Review Of Print Media , 7th August, 2003.

THE GHANAIAN TIMES – THURSDAY, 7TH AUGUST, 2003

1. PROPOSAL TO USE WORKERS’ CASH. IT’S A LOAN FROM SSNIT….PRESIDENT ASSURES – PGS. 1 & 3

The paper reports that, President Kufuor has described as unfounded, allegations that the government intends to use two-and-a-half per cent of workers contributions to the SSNIT as the seed money for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Rather, he has explained that the government intended to borrow the equivalent of two-and-a-half per cent of workers contribution to start with the scheme for the benefit of all including the unemployed and the vulnerable.

He made this clear when he inaugurated a 5.6 million dollar Dangme East District Hospital at Ada.

According to him, as the sole guarantor and biggest employer, he said the onus rested on the government to pay if SSNIT was not able to retrieve monies lent to people.

He said the idea of the NHIS was very fine and people should desist from doing politics with it.

2. DECISION ON GCB, AUG 15 – PGS. 1 & 3

According to the paper, Government will take a final decision on the divestiture of Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) next Friday, August 15.

Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, disclosed this in Accra yesterday, when he received a committee report on the divestiture of the bank.

He promised Ghanaians that the decision of government on GCB would be informed by the report of the committee.

The Minister reiterated that government would not take any decision that would not be in the interest of Ghanaians.

The chairman of the 11-member committee was Dr. Nii Noi Ashong, a Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

3. FARMERS TO BE GROUPED FOR BETTER DEAL – PG. 3

Major (RTD) Quashigah, Minister for Food and Agriculture, has announced that, farmers are to be grouped under the banner of Farmer-Based Organisation (FBO) to help them access credit and agriculture inputs more easily.

The proposal is also meant to strengthen the farmer’s capacity to negotiate better prices for their produce and improve their access to the market.

He was speaking at the seventh quadrennial delegates’ conference of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of the TUC in Accra yesterday.

He announced that his ministry was working closely with agricultural research institutes to come out with appropriate technologies to be passed on to farmers through extension officers.

According to him, the intention was to increase productivity and improve incomes of farmers.

DAILY GRAPHIC – THURSDAY, 7TH AUGUST, 2003

1. ACCRA GIVES PRESIDENT ROUSING WELCOME – PG. 17

According to the paper, residents of Accra yesterday accorded President Kufuor a warm welcome when he toured the metropolis on the third day of his tour of the Greater Accra Region.

The tour, the first by the President in Accra since he assumed office, afforded him the opportunity to interact with an enthusiastic crowd.

Party faithful carrying placards and singing songs met the President at a junction near the Accra Girls’ Secondary School where he addressed them.

Some of the placards read “Now we know the truth,” “Insha Allah, second term assured,” “Kufuor remain steadfast,” “May the law deal with coup makers.”

Addressing a durbar at La-Bawaleshie, he explained that the government will not maintain the HIPC initiative as a permanent policy.

Rather, he explained that the policy was taken to provide the government some breathing space to re-organise and manage the economy well.

President Kufuor announced that the government intends to use $300,000 donated by a Saudi Prince on his recent visit to Ghana to construct a school for the Mamobi and Nima communities.

2. ‘BE ABOVE PARTISAN POLITICS” – PGS. 1 & 3

According to the paper, the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll, has noted that the active involvement of some chiefs in partisan politics is gradually derailing their moral right to criticize bad governance on the continent.

He said but for the fact that good governance and democracy were the true pillars on which Africa’s traditional system was built, there would not have been order and cohesion in African societies.

He expressed regret, however, that some African countries are busy finding ways of sidelining traditional leaders.

He expressed these sentiments at a closing ceremony at the three-day conference of African traditional leaders held in Kumasi from August 2-4, 2003.

THE GHANAIAN CHRONICLE – THURSDAY, 7TH AUGUST, 2003

1. BURKINABE WEEPS FOR NKRUMAH – PGS. 1 & 3

According to the paper, a Burkinabe historian, Mr. Ali Oudrago, has criticized the political leaders of Ghana both past and present for treating the first President of the Nation, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah with what he described as “the highest degree of contempt.”

“Why did you Ghanaians treat Dr. Nkrumah like that after doing a lot of things for the country and proving to the whole world that he was a man of vision and positivism.”

Mr. Oudrago said failure to honour Dr. Nkrumah appropriately is a clear indication that Ghanaians have still not appreciated the immense contributions he made to Ghana’s development.

Oudrago, who led a team of 26-second cycle senior tutors on a tour of reputable educational institutions and historic sites in Ghana, spoke to the paper during a visit to the KNUST.

“Ghanaians” he said, “need to do a lot of things in honour of Dr. Nkrumah” and suggested that at least one public holiday should be instituted in his honour.

“Infact, when we Burkinabes read about Dr. Nkrumah and came to Ghana only to realize that Ghanaians have not shown much appreciation to his efforts, we felt like weeping” he emphasised.

2. THE ?41.5M RENOVATION WORKS AT JAK’S HOUSE-SHORT, BAGBIN IN TANGO….AS KWAME MARFO RAILS AT POLITICIANS – PGS. 1 & 3

The paper reports that, the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Minority Leader in Parliament are locked in a heart-stopping row over the failure of CHRAJ to investigate allegations that the public purse was debited for renovation works at the private residence of President Kufuor.

The paper can confirm that CHRAJ has discontinued investigations into the renovation works carried out at the President’s private house because Mr. Francis Emile Short says the Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin, upon whose petition the investigation was to be based, withdrew his interest in pursuing the case.

Bagbin however told the paper on Monday that he hasn’t indicated to CHRAJ that he was not interested in pursuing the matter neither has he withdrew his petition.

He observed that he was dissatisfied with the manner in which CHRAJ was handling the investigation adding that if he decided not to pursue the matter CHRAJ could still have gone ahead to investigate the matter because the law which established CHRAJ empowers them to initiate their own investigations into serious national issues.

Meanwhile, the Minority Leader, says he has met Mr. Kwame Marfo, the man who paid for the renovation works at the President’s residence following public outcry over the use of state funds for project.

He does not believe him because the business that Kwame is running prove that he does not earn that much income to be able to dole out ?41.5m to government as a gift.

When the paper contacted Mr. Marfo on phone, he asked it to leave him alone because he was neither a politician nor a coup plotter but a farmer.

THE EVENING NEWS – 6TH AUGUST, 2003

1. NORTHERN SSS HEADS DILEMMA – PG. 3

The paper reports that, headmasters of second cycle schools in the three Northern Regions are faced with the dilemma as to whether to close down their schools ahead of schedule or risk mass students demonstrations.

The only means of averting any crisis is for the government to release without further delay the feeding grants for schools in these deprived regions, which have not received anything since the beginning of the year.

Mr. Francis Avosigo, chairman of the conference, of Assisted Secondary Schools disclosed this to the paper at Bolgatanga. He regretted that though this was the third quarter of the academic year, none of the second cycle schools in the three regions had received their feeding grants.

THE DAILY DISPATCH – THURSDAY, 7TH AUGUST, 2003

MILLS ON “COUP” PLOT – PG. 1

Prof. J. E. A. Mills, former Vice-President and flagbearer of the NDC, has said that it is the responsibility of his party to ensure that democracy is sustained in this country, therefore they will not do anything or encourage anybody to derail the democratic process.

According to him, records will show that NDC has done a lot in introducing democracy into this country, stressing that indeed “it is our responsibility to ensure that we sustain democracy in this country”.

Prof. Mills made this remarks in an interview with the paper in Accra.

Regarding the inference that some element in the NDC may be behind possible security breaches, the Professor said signs have become clear that there are some who are consumed by fear of irregular change of government “we think there is only one way out - through the ballot box”.

INDEPENDENT – THURSDAY, 7TH AUGUST, 2003

MORE REVELATIONS ON COUP PLOT … EX-COMMANDOS RETURN FROM GUINEA – BISSAU TO AUGMENT PLOT – PG. 1 & BK. PG.

The paper reports that, following it publication yesterday on the arrest of some persons in connection with a coup plot, details of the said plot have been coming in following the confirmation of the story by Government.

The latest information obtained by the paper before it went to press had it that Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, the last Commanding Officer of the disbanded Forces Reserve Battalion (FRB) was scheduled to meet the National Security Council yesterday for further grilling.

The FRB was also known as 64 Infantry Battalion during the day of its existence.

Gbevlo-Lartey and four others who relocated to oil-rich Guinea have returned to town as part of building effort to strike on the sovereignty of the state.

“Independent” found out that state security has for the last three months been monitoring the activities of the five persons who were picked up last Saturday and succeeded in infiltrating their ranks to obtain recordings resulting in the arrest last Saturday.

DAILY GUIDE – THURSDAY, 7TH AUGUST, 2003

ARREST RAWLINGS – CRIES SERIAL KILLER – PG 1. & BK. PG.

According to the paper, Charles Ebo Quansah, the convicted serial killer, has told police investigators that since ex-President Rawlings has claimed at platforms held in Accra and Kumasi that he knows the masterbrains behind the serial killing of the 34 Ghanaian Women, he (former President) should be arrested and prosecuted, for failing to mention the names of those he claimed masterminded the killings.

This latest development concerning the serial killing of Ghanaian women, is contained in a report intercepted by the paper’s scouts early this week following the former President’s utterances on the killings and his claim that Charles Ebo Quansah, the convicted murderer, is a scape-goat.

THE CRUSADING GUIDE – THURSDAY, 7TH AUGUST, 2003

VRA WORKERS BEHAVING LIKE “LICENSED IRRITANTS”? – PGS. 1 & 3

Volta River Authority (VRA) workers behaving as a group of “licensed irritants” have expressed concern about the President’s delay in addressing their grievances, as promised, on the crisis involving them (VRA workers) and their CEO, Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby.

According to a release by staff groups, the workers had kept faith with the President’s advice that they refrained from going to the press on the crisis involving them and their CEO.

The release noted that, a section of the press continued unrelentlessly to “bombard and vilify VRA workers based on the Auditor General’s report” to which they did not make any input.

The workers added that, their anxiety was renewed and heightened by a publication in “The Statesman” that Dr. Wereko Brobby was going to be restored back to his position as the CEO of the VRA.

The workers said, they are considering holding a press conference to tell “their side of the story” as they wait for the President’s final decision on the saga.