Matheko
Killings Five Men Arrested
Man
Uses Death to con Chief and People
Missing
$5,800- TT at centre of controversy
Fraudsters Make Millions
Ghana
Police defends demolition exercise
Rawlings
cant’ be resettled – Kwame Pianim
NPP
selects 30 parliamentary candidates
These
MPs don’t talk
The Late Asantehene’s
funeral
Chief,
2 others injured in Kumasi
Tension
mounts in Jirapa
Police
as government scapegoat
Matheko
Killings Five Men Arrested
In
its top story the P and P writes that five men have been arrested in connection
with the murder of a middle-aged woman in Matheheko in Accra.
The
paper says the five were arrested when they were 'fingered' by a witness who
said she had been stopped by them at 4.30 am, the same time police put the
murder.
The
murder occurred at the old trotro 'last stop' near the Faith Evangelical Church
on 12 March 2000.
According
to the report the witness said she had gone to see her hairdresser in a nearby
house and was returning when four young men prevented her from passing by for
no apparent reason.
When
she later heard about the murder she went to the scene of the incident and she
was surprised, seeing the same men mingling with the crowd in different attire,
the paper quoted her as saying.
The
story says when the five men were arrested they said they had gone to the area
to borrow money from a herbalist uncle of one of them.
The
five included a Liberian, Samuel Baaron 20, unemployed, Richard Owusu 19, a
tailor from Agona Swedru, Michael Kakra Atsigbui 19; unemployed and an SSS
graduate.
The
others are Francis Attah Brown 18 also from Agona Swedru and Daniel Siaw Addo
aka Kwasi Owusu. They are all under remand whiles the police gathers enough
evidence to arraign them before court.
Meanwhile
the Police have appealed to the public to help with the investigations.
More./
Man
Uses Death to con Chief and People
The
P and P also writes that the fishing town of Mankoadze near Winneba in the
Central Region was thrown into a state of mourning when a middle aged man who
claimed to be from the Volta Region came to announce the death of a native
daughter.
According
to the report the man said he had survived a canoe accident on the Kpando lake
while the woman had drowned.
The
man had said he had known where to come with the news because the woman had a tattoo
on her bearing her name Efua Mansa and the name of her village.
The
paper says the man demanded that the family of the woman pay him 100,000 cedis,
which he claimed he had used for transportation and mortuary fees.
After
they had paid the amount, he set off with two family members for Kpando where
the supposed body was.
According to the paper the
mystery asked to buy something from a shop on the way to Kpando and
disappeared.
The
family members went to the Kpando hospital all the same but could not find
their relatives body. They went to her home only to find her alive.
GRi../
Missing
$5,800- TT at centre of controversy
The
Graphic Showbiz in its lead story says the Madina Police are investigating a
case involving Psalm Adjetefio popularly known as TT.
Adjetefio
who is a film and T.V star as well as a teacher of the PRESEC Junior Secondary School, Madina is alledged to
have received an amount of $5,800 from Esi Adams, a 13year old pupil of the
school.
The
story says Esi's father, an Accra businessman said he had saved up the money
and changed it into dollars in order to pay off a debt to his partner but
discovered sometime in January that the money was missing.
According
to the story, Mr. Adam interrogated his family and found out that his daughter
Esi had taken the money. Esi was said to have averred that she had given the
money to her teacher Mr. Adjetfio.
The
report says that Mr. Adam managed to get hold of Mr. Adjetefio on the telephone
and asked her daughter to demand the money back.
TT
is said to have rained insults on the girl on the telephone asking: " why
did you tell your parents it was with me?"
He
however, denied receiving any money from the girl later, says the story.
Meanwhile Mr. Adam has complained that the police
are not treating the case seriously.
GRi../
Fraudsters Make Millions
Six persons have been charged with fraud by an Accra
Circuit Tribunal says the Weekend Chronicle.
The report says the six who styled themselves as
angels duped Alexander Opoku, a businessman of 10 million cedis and $14,000
sometime in Jnauary.
According to the paper Alex met the first accused
Alhaji Mummuni when the two were in Police custody in January.
When they were released Alhaji Mumuni rang Alex that
Alex's wife was a witch who wanted to kill him.
The paper says the accused asked the plaintiff to
submit a number of items for a ritual to ward off evil, as well as to help him
double any amount of money he could come up with.
Alex is said to have complied and after the ritual,
he was led by the first accused and second accused persons to a riverbank where
the others appeared claiming to be angels who handed over two billion cedis to
Alex in exchange for his money.
The paper says Alex found out that the money was
fake and made a complaint to the Police.
More../
Plumber electrocuted at South Odorkor
The Chronicle also writes on its third page that a
plumber identified only as Paanii died while attending to a plumbing fault in
South Odorkor on 12 March.
According to the story Paanii was working on the low
pressure of the water supply to a large compound house when he ran into a live
earth wire servicing a wooden structure near by.
The paper explains that because Paanii was working
with water, the sudden incursion of the electric power was ultimately deadly
for him. A few witness are said to have screamed for help and when Paanii was
finally disengaged from the power source he was dead.
The paper says he was taken to a hospital where his death
was confirmed. The Odorkor Police is investigating the accident.
GRi../
Ghana
Police defends demolition exercise
The
Crusading Guide reports that Madam Djentuh has denied that her land is in
Teshie Agblizaa as contained in a court order said to have authorised the
Police demolition exercise on her estate last week.
In
a rejoinder which sought to justify the demolition exercise the paper says, the
Police Service showed documents including some from a law court that permitted
Nii Adjei Kwanko II of Accra who claimed ownership of the lands to " enter
his land and to remove unauthorised structures that have been erected on the
said land by encroachers".
The
report continues that the document also contained an appeal to the police"
… By this order Kindly release Armed Policemen to accompany the Court Bailiff
to carry on this Excersice"
The
paper said when it contacted Mrs. Maria Djentuh, she said her land is situated
at Okpoi Gonno not in Agblizaa.
She
also said she was surprised by the order, which said 'unidentified
encroachers', because she is a well known estate developer with a specific
address.
More…/
In
a front-page lead story, the Crusading Guide reports that a highly placed official
at the Ministry of Works and Housing who requested anonymity, has described the
recent decision by the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. I. K. Adjei Mensah to
offer " the other interested companies that participated in the PSP
Programme, another opportunity to resubmit proposals along the Build- Own-
Operate and Transfer (BOOT) arrangement as was done by Messrs Azurix” as ‘a
merry go round’ gimmick and an ‘excersice in self-indictment’”.
The
report says speaking on condition of strict confidentiality, the senior officer
said apart from the fact that the Minister's recent press release amounted to a
complete retreat from pseudo-nationalistic outbursts in Brong Ahafo, it also
undermined his earlier rationalisations at the Accra Press Conference.
"In
the first place, the crux of the water controversy was the exclusivity",
granted to Azurix by the Ministry over and above the other interested companies
with regards to the BOOT arrangements. Many attempt to get the Minister and the
government to understand that the Azurix exclusivity and the timing of the BOOT
arrangement, would undermine the whole Urban Water rehabilitation and expansion
programme proved futile, thus leading to the subsequent confusion, crises of
confidence and cries of non transparency from donor agencies and the
alternative Ghanaian media” the quotes the concerned senior officer as saying.
GRi../
Rawlings
cant’ be resettled – Kwame Pianim
Mr.
Kwame Pianim, an economic says it will be morally unacceptable for President
Rawlings to be resettled on leaving office if other past Heads of State and
their families are not taken care of, reports The Guide.
According
to the paper, the eminent economist, questioned the rationale in resettling the
family of President Rawlings as former Head of State while the private property
of Dr. K.A. Busia who has a surviving wife remains confiscated and Dr. Hilla
Liman, overthrown by Rawlings in 1981 died without resettlement.
Mr.
Pianim, who the Guide referred to as a non-partisan politician is reported to
have called for a decent burial for three former Heads of State who were killed
and buried in mass graves by Rawlings’ AFRC government.
“If
we do not create peace based on justice and fair play, we are building an
edifice that will easily collapse. We have to remove the suspicion from our
eyes, build trusts to make it possible for us all to co-operate”, Mr. Pianim
was quoted as saying.
More../
NPP
selects 30 parliamentary candidates
The
Guide carries another front-page story that says 30 names have been submitted
to the headquarters of the New patriotic Party (NPP) as persons chosen from the
constituencies to contest the 2000 Parliamentary elections in December.
Among
the list published by the paper are Captain Nkrabea Effah Darteh for Brekum,
Prof. Philip Kofi Amoako for Asutifi South, Dr. Bafo Bonne for Asokwa East and
Ms. Edna Arthur for Mfantsiman West.
Mr.
Dan Botwe, General Secretary of the Party is reported to have told the paper
that the NPP will come out with modalities regarding constituencies sitting MPs
and the conduct of primaries for the remaining constituencies by the end of the
month.
GRi../
These
MPs don’t talk
The
banner story of the Independent focuses on about 60 Members of Parliament who
the paper said its investigations have shown that they have gone mute for the
last three years regarding discussions in the House, describing them as ‘seat
warmers’.
The
story, which also carried names of the said Parliamentarians, said for some of
the silent benches, where they have dared to break the silence, it has been far
and few between, so much so that posterity might never remember their
membership of the august House.
According
to the Independent, some mute MPs explained that although they were quiet from
the debates of the floor of the House they have been contributing to the
debates of select committees on which they serve.
The
paper yet identifies another category of MPs who said they were not conversant
with parliamentary procedures and technicalities and thus kept their peace.
More../
The late Asantehene’s
funeral
The
Independent also reports on its back page that commercial activities in the
Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi came to a halt on Monday 20 March 2000 when
preparations for the final funeral rites (Ayikese) of the late Asantehene,
Otumfuo Opoku Ware II began.
According
to the story, all shops and stores in the metropolis remained closed while the
city choked with chiefs and sympathisers in Batakari, Kuntunkuni, Kooben and
Brisi.
The
Independent report says at dawn on Monday, queenmothers and royal female
attendants started a mourning procession from Manhyia Palace to Adum led by
Nana Adumhene and at 12 noon Otumfuo Osei Tutu, in Batakarikese, and other
chiefs fired musketry.
The
story says that the Asantehene later sat instate at the Dwabrem open funeral
grounds to receive sympathisers including diplomats.
The
14-day funeral according to the Independent would end on 2 April.
GRi../
Chief,
2 others injured in Kumasi
A
Ghanaian Times story on the front page says a chief who pleaded anonymity and
two others sustained severe accidental gunshot wounds during the firing of
muskets by chiefs of the Kumasi traditional Council at the final funeral rites
of the late Asantehene, Otumfuo Opkou Ware II.
The
Times says the injured chief was treated at the Health Centre at the fore court
of the Manhyia Palace while the two remaining persons were rushed to the Okomfo
Anokye Teaching Hospital where they are on admission.
The
report also says that eight people collapsed either through suffocation or
hunger who had to be revived by nurses and doctors from the Manhyia Polyclinic
who had mounted stands at vintage points at the forecourts of the palace.
According
to Mrs. Mercy Bonsu, Principal Nursing officer in-charge of Manhyia who the
Times talked to, said 600 hundred people with minor cases were treated.
More../
Tension
mounts in Jirapa
The
banner story of the Ghanaian Times says tension has been mounting in Jirapa in
the Upper West Region causing civil and public servants to flee for fear of
their lives.
According
to the story the tension started after the local branch of the Assemblies of
God Church burnt some community idols to the rage of the community.
Among
those reported by the Times to have fled is the District Director of Health
Sevices, Dr. Daniel Yayemain who is reported to have gone to Wa and the Pastor
of the Assemblies of God Church, whose whereabouts was not known.
According
to the story there are reports that a driver of the District Health Management
Team was attacked by some members of the community, causing him a sprain which
is being treated.
The
story however quotes Dr. Yayemain who the Times says it spoke to at Wa as saying
that the man purported to have burnt the idols left the church in 1993.
Dr.
Yayemain told the Times that he left Jirapa for his own safety because people
wanted to use the incident for their political and personal agendas.
GRi../
Police
as government scapegoat
The
Accra Mail says its security sources have gathered that some top Police
officers could be sacrificed for the inability of the Police Administration to
find the killers of the 21 or more women murdered in cold blood within the last
two years, the latest one being at Mataheko.
According
to the paper’s sources the continuous killing of the women has not only exposed
the government’s internal security capabilities, but has dented its
international image as providing stable and peaceful country.
The
Accra Mail says the recent murder has set tongues wagging with much of the fury
directed at the police for failing to track down the culprits. This, the paper
says has been most embarrassing to the government.
GRi../