Fuel prices to go up
Ghost names on GES payroll…head-count ordered
Assembly member faces expulsion…for exposing NDC chairman
KMA disrupts Kejetia project
Konadu assures electorate…NDC will win 2000 elections…
Armed forces pollute Kpeshie Lagoon…with human waste
Fuel prices to go up
The Daily Graphic reports that prices of petroleum products are expected to go up very soon, when the President appends his signature to the Customs and Excise (Petroleum Taxes and Petroleum Levies (Amendment) Act.
The Graphic in a front-page story, says that the increase will, however, not be significant, quoting Mr Isaac Tagoe, Director of Petroleum at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, who is said to have disclosed in an interview in Accra.
Parliament last Friday, approved an 80-cedi increase in the road fund levy on petroleum products, and with this increase every litre of petroleum product bought by the consumer, will attract a levy of 230 cedis instead of the current 150 cedis, towards the road fund.
The story says that Mr Tagoe could not give the exact percentage increase since prices of crude oil on the world market have gone up since the last increase in December 1999. He is said to have explained that any future increase will take into account the price levels on the international market.
The current prices are 1,180 cedis per litre for petrol, 1,100 cedis for diesel while the ex-depot price for unified oil is 1,060 cedis per litre. The levy is collected by the oil companies on behalf of the government for the maintenance and rehabilitation of roads in Ghana.
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Return to top The Ghanaian Times
Ghost names on GES payroll…head-count ordered
The Ghanaian Times reports in its top story that 18% of names on the payroll at the Ghana Education Service (GES) have been found to be fake.
To rectify the situation, all district directors of the GES have been ordered to conduct a head-count of all personnel under them between now and May, this year. The Times quotes Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Director-General of the GES, as announcing this in Kumasi at a meeting with Regional and District directors of Education yesterday.
The meeting was to call their attention t what was expected of them with regard to performance monitoring of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme. It was also to find solutions to the problems raised and fashion a way forward for the achievement of the goals.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi, is reported to have, therefore, directed that all payrolls of teachers should be lodged at the District Education offices and warned that district directors would be held personally responsible and surcharged for monies misappropriated as a result of "ghost" names.
He is said to have explained that the district directors are responsible for the salaries of teachers irrespective of whether they are in the district assembly or education unit schools.
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Return to top The Ghanaian Chronicle
Assembly member faces expulsion…for exposing NDC chairman
In a centre-spread story, the Ghanaian Chronicle says Mr Akuamoah K. Boateng, alias "Dr Agama" who represents the Sekyedumasi Traditional Council at the Ejura/Sekyedumasi District Assembly, may soon lose his seat at the assembly.
According to the Chronicle, plans are under way to get him removed as an assemblyman for speaking out on alleged fraudulent deals of the NDC chairman for the Ejura constituency, Mr Mohammed Issifu Pangabu, who is also an assemblyman.
The story says that Boateng’s appointment as treasurer/secretary of the Sekyedumasi Area Council, had already been terminated after serving in that capacity for only to months.
The paper says that a letter signed for the District Chief Executive by Mr E.B. Oppong, a deputy district co-ordinating director, who announced the termination, cited "the current restructuring exercise" involving appointees on urban/area councils as the reason, and stated that Boateng was at liberty to re-apply for consideration after the so-called restructuring exercise.
But according to the Chronicle, "there is more to the raw deal being meted out to Boateng than a restructuring exercise". The story says that for unknown reasons, a meeting held in Kumasi on January 25, presided over by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, decided to remove Boateng from the assembly.
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Return to top The Weekend Statesman
KMA disrupts Kejetia project
The Weekend Statesman reports in a lead a story that traders and hawkers have taken over the Kejetia road project site in Kumasi and are refusing to vacate the area, in spite of repeated pleas by the contractor on the job.
The story says that the refusal of the traders and hawkers to move from the site and give the contractor unhindered access, stems from the fact that the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) collects tolls from them everyday.
"Once the KMA does not see anything wrong with what we are doing here and continues to take money from us, we will not leave from here today r tomorrow", the Weekend Statesman quotes Abena Serwaa, a fishmonger as saying.
The paper says that the presence of the traders and hawkers has greatly hampered progress of work at the site and the city authorities have not heeded pleas from the contractor to relocate them.
The story says that the traders, majority of them wearing identity cards of the Veranda Boys and Girls Club on their chests, are not eager to move out of the site since the Kejetia area is the first point of call for many commuters.
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Return to top Ghana Palaver
Konadu assures electorate…NDC will win 2000 elections…
In its lead story, the Ghana Palaver reports that the First Lady and the president of the 31st December Women’s Movement, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has assured the electorate that the NDC will win the December 2000 elections to continue to deepen democracy and promote the rule of law.
The paper says that the First Lady declared that the NDC government has laid down the foundation for a prosperous nation for future generations and what is required now is for the people to pt in a little more effort.
Nana Konadu was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Assin District branch of the Veranda Boys and Girls Club at Assin Beraku in the Central Region, last Tuesday. She is reported as saying that due to sound economic policies, food production increased three-fold while famine is now a thing of the past.
"Cocoa production, which suffered seriously in the late 60s and 70s because of mismanagement and bad policies, have now doubled and looks set to rise further", she is quoted as saying.
The First Lady, who was the guest of honour, is reported as saying that the government’s commitment to the health needs of the people is reflected in the consequential rise in the provision health facilities across the length and breadth of Ghana.
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Return to top Free Press
Armed forces pollute Kpeshie Lagoon…with human waste
The Free Press notes in a front-page screaming headline story that it is paradox that in spite of the military’s respect for sanitation, the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces, has been polluting the Kpeshie Lagoon in Accra, by discharging raw sewage into it with impunity.
According to the paper, for over two years now, cesspool emptiers of the Regiment have been discharging sewage into a tunnel close to the Burma Villas behind the La cemetery, which empties into the sea through the Kpeshie Lagoon.
The Free Press says that its visit to the area revealed that although the treatment plant of the military there has broken down for years, the cesspool emptiers discharge sewage into the tunnel with little or no respect for the environment and the residents.
The story says some farmers in the area intimated that because the atmosphere is constantly polluted by a nauseating smell, especially in the morning and evenings, they are forced to abandon their farms for four or five days before going back to work under very uncomfortable conditions.
The paper says that what is worse is that since most of the farmers irrigate their vegetable crops with water from a stream close to the lagoon, one cannot rule out the possibility of having consumed vegetables from that part of Accra.
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