The Weekly Insight

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.