GRi Press Review 16 – 04 – 2003

Rawlings, 5 others for Boston University Summit

Kumasi Prophet dares Jujuman

Work on Tetteh Quarshie interchange progresses

Cocoa farmers to get ¢16,000 bonus per bag

Obed is a disaster and must go now

Rawlings must pay us – Journalists demand

 

 

Rawlings, 5 others for Boston University Summit

 

Ex-President Jerry John RawlingsBoston (USA) 16 April 2003 - Next week, six former African leaders who left office standing up will meet at Boston University to talk about ways to strengthen Africa's emerging democracies. The six former African leaders are: Jerry Rawlings of Ghana; Nicephore Soglo of Benin; Ketumile Masire of Botswana; Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania; Navinchandra Ramgoolam of Mauritius; and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia

 

Billed as a summit to consider ''the short-term impact of the Iraq war on African economies,'' the meeting also will focus on the terrorism threat in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

''I think it has become increasingly clear that the folks who would do the United States harm view Africa as a staging area for terrorism and that this nation's national security is directly related to the economic security of African countries,'' Charles Stith, director of Boston University's African Presidential Archives and Research Centre, said in an interview.

 

Stith should know. A former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania, he arrived in that country to take up his post a month after the August 1998 car-bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy that killed 11 people and wounded 85. A simultaneous assault on the U.S. Embassy in Kenya took 213 lives. Stith oversaw the early stages of the construction of a new $50 million American Embassy in Tanzania, which he said had a dramatic economic impact in an impoverished section of Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of that East African nation.

 

''The foot soldiers of terrorist groups tend to be on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder,'' Stith said. ''I think that over the long term, economic engagement, not special ops, will be the most effective means of ending terrorism. We simply don't have the capacity to police the planet.''

 

Getting the United States and other international donors to significantly increase aid to Africa will be a daunting task, especially now that President Bush is committed to spending billions of dollars on repairing the war damage in Iraq. Even so, Stith hopes that the presence of the six former African leaders will make this issue more than a small blip on the Bush administration's radarscope.

 

Stith hopes the summit, which also will be attended by U.S. business leaders, academics and midlevel administration officials, can focus attention on the problems that have made Africa a fertile breeding ground for terrorists. - USA Today

 

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Kumasi Prophet dares Jujuman

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 16 April 2003 - Prophet Moses A. Crowther of the Church of God in Kumasi has described the claim by Tony Ahiable, the self- confessed spiritualist, that his juju propelled the New Patriotic Party (NPP) into power as diabolic. "Ahiable is joking, and that his threat to leave the party and subsequent ultimatum to meet his demands or unleash a punishment of defeat are nothing but empty threats," adds Crowther.

 

The prophet, who walked into the offices of Chronicle in Kumasi last week on reading the jujuman's claim in the paper, urged the NPP to ignore Ahiable who, he said, only wants to get undue attention.

 

The man of God, who claims to have prophesied Dr. Busia's victory in the 9 August 1969 elections, questioned why Ahiable had not made the NPP suffer defeats in the by-elections and dared him to break the NPP's jinx in the by-elections, at least in the pending one at Amenfi West.

 

"If he has powers to cause a party's defeat in elections, there is one in the offing and I dare him to prove his claim," he said. Prophet Crowther countered Ahiable's claim, saying President Kufuor's victory in the last elections was divine. "He (Kufuor) was ordained by Yaweh, the living God, to rule Ghana, and that no earthly creature propelled him into power." The seer disclosed that President Kufuor had been chosen to continue the good works of Dr. K. A. Busia.

 

He said like Busia who had been chosen to purge the nation of the evils of the Nkrumah regime, Kufuor's government was to atone for the atrocities of the previous regimes. A surprised Prophet Crowther, as he is simply called, queried Ahiable for claiming credit for the work of God.

 

He also attributed the HIPC status of Ghana to Acheampong's National Redemption Council regime, which toppled Dr. Busia's government, chosen by God to lead Ghana. In another development, the prophet has challenged the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) and the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) to rise up to educate women on indecent dressing. He said the continued silence over women's indulgence in indecent dressing and other immoral acts thwarted efforts at curbing the rate of HIV/AIDS infection.

 

Concerned that women should be held in high esteem like the biblical Sarah, Prophet Moses urged WAJU and FIDA to thoroughly investigate the causes of sexual promiscuity among women and find lasting solutions to them. "This way, the country would be showered with abundant blessings and make the Kufuor-led government the chosen one for Ghanaians in fulfilment of the prophecy," he assured. - Ghanaian Chronicle

 

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Work on Tetteh Quarshie interchange progresses

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 16 April 2003 - Work on the Tetteh Quarshie interchange has begun but experts, fear that a heavy downpour as experienced in the city yesterday could cause a delay.

 

A worker at the site quipped to the Accra Daily Mail (ADM) that a rock, which was discovered under the first layer of soil, might hinder work on the project, as the impediment would have to be blasted. In view of this therefore, he added that officials from the Ministry of Interior and some security personnel visited the place yesterday to deliberate on how to blast the rock in a manner that would not disturb the environment.

 

Another source at the site told the ADM that diversion of vehicular traffic would be necessary if casualties are to be avoided when the blasting is going to be undertaken. When ADM visited the site on Monday work on the project continuing with activities like the drilling of rocks and the excavation of loops. - Accra Daily Mail

 

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Cocoa farmers to get ¢16,000 bonus per bag

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 16 April 2003 - The Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) on Tuesday said it had made available money to be paid to all Licensed Buying Companies (LBCs) for payment of bonuses to cocoa farmers for the year 2002/2003 main crop season for purchases up to December 31, 2003.

 

A statement signed in Accra by Kwame Sarpong, Chief Executive of the Board, said the bonus per bag is 16,000 cedis and all LBCs should ensure that they pay no less than that amount to the farmer.

 

Cocobod advised cocoa farmers to contact their respective LBCs in their districts for their share of the bonus. - Cocobod

 

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Obed is a disaster and must go now

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 16 April 2003 - The opposition NDC is in for more troubles, as members of the National Executive appear determined not to let go of each other's throat. The National Chairman, Dr Obed Asamoah, who last week virtually certified the Women's Organiser of the NDC, Francisca Essiam, as is not having the "mad" woman who ran away with his clothes coming back with threats to strip him of his chairmanship of the party.

 

The Party Chairman, who last week revealed a plot to get him out of the party, is being blamed for the woes bedevilling the party. In a statement last week, Dr Asamoah remarked that some "latter day saints" are plotting to get him out of the party. He also criticised former President Rawlings for taking centre stage in party affairs, at the expense of the flagbearer, Prof Atta Mills.

 

In an interview with the "Statesman", Francisca Essiam has fired another salvo, describing Dr Asamoah as a stumbling block to the progress of the NDC. The Chairmanship of Dr Asamoah, she said, has been a disaster for the party. "Obed is sabotaging our efforts to build a virile and strong party and we shall soon show him the exit," she said. But asked why she preferred showing him the way out, instead of allowing the democratic process to take its course, Assiam replied, "Obed's time is up".

 

She explained that under the NDC Constitution, a national congress is to be held two weeks after constituency and regional congresses. The present constituency executives, she said, are in their second year, preparing to go to congress. Asked why such a sudden rift, after a rather cosy relationship, the NDC Women's Organiser said Dr Asamoah had not shown strong commitment to the cause of the party.

 

Assiam said the impending "decapitation" of the national chairman during the congress has led him to raise the alarm about the existence of a plot to dump him. - The Statesman

 

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Rawlings must pay us – Journalists demand

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 16 April 2003 - Journalists working with The Democrat newspaper, the mouthpiece of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are angry with the party’s founder for reneging on his alleged promise to pay their accumulated 11 months salary. The reporters who are all facing financial hardships as a result of their financiers’ inability to publish the paper for over a year now are also bemoaning what they claim is ex-President Rawlings’ ''hide-and-seek'' game with them.

 

"The Heritage" newspaper says following appeals to the office of the former President to assist in financing the newspaper, he promised to dole out cash to revamp it and pay the accumulated salaries of the workers. However, several months have passed and they are yet to hear from their boss.

 

The distressed and obviously hungry reporters, minus the editor, Razak Al-Alawa who has since announced his retirement, are now hovering from one media house to the other, seeking employment as freelancers. The Heritage says its undercover monitoring over the past months has established that they have been holding marathon meetings to decide their fate.

 

One of such meetings, which could be the last, was held at the premises of Ghana Club 100 in Accra, where the journalists drafted a letter to the former President to remind him of his earlier promises to pay their accumulated unpaid salaries and also finance the re-start of the paper. - The Heritage

 

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