Press Review 18.03.99

Graphic & Times

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The two leading dailies, the Ghanaian Times and the Daily Graphic announce the death of the Okyenhene Osagyefuo Kuntunkununku III. The 57-year-old president of the National House of Chiefs and member of the council of state is said to have died in the early hours of yesterday. The two papers however give conflicting reports as where he died. While the Times say that he died on his way to the 37 Military hospital in Accra, the Graphic states that the Osagyefuo died at the Ridge hospital also in Accra.


The more detailed Times account has it that when the Osagyefuo known in private life as Dr. Alex Fredua Agyeman, felt unwell at home a doctor was called to his side. The doctor, who was unidentified, is reported to have given him first aid and recommended that he was sent to hospital.


However, the report continues he died before he got there. He is said to be lying in the 37 Military Hospital morgue. According to the Graphic, senior citizens of Akyem Abuakwa are holding an emergency meeting behind closed doors, they have neither confirmed nor denied the Okyehene?s death. Osagyefuo Kuntunkunuku III was enstooled 2nd August 1976 as the 34th occupant of the Ofori Panyin Stool. GRi?/


Ghanaian Times


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The Minister of Health (MOH), Mr. Samuel Nuamah Donkoh has directed the management of Ridge Hospital in Accra to release immediately all medical equipment meant for use in the wards. According to a Times front page story headlined ?MOH orders hospital to utilize equipment? the minister visited the Ridge Hospital and issued the directives following a report that medical equipment for the hospital?s extension works had been exposed to the weather and could be damaged. Mr. Nuamah Donkor, has asked that a meeting, between the Architectural Engineering Services Company (AESC), consultants to the hospital project and Hospital Engineering Limited, the contractors, should be convened to get them to agree on a date for the completion of the project at the hospital. During his rounds at the hospital, the report states, Mr. Donkor noticed that some wards were congested, lacked adequate beds, bedside lockers and trolleys. He is said to have ordered the hospital authorities to release the items to the wards for use since they are included in the hospitals delivery.


The Times says the minister stressed that it was important for the project to be completed on schedule so that the hospital would operate at full capacity as a regional hospital to take some of the workload off the Korle-bu Teaching hospital. GRi.


The Independent

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The victory savoured in the just concluded presidential election in Nigeria by Gen. Mathew Olusegun Obasango of the People?s Democratic Party (PDP), is said to have received a jolt early this week as his opponent in the presidential race, Chief Samuel Oluyemisi Falae, the candidate of the alliance between the All People Party (APP) and the Allaince for Democracy (AD), stormed the Abuja court of Appeal to challenge the victory.


According to the ?Independent? Chief Falae praying the court to declare him winner of the election averred that although the National Electoral Commission (NEC) declared Obasanjo, a former military head of State, winner of the election with 18,736,154 votes as against 11,627,789 votes accredited to him, Obasanjo actually scored 7,262,348 lawful votes while he (Falae) won the election with 11,627,789? lawful votes?.


Chief Falae is reported as saying that the figures quoted above show that he secured one-quarter of the votes cast at the election and one-quarter of the votes cast in each of at least two- thirds of the states of Nigeria including the capital Abuja. The report says Falae?s petition is premised on five grounds, Non-qualification, disqualification, corrupt practices, irregularities and vanished ballot papers. Falae claimed that Obasanjo ?was at the time of the election not qualified to contest because he is a member of the Ogboni Secret Society. He is adjudged guilty of treason and/or treasonable felony by a tribunal, and was at all times material, hereto, a public officer by virtue of being a member of the National Council of State.


The Daily Graphic


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?Write off 70 billion dollar debt ? Clinton? is one of the front page stories in the Graphic. The story has it that the US President William Jefferson Clinton is urging the international community to adopt a comprehensive, broader and deeper He is reported to have asserted that if the approach is adopted and implemented by creditor nations, it would result in writing off an additional 70 billion dollar debt of developing countries most of them in Africa. Clinton made this declaration at the opening of the first US- Africa Ministerial Conference in Washington on Tuesday.


He also noted that the request for debt relief is to ensure that no country committed to fundamental reform, is left with a debt burden. The three-day conference is being attended by 46 African countries. The conference reputed to be the largest hosted by the United States, is intended to build upon partnerships between the US and African nations by identifying shared interests in the areas of trade, investment, economic reform, political and social development. Ghana is being represented by Mr. James Victor Gbeho, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Edward Salai, Minister of Roads and Transport and Dr. John Abu, Minister of Trade and Industry. High on the agenda of the conference are discussions on accelerating Africa?s full integration into the global economy, foreign policy issues and obstacles faced by African nations seeking to improve their economic performance.


The Crusading Guide

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The paper has a front page story which reads ?Race for the Golden Stool intensifies?. According to the story, there is a serious question in the air, as to who becomes the next Asantehene after Otumfuo Opoku Ware II passed away on Friday 25 this year. The paper disclosed that there is a serious competition between four contestants, to occupy the Golden Stool. The four are Nana Akwasi Agyemang ? Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Nana Kwaku Dua, Nana Dr. James Osei-Yeboah, a medical doctor and Mr. David Yeboah, a quantity surveyor. The paper added that amongs the four, a contestants Nana Kwaku Dua is most likely to succeed the late Asantehene because it is believed that her own mother, the Queen Mother of Ashanti, Nana Afua Kobi Ampem will nominate him as a successor to the stool.


The paper continued that, it has gathered that sum NDC elements are also setting aside some money to strongly prop up Nana Akwasi Agyemang to enable him to ascend the throne. The paper concludes that whatever the government devices traditional rites will ensure that the right man will surely emerge the winner. There is a strong belief that right will be Nana Kwaku Dua. GRi?/


The Guide


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The paper carries a front page story with the heading ?NPP is not an Ashanti Party-Alhaji Inusa?. According to the paper the former campaign manager of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Alhaji Inusa has revealed that the Party is not an Ashanti Party. According to the story Alhaji Inusa disclosed this at an NPP constituency meeting in Dormaa, Brong-Ahafo Region on March 12. He said the Party is made up of people from all walks of life irrespective of thier region; tribe or religion. The paper added that the United Party (UP) which is the parent party of the NPP was formed by four political parties in the Ashanti, Volta, Northern and Greater Accra Regions. The paper continued that Mr. Kwadwo Yeboah Fordjour, the Brong Ahafo NPP chairman, assured Ghanaians that when NPP gains power, it will bring about the needed changes within four years to make the country worth living in. The paper concludes that, the party members present used the occasion to launch a campaign to increase sympathy and support for the NPP in the Tano South Constituency, saying the time is due for the party to find an antidote to its failure to win the MP?s seat in the last election. GRi?/


The Ghanaian Chronicle


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?Golden stool not for sale,? writes the Chronicle in a front page story which says that Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly Chief Executive, Nana Akwasi Agyeman has been disqualified from contesting for the Golden Stool for previously carrying night soil. The paper reports that the race for the Asantehene?s succession is reaching bizarre levels with skirmishes from the NDC government to have the KMA boss elected. According to the paper the list of candidates with no known liabilities as that being borne by Nana Akwasi Agyeman is long with all claiming eligibility, because they are grandchildren of Nana Akua Abakoma, mother of Nana Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II, the predecessor of Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, and his two sisters, Nana Akosua Barnie and Nana Ama Serwa. The list presented by the Chronicle includes Messrs Kwaku Dua, grandchild of Nana Ama Serwa and a direct son of Nana Afua Kobi, the Queenmother, giving him a powerful distinction from the rest.

The Chronicle says that attempts have been made by NDC officials to influence the Asantehemaa with huge sums of money to nominate Nana Akwesi Agyeman for the Golden Stool but which has been rejected by the queenmother. The paper alleges a consensus rejection by callers to the Asanteman Council of the KMA Chief claiming it is not befitting for someone who had carried night soil to occupy the seat. Nana Agyeman is reported to have been forced in the heady days of the 31st December revolution to carry night soil along the streets of Kumasi, the paper said. GRi?/


Africa Sports


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Africa Sports reports that Kumasi Asante Kotoko bagged a colosal 113m cedis in their epic Africa cup winners match with Ndimba SC of Gabon. The paper says tickets for the match, which recorded one of the highest attendants at the Kumasi stadium in recent times, tight for the over 60,000 who trooped to the stadium, some few managed to jump the gates. ?Some people are simply born-criminals who are as incorrigible as Lucifer himself,? quotes a Kotoko source which said that management will in future deal drastically with such offenders. In a related story, Gabriel Opoku-Ware who was voted best player in the Kotoko-Ndzimba match took away 300,000 cedis in cash under a MOBITEL sponsorship package. Gabriel, who was a tower in defence in the match had also to his credit a MOBITEL with a full year?s free rental. GRi


Crusading Guide


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With the banner headline ?8 billion tax evasion saga ? IRS probes Air Ghana after Crusading Guide exposure, the paper says that the series of publications it carried out on tax evasion by Air Ghana ltd, under the management of Mr Marwan Traboulsi, have triggered an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service into shady deals of the company. It claims that Mr David Adom, Commissioner of IRS, who confirmed the probe to the paper over the telephone last Tuesday did not give any details. The paper says Mr Adom claimed over the phone that he was about to leave for a meeting with the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and was therefore not in a position to divulge more details on the investigation. GRi?/


Weekend Chronicle


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?Man arrested for having too many wives? is the front page banner of the paper which reports that Mr James Kwaku Boafo, a businessman in Kumasi, who after wedding one Grace Konadu, turned round to marry two other women in the customary way without divorcing the first wife, is now in the grips of the police. The story stays that after marrying Grace, with whom he has two children, the couple left for Germany where they stayed for eight years acquiring lots of property. On their return, Grace, who is the complainant claims that James asked her to stop her Christian religion and join him in the worship of idols. When she refused, James moved out of their married through the same process. Grace reported the matter to the police who arrested James for breaching section 262 of the criminal code, since he had not dissolved his first marriage.


In another story the paper reports that Joe Borquaye, a 26- year old unemployed who raped and impregnated a school going girl, butchered the father of the girl for daring to question him on the matter. Now an Accra circuit court has remanded the bloody- minded Joe in custody after pleading guilty to a charge of causing harm, the paper said. GRi?/


Graphic Showbiz


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The papers front page carry?s a banner headline which quotes one of the nation?s top actors as declaring?I want to be president of Ghana.? The paper reports that David Dontoh, one of the nation matrimonial home to leave with one Naana whom he married in The paper reports that David Dontoh, one of the nation ?s most popular film stars, has disclosed his ambition to be President of Ghana in future. According to paper, David, aka ?Ghanaman, who sounded determined in his interview with a reporter of the paper proclaimed: ?that is what l want to be in future, the President of Ghana. It is not an unachievable dream, is it? Why are you amazed, most of the actors turn out be Presidents and l am going to be one of them come the next few years,? Ghanaman is quoted to have told the obviously surprised reporter.


The paper says David mentioned former US President Ronald Reagan and Joseph Estrada of the Philippines as some of the actors who have attained the high office of president and expressed his determination to be like them. the traditional way. He later met Adwoa Achiaa whom he also attracted ?8,000, ?5,000 and ?3,000 for the various stands. The story says even though security by Kotoko officials was approach to debt relief for heavily indebted and poorest countries.