Visa lottery winners decry US Embassy Rejection
Tarzan admits hitches with Reserve Plant
A message to saboteurs of facts and figures
Anti-Corruption reports launched
Two missing kids found dead in car
Aid cargo shipped on behalf of the UN
Accra rubbish costs ¢1.5bn a month
NPP Government faces hard times
The ¢50 billion idle youth fund
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 - The paper reports that, at exactly the same time that the authorities are grappling with fake cedi notes, two Vietnamese have been caught Attempting to smuggle almost half a million US dollars into the country, ostensibly to perform some Buddhist rituals for their dead colleagues.
Mai Dug Hoang, 31, who had the suspected fake currency notes amounting to US $450,000 (¢3.9bn) in his possession, arrived at the KIA, Accra, through Frankfurt, Germany, at 4.30pm last Saturday, on board a Lufthansa flight, with registration number LH564. “Chronicle” learnt that the fake dollars were 45 bundles of $100 bills.
According to a BNI source, “he told us that they used it to
perform Buddhist death rituals and that a bundle or two were used during such
rituals. The two were arrested and paraded before an
They were charged under section 18 of the Currency Act 424 for possessing forged currency notes. – Chronicle
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 - The paper reports that, a number of people who have called at its offices in Accra recently have variously accused the US Embassy of denying many who legitimately win visa lotteries from entering America. The public affairs section of the embassy, reacting to the allegations has, however, denied all the allegations.
In an interview Susan Parker-Burns, the information officer
maintained that the embassy put premium on the visa lottery in
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Tema (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 - A report by Adom FM, a private radio station at Tema, indicates that the CEO of the VRA, Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, has admitted that the Strategic Reserve Plant (SRP), he contracted to bail the country out of its energy crisis is corroded with a few problems.
He did not, however, say the depth of the hitches but stated that the SRP should be operating within the next two or three weeks. He disclosed this at Akuse when Energy Minister, Paa Kwesi Nduom, undertook a familiarization tour of VRA installations at Akosombo and Akuse.
Dr. Wereko-Brobby, who has been
the target of VRA workers’ demonstration calling for his removal, admitted that
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At a press briefing at Madina in
The PRO of the defectors, Archimedes Kankam Boadu on his part said one of main reasons of their defection is the startling revelation at the National Reconciliation Commission. He disclosed that they never knew that the people they held in high esteem had allegedly committed unpardonable crimes against humanity. - Free Press
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 - According to the paper, the IGP, Nana Owusu Nsiah, is taking his war against indiscipline to a higher level. He is now targeting criminal activities associated with the chieftaincy institution.
“We shall deal drastically, ruthlessly and decisively with indisciplined chiefs and their land guard cohorts who are
fomenting trouble in the country”. The IGP dropped the hint at a quarterly
press briefing in Accra yesterday. – The Heritage
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 – The editor of “the Statesman” newspaper, Asare Otchere Darko in a message draws attention to a disturbing trend of wilful misconstruction of facts and figures usually propagated by anarchists who pose as purveyors of the conscience of society.
With reference to the saboteurs including senior journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. who does not appear to see the cynicism about his newly acquired rapidity for using IMF document to bash the government, Otchere Darko described as ironical the same people who are today reading inflation as “extremely serious”, in relation to the fall of inflation to 12.9% last September, which they say was meaningless as it never “reflected in our pockets”.
He, therefore, appealed to them to stop causing intellectual loss to the state. - Statesman
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 - According to the paper, three anti-corruption reports aimed at integrating the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) action plan against corruption into the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) paper, were launched in Accra.
They are the Report of the 5th National Governance Workshop 2001, Report on Mainstreaming Anti-Corruption Measures in Policy Formulation in Ghana and the Global Corruption Report 2003.
The GACC, made up of Transparency International and the Ghana Integrity Initiative were among the groups that jointly put together the reports. Dan Agyeman, Special Assistant at the Office of the President launched the reports. – Ghanaian Times
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 –Two children declared missing in Accra on Sunday were found dead in an abandoned Mazda car at Nima, late Monday in a suspicious manner. They were lying side by side on the back seat.
Blood was oozing from their mouths with cuts on their necks and other parts of their bodies. David Ahwereng, 4, a pupil of Smart International Day Nursery at Darkuman and Ebenezer Amartey, 5 a pupil of Mallam Atta Day Nursery, all in Accra.
The cause of their death has not been established but the parents suspect foul play. The children, who were playmates, went missing after Sunday’s church service at 12.30.
The residents smelled something usual from abandoned car.
They, therefore, opened one of its doors to find out what was causing that
stench only to see thee lifeless bodies of the children. The sad news reached
their parents at about
They then rushed to the scene and could not believe their eyes when they saw their dead children. The grief stricken parents and family members threw themselves on the ground in anguish and shock.
Some sympathizers also wailed and asked many questions. In a interview with the ‘Times’, Mrs Margaret Ahwereng, David’s mother, said that the last time she saw was at 12.30 pm on Sunday after they closed from church.
She said that when she found that the playmates were not at each other’s homes, she and Ebenezer’s mother reported the case to the Nima Police. They then asked for announcements to be made on some radio stations and on television.
Dan Ahwereng, David’s father, said that he suspected foul play because of the blood that was oozing from their nostrils. Asked to calm down, he said, I understand it but cannot forget it”.
According to the residents, the vehicle had been parked at the place for the past eight months and children of the area used to play in it.
They were surprised that nobody noticed the children in the car earlier although the area was frequented by people, some of whom slept in an uncompleted building around while others prayed in a mosque within the same building where the car is parked.
The Nima Police confirmed the story and told the ‘Times’ that the bodies had been deposited at the police Mortuary for autopsy.
GRi.../
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This will support Government’s economic reform program for
2003-05. The decision will make available to
According to the paper, the board also agreed to provide
The PRGF is the IMF’S concessional
facility for low-income countries. In commenting on the Executive Boards
decision, Deputy Managing Director, Shigemitsu Sugisaki, commented that the “Fund welcomes the recently
completed Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), which sets out a broad array
of structural measures to address the underlying causes of poverty, and
establishes future spending priorities.” –
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Initial shipments were of blended corn soya oil while further shipments comprising 500 tons and 1200 tons of vegetable oil will be despatched in the near future to Conakry and Monrovia.
According to OTAL's Marketing Manager, Rachel Bennett, the cargo shipments are an active contribution to the WFP and its battle against global hunger and that explains why the company feels that this shipment and those to come are of particular importance to the company.
"As OTAL has such strong links with West Africa, home to some of the most vulnerable communities in the world, we are aware of the significance of these shipments and the assistance we provide to enable a large number of people to regain their economic and social independence," she said.
Bennett said that the carrier is well-known not only for its maritime transport services to West Africa but also for its ability to deliver cargo to inland destinations throughout the region including land-locked countries such as Burkina Faso, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Mali and Niger.
A report from the UN indicates that the WFP is on the provision of food aid to populations in war-torn countries and that the WFP is also aimed at accelerating the process of resettling displaced inhabitants in their former villages and towns and also to enhance economic and social development. - Dunelm Public Relations Limited
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 - The Government has described a story published by the “Ghana Palaver”, which sought to question the whereabouts of Nana Akufu Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs as “bizarre and shameful.”
A statement signed by Nana Akomea, Minister of Information and issued in Accra yesterday said “Ghana Palaver’s” consistent attempts “to sacrifice the truth for parochial and unwholesome politics and its characteristic nation-wrecking tribal spin on issues is very objectionable” and that, the Foreign Minister, Nana Akufo Addo arrived in Accra yesterday.
Nana Akomea explained that the
absence of the Foreign Affairs Minister on President Kufuor’s
trip to
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The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Hon. Sheikh I.C. Quaye, who made this disclosure in a chat with the paper noted that even though the amount looks huge, it is inadequate to meet the numerous sanitation problems facing the city.
He stressed that the issue of plastic waste, which litters
the city, is becoming unbearable for the city authorities to ensure that the
city is clean. – Daily Guide
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 - The paper reports that, just two years, after entering office, the enormous goodwill, which the New Patriotic Party (NPP) enjoyed from most Ghanaians, seems to have evaporated.
In 2001, the NPP administration enjoyed a cozy honeymoon with the public, workers and the press and it seemed they could do no wrong. Most Ghanaians accepted even the astronomical increase in utility and fuel prices, which would have triggered massive demonstration, and outcries in the NDC era, in the spirit of goodwill.
However, this spirit of goodwill is wearing thin in the face of certain government actions and inactions.
The paper stated that recent developments in the public arena indicate that the plain ground offered to NPP administration is gradually turning rough, as within the last four months, workers of more than five state institutions have gone onto the street to advertise their displeasure about certain policies of government. – Free Press
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Birim (Eastern Region) 14 April 2003 - The District Manager of a local cocoa buying company, Samuel Addo, has been arrested by the police for allegedly paying fake currency notes to cocoa farmers in the Birim North District of the Eastern Region.
The name of the local company is, however, being withheld for security reasons. The Director of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) David Asante-Apeatu, disclosed this in Accra yesterday at a quarterly press briefing organised by the Police Administration.
He said so far ¢1.1 million of the fake currency notes has been retrieved. According to him, the area manager of the company issued ¢13.5 million to Addo to be used in purchasing cocoa beans from the farmers.
He said Addo, however, changed part of the money with fake currency notes and gave it to one Kwaku Amoah, one of the purchasing clerks of the company, to use in paying the cocoa farmers.
Mr Asante-Apeatu said investigations are on-going and as soon as the perpetrators are arrested, they will be made to face the full rigours of the law. He called for an extensive and intensive public education on fake currencies, for people to detect the difference between the good and fake ones.
Answering a question as to whether or not the fake currencies are printed in the country, the director said it could be possible that some of the currencies are printed outside the country’s borders.
He assured members of the public that the police will not relent on their laurels till all those behind the fake currency note deal are arrested. Mr Asante-Apeatu called on the public to report people in possession of fake currencies to the police to speed up investigations.
It would be recalled that the Saturday May 10, issue of this paper carried a story about the use of fake ¢20,000 currency notes to pay cocoa farmers for their produce in the Birim North District.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Birim North, Dr W. B. Akoto, who made this known to Parliament last Friday, said the problem is further compounded because most of the farmers have never seen the new denominations since its introduction.
The
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Adeiso (Eastern Region)
To this end, the NPP has launched a programme dubbed “Operation Rescue Upper West Akyem Parliamentary Seat from the NDC” at Adeiso. The NPP won 19 parliamentary seats out of the 26 seats in the Eastern Region during the 2000 parliamentary poll while the remaining eight went to the NDC.
The other seven seats that the NPP has set itself the task
of winning in 2004 are Fanteakwa, Lower and
Speaking at the ceremony to launch the operation at Adeiso, the Eastern Regional Chairman of the NPP, Nana Kofi Adi-Ankamah, said a three-member committee, under the chairmanship of the Second Vice-Chairman of the party in the region, Mr Osei Ameyaw, has been formed to take steps to rescue the seats from the NDC.
The other members are the Regional Organiser, Mr Seth Okyere, and the Women’s Organiser, Miss Grace Attafuah.
Nana Adi-Ankamah said a 34-member consultative council has been formed in the Upper West Akyem constituency, with membership drawn from the various groupings in the party, to explain to the people the reasons why they should vote for the NPP in next year’s polls.
He explained that looking at the trend of the three previous results, the NPP can win the seats if the leadership and the rank and file work extra hard.
The regional chairman said the regional secretariat plans to form the committees in all the constituencies by September and select parliamentary candidates for the onslaught to rescue all the constituencies in the region.
According to Nana Adi-Ankamah, the NDC finds it difficult to stand the heat of being in opposition, hence its decision to take to the streets to be recognised.
He said the inconsistency in the reasons assigned by the NDC leadership for embarking on the demonstration only demonstrates the confusion in its camp.
Nana Adi-Ankamah said the NDC had
originally planned to demonstrate against the ruling of the
He made it clear, however, that the NPP has nothing against
the NDC demonstration and called on the party to continue to demonstrate and
hold press conferences in
Nana Adi-Ankamah said notwithstanding
the poor performance of the NDC in recent polls, the NPP is not taking chances
in its preparations towards the 2004 polls. - Graphic
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Ajumako Bisease
(Cenral Region)
A former District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, Mr Solomon Aidoo, who performed the launching ceremony, appealed to all members of the party to register with the zonal secretariats of the party and obtain copies of the membership cards.
He expressed optimism that the NDC will return to political power in the 2004 presidential and parliamentary elections to reshape the economy and offer the people better social conditions.
The Constituency Secretary of the Women’s Wing of the party, Ms Theresa Baah, advised members to make more sacrifices to sustain the party in its quest to form the next government in the country.
The Central Regional Secretary of the NDC, Mr Peter Light Koomson, swore in a finance committee for the constituency and charged members to apply transparency in the discharge of their duties.
The Financial Secretary of the Regional Youth Working Committee of the party, Mr Samuel A. Botchway, said the NDC government initiated a project to extend telecommunication facilities to the district by 2001 but this has been abandoned due to the change in government.
He urged the members to work hard to win more members for the party. The Constituency Chairman, Mr Jacob Quansah, announced that the party has acquired a new office at Ajumako to enhance its operations. He also announced that the party has invited nominations for primaries to elect a candidate for the 2004 parliamentary election.
He stressed the need for members to show more commitment and loyalty to move the party forward. Mr Quansah said the executive is reorganising the structures of the party to strengthen it and attract more members in its bid to wrest the parliamentary seat from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2004 parliamentary election.
In another development, the constituency youth wing of the party has cautioned the district assembly to resist pressure from a section of the assembly to use its name to procure a ¢500 million loan from the National Investment Bank to fund the operations of the Rahama, an NGO operating in the district.
The wing alleged that the organisation owes farmers in the district millions of cedis and wants to use the assembly to secure funds to repay them. - Graphic
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The move is to rectify anomalies such as having names of deceased persons in the register, multiple registration and impersonation during voting, to engender public confidence in the electoral process.
Mr Kwadwo Sarfo-Kantanka, the Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of operations, who disclosed this in an interview in Accra yesterday said what this means is that the existing register and the voter’s ID cards will be discarded.
He disclosed that the new system will be imbued with certain security features that will stave off weaknesses and problems that have characterised the current one since its inception in 1995.
Mr Sarfo-Kantanka, who did not reveal the amount involved in the exercise, said the EC has already submitted its budget requirement to the Ministry of Finance and discussions are on-going.
“It is our decision that if it gets started around the last quarter of this year the whole exercise could be finished by the first quarter of next year,” he said. “Everybody has been complaining and we ourselves have not shied away from the fact that the current voters register is not in the best of shapes”, he stressed.
Speaking on the operations of the political parties, Mr Sarfo-Kantanka said that for a political party to be effective, it must meet all the requirements of the law or be sanctioned.
He said initially, it was the position of the EC to go softly so as to nurture them to grow steadily with time but pointed out that some of the parties have been up and doing.
In this direction, he said the EC will shortly embark on a vigorous campaign to enforce the political party law which requires parties among others to have offices manned by officials at the national, regional and constituency levels.
On the funding of political parties from the national coffers, he said before the general election in 2000, the general consensus was that people were clamouring for it.
He said there was also a provision for the funding of political parties by the state in the original political parties bill that was sent to the previous political administration to be passed into a law but was finally deleted with the explanation that the economy could not cater for its implementation. - Graphic
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Indeed, these were some of the considerations which informed others to question the rationale behind President Kufuor’s collapsing of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth and Sports into a single ministry.
At the weekend, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports disclosed that although government has voted ¢50 billion to set up a Youth Fund, the money is lying idle because the programme is not known to many and, therefore, the money is not being accessed.
This can only mean one thing: that not much education and public awareness creation has been made to diffuse and saturate information about the fund to the people, especially the educated and skilled youth who are unable to put their talents to economic and productive uses owing to the lack of start-up capital.
There are a number of Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES) as well as youth training centres which regularly train the youth in skills that they can employ on completion of their formal training.
There are many others who pursue apprenticeship training in the informal sector. Therefore, if the proper groundwork, education advocacy and correlation programmes are pursued, there should be no justifiable reason why ¢50 billion cannot be fully subscribed for within a year.
We would, therefore, appeal to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, through the various youth groups, the National Youth Organising Committee, as well as the district assemblies, to embark on public awareness campaigns to bring the existence of the fund to the attention of the youth all over the country to enable those who need assistance to access the fund, put it to productive use, pay back and ensure a revolving fund.
It is equally imperative to clearly define the youth, in terms of age brackets, who qualify for the funds and further ensure that the process of accessing the facility is as flexible as possible so that the most needy trained youth can benefit from the fund.
It is equally important that management of the fund is done in as transparent and non-partisan a manner as possible to benefit every Ghanaian youth who is otherwise qualified and entitled to access the fund.
The history of our recent past, where the Minister of Youth and Sports also served as the National Youth Organiser of a political party, did not promote the most effective, efficient and productive means for the thorough mobilisation of the talents of all the youth of this country.
Accordingly, in the appointment of youth co-ordinators, we must be scrupulous in the choices, so that people with tendencies to be extremely partisan are not put at the helm of affairs. More important, those who find themselves in such challenging positions must see their responsibilities as a test of offering their services to all Ghanaians, not just youth members of their political parties. - Graphic
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