GRi Press
Review 10 – 06 – 2003
Accra
(Greater Accra) 10 June 2003 - The exercise to compile a new voters’ register
as well as issue new voter identity cards to replace the existing ones has been
fixed for September this year, at a tentative cost of about ¢100bn.
The
new register will, for the first time, be embossed with the photographs of
voters to prevent impersonation during any election in the country. It will
also be used alongside the ID cards. It is expected to be ready for use by the
first quarter of next year, barring any hitches.
Nana
Kofi Karikari, Senior
Electoral Officer, Public Affairs, of the Electoral Commission (EC), who
disclosed this in an interview in
He
said the new register will have some security features which will ensure that
it is not bloated for people to have confidence in it. Nana Karikari
said the commission will expect all eligible voters to patronise the exercise
to have their photos taken for the new register and ID cards since the old ones
will cease to exist after the new ones are compiled.
He
said it is up to the commission to learn from its past mistakes and compare the
success of other countries’ electoral systems to improve on what exists so far.
Nana Karikari was confident that this new register
will be more reliable and have the quality to raise the confidence level of
Ghanaians in it.
He
said in 1995, the commission involved representatives of all the political
parties to be part of the exercise and said it will repeat the same process
this time round to ensure that all parties accept the way the exercise will be
conducted.
Nana
Karikari said the register is a sensitive document
and, therefore, its compilation should be made transparent to avoid criticisms
and doubts about its quality, which may cause the reopening of another one at
another cost to the nation.
He
said the democratic process is gradually gaining firm roots in the country and
so it is up to the commission to ensure that the electoral process is made as
open and clean as possible to ensure free and fair elections.
Nana
Karikari said the exercise should have been conducted
every 10 years but explained that judging from the manner in which the old one
was bloated, the commission found it fit to compile a more modern one, which
will drastically eliminate any defect.
Touching
on the threat of the workers of the commission to lay down their tools if their
conditions of service are not improved, he said the management and the union
are in serious talks to find an amicable solution to their grievances. He
expressed the hope that the differences will be resolved before the
commencement of the exercise. – Graphic
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Dr
Robert Osei, an economist and Fellow of the IEA,
expressed the doubt in an interview on the possibility of
He
said although it is not wrong for the government to aim high, it has to be
realistic in setting such targets as it affects the credibility of
Assuming
the total population of
From
this scenario, he said this "implicitly suggests that the natural rate of
increase, that is, the population growth rates, should average zero which is an
unrealistic assumption to make".
Dr Osei said relaxing the zero annual average growth in
population and making the assumption that the population growth rate averages
about one per cent over the 10 years, then total population will be about 21.8
per cent in 2014 and for this population, output growth will have to average
about 12 per cent annually.
He
also said if Ghana were to assume an average of about two per cent population
growth rate per annum, the total population in 10 years would be about 24
million, meaning the country will have to achieve an average annual output
growth of about 13.3 per cent in order to attain a per capita GDP of about
$1,000 over the period.
Dr Osei said
The
IEA economist said over the 10 years that preceded 1980 when
He
said gross domestic investment averaged over 41 per cent of GDP, adding that
although their population growth averaged about 3.5 per cent, the total
population as of 1980 was still less than one million and that even with this
very low population density, average annual growth over that period exceeded 15
per cent for Botswana.
In
the case of
Dr Osei said it is therefore difficult to see how
Ghana
Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) will average about 4.9 per cent over
2003-2005 and indicated that after 2005 GDP growth rate should average close to
15 per cent to enable it to achieve what he described as the enviable level of
$1,000 in per capita GDP. – Graphic
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Swedru (Eastern Region) 10 June 2003 – Inspector A. K. Nimoh,
who is handling the case in which some farmers in the Birim
North District were allegedly paid with fake ¢20,000 notes by some purchasing
clerks, has appealed to the general public to help trace one Thomas Ahenkora, popularly known as Agyaku,
stationed at Akyem Asene,
near Oda, to enable the speedy trial of the case.
Speaking
at the court’s sitting on 3 June, Inspector Nimoh,
who showed a picture of Ahenkora, said investigations
have proved that Ahenkora gave the fake ¢20,000 notes
to Samuel Addo Dankwa, the
first accused in the case, as a loan.
At
the sitting, the police who had been given an ultimatum at the previous sitting
to arrest all suspects in the case within nine days,
were able to arrest two more persons. They are Samuel Amoako,
to whom the first accused gave the fake moneys to pay the farmers, and one
Dickson Ansah, who accompanied the second accused to
make the payment.
The
court, however, discharged Ansah, with the
explanation that he was only a witness in the case and that he only accompanied
the second accused to make the payment, but remanded Addo
Dankwa and Amoako in
custody to reappear today.
The
presiding judge, Justice George Koomson, however,
expressed worry at the seemingly lack of commitment on the part of the police
who are handling the case. According to him, the delays and display of apathy
by the police have contributed immensely to the “disappearance” of Ahenkora.
Prior
to this, counsel for both the first and second accused, E. A. Oduro and Asare Bediako, both Oda -based legal
practitioners, pleaded with the court to grant their clients bail to enable
them to help the police arrest the brain behind the crime, with the explanation
that when granted bail, it won’t jeopardise the subsequent investigations.
The
facts of the case are that about one and half months ago, Dankwa,
together with the second accused, stationed at Adwafo
in the Birim North District of the Eastern Region,
contacted one Baba Mohammed at Kade for a loan to
purchase cocoa.
Dankwa in the course of investigations mentioned the name of Ahenkora who is at large as the one who gave him the fake
¢20,000 notes. Investigation continues. – Graphic
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The
man, who already has five cars at his disposal, has bought a new Toyota Prado for ¢450m and this has generated controversy between
him and the Metro Coordinating Director, I. T. Adjovu.
A
source told the ''Free Press'' that the Metro Co-ordinating Director opposed
the buying of the new car and instead suggested that the AMA should make moves
to pay-off some of the debts owed. This according to the source has incurred
the anger of Solomon Darko who has caused the
transfer of Adjovu.
The
AMA allegedly owes refuse-collecting companies who embarked on a strike action
two weeks ago, about 15bn.
The
official residence of the Mayor, which was refurbished at a cost of ¢70m about
one-and-a-half years ago is currently undergoing another refurbishment. Each of
his cell phones, a Spacefon and a One Touch saps ¢2m
monthly from the Assembly’s coffers. His residence has nine air conditioners,
among others. - Free Press
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 10 June 2003 - Liberian President Charles Taylor came to Ghana
to talk but left abruptly, reeling in Ghana’s Fokker 28 Jet, popularly called
the ‘flying coffin’, following a report that United Nations prosecutors were on
the heels of Ghana government to give Charles Taylor up for arrest.
Back
home in
With
its serious repercussions on the political and diplomatic relations between
Yet
However
the ''Independent'' says its investigations have established that as the
Chairman of ECOWAS and the initiator of the peace process, the arrest of
Charles Taylor would have had serious repercussion on the political and
diplomatic relations, not only between the two countries, but also on Ghana’s
international credibility, hence the smooth move by Ghanaian officials to whisk
Taylor away in the ''Flying Coffin''. – Independent
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