Print Media Review For Oct. 31

THE DAILY GRAPHIC – FRIDAY, 31ST OCTOBER, 2003

1. NHIS TAKES OFF JAN - PGS. 1 & 3

The paper reports that, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) will become fully operational from January, next year.

Already, the Legislative Instrument (LI), which will give the scheme the requisite legal backing is being worked out.

Mr. Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, Deputy Minister of Information announced this in Kumasi at the start of a week’s duty tour of the Ashanti Region.

According to him, all bottlenecks, which might hinder the smooth operation of the scheme, were being tackled to ensure that Ghanaians obtained quality health care delivery under the scheme.

2. CHOICE OF ANGLOGOLD INFORMED BY POSITIVE PROSPECTS – GOV’T – PGS. 1 & 3

According to the paper, government has stated that its decision to approve Anglogold for a merger with Ashanti Goldfields had been informed by the positive prospects it holds for the country, including the increase in the value of the Ghana’s share from $170 million to $340 million.

It said under the merger, ordinary share value for Ghanaian investors would improve from the current $7 per share to about $11 per share while the company would also be the biggest mining company in the world in terms of resources among others.

Mrs. Cecilia Bannerman, Minister of Mines, disclosed this at a news conference in Accra yesterday.

According to her, the government’s golden share in respect of Ghanaian assets of the new company would be maintained.

3. NDC TO UNSEAT NPP NEXT YEAR – OHENE-KENA – PG. 13

Mr. Fred Ohene-kena, Chairman of the Eastern Regional branch of the NDC, has predicted victory for the NDC in next year’s polls. He said the writing was on the wall that the NPP regime would be ousted in democratic elections in 2004.

He observed that the Kufuor Administration had failed to fulfill its electoral promises.

According to him, the inability of the government to improve living conditions in the country offered the NDC a good opportunity to unseat the ruling regime.

He said the NDC was certain to win 15 seats out of the 26 seats in the region. Currently, the NDC has eight seats, while the NPP has 18.

He was speaking in an interview with the paper in Accra.

4. PARLIAMENT RATIFIES NON-SURRENDER PACT WITH US – PG. 16

Parliament yesterday ratified a bilateral non-surrender agreement between Ghana and the United States of America.

With a vote of 101 for, 53 against and no abstention, the House adopted the motion for the ratification of the agreement.

The motion, which generated a heated debate saw the House voting on partisan basis.

5. SECURITY AGENCIES ASKED TO BE VIGILANT ALONG BORDERS – PGS. 16 & 17

According to the paper, Minister of the Interior, Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, has urged security personnel at the country’s borders to be alert and expose criminals who might want to infiltrate the country to destabilize the peace and political stability the people are enjoying.

He pointed out that, managing international borders posed a lot of challenges to every country but with dedication to duty, they could make a lot of difference.

He was interacting with security personnel at the Elubo Border as part of his two-day working visit to the Western Region.

THE GHANAIAN TIMES – FRIDAY , 31ST OCTOBER, 2003

1. PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY C’TTEE ON DECENTRALIZATION SWORN IN – PG. 3

The paper reports that, 10 – member Presidential Advisory Committee on Decentralization was yesterday sworn into office by President Kufuor, at the Castle, Osu.

The committee, chaired by Mr. Rex Owusu Ansah, former Clerk of Parliament, is to advise the President on how power should be decentralized.

2. ECOWAS LEADERS SEEK PEACE IN COTE D’ IVOIRE – PG. 3

President Kufuor yesterday left Accra for Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, to hold discussions with the Ivorian leader, President Laurent Gbagbo and leaders of Ivorian political factions on the political impasse in that country.

Also in the Iovorian capital is the Nigerian Head of State, President Olusegun Obasanjo, on the same mission.

3. 60,000 LAND CASES AT SUPREME COURT - PGS. 1 & 3

MRS. Georgette Francois, an Accra based lawyer has disclosed that, the Supreme Court has over 60,000 land cases pending before it.

According to her, the types of disputes filed range form boundary, title ownership and encroachment to multiple registration and fraudulent documentation relating to transfer in connection with the acquisition of land.

She was delivering a paper on “Traditional authorities and the land tenure crisis the potential for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)” at a workshop at Ho.

She said that on the average, the land cases took about five to eight years to be finally determined in court, and revealed that there were cases, which had been in the courts for between 20 and 40 years.

NETWORK HERALD – FRIDAY, 31ST OCTOBER – 2ND NOVEMBER, 2003

COUNCILS CALL FOR IMC FOR KUMASI – PGS. 1 & 3

Eighteen out of the 24 town councils in the Kumasi metropolis have backed calls by residents calling on President Kufuor to dissolve the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly to pave way for peace and development in the city.

They have suggested a 16-member interim management committee to oversee the affairs of the assembly till fresh elections are held.

According to them the current impasse between the metropolitan chief executive and a section of the assembly members is hampering development in the city.

WEEKEND AGENDA – FRIDAY, 31ST OCTOBER – 6TH NOVEMBER, 2003

PHASE OUT SHIFT SYSTEM IN SCHOOLS – PGS. 1 & 12

The President’s Committee on Review of Education Reforms in Ghana has asked the government to put in place measures for the gradual phasing out of the shift system in basic education in the country within the next five years.

According to the committee, District Assemblies need to expand and improve school infrastructure in order to facilitate the process. The shift system in schools with large enrolment and limited infrastructure is ineffective.

It also called for the phasing out of the Multi Class Teaching system in rural communities. As a result of lack of teachers and low enrolment in schools in rural communities, the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service have adopted multi-class teaching system, which involves joining different classes together to be taught by one teacher.

The 20 member Committee was chaired by Prof. J. Anamoah Mensah.

GHANA PALAVER – FRIDAY, 31ST OCTOBER – 3RD NOVEMBER, 2003

1. PRESIDENT KUFUOR IN SECRET US $2.5 BILLION LOAN DEAL? – PGS. 1 & 8

According to the paper, Government team recently initialled a $2.5bn secret loan deal with a group of Chinese businessmen in South Africa. It said that unknown to the government team that negotiated the deal, the Chinese financing group they dealt with are linked directly to the Chinese “Triad”, a dreaded “Mafia-type” Chinese underground organization that traffics in drugs and is involved in international prostitution, pornography, money-laundering and political assassinations.

2. IMPLEMENTING THE “GOLDEN AGE OF BUSINESS” … B. A. MENSAH, OTHERS TAKE OVER TEMA PORT OPERATIONS! – PGS. 1 & 6

The paper reports that, stevedoring services at Ghana’s ports have been taken away from the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and farmed out to eight NPP spawned companies.

According to the paper, the leading company among the eight is CTS Ltd, the main shareholder of which is Mr. B. A. Mensah, formerly of International Tobacco (Gh.) Ltd.

None of the eight companies in their contracts or agreements is responsible for maintenance of the port facilities.

THE ACCRA DAILY MAIL – FRIDAY, 31ST OCTOBER, 2003

DR. MAHAMA DARES NPP – PGS. 1 & 3

PNC leader Dr. Edward Mahama has said that, slogans such as “Golden Age of Business” and “Zero Tolerance for corruption” by the government were as hollow and noisy as empty barrels.

According to him, there was no road map or programme with benchmarks or mileposts to judge at any time whether Ghanaians were making progress towards those destinations or not.

Dr. Mahama said given the low incomes of Ministers and other holders of political office, “the current process of our election oriented democracy obviously breeds and deepens corruption”.

Dr. Mahama disclosed this at he Special Hall Week Edition of the “Legon Speaks” at the Akuafo Hall of the University of Ghana, Legon.

THE GHANAIAN CHRONICLE – FRIDAY, 31ST OCTOBER, 2003

1. ALL GHANAIAN GOVERNEMNTS FACED CORRUPTION PROBLEMS – BAGBIN – PGS. 1 & 3

Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin has said that, all governments, past and present, have had to grappled with corruption.

“Infact Dr. Nkrumah’s, CPP started with the fight against corruption to the extent that his weekly broadcasts attracted many people who wanted to know the heads that were going to roll during each broadcast but in the end, it could not solve the problem of corruption”, he states.

He noted that successive governments have also waged wars on the canker of corruption, but some of them were either overthrown by the military for being corrupt or were branded as corrupt governments at the end of their regimes.

Mr. Bagbin was speaking at a forum themed “Legon Speaks” at the University of Ghana, Legon in Accra.

He admitted that, there was corruption in the system during the eight year rule of the NDC and like any other government, the NDC could not eradicate corruption.

2. DCE BEATEN UNCONSCIOUS … OVER ALLOWANCES OF MASS COCOA SPRAYERS – PG. 1

Sprayers undertaking the mass spraying of cocoa farms in the Juabeso Bia District of the Western Region according to the paper, are reported to have attacked and severely injured the DCE Benjamin Armah after accusing him of delay in payment of their allowances.

Regional Minister, Joseph Boahen Aidoo, confirmed this to the paper yesterday, saying Mr. Armah has been admitted to the Bibiani hospital as a result of the severe beatings he received at the hands of his assailants.

The angry sprayers were alleged to have hit Mr. Armah’s head several times with some sharp instrument until he fell unconscious.