Crusade on corruption not over - President
The media can do better - President
2000 budget responds to urgent needs - Selormey
1999 Human Rights Report out…U.S. Gov't on 'Rawlings' Tape'
NDC wants Apraku out…Konadu launches campaign today
Harruna's punishment
Kwame Peprah, DIC trial to go on
Crusade on corruption not over - President
The Daily Graphic reports in its top story that President Jerry John Rawlings has assured Ghanaians that he has not abandoned his passion to fight corruption. He is reported as noting that "whatever there seems to be acts of unpunished corruption it means it has not come to my notice".
The Graphic says that President Rawlings gave the assurance when Nana Okumdom II, Omanhene of the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Area in the Western Region, led a delegation of chiefs to call on him at the Castle, Osu yesterday. The President is said to have stressed that he will severely sanction anyone found to be involved in corruption no matter one's political or ethnic affiliation.
The paper says that President Rawlings referred to a story in an Accra bi-weekly newspaper alleging corruption at the Ministry of Works and Housing involving a contract on urban water supply and said the government will soon come out with the details. He is reported as expressed disgust at the reference to the Vice-President, Prof. John Atta Mills, as a "toothless mongrel" and said it is the extremity of disrespect to refer to a sitting Vice-President and a potential President of the country as a mongrel.
According to the Graphic, he was outraged by "the tabloids to destroy the image of honourable men such as Prof. Mills.
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Return to top The Ghanaian Times
The media can do better - President
In its version of the story carried by the "Daily Graphic" in which the President was reported to be critical of the media, the Ghanaian Times reports in its lead story that President Jerry John Rawlings yesterday, criticized a section of the Ghanaian media, whose main agenda is to bring down highly respected members of the public, who seek political office.
The President was speaking at the Castle, Osu, when he received a delegation of chiefs from the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Area in the Western Region. The chiefs, led y Nana Nkuah Okumdom II, the newly-installed Omanhene of the area, was at the Castle to thank the President and the government for the assistance extended to the people during the funeral of the late Omanhene of the Sefwi Wiawso Traditional Area, Nana Kwadwo Aduhene.
The Times says that President Rawlings took pains to explain to the chiefs the consistency with which a section of the media had sought to drag the names of highly respected people into the mud, the moment they attempt to seek political office. He is said to have cited the latest example in which an Accra weekly described the Vice-President, Prof. John Atta Mills, in derogatory terms.
The Times says that in a story under the headline, "National Scandal", Prof Mills' picture was carried with a derogatory caption, which linked him to the alleged story carried by the weekly. President Rawlings is said to have expressed regret at the manner in which the paper sought to bring the high office of the Vice-President down by describing him in the 'most absurd manner'.
According to the Times, President Rawlings wondered whether these things could have happened in other countries without anybody raising a finger. The paper says that the President reminded the media that Prof. Mills had worked very hard to justify the confidence the NDC and the government had in him.
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Return to top The Evening News
2000 budget responds to urgent needs - Selormey
The Evening News reports that the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Victor Selormey, has described as baseless the opposition's claim that the government's medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) presented to Parliament, does not address pertinent issues confronting Ghana.
Mr Selormey is quoted as saying rather, that the budget tackles issues such as poverty, health, education and provision of social infrastructure, which form the basis of any meaningful development effort. The Deputy Minister was delivering a lecture on: "The Year 2000 Budget - A Critical Look"..
The lecture was organised in Accra by the Progressive Voluntary Organisations (PVOs). The paper says the lecture, which was attended by over 200 cadres in the Greater Accra Region, was aimed at explaining the contents of the budget statement to the cadres to enable them to disseminate the information received to the members in their communities.
The Evening News reports Mr Selormey as saying no potential government can deal effectively with Ghana's economic situation as the NDC government had done over the years, especially at a time when the country is facing many economic problems due to external factors.
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1999 Human Rights Report out…U.S. Gov't on 'Rawlings' Tape'
In a front-page banner, the Dispatch writes that the United States State Department on February 25, submitted to the U.S. Congress, country reports on human rights practices in 194 countries. The reports are said to cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Dispatch says that the report on Ghana covers 26 pages and the first line states, "Ghana is a constitutional republic dominated by a strong presidency. Flight-Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings has ruled the country for 18 years".
The paper says that according to the report, Ghana's system of checks and balances are circumscribed "by a Parliament dominated by the President's party, a hesitant judicial service and a system-wide lack of resources that hobbles the effectiveness of all three branches".
On the media, the report is said to have stated in part that "in 1998, three independent journalists were jailed following legally-flawed contempt of court cases, strengthening the perception that the judiciary operates under the influence of the executive". According to the reports, "government-supported demonstrations took place unimpeded while demonstrations critical of the government, were circumscribed when they occurred"…
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Return to top The Independent
NDC wants Apraku out…Konadu launches campaign today
The Independent says that the NPP Member of Parliament for Offinso North, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, could be a victim of his own brilliance. His Offinso North seat is said to be on the hit target of the NDC. According to the paper, in the ruling party's grand scheme of operations to take a considerable number of seats in the Ashanti Region, Offinso North remains crucial.
The paper says that the NDC, apparently incensed by the often times exposition of Dr Apraku, especially with regards to the manner he has constantly reduced the government's budget statements to ordinary 'financial white paper, is more than prepared to spend every possible fortune to see Apraku's exit in 2001.
The Independent says that with calculations from the last general elections, the NDC is more than convinced that Apraku's ouster is possible. It notes that Dr Apraku defeated Nana Oduro Baah, the NDC parliamentary candidate, with just 199 votes and says that one party member believes "with a little hard work and logistics, we can take the Offinso North seat".
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Return to top The Accra Mail
Harruna's punishment
In a banner headline story, the Accra Mail says that its investigations spanning several months, are beginning to reveal startling and also disturbing information that certain newspaper vendors in Kumasi, refuse to display the paper following persistent perceptions that the editor/publisher of the newspaper, Mr Harruna Attah, had either 'defected' to the NDC or taken huge sums of money from the NDC to start his own newspaper.
The paper says that last week, a member of staff of "The Accra Mail", who is part of the newspaper's undercover agents, came across an unopened parcel of the newspaper with a vendor in Kumasi. The story says that when he wanted to know why it was not being displayed, he was shocked to learn that Harruna Attah was being 'punished' for daring to 'abandon' "The Statesman", a paper he helped popularise in the 90's.
According to the Accra Mail, the issue of Mr Attah's move from the Statesman itself has been given several interpretations, ranging from fear of going back to prison, he served from July 23, 1998 to August 22, 1998, to accepting large bribes from the NDC to do so…
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Kwame Peprah, DIC trial to go on
In a front-page story, the Guide reports that an Accra High Court presided over by Justice Nana Gyamerah Tawiah, yesterday ruled that the trial for contempt of Mr Kwame Peprah, who is the chairman of the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) and all members of the committee, should proceed.
The paper says also to be tried for contempt are Mr Salem Serkik, managing director of the Ghana Arab-Libyan Holding Company GLAHCO and members of its board of directors, whose chairman, incidentally, is Mr Kwame Peprah, Minister of Finance. The Guide says that Justice Gyamerah Tawiah overruled the preliminary legal objection raised by the lawyers for the respondents, that their clients could not be tried under provisions of the law under which Ace Hotels &Resorts Limited brought the action.
The paper recalls that Ace Hotels & Resorts Limited, which won the bid for the City Hotel in Kumasi and had made payments, sued the DIC over ownership of the hotel. They are said to have alleged that the DIC took a series of actions culminating in handing over the City Hotel to GLAHCO, which was not a bidder, while the matter was before the High Court. The story says that full hearing of the suit has been adjourned to Friday, March 3.
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