on Monday convicted Dereck George Mensah, at the close of the case between prosecution and defence counsel. Dereck murdered his employer over salary arrears and Social Security and National Investment Trust (SSNIT) contributions.
The non-payment of the salary arrears and SSNIT contributions led to a misunderstanding between the accused and his employer, whom he had worked with for nine years.
Dereck broke into the deceased's house at Nima on 24 November 2000 and hid in the kitchen where he later in the night, after he had arrived home from work, confronted his employer over the issue of his salary arrears and SSNIT contributions.
Anthony Gyambiby, Principal State Attorney told the court that while Cheidid was trying to settle the issue between them, the accused hit his head several times with a blunt object, leading to his collapse. As if that was not enough, the accused further stabbed the deceased with a bread knife several times, killing him instantly.
According to the prosecution, a post-mortem report conducted on the deceased indicated that, Tallal died because of bleeding in the brain.
The accused, after killing his employer,
went to the deceased's shop at Tudu and opened the shop with a key he took from
the house, and made away with various items and sums of monies and bolted to
Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. Dereck was then arrested upon a tip-off and was
charged with murder when the police completed their investigations. - Ghanaian
Chronicle
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Rawlings talk is rubbish -
Nyaho Tamakloe
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2003 - The firebrand politician of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has described last Monday's press conference held by the ex-president, Jerry John Rawlings, as "rubbish", adding that all that he said bordered on double standards with no merit.
According to him, all that Rawlings said should be treated with all the contempt it deserves. He noted that the issues he raised are nothing but a mark of hypocrisy. Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe who spoke to Chronicle in an interview in reaction to the ex-president's speech, said he feels embarrassed whenever he sees the 'honourable men' who sit around without advising him or calling him to order.
He contended that the accusations made by Rawlings were a clear manifestation of a "man of gross inferiority complex", who showers abuses on the local press but grants interviews to the foreign press after he has left office.
"He formed a party out of a military junta and carried that party into the general elections and, on an uneven playing field, won the elections and declared himself president of this country," he noted. Touching on misuse of incumbency, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe said, it was something unknown to the NPP administration and counter-accused Rawlings of introducing such misuse of incumbency.
Giving pieces of advice to NDC key members like, Harry Sawyer, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Dr. Mrs Mary Grant among others to take a principled stand to maintain their good reputation. He said if they fail to take this advice, they would soon find out the real Rawlings after which they would probably make their decision.
Diagnosing points raised by the ex-president one after the other, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe stated that it was unfortunate for the NDC which introduced the misuse of incumbency in this country through physical use of money, importation of various propaganda paraphernalia and schnapps made from Japan with the NDC insignia to make such unfounded statements.
"In a situation where the NDC started exploitation of incumbency, who blames who?" he quipped.
On the politics of nepotism, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe said until politicians stopped thinking about what they can get out of politics and just work for the progress of either the party or the nation, this country will get to nowhere.
He asserted that the hue and cry by a section of the public over the biological brother of President John Agyekum Kufuor, Hon. Kwame Addo Kufuor, who was made the minister of Defence and the Interior until the recent reshuffle, was baseless, because he excelled even while handling two key ministries.
With regards to tribal politics, he said it was a secondary matter, saying, "In politics, you have to look first and foremost at the personality when giving an appointment, to know whether the person can perform and ensure that such a person is loyal to you. I have the belief and share the same vision as the leader that appointments should not be given to the incompetent," he added.
He compared the appointment of Dr. Kwame Addo Kufour by the president to the late American president, J.F.K Kennedy's appointment of his biological brother as Attorney General for the USA, and drew attention to the fact that his brother did very well.
The leading member commenting on the issue of corruption said it was rather ridiculous for a pot to call the kettle black. He contended that during the reign of the (P)NDC, inquiries were made into the affairs of Dr. Adjei Marfo, P.V Obeng, Col. Osei Wusu, among others, as a result of their inordinate ambition to amass wealth and put up numerous houses, but were shielded when they were found guilty.
He said after a report came out confirming that those top notches had amassed wealth more than they could legitimately work for, then President Rawlings issued a white paper to whitewash their scandalous acts.
Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, who vowed not to relent in his effort to urge JAK to prosecute those who might breach the slogan of Zero Tolerance for Corruption, added that he will still keep the government on its toes not to shield any NPP official who might be accused of corruption.
Speaking on human rights abuses by the NPP administration, he said, the ex-president does not know what he was talking about, adding that no government in the history of this country has trampled on the rights of its citizens since independence more than the (P)NDC under the leadership of Rawlings. - Ghanaian Chronicle
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2003 - A leading member of the opposition NDC - Ama Benyiwa Doe is to appear before the Police CID for commenting on the state of the national economy. According to the Director of Police CID, Ama Benyiwa Doe- the NDC’s MP for Gomoa West and member of the party’s campaign team for Gomoa East allegedly made the statement at an NDC campaign rally at Gomoa Achiase.
Mrs. Benyiwa Doe is expected to meet the CID team today for what is said to be a discussion of her statements on the economy. The letter of invitation had requested the MP to appear before the CID on Monday, but according to sources she received the invitation late.
Mrs. Benyiwa Doe told JOY FM this morning that she made two statements on the national economy during the rally. According to her, she questioned the rationale behind the President’s recent decision to buy a bullet-proof vehicle when majority of Ghanaians are suffering.
She also noted that while the government spent so much money to print the new ˘10,000 and ˘20,000 denominations with the promise that enough security measures had been put in place against counterfeits, there are so many counterfeits in the system.
NDC MP for Kumbungu, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni
has condemned the invitation describing it as one of the many forms of
harassment of persons critical of the NPP administration. – MyJoyOnLine
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Afienya (Greater Accra) 10 April 2003 – A scene reminiscent of one of the popular Shakespearean plays was “acted” along one of the nation’s busiest highways recently when, as if by design, all four duty personnel posted to a toll gate simultaneously fell asleep; leaving motorists to have a field day.
The “drama” took place in the late morning hours of Friday 4 April, this year at the new tollgate along the Tema-Akosombo highway, between Michel Camp and Afienya.
No one could tell precisely how long the three policemen and revenue collector had been sleeping, but by 10.19 am when a Benz Sprinter bus with registration number GT 8014 T, which plies between Accra and Ho got to the gate, all 25 passengers on board, including the driver, had every good reason to feed their eyes on what later occupied their mind for the rest of the trip.
It took the bus driver some real horn tooting to awaken the four and pay his toll. While two of the cops were having their nap in one of the cozy police cars packed eight metres away, the third officer dozed off near the collecting point.
But the climax of the whole theatrical fun was on-lookers noticed that even the civilian who was collecting the toll from passing drivers had also gone far away into dreamland. After the laughter and jokes that immediately greeted the strange scene had died down, a section of passengers began arguing saying “the workload might have been too much for the apparently tired men.” Some insisted that due to the inadequate personnel, many policemen and women are made to work for hours on end and run shifts at random, hence their inability to cheat nature.
Others also condemned the act in no uncertain terms, referring to it as “irresponsibility at its best.”
Interestingly, the marathon brainstorming session was brought to an abrupt halt when an aged woman in her sixties spoke her mind on the matter.
She pointed out that with the help of juju powers, a spell can be cast by a notorious armed robber or smuggler can easily cause security men at checkpoints to sleep off, no matter the place and time. According to the confident looking woman who immediately gained the attention of the people ffrom both sides of the divide, she had seen instances where policemen sent to arrest suspects rather went and dine with the wanted men. She said she was not surprised at what happened that day.
But all said and done, the revenue that the
state stood to lose from this unfortunate development is what some people find
rather disturbing. In this instance, even though no one could tell for how long
the nap had lasted, it is surely not the best thing to happen to revenue
generation sources in this country. – The Ghanaian Chronicle
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