Press Review - 17-3-99

Free Press

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?Obasanjo has 18 wives? reports the Free Press in a front -page story. The Paper says rumour is circulating in talk shops all over Nigeria that General Olusegun Obasango Nigeria?s president elect is faced with the dilemma of choosing a first lady among his 18 wives. The report asserts that Stella Obasanjo, with whom he has a 21 year old son, is rumored to be his most favourite wife and likely to be selected for the position. The story says the President elect?s marriage with his first wife, Mrs. Caroline Aderemi Obasanjo fell on the rocks when he started having extra marital relationships. They married in the early sixties but the sour development robs Caroline of the exalted office. The Free Press also carried a middle page story on the Ablekuma Central Constituency by-elections slated for March 26. The paper reports of the parties involved playing on the Muslim dominance of the area by selecting candidates of the Islamic faith in hope of winning their votes.

The Free Press says aside the NPP all other candidates being presented are Muslims. However, the paper, still feels the NPP candidate, with his previous achievements as an Assemblyman of Laterbiokoshie has an edge over the others. GRi

Ghanaian Times

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The front-page banner headline story of the Ghanaian Times ?STADIA PROBE STARTS SITTING ? It invites memos from public? says the Special Committee set up by the Vice President, Professor Atta Mills to probe the Award of contract for the rehabilitation of the Accra and Kumasi sports stadia, will start inviting members of the public this week to give evidence. The three-member committee chaired by Lt. Col. Emmanuel Tagoe, with Messers Geoffrey Avah and Mr. Francis Assuah, a sports journalist as members the committee has requested that the memoranda sent to the committee should bear the full name and address of author, who should be prepared to testify or prove allegations. The committee is expected to consider matters regarding the Accra Stadium before moving to Kumasi at the appropriate time. The three-man team has been sitting daily from Monday to Friday between 9:00am and 3:00pm. However, The Times says, it?s proceedings are in camera.

The President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings has urged the international community to help solve Africa?s hydra-headed agricultural problems to avert it from entering the next millennium as a hungry continent. According to the Times story headlined ?Africa needs help to sustain Agric-President? he identified problems such as institutionalise corruption in the fishing industries, the land tenure system and conflicts that affect food production in many African countries. He is reported to have made the observations when he received Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director General of the Food and Agricultural Organisations of the United Nations (FAO) at the castle, Osu. ?Africa cannot enter the next millennium as a hungry continent? he said and added that African countries must take steps to solve some of the problems. The Times says President Rawlings said there were a lot of malfeasance in the fishing industry and appealed to the FAO to help African countries to police some of the wrong doing in the industry. President Rawlings also points out that the bad nuts in the industry were clearing the fishes in Ghanaian waters through dubious means, these malpractices he continued raise food prices. Mr. Rawlings noted ?we cannot develop if we do not do anything about conflicts on the continent?, reports the paper. He also asserted that land mines which were planted on farm lands in some African states thus preventing people from farming was a problem that needs to be solved in order to help produce more food.

High Street Journal **************** The High Street Journal reports that former country Head of CITI BANK in Tunisia, William Thomas has switched to Ecobank Ghana as its new General Manager. The paper quotes Thomas as saying he has been attracted to the country by the good reception he received in previous visits he made here. Thomas, an American, becomes an essential element in the regional banking group-Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI). Mr. William Thomas replaces Mr. Bill Taylor who declined a renewal of contract at the end of his term. GRi

The Dispatch

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The paper carries a banner headline which reads ?Kojo Tsikata quits NDC?. According to the paper, Capt. (rtd) Kojo Tsikata, former Security Advisor to the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and the National Democratic Congress, has quit the Party. The paper added that though both sides (Kojo Tsikata and the ruling party) are all tight-lipped on the cause of the friction they believe it might have been caused by the first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings. The paper continued that another long-standing member of the PNDC/NDC, Mr. Paul Victor Obeng has been subjected to various forms of intimidation because of his alleged support for the Reformed Movement. According to the paper, the two personalities (Capt. Tsikata and P.V. Obeng) are currently floating politically and there is an anxiety as to which of the political Parties they will be associating themselves to. The paper concluded, the last time these two political giants were seen in public was on March 7 1999, when they attended a Forum on pan-Africanism organised by the Convention Party to honour the pioneers of Ghana?s Independence struggle. GRi

Daily Graphic ************ The Ministry of works and Housing has decided to assist the private sector to acquire about 12,000 acres of land for the provision of houses over a three-year period beginning this year. According to a Graphic report, the ministry has also planned to develop 2,500 serviced plots within the same period. Mr. I.K. Adjei-Mensah, Minister of Works and Housing is said to have made the Ministries intentions known when he presented the ministry?s annual financial estimates of 215,434 billion cedis to parliament yesterday. The Minister explained that his ministry has programmed to facilitate the development of 10,000 housing units country wide to reduce the increasing accommodation problems facing most Ghanaian workers. He also told members of Parliament that the ministry through the Department of Rural Housing is to train 800 people in construction skills whilst on the job in rural areas during the three year period as a way of creating job opportunities. Mr. Adjei said an amount of one billion cedis under the civil servants housing scheme will be recovered whilst the ministry will grant another three billion for the same purpose. GRi

The Weekly Insight

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The Weekly Insight reports ?More People to Die ? Prices of Drugs to shoot up soon?. The core of the story is that the newly enforced Value Added Tax (VAT0 is becoming a killer. The paper says since its re-introduction, the prices of most goods and services including water, electricity and telephones have shot up. Now, the Insight believes, there are very serious indications that the price of drugs will shoot up very soon because of the imposition of VAT on raw materials used for the pharmacuetical industry. The paper maintains that the exact level of the increase has still not been determined but it is believed that it could range between 8 and 10 percent. The paper claims that many Ghanaians are known to be dying from curable diseases such as malaria, typhoid, measles and diarrhea because of the withdrawal of subsidies on health. ?PRATT CALLS FOR MASS RESISTANCE? is the alarming headlines of one of the front-page stories of this edition of the Insight. Mr. Kwesi Pratt, Jnr. Deputy General Secretary of the Convention Party (CP) is reported to have urged Africans to resist the attempt by imperialism to re-colonise Africa. Amid thunderous applause, he declared ?we are ready to demonstrate to the world that the African people are a proud people able and willing to fight for their freedom. We will win all our battles because we stand for justice and they stand for subjugation?. Mr. Pratt is reported to have made the declarations when he addressed the opening session of the International Preparatory Committee for the setting up of a Tribunal to try the World Bank and IMF for crimes against humanity in Johannesburg, South Africa recently. Mr. Pratt noted that the ?policies of the World Bank and the IMF being imposed on African countries are worse than scud missals. They are killing millions of Africans and creating unbearable tension on the continent? he said. He is reported to have pointed out that ?four million African children die yearly out of curable diseases because the IMF and the World Bank insist that we should spend $30 billion dollars annually on debt repayment and servicing. ? Mr. Pratt continued by stating that in the midst of worsening poverty, neocolonial governments in Africa have accepted the dictates of the IMF and World Bank to cut expenditure on health services and education. ?We have a responsibility to ourselves and generations unborn to fight against the IMF and World Bank? he concluded.