Rawlings blasts GTV- who is Kweku Baako?
"Fire Destroys 6000 hectares of Mpameso Forest Reserve"
Boost For Schools Soon
New prices for petroleum products
Asanteman Ayikesie
Ghana Is Poorer
"Coca Cola to invest $1 billion in Africa"
Public Agenda/ The Ghanaian Times
Parliament to probe Azurix scandal
Min. asks for new proposals
The Congress That Never Was
You are lying - Odoi Sykes Told
Rawlings blasts GTV- who is Kweku Baako?
The screaming banner headline of the Dispatched made reference to a story it carried in its last Friday’s issue in which it said President Jerry John Rawlings had decided to take on the private press, which he calls “tabloids” at the least opportunity.
The paper says the president has so far kept his word and the latest group to take some verbal punches was a Ghana Broadcasting Corporation television news crew.
According to the Dispatch, the GBC crew’s offence was that they had invited and allowed Kweku Baaku, the Editor in Chief of an Accra bi- weekly, The Crusading Guide to participate in the newspaper review segment of GTV's Breakfast Show on Monday, 6 March 2000.
According to the paper, an eyewitness said on seeing Ms. Kate Addo, a GTV reporter who was at the Castle with the news crew, the President went on the verbal offensive "yes, you young people out there, why did you invite that Kweku Baako boy to the Breakfast Show on March 6? That Foolish Boy, what does he know? You should have invited elderly people who know something about Ghana's Independence to talk on that Independence Day, not this Kweku Baako to open his mouth wide.
The President is said to have continued his outburst; “yes, we know you have all been bought by the NPP we know, we are watching, we will see."
According to the Dispatch a presidential source that put forth a lame defence for the President's outburst has conceded that the attack on Mr. Baako was uncalled for.
The source is said to have said: "you know how the old man (the President) can sometimes go over the top. I think Mr. Baako has been irritating him with his articles and analysis on the airwaves."
The paper says, when it contacted Mr. Baako, he had this to say, "It is sad to have the President of a sovereign country indulging in such pettiness. Such a President cannot be properly focused and consequently cannot efficiently discharge his statutory duties as the Chief Executive of the State".
Mr. Baako who says he was not on the Breakfast show primarily to discuss the Independence struggle had these words for the President: "the President missed the point. I am competent enough to hold a discourse on the subject in spite of being only three years old in 1957, because I have studied the dynamics of the independence struggle."
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In a second story, The Dispatch like The Ghanaian Chronicle reports on the demolition of some estate buildings belonging to the parents of Ezanator Rawlings's ex-boyfriend.
The paper says, Mrs. Maria O'Sullivan Djentuh who together with her husband Mr. Anthony Djentuh are standing trail at an Accra Circuit Tribunal, had her woes deepened last Friday, after Police men demolished four of her new buildings under construction at an area off the Spintex Road.
The Chronicle reports that the first hint of the demolition came from Sellassie Djentuh who called up his mother to say, "God … the soldiers are here … mother they are breaking down the houses".
Eyewitnesses were said to have counted seven policemen believed to be from the Kpeshie Divisional Police, Nungua. The Dispatch places their time of arriving at the scene at 4pm in a blue black Hundai bus, accompanied by other men in ash Tico with registration number GR3323C, two bulldozers and one pay loader.
The Djentuhs who have recently been charged with assault, deceit of a public officer for which they are currently facing the courts, say they are under self-imposed house arrest since the incident on Friday.
Mr. Djentuh told reporters "we don’t go out anymore. Our lives are in danger, we have received all kinds of threats"
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"Fire Destroys 6000 hectares of Mpameso Forest Reserve"
The Daily Graphic reports that about 6000 hectares of the total area of the Mpameso forest reserve in the Brong Ahafo Region has been destroyed by fire.
According to the paper, the situation appears to be getting out of hand as the fire which started on the 18 of February continues to rage through the forest.
It had taken fire fighters about four days to put it off. But on the 29th of February however it started again and all attempts to put it out failed.
The Mpameso Forest reserve, with a total area of 32, 380 hectares is one of the biggest in the country.
According to earlier reports carried in the Daily, the parliamentary Select Committee on lands and forestry, Alhaji Collins Dauda made an urgent appeal to the sector ministry to arrange for helicopters to fight the fire.
Meanwhile a Deputy Minister of Lands and Forestry, Mr. Moses Nayon Bilijo who visited the ruined reserve has warned townsfolk against starting indiscriminate fires, says the paper.
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Boost For Schools Soon
The Graphic in its lead story reports President Rawlings as saying that the proposed Education Trust Fund will enable the nation to undertake a massive reconstruction of the educational sector to prepare for the challenges of the century.
Speaking at the 51st Congregation of the University of Ghana at which 2,488 students graduated, President Rawlings stressed that the success of the nation will depend on how well the educational institutions and the knowledge they produce is used.
He said Ghana's respectability in the comity of nations would depend on her capability to bring vast amounts of knowledge quickly to larger segments of the population, reports the paper.
President Rawlings is said to have charged all that care to ponder where the Universities stand in the "Vortex of forces shaping the world of the 21st Century".
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New prices for petroleum products
The Graphic as well as the Dispatch and the Ghanaian Times gave attention the new increases in petroleum prices announced at the weekend.
The papers report that the National Petroleum Board is reported as having announced increases in petroleum products last Saturday.
In a statement to the press Chairman of the board, Mr. W2.S Parker said the ex-pump price for Premium Gasoline, which was 1,180 per litre, or 5, 310 a gallon is now 1, 420 per litre or 6,390 a gallon.
Gas Oil, which was 1,100 cedis per litre or 4, 950 per gallon, is now 1,325 or 5,962 a gallon.
Kerosene has been raised form 1,100 per litre to 1,325 a litre or 5,962.50per gallon.
LP Gas has been raised from 1 400 per kilogram to 2,240 per kilogram. The new ex-pump prices took effect from 7pm on Saturday, March 18, 2000.
The statement said the high cost of crude oil and petroleum products on the international market and the depreciation of the cedi against major international currencies have necessitated the increases. The reviewed ex-refinery prices are to ensure sustainability of supply, the paper said.
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Asanteman Ayikesie
The Chronicle on its centre spread carries a story headlined "Asanteman's Ayikesie" which states that Asanteman is mourning the loss of a great King, Nana Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, who died on 25 February last year.
According to the report, the final funeral rites, Ayikesie (big Funeral), takes place between 19 March and 2 April 2000.
The paper says the Manhyia palace has banned all private funerals in the Ashanti region between 13 March and 31 March and that important personalities from all walks of life, including the President and a government delegation are expected to attend the funeral.
According to the funeral committee chiefs from other regions will join the Asantehene on specific days to participate in the funeral ceremony.
An outline of activities released by the committee indicated that the public is allowed to partake in all but three events.
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Ghana Is Poorer
The Accra Mail reports on the celebration of Ghana’s forty-third independence anniversary two weeks ago.
The paper says the celebration was in a gloom because the country has become poorer than when the British left it in 1957.
It made reference to last week’s fuel shortage and the subsequent increase in prices this week.
According to the paper whiles the government explained that the fuel shortage was due to delays in supply of crude oil others attributed it the country’s inability to pay for the imports.
The paper quoted an economist as saying that petrol rationing could begin in the next six months.
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"Coca Cola to invest $1 billion in Africa"
The High Street Journal reports that Coca Cola, one of the worlds leading soft drink companies, last month announced plans to invest about a billion dollars in Africa over the next three years.
The announcement, the paper says, was made at the conference of the Common Market of the Eastern and Southern Africa, held in London.
Coca-Cola's Vice President Donald Short is said to have stated that the amount will be invested in bottling plants, personnel training and refrigeration equipment.
The company's development policy in Africa has recently seen sales rising by 30% with 700,000 people employed directly and indirectly in the distribution of Coca-Cola products, the paper reports him as saying.
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Public Agenda/ The Ghanaian Times
Parliament to probe Azurix scandal
The Minister for Works and Housing Minister, Mr. I.K. Adjei-Mensah is to appear before Parliament to answer questions relating to the Azurix water contract scandal, reports the Public Agenda in its lead story.
Headlined ‘Parliament to probe Azurix scandal’, the paper refers to an interview it had with Mr. J.H. Mensah, Minority Leader, who said the matter had been raised in the House last week and strongly criticised the government’s handling of the fracas with the World Bank over how the contract came to be signed.
He should stop the press conferences and appear before Parliament to which he is accountable, the paper quoted the NPP MP as saying.
The Public Agenda says Adjei- Mensah, fronting for the government, has been in public relations overdrive since March 1 when the Azurix scandal came back into the public light thanks to a Ghanaian Chronicle disclosure of the World Bank and British government withholding a total of $130m of credit meant for the development of urban water because of disquiet over the opaque manner in which the government selected Azurix.
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Min. asks for new proposals
The Ghanaian Times on its part says the Ministry of Works and Housing has offered other companies that participated in the Private Sector Participation (PSP) Programme another opportunity to resubmit proposals along the Build-Own-Operate and Transport (BOOT) arrangement as was done by Messrs Azurix.
The paper referred to a release signed by the Works and Housing Minister, I.K. Adjei-Mensah over the weekend, which said the new measure stems from recent developments that has befell the Azurix contract as well as a further demonstration of the transparency with which the Ministry has handled the PSP Programme so far.
“The Ministry expects that these proposals will be received within one month for evaluation in order to ensure that the programme to improve the water supply system for the benefit of the people can proceed without further delay”, says The Times.
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In another story on its centre spread, the Times reports that Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister for the newly created portfolio of Planning, Regional Economic Co-operation and Integration has denied reports that he has resigned.
“There is absolutely no truth in that speculation” quotes the Times in its story headlined ‘Ahwoi denies resignation story’.
The Minister says he has neither resigned nor has the intention to do so, describing the allegation by the ‘Guide’ and the Ghanaian Chronicle’ as ‘calculated political machinations’.
According to the report, the minister said that two vital principles that had guided him throughout the years that he has worked with President Jerry Rawlings are loyalty and discipline and he will not compromise with them.
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The Congress That Never Was
One of the two stories carried on the front page of the Ghanaian Voice was on the Regional Congress of the New Patriotic Party for the Volta Region to elect Regional Officers, which the paper says did not happen on Saturday, 11th March as planned.
The Voice reports that until the national executives got to Ho they did not know that an injunction to prevent the election of Regional Officers has been slapped on the party.
It said it was at Ho that the national executives discovered that Togbe Atta Kwaku had a restraining order against the regional Chairman, Mr. E.K. Vorkeh, Vice Chairman, Mr. James Dogbe Nworsu, and the Regional Secretary.
The Voice says it has gathered from investigations that the injunction saga was orchestrated from Accra and that it resulted from an alleged sympathetic stance of the three executives to a former Presidential candidate.
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You are lying - Odoi Sykes Told
The Ghanaian Democrat says the timely intervention by Justice Mrs. Agnes Dordzie, a High Court judge, averted a nasty scene at the court premises when Mr. E.K. Olaga, counsel for Domak Press and Mr. S.A. Odoi Sykes, National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party nearly engaged in blows.
Mr. Olaga, in court for his client against the NPP for non-settlement of a 25m cedis is said to have called the NPP chairman a liar.
The drama is reported to have started when Mr. Olaga told the court that a leading member of the party had approached him for an out-of-court settlement.
The paper says Nana Akufo-Addo, also a leading member of the party and counsel for the defendants expressed surprise at the arrangement without his knowledge. This, the paper said ensued into prolonged argument between the two counsels.
According to the Democrat, it was when Mr. Odoi-Sykes wanted to make a point that Olaga allegedly called him a liar, raising tempers.
Nana Akufo-Addo, counsel for the defendants craved the court to compel Mr. Olaga to withdraw his statement but Justice Dordzie court said there was nothing wrong with Mr. Olaga’s statement.
The paper said after tempers had cooled down the case was adjourned to 10th April 2000.
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