Minority disgust about President, Chief Justice romance
NDC to name candidate for
Bimbilla by-election
Independent investigation into
cyanide spill
All final year students in
Northern School of Business dismissed
Security personnel retrieve
firearms in Bawku
Institute of African Studies is
40 years old
Kumasi Metro to introduce ZIP
code
Wesley College students embark
on strike
Private print media urged to from partnership
Minority
disgust about President, Chief Justice romance
Accra (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002-The Minority in Parliament has registered its displeasure
about the recent closed-door meeting between President Kufuor and the Chief
Justice, E.K. Wiredu, at the Castle describing it as an act of serious
indiscretion.
The Minority said the
closed-door meeting held last week has the real potential of casting doubt on
the integrity and independence of members of the judiciary. The Chief Justice
told the media after the meeting that the discussions centred on problems
confronting the judiciary in the discharge of its duties.
In a statement signed
by Mr. John Mahama, the Minority argued that problems confronting the judiciary
in the discharging of its duties are matters of public interest and any such
discussions should have been carried out in an open meeting with the media in
attendance.
“As it is, the subject
of discussions at the closed-door meeting is now a matter of speculations,” the
Minority said, and expressed objection of holding the meeting at the Castle,
the seat of the executive arm of government, saying if there were even the need
for such discussions, it should have been held on a neutral ground.
The Minority said
recent events had created uneasiness in a section of the population about the
impartiality of the judiciary, in cases involving the government. It referred
to the cases brought against the executive in respect of the appointment of
service commanders and the Chief of Staff without the constitutionally required
consultation with Council of State.
The Minority said
hearing, of those cases were unduly delayed until they became moot. A comment
by the Senior Minister, J.H. Mensah, at the last NPP congress that the NDC
party would ceased to exist at the time the case brought before former
officials are completed, gave credence to that, noting that the closed-door
meeting between President Kufuor and Chief Justice Wiredu came shortly before a
legal challenge has been initiated before the Supreme Court about the
constitutionality of the fast track
court.
Meanwhile, the
leadership of the Minority says it will seek audience with the Chief Justice to
register its protest and raise its concern about the integrity and independence
of the judiciary.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002 - Former Vice President John Evans Atta Mills on Tuesday told
the Fast Track Court in Accra that throughout his tenure of office there was no
programme that needed more attention than the Quality Grain Company at Aveyime.
"In spite of this, I did not find any evidence of malfeasance in the
conduct of any of the accused persons, so far as the project was
concerned," he said.
Prof. Mills was
testifying in the Quality Grain case, in which Ibrahim Adam, former Minister of
Food and Agriculture, Kwame Peprah, former Minister of Finance, Samuel Dapaah,
former Chief Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, George Yankey,
former Director of the Legal Sector, Private and Institutions Division of the
Ministry of Finance and Nana Ato Dadzie, former Chief of Staff are facing
charges of conspiracy to commit crime and causing financial a loss of over 20
million dollars to the state. They have
all pleaded not guilty and are on self-recognisance bail.
Prof. Mills told the
court presided over by Justice Kwame Afreh, Appeal Court Judge sitting as
additional High Court Judge, that he first visited the Quality Grain Project
site at Aveyime in 1997 on the instructions of former President Jerry John
Rawlings.
He said he went with
officials of that company and immediately he returned, a Cabinet meeting was
held to discuss the bottlenecks at the project site. Subsequently, he said,
former President Rawlings asked him to form an ad-hoc committee, which among
other things, was to find out how many people were to be compensated and
resettled.
Prof. Mills said buildings
were demolished and there was the need to appropriately, resettle their owners.
The major setback in the project, according to the ad-hoc committee's report,
was the payment of compensation and resettlement of people, he recalled, adding
that in order to ensure effective payment, he instructed the Chief of Staff to
monitor the payment and to report back to him, to enable him to report to the
Cabinet.
Prof. Mills said during
the resettlement exercise, he was unhappy with Mrs J. R. Cotton, Head of the
company, because she made unjustifiable demands. He said in September 1988, a
year after he had been to the project site, Mr Theophilus Cudjoe of the Serious
Fraud Office (SFO) alleged that Mrs Cotton was fraudulent and also challenged
the role played by Mr Dapaah and Mr Yankey.
He said after
investigating the allegation, he did not see any malfeasance, since the
Auditor-General's Department audited the company’s accounts. The Former Vice
President said he was aware of the benefits of the project to Ghanaians, for
which reason his attention was on it and recalled that not too long after Mr
Cudjoe had presented a report to him while in office, he had information from
the United States and Britain about the project, which was negative.
Prof Mills noted that
spending more than 100 million dollars on the importation of rice every year
was too much for the country to bear, so he wanted to do everything possible to
sustain the project.
Answering questions
during cross-examination by Mr Osafo Sampong, Director of Public Prosecution,
he said he did not see the 1998 feasibility report on the project. He also said
he was not in office when the project was approved, adding that the project
started before he became the Vice President.
Prof. Mills further
said he did not know that when the rice was grown and harvested and sold the
proceeds went to Mrs Cotton. Proceeding continues on Wednesday, February 20.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Somanya (Eastern
Region) 20 February 2002 - The Eastern Region Secretary of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Anthony Gyampoh, has called on party members to
ignore allegations some ministers of state are peddling against the party and
its leadership.
He said the allegations
formed part of the propaganda ploy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to ignite public
opinion against the NDC and make party members loose faith in the party's
leadership.
''This would enable the
NPP government to entrench itself in power despite it's inability to honour
it's campaign promises'', Mr Gyampoh made the call at a meeting of NDC
functionaries and organisers in the Yilo Krobo Constituency at Somanya.
He said no government
in Ghana, apart from the CPP government, could equal the achievements of the
NDC and called on party members to continue to support the NDC.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002 - Top executives of the National Democratic Congress have
moved to the Bimbilla Constituency to conduct a mini-conference to select its
candidate for the by-election scheduled for March 16 following the resignation
of Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas.
Mr Kofi Attor, NDC MP
for Ho Central, said in Accra on Tuesday that a candidate would be named by
Friday. He said Dr Obed Asamoah, Chairman of the National Reorganisation
Committee and Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, General Secretary are among the top
executives, who were on the ground.
The party was
optimistic of retaining the Bimbilla seat, he said, describing the constituency
as a safe haven. Dr Chambas resigned last week after his election as the
Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Mr
Attor said that the history of by-elections under the Fourth Republic tended to
favour the incumbent party and that Bimbilla would follow the same trend.
Out of the four
by-elections conducted since the inception of the Fourth Republic the NDC retained
three seats and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) retained one. The NDC retained
New Edubiase, Wenchi East and Lambusie seats and the NPP retained the Ablekuma
Central seat.
Mr Attor said in spite
of history favouring the party, "we have marshalled all resources to meet
any opposition, obstacle and hindrance to ensure that NDC wins
convincingly".
The NDC sees the
by-election as a challenge, which the party was capable of overcoming even in
opposition. "The NPP ...has not done any thing to deserve the seat and we
have a lot of goodwill."
The Bimbilla
constituency has lessons to teach, as Dr Chambas won the seat, lost it and won
it again in the three elections during the Fourth Republic. Dr Chambas won the
seat in 1992 on the NDC ticket, lost it to Mr George Dagmanyi Mpambi of the
Peoples' National Convention (PNC) in 1996 and regained it in 2000.
The NPP had not been in
sight at Bimbilla until the 2000 elections when its candidate Mr Mohammed A
Wumbei polled 9,117 (30.01 per cent) of the votes cast to place second to Dr
Chambas, who had 18,611 votes (61.25 per cent).
Meanwhile the People's
National Convention (PNC) has also indicated its readiness to capture the seat
they lost in the 2000 elections. A party official told the GNA that, "the
seat belongs to us. We have corrected our political mistake and will re-capture
it."
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002 - A five-member Committee charged to investigate the cyanide
spillage that occurred at Tarkwa Goldfields leading to the contamination of a
nearby stream, on October 16, last year, was on Tuesday inaugurated by
Professor Dominic Kweku Fobih, Minister of Environment and Science.
The committee, which is
to submit its report within six weeks is to analyse the crises based on update
information, clarifying how it was possible that the contamination occurred.
Members are also
expected to take an inventory of the extent of damage done to public health and
the environment, as well as focus on regulations governing the mining industry
and protection of natural resources. Prof. Fobih charged the committee to come
out with strategic guidelines for regulating the disposal of waste material
into the environment.
The members are;
Professor Anthony A. Adimado, Dean, Graduate School, Kwame Nkrumah University
of Science and Technology, team leader, Professor Daniel Mmireku Gyimah,
Director, Western University College and Mr Samuel Gyasi, Senior Scientific
Officer, Ghana Standards Board.
The rest are Dr Derrick
Carboo, Lecturer, University of Ghana, Dr Borlier Ed Nighpense, Public Health Practitioner,
Ministry of Health and Mrs Patience Damptey, Deputy Director, Ministry of
Environment and Science, who is a member secretary.
On October 16, an
industrial accident occurred within the operational area of Tarkwa Golfields
Company, which caused the spillage of cyanide into the Sumang River, a source
of drinking water for a number of communities including Abekoase, Huniso,
Sumahu, Prekese and Tebe.
The effect of the
spillage was supposedly neutralised with the introduction of sodium
hypochlorite and sodium peroxide causing the death of a number of fishes in the
river.
On Monday October 22,
2001, a private newspaper, "The Independent" reported the cyanide
spillage claiming it had destroyed a number of lives that depended on the
river, including fishes, birds, crabs and plants.
This led to several
visits and inquiries were instituted by the government agencies including the
Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, The Minister of Environment and
Science, Environmental Protection Agency, The Minerals Commission and The Water
Resources Commission.
The various reports
presented by these bodies were rejected by a number of non-governmental
organisations, including Federation of Environmental Journalist, The League of
Environmental Journalists and Third World Network that called for an
independent body to investigate the incident.
Prof Fobih said the
decision to set up such an independent investigation into the matter was an
important measure to restore confidence and ensure public safety. "The
situation actually created panic among the public and it is the duty of
government through the appropriate agency to alleviate this panic and restore
confidence," he said, adding; "The ordinary people of the area must
be assured of safety." Prof. Fobih said some of the community members said
they consumed some of the dead fishes and also drank water from the river just
after the spillage.
Prof. Fobih told the
Committee members that they should consider organising a public hearing to
present some of reports, discuss strategic guidelines and give the public the
opportunity to air its opinion. He urged the members to come out with
strategies that would enable the government to formulate appropriate policies
to enhance the protection of the environment.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Tamale (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002 - All the final year students of the Northern School of
Business (NOBISCO) in Tamale, have been dismissed for rioting and threatening
to burn down the school.
Alhasan Salifu,
Headmaster of the school said the students who were protesting against the punishment
meted out to their colleagues, attacked the residence of the Senior House
Master and the House Mistress last Saturday night.
Mr Salifu said though
the school authorities escaped unhurt; the rampaging students broke louvers,
disconnected security lights and telephone lines. The trouble started about ten
days ago when two final year female students were punished by the school's
disciplinary committee for assaulting a second year female student for refusing
to attend to their call.
Mr Salifu said the
students were suspended when they refused to do the punishment and after an
attempt by a group of final year students to prevail upon the committee to
rescind its decision had failed, the prefects among them announced their
resignation and mobilised the final year students to attack some tutors'
bungalows.
Tension began to mount
when anonymous messages threatening to attack members of the disciplinary
committee and to burn down the school were pasted on walls and structures at
the campus, prompting the school authorities to invite the police to restore
law and order.
The School's Board of
Governors at an emergency meeting on Monday decided to expel the final year
students, but they ignored the directive and instead organised themselves into
stone hurling gangs, directing their efforts at the Headmaster and other
workers, who had gathered at the Administration Block.
He said one student was
arrested while the others took to their heels when a police reinforcement team
arrived. The student, according to Mr Salifu was assisting the police in their
investigations.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Bawku (Upper East) 20
February 2002 - Military and Police personnel at the Binduri barrier near Bawku
in the Upper East Region on Tuesday intercepted eight unlicensed single barrel
Russian made short guns and a locally manufactured pistol.
Assistant
Superintendent of Police (DSP) Peter Denteh said the Russian made guns were
found concealed in a rubber mat on a Kumasi-Bawku bound Neoplan bus with
registration number UE 76 A being driven by Anthony Quainoo.
Three passengers,
Mbilla Assibi, Amoah Aboko and Aboko Ayamga, all from Zowsi also near Bawku are
being held as suspects in connection with the Russian made guns, while the
pistol was found on one Ayambila Agogey, who claims to have come from Kaadi,
near Bawku, Mr Denteh added.
Meanwhile, the four
suspects have been placed in police custody and are helping in further
investigations. The Mamprusis’ and Kusasis ethic groups in Bawku are engaged in
a longstanding ethnic conflict, which erupts from time to time.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002 - A 57 year-old man on Tuesday shot dead his wife and sister
in-law at Sabon Zongo in Accra and attempted to commit suicide, Police said.
Kwabena Omari, a
spectacles frames repairer, shot dead Janet Boateng, a 35 year-old seamstress
and her sister Yaayaa, 28, both from Obomeng Kwahu. He had claimed that his
wife was having an affair with another man.
Mrs Helena Cobbinah,
Deputy Superintendent of Police in charge of Korle Bu Police, told newsmen that
Omari was receiving treatment, while the bodies of the two women had been
deposited at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital mortuary. She said Omari used a
double barrel shotgun to commit the act.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002 - The Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana,
Legon, on Tuesday launched its 40th anniversary with a call on organisations
and philanthropists to support them to complete its new office building.
Dr Irene Korkoi Odotei,
Director of the Institute, said they had committed about 340,000 dollars into
the project being supported by the Danish Government through the Danish
International Development Agency (DANIDA).
"We would need
additional 280,000 dollars to complete the structure and we are appealing to
the public to support us either in cash or in kind," she said. The
Institute was established as a semi-autonomous body of the University to
promote the studies of African heritage.
There would be a
conference of chiefs from different parts of Africa in September to climax the
anniversary activities. There would also be an evaluative conference of African
studies programmes on the continent to set the agenda for African Studies in
the new millennium.
Prof. Ivan
Addae-Mensah, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, in a speech read for
him, said the very establishment of the Institute at the time was a strong
statement of intellectual and cultural independence.
"The Institute
remains a strong reminder that an African University must retrieve the
intellectual heritage of the continent and ensure that it asserts itself as an
authority on Africa."
Prof. Addae-Mensah, who
is also the chairman of the Advisory Board of the Institute, said for the next
10 years, the institute had a great task to prove its relevance and sustenance.
This, he said, could be achieved through building staff capacity, reviewing of
courses and disseminating its findings to a wider audience.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Kumasi (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002 -The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) is to start a code
street addressing system under a Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP), which would tie
in the re-numbering of houses to make it easier to locate.
Under the plan, the use
of identification cards (ID) that would contain all relevant information and a
street code for easy identification will be provided, Mr Kofi Bempah, President
and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ASI Systems, disclosed in Kumasi on
Tuesday.
Briefing the media and
some members of the KMA on the plan, Mr Bempah said a directory of all streets
in the city would be compiled and so, Kumasi has been zoned into four to make
it easier for people to identify the areas of residence.
"We are developing
a software that conforms to international standards. The software that would be
used for handling the address directory would be able to produce reports on
property ownership and business activities in each ZIP code area to facilitate
the collection of property taxes and business license fees.
Mr Bempah said when the
system becomes operational it would give the police, ambulance or fire service,
the exact location of an emergency. He said the system would be very beneficial
to metropolitan, urban and district assemblies by helping them to identify
taxable properties, street names and house numbers.
The system, Mr Bempah
said was good for land registration since it would put an end to land
litigation, pointing out that it would lead to the creation of a fiscal
registry.
Mr Maxwell Jumah, the
Metropolitan Chief Executive, said the computerised system could put an end to
the fraud in the land system in the metropolis, adding that what the KMA was
doing was to catapult Kumasi into a new age.
He said it was going to
help re-number Kumasi properly since a lot of properties did not have records
and that this would bring Kumasi in line with any other city in the world.
Mr Jumah said already,
the system was in place at Asokore-Mampong, Ohwimase and Denchemuoso, adding
that what the KMA was trying to do was to simplify the lives of the residents
of the metropolis.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Kumasi (Ashanti Region)
20 February 2002 -Students of Wesley College in Kumasi have embarked on a
sit-down strike in protest against increase in examination registration fees.
Speaking in an
interview in Kumasi on Tuesday, Mr. Kingsford Osei-Boateng, a member of the
Student Representative Council (SRC), said the students paid 140,000 cedis
registration fee last year but this year it had been raised to 220,000 cedis.
''The increase is
unbearable and we cannot accepted it,'' Osei-Boateng said, adding that students
in teacher training colleges have a major role to play in the socio-economic
development of the nation and appealed to the government, the Ministry of
Education and stakeholders to ensure the reduction of high fees charged at the
training colleges.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra)
20 February 2002 - Mr Nutifafa Kuenyehia, Chairman of the National Media
Commission, on Tuesday urged the private print media to form a partnership to
map out strategies that would enable them to overcome challenges facing the
industry.
Such partnership or
network, he said, would benefit the individual media houses and help promote
pluralism of the media. The NMC Chairman identified marketing, advertising, tax
regime, access to printing facilities and human resources, as some of the
challenges facing the media.
Mr Kuenyehia said this
in a speech read on his behalf on the: "Challenges Facing the Private
Print Media" at the launch of a new private newspaper, "The
Heritage". The 16-page newspaper is published by TeleMedia Communications,
an Accra-based publishing company. A copy of the newspaper would sell for 1,500
cedis.
On marketing, Mr
Kuenyehia said lack of networking among the private print media for
distribution in terms of transport was a major problem that hindered the
advancement of the industry.
He said the NMC had
preliminary discussions on the possibility of a company lifting the newspapers
to the other regions, but this could not work. There was also the need for the
private print media not to be overly selective about advertisements but rather
adopt a business-like approach in manning the newspapers to stay in business,
Mr Kuenyehia said.
The NMC Chairman
advocated a review of the tax laws covering the private print media to give
incentives or relief to promote the industry. He explained that some of the
materials for newspaper production were imported and the addition of the high
tax was a disincentive.
He again urged owners
of such organisations to forge a close partnership to acquire printing
facilities as a way of reducing the cost of production. On human resources, Mr
Kuenyehia noted that while some managers paid high remuneration and offered
bonuses, others did not pay much.
This was a contributory
factor to the low standard of newspaper content with particular reference to
grammar and professionalism, he said. He asked the managers of the private
print media to regard these as challenges and not obstacles in order to
overcome them. "You can make your mark positively if you overcome and be
able to contribute to the promotion of pluralism," he said.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com