DAILY GRAPHIC – FRIDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER, 2003

1. MINISTRY REJECTS REQUEST FROM FORMER PRESIDENT’S OFFICE – PG. 13
According to the paper, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declined a request for extension of courtesies to former President Rawlings.

The ministry further declined to assist three of his staff to extend their visa to join him travel to Washington D.C., USA, on September 14, 2003.

According to the ministry, the request was rejected because of the persistent use of every occasion of his foreign travels to malign and denigrate publicly the current President of the Republic, the government and the country as a whole.

This was contained in a letter signed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nana Akufo-Addo, in response to a request by the office of the former President.

The affected aides are Mr. Victor Smith his Special Assistant, Security Officer, Festus Akoto and Miss Enyonam Anku, aide to Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.

The former president is scheduled to travel to Washington D.C. via London, to address a public event on HIV/AIDS.

2. “RUNAWAY” DOCS DISCIPLINED …THEY RESIST EXAM AND REQUIRED TO UNDERGO HOUSEMANSHIP – PGS. 1 & 3
The paper reports that, seventeen newly qualified doctors and dentists, who failed to do their housemanship and left the country soon after graduation, have been made to re-sit an examination set by the Medical and Dental Council.

This formed part of measures, adopted by the council, to regulate the rampant exodus of medical personnel abroad and also to instil discipline in the profession.

The affected doctors and dentists, who should have been sworn in on June 7 this year, had the oath administered only yesterday. They were also required to undergo their housemanship.

Professor P.K. Nyame, Chairman of the council, said the exercise was not vindictive but one meant to establish a new path in the quest for a new direction for the profession, which had suffered serious setbacks in the public domain in the last few years.

3. PRESIDENT RECEIVES LIBERIA CHAIRMAN – DESIGNATE – PG. 1
President Kufuor yesterday granted audience to the chairman-designate of the Transitional Government of Liberia, Mr. Charles Gyede Briant, at his office at the Castle, Osu, Accra.

He was here to express his deep appreciation to President Kufuor and the people of Ghana for the efforts they made towards the restoration of peace in Liberia.

4. U.K. INTRODUCES NEW CONTROL ON FOOD IMPORTS – PG. 17
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and President’s Special Initiative has announced that the Customs and Excise Department of the UK has introduced new controls over food and meat imports to that country.

It said passengers arriving from Ghana were permitted to carry up to one kilo grammes of fish and fishery products and two kilogrammes of fruit and raw vegetables provided they were for personal use and free from disease.

It said no amount of meat would be allowed into that country and indicated that any fish or other foodstuffs brought into the UK outside the affore-mentioned limits would be confiscated.

THE WEEKEND HERITAGE – FRIDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER, 2003

1. AS BATTLE FOR PRIMARIES HOTS UP…GLORIA AKUFFO’S UNCLE RUNS TO NDC – PGS. 1 & 3
The strange and bizarre lengths that politicians will go to achieve their found dreams are being demonstrated in the Shai-Osudoku Constituency in the Greater Accra Region.

According to the paper, the District Chief Executive of the Dangme West, Mr. T.K.T. Agban, cannot imagine that he will not be a honourable member of the Forth Parliament of the Fourth Republic courtesy of the 2004 parliamentary election. However, he is currently being hotly challenged for the NPP ticket for that election by the Deputy Attorney-General/Minister of Justice, Miss Gloria Akufo, who is his niece.

Apparently finding the heat from the niece too hot to bear, the paper say, Mr. Agban has run to the rival NDC for help and has, at least, held one NPP constituency executive meeting in the house of an NDC financier. This action, NPP insiders complain, is undermining the ruling party.

2. GHANA TIPPED TO HOST W/A CENTRAL BANK – PGS. 1. & 2
According to the paper, Ghana is most likely to host the headquarters of the West African Central Bank (WACB) that will issue the West African common currency.

Speaking to the paper, Dr. Lanto Harding, a top official of the Ministry of Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, said Ghana has already developed the infrastructure and is also “strategically located between the five member nations in the Zone” to effectively serve as a central point for efficient co-ordination.

THE GHANAIAN TIMES – FRIDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER, 2003

1. NPP RESPONDS TO CHARGES BY RAWLINGS – PG. 3
Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Deputy Minister of Information, yesterday hit back at the recent pronouncements of the NDC and its founder, Rawlings.

At a press briefing in Accra, he called it “an agenda of misinformation” to counter the exposures of corruption the country experienced under the NDC’s administration.

He explained that the ex-President’s pronouncement that the NPP government was the worst government in the history of the country was a baseless lie.

According to him, the previous administration saw a lot of atrocities perpetrated against Ghanaians.

He said the abduction and murder of three high court judges and a retired military officer in 1982 and the perpetual fear under which Ghanaians lived and many others were enough evidence of the atrocities unleashed by the NDC during his regime.

Comparing that to the two-and-a-half years of the NPP government, he said that Ghanaians “can now express themselves freely and not fearful of the midnight abduction.”

He also denied an allegation that the government was forming a private army, explaining that the government had no business in forming a private army outside the Ghana Armed Forces (GFA).

According to him, because ex-President Rawlings formed a private army whilst in power, he thought that the government would do the same.

2. 4 DCEs SACKED – PG. 1
The President has removed four District Chief Executives (DCEs) from office.

A statement issued in Accra said those affected are the DCEs for Kpando, South Tongu, Bole and the Nkwanta districts.

Meanwhile eight new DCEs have been appointed.

3. SEPT 11 ATTACKS REMEMBERED – PGS. 1 & 3
According to the paper, a solemn memorial service was held at the US Chancery at Osu, Accra, yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New York and Washington D.C.

Five Ghanaian Policemen wielding AK-47 assault rifles patrolled the precincts of the Chancery, while private security guards manned the entrance.

Present at the ceremony were Ministers of State, diplomats and people from all walks of life.

According to the paper, a tribute read on behalf of the government and people of Ghana by the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, described the event, as a callous and cowardly act of terror on humanity which defied all decent values and violated all the rules of humane conduct.

Earlier, the US Ambassador, Madam Mary Carlin Yates, reiterated the commitment of the US to preserve security and freedom for people around the world.

NETWORK HERALD – FRIDAY SEPTEMBER, 12TH–14TH, 2003

1. SPEAKER’S TRIP WAS A SACRIFICE – PGS. 1 & 3
The paper reports that, Mr. Jones Kugblenu, Public Affairs Director of Parliament, has reacted to last Monday’s edition of the paper on the “foreign/medical vacation” of the Speaker of Parliament.

According to him, Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Parliament made a lot of sacrifices on his trip to Dublin, Ireland.

He said ordinarily, the Speaker should have gone with his wife or personal Secretary and bodyguard but he decided to go alone looking at the cost involved and the fact that he wanted to be alone.

According to him, the Speaker is the first officer of parliament and by all standard is entitled to a leave like any other person who occupies such a high position.

THE STATESMAN – FRIDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER, 2003

1. EXCLUSIVE…GHANA LOSES ?200BN ANNUALLY THROUGH UNDER-INVOICING AT CEPS POST – PG. 1 & BK. PG.
Massive under-invoicing of importation of steel product from Togo has cost the nation over ?200 billion through CEPS post at Akanu in the Volta Region.

This, the paper says, lack of proper checking of goods on board articulated trucks by some Customs officials at the post, have contributed to this practice, with importers having a field day. They keep flooding the local market with over 20-truck load of steel product every week. The paper has also established that, over 25 Ghanaian companies, most of whom employ under-invoicing practice to smuggle their goods into the country.

Pius Alfred Austine, Assistant Commissioner, Public Relations, at the CEPS Headquarters, has described as “outrageous, unacceptable and a total breach of CEPS code of ethics” the lack of supervision of steel products crossing over into Ghana through the Akanu post by officers.

THE INSIGHT – FRIDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER, 2003

NPP FAILING. CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT EXPOSES STATE OF ECONOMY – PG. 1 & 4
According to the paper, confidential Cabinet briefing paper obtained by the paper, reveals a startling degree of incompetence and mismanagement both at the Finance Ministry and within the Kufuor administration as a whole.

The conclusion of the document dated June 29, 2003, the Minister for Finance, Yaw Osafo-Maafo was compelled to demand that ministers, heads of departments and agency chiefs “take ownership of their budget estimates and ensure that they live within those estimates”.

GHANA PALAVER – FFRIDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER, 2003

GETFUND ARREARS NOT RECONCILED! – NUGS INSISTS – PGS. 1 & 4
The paper reports that, Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, like all NPP leaders thought he was being too smart by half, but he was outsmarted by the young, efficient and competent leadership of the NUGS.

According to the paper, the Finance Minister deliberately put out a false story last Friday to the effect that the GETFund arrears accounts had finally been reconciled and that the Ministry of Finance, the VAT Secretariat, the GETFund Secretariat, the Bank of Ghana and the NUGS, had met and agreed on ?208.81bn as the amount owed by the Government to the GETFund.

The paper states further that, at the time he put out the statement, the Finance Minister knew that it was false. But he put it out because he knew that the NUGS congress had been held and a new, Pro-NPP President from the UCEW and executive had been elected.

2. NPP HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES – OFFICIAL ACTS OR ACTS OF OFFICIALS? – PGS. 1 & 6
The paper reports that, before the NPP’s District Chief Executive held their Extraordinary Conference at Nkawkaw in the Kwahu South District of the Eastern Region immediately after NDC flagbearer Prof. Atta-Mills’ two devastating Press Conferences on the Parlays state of the national economy, the human right abuses and in particular interferences with freedom of expression that have come to be associated by the national security agencies or other agencies at the national level.

According to the paper, nauseating as they may have been, the abuses and interferences had become so routine that Ghanaians appeared to have taken them for granted.

FREE PRESS – FRIDAY, 12TH – 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2003

EC WORKERS ANGRY THREATENS TO SABOTAGE NEW VOTERS LIST – PG. 1 & BK. PG.
According to the paper, the road to the 2004 general elections looks treacherous, as the problem about the new salary structure demands by the workers of the Electoral Commission remains unresolved.

The paper stated that, information reaching it indicates that, the workers will not hesitate to sabotage the electoral process in the 2004 election in order to press home their demand.

A source disclosed that, their salaries that are supposed to be fixed on the basis of Price Water House Coopers Ghana Universal Salary Structure has ever since been met with negative attitude from the Finance Ministry.

It complained that while there are inherent distortions and disparities in the placement of staff with respect to job descriptions, qualifications and skills, there are also much tax distortions in salaries of various categories of workers.

DAILY GUIDE – FRIDAY, 12TH SEPTEMBER, 2003

GT STATES ITS CASE – PG. 1 & BK. PG.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Telecom, Mr. Oystein Bjorge, has noted that the current problem facing Ghana Telecom customers and those of other mobile operators in the country, especially Spacefon, in relation to interconnectivity between their networks, is not a deliberate attempt to cause inconvenience to anyone, but rather due to lack of equipment.

“Our network has several bottlenecks causing congestion in the system one of the many bottlenecks is the capacity of the microwave link between GT and Spacefon in Accra and Kumasi”.

At a press briefing in Accra, Mr. Bjorge explained that as one of the measures to reduce the congestion, “we have requested Scancom to increase the capacity of interconnection between the two networks”.