GRi Press Review Ghana 17 - 11 - 2000
I insisted Odartey-Wellington, others get full military burial
Don't make politics vicious - President urges
Avoid foul language - Mahama advises
Constitution needs amendment
NPP hates violence
Ultimatum to judges
Let us swear on fetish - Rawlings
Contractors, businessmen campaign for NDC
Teachers to lay down chalk
MOE to issue Scholarship Directory
I insisted Odartey-Wellington, others get full military burial
The President, Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings has stated that he certainly
remembers attending the burial of several soldiers who fell in the events of
June 4, 1979, including that of Col. Joseph Enninful, the Presiding officer of
the Military Tribunal which tried him for the May 15 uprising.
According to a release by the Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate
in Accra on Thursday, the President also stated that with the passage of time,
his memory of the events could possibly be blurred.
He was speaking in an interview in reaction to the claim by Mr Michael
Odartey-Wellington, son of the late Major-General Odartey-Wellington that the
President was not among the pallbearers at the burial of his father as he is
trying to suggest.
The Major General was killed in the June 4, 1979 revolution.
The President had reportedly stated during a courtesy call on him by a
delegation of Ga Dangbe queenmothers on November 6, at the Castle, Osu, that he
was one of the pallbearers at the burial of the late Major General.
President Rawlings said while he may be wrong about carrying the casket
of the late Maj-Gen Odartey-Wellington, the point he sought to make was that
despite the anger and the ill-feeling of soldiers at that time, he insisted on the
Major-General and other officers being given full military burials.
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Don't make politics vicious - President urges
The banner story of the Daily Graphic says President Jerry John
Rawlings has appealed to the country's politicians to make the practice of
politics less vicious, saying Ghana has gone through traumatic times and should
not be pushed towards those past experiences.
He has therefore asked critics of the government not to impute
political motives into every government action.
Speaking at an NDC rally at Akorabo, near Suhum in the Eastern Region,
he said the government has a responsibility to the people, whether there is an
election or not and will, therefore, seek their welfare for as long as its
mandate lasts.
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Avoid foul language - Mahama advises
Dr Edward Mahama, the People's National Convention presidential
candidate, has advised his supporters to refrain from using abusive language in
their campaigns, reports The Ghanaian Times.
He urged them to rather concentrate on educating the electorate on the
party's manifesto, which underlined how the party intended governing the
country to improve the living standards of the people.
Addressing a massive regional rally at Wa on Wednesday, Dr Mahama said
under a PNC government, fertilizer depots would be built at key farming centres
for farmers.
He said all facilities needed to enhance education would be provided
while teachers would be well motivated to give of their best.
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Constitution needs amendment
President Jerry John Rawlings on Thursday stated that some aspects of
the constitution would have to be amended to give Ghanaians more political and
economic justice.
He therefore urged Ghanaians to vote massively for the NDC government
to enable it to carry out the necessary changes that would benefit all
Ghanaians.
President Rawlings did not specify which areas needed change, when he
addressed NDC rallies at Asamankese, Coaltar and Nsawam in the Eastern Region,
but said that Ghanaians needed a more vibrant judicial system to deal with
their problems.
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NPP hates violence
The NPP flagbearer, J.A. Kufuor says the party will conduct its
electioneering campaign within the confines of the law, since it abhors
violence, the Weekend Statesman reports.
He, however, called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to conduct free
and fair elections, the results of which would be acceptable to all contending
political parties.
Mr Kufuor who made this statement during a courtesy call on the
Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the Asanteman Council at the Manhyia
Palace, Kumasi, said the NPP would win the elections and bring to Ghanaians the
much needed positive change.
He said he was at Kumasi to seek the support and blessings of the
Asantehene and Nananom as the NPP embarked on its journey to electoral victory,
since power really belongs to chiefs and the people.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu expressed regret that all elected governments since
Dr Kwame Nkrumah were booted out of office and said it is heartening to note
that Ghanaians were resolved to ensure a peaceful and democratic change of
government.
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Ultimatum to judges
The Evening News reports that the Chief Justice, Mr I.K. Abban has
ordered all Supervising High Court Judges in all regions to ensure that
electoral disputes are heard and disposed off within a week.
The Chief Justice's directive was disclosed to the paper in an
interview with Mr George Aflah Aryeetey, acting Judicial Secretary in a comment
on the call by civil society groups and individuals for the setting up of
special courts to handle electoral disputes.
He said the judiciary is not in the position to set up the special
courts to handle disputes from the elections in the manner envisaged by the
civil groups.
He added however, that the Chief Justice has directed that to ensure
that electoral cases are expeditiously determined, the courts were mandated to
sit on non-working days including Saturdays.
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Let us swear on fetish - Rawlings
The Dispatch reports that a supposed NDC mammoth rally at Krobo Odumase
on Wednesday turned out being attended by mainly children and became an
occasion for President Jerry Rawlings to dare the opposition to swear on
fetish, the Bible and the Koran as the truth of what all of them say in their
speeches.
The President said if it is a crime for people to take up arms to
overthrow a government, it was equally a crime to misinform the electorate to
win their votes for power.
He criticised the judiciary for the slow dispensation of justice,
citing a case in which it was alleged that his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings
dealt in cocaine, which has dragged on for five years, and over 30 robbery
cases in which the suspects have been granted bail.
The rally ground was said to be virtually empty and a futile attempt to
get people to the ground led to the gathering of the children.
"By the time that the rally started, the school children in
uniform outnumbered the NDC supporters.
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Contractors, businessmen campaign for NDC
The Free Press reports that the latest method being adopted by the NDC
in its quest for power in the December elections is an invitation to
individuals and companies it offered government contracts, to contribute
towards its campaign.
The paper says its sources at the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA)
revealed that members of the Ghana Association of Contractors who receive
various contracts based on party affiliation and suspected to be mostly NDC
members are of late becoming very 'generous' to staff of the GHA.
"You must try to vote the NDC to power. Monkey must not work for
baboon to chop," the president of the association, Mr Kupualor was quoted
to have told the GHA workers.
The source said as a result of the campaign by the contractors for the
NDC, the government is not owing any contractor a pesewa as all funds have been
released to them for the projects and campaigning, who in turn made significant
contributions to the party.
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Teachers to lay down chalk
The Guide reports that the Ghana National Association of Teachers
(GNAT) has threatened to go on strike if their grievances are not resolved by
the end of November.
"We believe government will address all the issues especially the
medical care, supervision, extra duty allowances and other fringe benefits to
the heads of second cycle institutions before the end of November 2000 to
prevent teachers from withdrawing their services", they said.
A statement read by GNAT national president, K. Amo Darko, explained
that the issues are not new demands but rather genuine approved entitlements,
which are denied teachers.
He said actual effective teaching and learning in most of the schools
are gradually coming to a halt because of the considerable amount of
frustrations teachers are facing.
He was optimistic that the Director General of the Ghana Education
Service, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Ekumfi and GNAT could work together to ensure
that all issues are redressed.
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MOE to issue Scholarship Directory
The Ghana Palaver reports that the Ministry of Education (MOE) is
compiling a directory of available scholarship schemes in and outside Ghana to
enable students to have easy access to them.
Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Deputy Minister of Education, announcing this
in Accra said it is to ease the high cost of education on parents and
self-financing students, especially at the tertiary level.
He said in compiling the directory, the MOE has taken note of the
existing situation where only children of the rich have access to such schemes
to the disadvantage of the poor.
He said effective arrangements were underway to ensure that the schemes
do not become the exclusive preserve of the rich.
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