Dunkwa G’fields folds up…all 300 workers lose jobs
NPP’s maturity has ensured peace – Jake
It’s not over for Mills…Konadu ‘T’-shirts soon
NPP in search…Gen. Joshua Hamidu – Kufuor’s Vice?
Proposed increases in fuel prices…Gov’t, TUC to collide
Dunkwa G’fields folds up…all 300 workers lose jobs
The Daily Graphic reports that crisis-hit Dunkwa Continental Goldfields Limited has finally folded up and laid off all its 300 workers. In its top story, the Graphic recalls that last year, fortunes of the once buoyant mines in Ghana made a nose-dive due to the slump in the price of gold and has since not recovered. The management of the company are reported as saying that it is no more interested in gold mining and intends to diversify into the production of silica for export.
The paper says that the company’s three dredges and heavy equipment have been abandoned in the bus, parts of which have been stolen by thieves. According to the Graphic, a clinic run by the mines and which served the Subin community has also been closed down while over 300 housing units, which were occupied by the workers, are lying idle.
The story says that these came to light at a meeting between the Central Regional Minister, Mr Jacob Arthur and the general manager of the company, Mr Ernest Oware, at which they discussed problems facing the company, as part of the Minister’s tour of the Upper Denkyira District. Mr Oware is said to have explained that due to the low grade of gold in the concession area, coupled with the slump in gold prices last year, the company’s returns hit an all-time low.
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NPP’s maturity has ensured peace – Jake
In a front-page banner headline story, the Evening News reports Mr Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, national campaign manager of the NPP, as stating that the relative peace and stability Ghana is enjoying at the moment, can be attributed to the maturity displayed by the NPP leadership after every election period, as compared to opposition groups in other countries in Africa.
He is quoted as saying that elsewhere in the world, losing parties have challenged election results, which had sometimes disturbed the peace of those countries. Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, who is also Greater Accra Regional chairman of the NPP, is reported as making this observation in an interview in Accra on the party’s campaign strategy to clinch victor in the forthcoming genera elections.
He said this year’s polls must be devoid of all forms of cheating and that the Electoral Commission must ensure tat the process is transparent and the results declared are the truth, before everybody would accept them. The Evening News says that Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey warned that the NPP will resist any intimidation of the electorate during and after the December 8 elections.
He is reported as saying that with the type of education the party is carrying out, especially in the rural areas, "there is no way the electorate can be intimidated and coerced to vote against their wish". He said to make sure that the NPP does not suffer electoral defeat, the party is currently concentrating on the mobilisation of people at the grassroots level and also making sure that its campaign messages get to the electorate.
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It’s not over for Mills…Konadu ‘T’-shirts soon
The Independent writes that Vice-President John Atta Mills last Friday, told cadres at Tamale that after constant prayers and reflections, he had finally decided to seek the nomination as the flagbearer of the NDC come April 27, 2000, at the party’s delegates’ congress at Ho in the Volta Region.
The paper says that but back home to his base in Accra after the Tamale declaration, John Atta Mills must have bee hit by the stark reality that after his ‘divinely inspired’ announcement he is faced with a physical impediment on his way to the top of the ruling party.
According to the Independent, the seeming threat posed by the First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings to Vice-President Mills’ ambition, is real. Supporters of the First Lady are said to have vowed to level the ground for both Atta Mills and Nana Konadu to compete at equal strength at the congress.
"Any idea of a unanimous endorsement of the Vice-President is totally out", the Independent says, quoting an ardent supporter of Nana Konadu.
The paper says that for now, the Konadu campaign is concerned with logistics and other electioneering materials to convince people that they are not relenting in their decision to proffer the First Lad’s candidature at the Ho congress.
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NPP in search…Gen. Joshua Hamidu – Kufuor’s Vice?
In a front-page screaming headline, the Guide says that its intelligence report from London have it that Lt-General Joshua Hamidu, one-time Chief of Defence Staff in the Supreme Military Council II (SMC II) regime, has been spotted as the running mate to Mr J.A. Kufuor, presidential candidate of the NPP.
The paper says that Lt-Gen. Hamidu, who was also the liaison officer during the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) era, has been in exile for the past 20 years. According to the Guide, the choice of Gen Hamidu, is to serve two purposes.
The first is to balance the north-south obsession, which has become important in the geo-politics of Ghana today. Gen Hamidu is a Northerner.
The paper says that the second consideration is financial, since Gen Hamidu, who has many of Nigeria’s military officers as his classmates, both at the Staff College in Accra and Sandhurst in the United Kingdom, can use his relationship with many of these Nigerian Generals to mobilise financial support for the NPP in its efforts to win the 2000 elections.
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Proposed increases in fuel prices…Gov’t, TUC to collide
The Accra Mail in its lead story, says a presidential assent is expected in a few days’ time to herald new increases n the prices of petroleum products. The paper notes that in 1999, prices of petroleum products went up five times, the last increases being last December.
The paper says that this time round, it might not be that easy as organised labour has already served notice to resist any further increases. The Accra Mail says that just two months into 2000, the Ministry of Mines and Energy has made proposals for fresh increases to set the stage for another round of increases as the year progresses.
It says over the last four years taxes from petroleum products have constituted the single largest source of government revenue, bringing in over 300 billion cedis each year. The paper is, therefore, baffled why the government is still resorting to fuel taxes as the largest sources of revenue while the VAT is in full swing.
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