Stop all unethical practices…at hospitals, says Rev. Palmer-Buckle
Ministry to probe fees
Economy…Still no hope
Rawlings reveals plans for 2001…’I’m joining you on the farms’
Ghanaian worker buy-out earns $7.5 million despite slump in world prices in ‘98/99
Volta roads to go asphalt
Factional fighting resumes in NDC
Stop all unethical practices…at hospitals, says Rev. Palmer-Buckle
The Daily Graphic in a front-page splash, reports that the Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, the Right-Reverend Charles Palmer-Buckle has cautioned against the practice where hospitals in Ghana and other heath institutions are being turned into business enterprises.
He is reported as saying that apart from being unethical, such extortionist tendencies deprive majority of the people access to medical care and advised health workers to desist from such practices.
The Graphic says that Rt.-Rev Palmer-Buckle was speaking at the launch of the eighth "World Day of the Sick" at Agormanya, in the Eastern Region.
The day is said to have been instituted by Pope John Paul II and is used to focus on the realities of illness and sufferings afflicting humanity, as well as alert the Christian community on how to be of help to the sick and aged in society. Rt.-Rev Palmer-Buckle described such extortionist practices as ‘unethical and inhumane, adding that "service to the sick is service to God".
He is said to have decried the callousness with which health workers are demanding monies from patients and warned: "You should not turn hospitals into business enterprises. The Graphic says that the Bishop stressed the need "to awaken the conscience of our sons and daughters w hold the key to life or death not to lord their intelligence over the poor, with whose money they were educated".
GRi../
The Ghanaian Times
Ministry to probe fees
In its top story, the Ghanaian Times reports that the Ministry of Education has appointed a team to collate information on schools Ghana charging arbitrary fees.
The Times says that the Ministry has consequently, suspended the committee set up by the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly to investigate fees being charged by senior secondary schools in the municipality.
The paper says that an official statement by the Ministry explained that the appointment of the task force followed a public outcry against the arbitrary fees some heads of public schools are charging in respect of this year’s senior secondary school admissions.
The statement assured parents and guardians that it would review any such unjustified fees and the heads of the institutions involved, sanctioned. Meanwhile, the Times says that the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in a statement of Friday, asked the Ministry to stop the probe instituted by the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly saying the action constituted an usurpation of the functions of the Ministry of Education. The statement, signed by GNAT general secretary, Mr Paul Osei-Mensah, said, "determination of fees comes under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Section 21 (2) of the Education Act, (Act 87) of `1961!
GRi.. /
The Accra Mail
Economy…Still no hope
In its lead story, the Accra Mail reports that the Centre for Economic Policy Analysis (CEPA) has forecast a grim economic situation in Ghana for the next two years, which may arise partly from external financing gaps of $183 million for 2000 and $359 million for 2001, and partly from the country’s own economic non-performance. According to CEPA, these pledged need to translate into reality if the economy is to absorb the shocks of a critical election year.
The story quotes CEPA as saying that in addition to doubts over external aid flows, non debt domestic expenditures, which have been rising and are expected to go up steeply over the expected revenue for the two years under review may overturn the gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
The Centre says that apart from that, revenue from cocoa and gold may not rise appreciably to bolster the economy from any shortfall from external funding.
The Accra Mail says that the CEPA team, led by Dr Joe Abbey, told members of the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists at a pre-budget briefing last Wednesday that an economic crunch can be averted if the government could identify the obstacles, classify them and face them squarely. The obstacles are said to include over-bloated expenditure, donor fatigue and lapses in revenue collection.
GRi.. /
The Ghanaian Chronicle
Rawlings reveals plans for 2001…’I’m joining you on the farms’
The Ghanaian Chronicle reports in its top story that President J.J. Rawlings says he will settle in the Afram Plains and do serious farming when he leaves the Castle this year.
"It is my wish that when the elections are over and you have wisely entrusted the government into the capable hands of Prof. Atta Mills, I will personally have more time to join you on your farms (in the Afram Plains) and in your communities to continue the task of developing our nation", he is quoted as saying. According to the Chronicle, President Rawlings has already built a farmhouse in the Afram Plains.
The paper says that the President’s disclosure is one of the most emphatic declarations of intent to his clansmen, the other time when he introduced Prof. Mills to chiefs in the Volta Region.
He is said to have disclosed his intentions when he commissioned a ferryboat, "MV Fourth Republic", at Kpando Torkor. The President, the Chronicle say, therefore, called on Ghanaians to help in conducting peaceful elections and to choose wisely in order to continue to move the Ghana forward.
He is reported as saying, "Our country has been able to make progress because of the peaceful and stable atmosphere that has been maintained over the past years and for which our security services have greatly contributed". "It is important that we maintain the peaceful atmosphere so that we can continue to develop, he added.
GRi../
High Street Journal
Ghanaian worker buy-out earns $7.5 million despite slump in world prices in ‘98/99
In a front-age story, the High Street Journal reports that Prestea Gold Resources, formerly Barnex, which was taken over by the company’s workers when the South African owners declared the mine unprofitable, earned $7.5 million from 28,619 ounces of gold from underground mining in the first 12 months of operations to 1999.
The mine is located at Prestea in the Western Region. The paper says that the owners of Barnex in 1998, closed down the mine because they said the depth at which underground operations had reached, made the mine not worth investing in.
But the workers, the High Street Journal says, came forward to say the problem with the mine was high management costs, which the expatriate staff posed to the company. According to the workers, given a fair chance they could turn the mine around.
The paper says that despite strong arguments by the expatriate management that countered the position of the workers, as well as initial feet-dragging by the government, the workers were allowed to take over the mine and they invested $1.1million tapped from their benefits.
The High Street Journal says that the company’s proven ore reserves at of December 31, 1998, stood at 434,790 tonnes, adding that further exploration that the company undertook shows 75% increase in the ore quality. The paper says that Gold Resources now owns, as of October last year, 738,616 tonnes of ore reserves and these are expected to increase by the end of the first quarter of this year.
GRi../
The Ghanaian Democrat
Volta roads to go asphalt
The Ghanaian Democrat reports that the anxiety among the people of the Volta Region concerning the poor state of roads in the area, will soon be cleared as all major roads in the region are to be rehabilitated under contracts awarded by the government.
The paper says that by this development, work will begin in the first quarter of this year on some of the roads while others will commence by the last quarter of the year. According to the paper, the Deputy Minister of Roads and Transport, Mr Steve Akorli, disclosed this in an interview in Accra.
Mr Akorli is reported as saying that under the programme, the Ho, Hohoe and Kpando town roads will all be upgraded and asphalted. According to the Deputy Minister, Kpando-Worawora and Worawora-Tema-Aflao trunk roads will also benefit from the programme.
He said Jasikan-Sogakope, Nkwanta-Damanko and Ho-Fume roads would be upgraded with asphalt surfacing. He is said to have explained that the long delay in rehabilitating roads in the region was largely due to the fact that financing was placed solely on Government of Ghana Funding (GOGF).
The Deputy Minister is quoted as explaining that because the government was over-burdened, it was difficult to source funding to undertake such huge projects, which demand huge budgetary allocations.
In addition, he said, the roads in the region, in particular, were never studied and as such no empirical evaluation of the road network could have been made, especially with regards to modern road design. The Democrat expresses the government’s delight that it has been able to remove the projects from GOGF programme and placed them under the Donor Funding, precisely, World Bank assisted projects.
GRi../
Public Agenda
Factional fighting resumes in NDC
The Public Agenda says that the NDC’s top presidential slot now more or less secured by Prof. John Atta Mills factions within the party, are focusing on securing the vice-presidential position even as they seek to secure financial and power influences to ensure control in the post-Rawlings era.
According to the paper in a front-page story, vigorous and open jockeying for the vice-presidential slot within the party has now made it all but impossible for the affable but malleable former Professor of Law and national head of tax collectors, to select his own candidate for the job as is said to be his preference.
The Public Agenda says that the struggle for the vice-presidential position threatens to create holes in the party. The NC is said to hold its image as united so sacrosanct that attempts by some cadres to openly question some practices within the led to the breakaway of the cadres, who now constitute themselves as a new political party, the National Reform Party (NRP)…
GRi../