Free Press

The Free Press Carries two stories that make interesting read on its front page. The first reports the activities of a group of students suspended indefinitely from the Suhum Secondary School where they allegedly went riot with firearms. The eight students of the Suhum Secondary Technical School are said to have gone to town in the middle of the night and engaged in a quarrel with a group of boys in the town over a girl. The paper says in the ensuing confrontation one of the students pulled out a pistol and aimed at the nose of his "rival" whiles the others started giving warning shots. The students described as rowdy are said to have returned to the schools premises and plundered the electricity supply system and plunged the whole school into darkness apparently to cause mischief and cover up their behaviour in town. Though the boys denied they possessed firearms, ammunition and AK 47 pistols were found concealed in balls of Ga kenkey when they were searched. A Koforidua Tribunal, which remanded the students, has released them pending further investigations. The free Press report has it that one teacher noted that suspending or dismissing them won't solve the problem, but then the police must do their best and retrieve the rest of the ammunition and culprits."

The second Free Press Story headlined "Extra Duty Allowance... Paramedics Threaten Strike Action On March 12 If.... " has it that the consultative Group of Health professionals have threatened to completely withdraw their services by Friday if they are not paid the extra duty allowance promised them by the ministry of health. This is reportedly the outcome of a meeting held on March 4 this year, by a group which comprises the Ghana Association of Registered Nurses, the Government Hospital Pharmarcists Association and the Ghana Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technicians among others. The threat is styled to follow an alleged discrimination meted out to the group concerning the implementation of the extra duty allowance. In a letter reported to be copied to the Minister of Health, the President and other authorities, the group pointed out that after the government had given approval for the allowance, it singled out the Ghana medical Association for payment.