THE GHANAIAN CHRONICLE

"Juju in Chief Justice's chambers", is the screaming headline on the front page of the Chronicle. The accompanying story says a black powdered substance suspected to be juju, was recently found in the office of the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Isaac Kobina Abban, in the Supreme Court building in Accra. The Chronicle says the Chief Justice who made the discovery, was said to have screamed in fear, prompting security officers to rush and clean the room. Following the discovery, the paper says the schedule of a number of both junior and senior personnel of the Judicial Service, have been altered, while security around the Chief Justice has been beefed up. GRI

In another front page story the Chronicle reports that the drama surrounding the case involving Mr. George Isaac Amoo, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate in the December 1996 general elections and the Electoral Commission (EC) over the 'stolen' Ayawaso West Wuogon parliamentary seat, has taken another twist with the filing of a motion by the Attorney-General seeking a stay of proceedings until the hearing of an appeal he has filed challenging the ruling by an Accra High Court that EC cannot be represented by the Attorney-General. The Chronicle says while the Attorney-General is fighting to represent EC, the Commission, acting on the court's ruling, has solicited the services of Messrs Quarshie- Idun and Co., a reputable legal firm to represent it. Mr. Amoo has gone to court to have him declared the winner in the parliamentary election and not Mrs. Rebecca Adotey of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) because his votes were credited to those of the other candidates. The Chronicle says the EC, in a letter to the court has conceded that mistakes were made and that Amoo is the winner. According to the paper, the Attorney-General is convinced that a stay of proceedings of the substantive case is necessary since failure of the Attorney-General to represent EC will cause irreparable damage and loss to the EC. GRI

"Ashanti will fall to NDC", is the headline of another front page story in the Chronicle which quotes the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Daniel Ohene Agyekum as saying the NDC is to change the perception that Ashanti is the strong-hold of the opposition. According to the paper, Mr. Agyekum told the Chronicle in an interview that the NDC will work hard to change that perception. It says the Regionakl Minister, with a qualified acceptance, agreed that Ashanti is NPP-dominated but said changing this negative perception is not an unattainable objective. He however said the strength of opposition in Ashanti goes to strengthen democracy in the country as a whole. GRI