DAILY GRAPHIC

"Computer fraud...10 CEPS men in trouble", is the lead headline in the Graphic. The accompanying story says the Commissioner of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Dr Charles Asembri has ordered the immediate arrest of 10 customs officers for indulging in certain fraudulent practices which have led to the loss of billions of cedis to the state. The Graphic says the 10, whose names are being withheld for security reasons, are alleged to have engaged in computer fraud, release of uncustomed goods from Customs bonded warehouses and bribery, among other crimes.. The Commissioner, the Graphic says, has also ordered the arrest of 10 clearing agents and their accomplices, two officials of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), managing directors of two Accra-based local distilleries, for forgery, falsification and alteration of CEPS documents to evade dduties. GRi

In another front page story with a picture of a woman carrying a baby on her laps, the Graphic reports that a baby thief gave herself away last Wednesday in Kumasi when she walked to the Mawud Maternity Home at Atonsu, a Kumasi suburb, and complained of abdominal pains after delivery. The paper says Abena Fosuaah who had stolen the four-day-old baby hours earlier, willingly agreed to be examined by the midwife, but on a second thought, refused to allow the midwife to examine her birth canal because that would obviously have given her away. The midwife who had seen no signs to prove that Fosuaah was a new mother after examining her body and breasts, which had no milk, however insisted that she would examine Fosuaah's birth canal and when Fosuaah persistently refused, the midwife became convinced that she was a baby thief. Fosuaah has since been arrested by the police and the baby reunited with its mother, the Graphic says. GRi

In a third front page story headlined: "Review subsidies on agric inputs", the Graphic reports that regional ministers have called for a review of the removal of subsidies on agricultural inputs. They said this is necessary to enable farmers to increase agricultural production. The regional ministers indicated that because of the high cost of agricultural inputs, farmers are unable to adopt new technologies, thus their inability to increase production. The Graphic says these observations were contained in communique issued by the ministers at the end of their five-day conference at Tamale. The ministers expressed concern about the predicted poor food situation next year and therefore commended the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for instituting medium and long-term food security plans. GRI