GHANAIAN TIMES

President Jerry john Rawlings has said that both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Government will act promptly against any of their members whose actions are not in the national interest. "We should not allow others to do so for us", President Rawlings said this at the weekend during a durbar of chiefs and people of Tsiame in the Volta Region to climax the 'golden jubilee' of the Tsiame Youth Association. In a front page lead story of the Times headlined: "Government will flush out the bad nuts" - President assures, President Rawlings said like all human institutions, there would be some people in the party and government whose actions could be questionable. He gave the assurance that such actions would not be condoned once they came to his notice, saying that "as a party and government, we shouild expect attacks and mudslinging in the pursuance of the truth without failing to be critical and objective about ourselves". GRI

"Itchy-fingered DCEs to be prosecuted", is another story adorning the front page of the Times. The story says the Vice-President, Professor John Atta Mills, at the weekend, cautioned that severe sanctions, not excluding criminal prosecutions, would be imposed on any District Chief Executive caught dipping his hands into the District Assemblies' Common Fund or any other fund of the assembly. Closing an induction course for 37 new DCEs in Accra, Prof. Mills told them, "If any of you has the notion that the office is for amassing wealth at the expense of the people, I invite him or her to step down now". The Vice-President said there had been disturbing accounts of improper allocations of the fund as revealed by monitoring reports and the Auditor-General's Report. "Such malfeasance", he said, "must stop, else the noble idea of the fund would be discredited". GRi

An inside page story of the Times says the Minister of Education, Dr Christina Amoako-Nuama, has expressed concern about recent reports of serious crimes by students in some schools in the country. Under the headline: Ministry moves to enforce discipline in school", Dr Amoako-Nuama is reported to have said the failure of teachers to use their discretion at times, contributed to a decline in discipline and supervision in schools. She said the District Education Oversight Committees had been statutorily empowered to maintain discipline and regulate moral behaviour of both teachers and students. Dr Amoako-Nuama said the Ministry of Education would expect much from the oversight committees in maintaining discipline "within the shortest possible time". GRi