Dr. Sam Esson Jonah, Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited, has said that the law on causing financial loss to the state undermines effective decision-making and provides public officials an excuse for non-performance.
He has accordingly called for a dispassionate and objective national debate towards the amendment or possible repeal of the law, which he sees as obnoxious.
He was speaking at a dinner to raise funds for a day-care center for the people of Duayeden near Nsawam, organized by the Accra North Rotary Club.
2. ‘CHILD TRAFFICKING MUST END’ – PGS. 1 & 3
Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Vice President, has called for a conscious effort to end child trafficking and slavery.
According to him, while the dehumanising and painful slave trade of the 17th and 18th centuries could be pardoned, the present generation could not be forgiven for allowing child trafficking.
He was speaking at the opening of a three-day national conference on historic slave trafficking in Accra yesterday.
He pointed out that some forms of slavery were still being practiced in some parts of the world including the West African sub-region.
The conference, being attended by traditional rulers, archaeologists, academicians, researchers, African-Americans, operators in the hospitality industry and other experts, would assemble historical facts and documents and make recommendations for national policy and implementation of the project which started in 1999.
3. GOVT. PLANS BETTER RETIREMENT FOR WORKERS – PG. 11
According to the paper, government is to introduce a long-term savings plan in the country to make life after retirement better for Ghanaians and also help in the mobilization of funds for socio-economic development.
The savings plan was the brainchild of the National Economic Dialogue and formed part of the proposals presented to the government in 2001.
Mr. Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, Deputy Minister of Information, disclosed this when he called on workers, department heads and the chief of Tepa in the Ahafo-Ano North District of Ashanti as part of his tour of that region.
He stated that after careful study and consideration of the proposal, cabinet approved it and that he was hopeful that the bill would be presented before parliament for ratification.
“The savings plan, when approved, will be a supplement, if not an alternative, to the SSNIT pension scheme”, he said.
4. MISS MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE FINALISTS CALL ON PRESIDENT – PGS. 16 & 17
President Kufuor has advised finalists of the Miss Model of the Universe pageant to work together to make the world a better place to live in.
According to him, model competition, which brings people from different cultures together, would provide an opportunity for the contestants to work towards the realization of a global village, which the world was yearning for.
He gave the advice when 25 of the finalists of the competition selected from 25 countries paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu, yesterday.
5. GOVT. SUPPORTS STUDY OF FRENCH – BACK PAGE
The paper reports that, an amount of ?432m would be released this year to support learning and teaching of French language in the country.
The move is government’s effort to promote the French language to enhance effective interaction with West African sub-regional neighbours to promote peace and stability.
Rev. Ama Afo Blay, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) announced this at the opening of one-week workshop organized by the Regional Centre for Teaching of French (CREF) in Accra yesterday.
He was delivering a lecture on “Paa Willie” The almost leader of New Ghana”, at the William Ofori-Atta Memorial lecture in Accra.
According to him, the change of policies by successive governments was the cause of the economic woes of the country.
He said, it was wrong for governments to experiment their programmes on Ghanaians because “it is disastrous”.
2. EFASU, MANGYEA FARMERS PROTEST – PG. 1
According to the paper, tension is gradually mounting among 200 farmers at Efasu and Mangyea township over the manner in which a ?600m compensation money was disbursed to them.
These farmers had their farms and other property destroyed during the construction of the Efasu-Mangyea power barge in the Western Region.
They have, therefore, petitioned Dr. Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Energy, to investigate how the compensation was disbursed.
3. OGUAA CHIEFS THREATEN TAKE-OVER OF FORTS, CASTLES – PG. 3
The paper reports that, the Oguaa Traditional Council has threatened to take over the running of the Forts and Castle in the area if government persists in its refusal to grant the council part of the proceeds generated from their operations.
“We are thinking of embarking on a drastic action comparable to what happened at the Labadi Beach sometime ago”, Osabarima Kwesi Atta, said.
He issued the threat when the Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA) and 20 students from the Volta Region who had won awards called on him at his palace at Cape Coast.
He explained that the council needed money to solve some problems militating against tourism in the area such as hiring guards to protect tourists against extortionists and beggars.
This came up at the opening of the Second General Assembly meeting of the TMA when an assembly member questioned the absence of the MPs.
The Presiding Member, then disclosed that although the MPs do not attend the meetings, they either collect their allowances personally or get someone to collect it on their behalf.
The paper reports that, there were gun-shots, and a run to save life and limbs at Sefwi-Wiawso last Thursday, when the NPP held a delegates’ congress, to elect a parliamentary candidate for the area.
Lawyer Kwesi Blay, the party’s candidate for the 2000 election, and Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health are contesting the NPP parliamentary seat primaries for Sefwi-Wiawso.
The shots were fired when supporters of the other candidate allegedly booed, jeered and attempted to physically man-handled the Minister as he was about to enter the polling center.
The incident caused an abrupt end of the election process.
Shortly after that about 124 out of the 154 delegates held a press conference in Kumasi at which they declared their support for Dr. Kwaku Afriyie.
The paper reports that, currently taking place at the Tema Port, are site preparatory works for the installation of Gamma Ray Scanner as an addition to the X-ray scanner that has been installed by the Gateway Services Limited (GSL) as part of their destination inspection contract with Ghana.
The gamma ray scanner is a very dangerous piece of equipment that puts port workers, officials, importers and all those who have to work with or near it, at risk.
It is being imported from the Chinese company, HLX.
The use of gamma rays together with cobalt 60 for scanning according to the paper is scientifically proven to be very risky for commercial transactions and is therefore rejected by many countries including China itself and the USA.
In China, the few gamma rays scanners, available for commercial use are in use only in marginal and remote parts of China, whilst in the USA, cobalt usage is restricted to cobalt 30 to reduce its harmful effects.
The use of an isotope source of cobalt 60 with its intensity level of between 33 to 300 curies is also very dangerous material if it gets into wrong hands as it is easily transformed into the so-called “dirty bomb” a dangerous device in the hands of terrorists.
2. CORRUPTION … NPP MAJORITY LEADER GIVEN “GHANA HOUSE” TO MANAGE … HUNDREDS OF GNTC HOUSES SOLD TO NPP CRONIES – PGS. 1 & 5
Former Head Office of the erstwhile GNTC at Accra known as “Ghana House”, has been “given” to Hon. Felix Owusu-Agyepong, Majority Leader in Parliament, and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs to manage.
According to the paper, Mr. Owusu-Agyepong’s management consultancy firm did not go to tender, the Ministry of Trade and Industry selected him to “manage” it.
The terms of condition of the management consultancy contract are not known, neither are the consultancy fees that the Minister is being paid also known.
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