The Guide

"Is Rawlings? health in Danger" asks the Guide. The paper reports that speculations are rife that the President J.J. Rawlings is not very well.

The rumour is said to have reached a point where he was considered dead and the Foreign Minister, Victor Gbeho, had to come out with a denial.

Sources close to the powerhouse however have it that President Rawlings is not well and has been experiencing black outs intermittently, says the paper.

The Guide?s sources are reported as claiming that the Presidents medical doctors have advised him to retrain from long public speeches and appearances.

The Guide says that suspicions about the President?s health are rising because of his absence from public functions of late, and his visit to the US recently, the third this year, which the paper speculates that the president takes time off during the trips to check out his health.

Political observers hope that President Rawlings keeps healthy for a smooth transfer of power in his own National Democratic Congress (NDC) party.

Many Ghanaians are of the view that should the unexpected happen to the President, that will most likely engender a Herculean power struggle within his NDC party and eventually destroy the stability the ruling party has enjoyed so far.

"Don?t keep suspects in BNI Cells" is another of the front-page stories in the Guide.

The paper reports that the trail of six suspects who have been accused of stealing between two to four billion cedis worth of gold took a dramatic turn, when the counsel for the accused persons, captain Effah Dartey and Mr. Nyamekye Baah protested against their clients being kept in BNI cells.

Effah Dartey told the tribunal chaired by Justice Charles Quist that since the accused persons were arrested, the BNI has denied them access to their clients.

The two defense counsel also asked the court to grant bail to the accused person because they have been in custody for one month, reports the paper.

They argued that if a person is arrested and is not tried within a reasonable period he must be granted bail.

Justice Quist is said to have rejected the bail, saying they have not been in custody for long in the light of the matter before the court.

He therefore ordered that the accused persons be put in police custody to reappear on May 28.