Editorial News of Wednesday, 24 September 2003

Source: INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT

Summary Of PHONE-INS On FM Stations

CHOICE FM PHONE-INS

? It is welcome news that the Minister of Energy, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, has said, if Dr. Wereko-Brobby is found to have caused financial loss to the state, he will be prosecuted. This shows that the NPP government is not witch-hunting the NDC.

? The government should come out with the true facts of the VRA scandal in which the former Chief Executive, Dr. Wereko-Brobby, has been implicated. Dr. Brobby’s reputation should not be soiled in public.

? The government should not give in to pressure from VRA workers for the removal of Dr. Brobby. If this is done, other workers will take the law into their own hands and misbehave in like manner against top officials.

? President Kufuor should be firm in dealing with the VRA issue because the workers are only blackmailing Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby. He should be made to stay in office to enable him address the ills going on at the VRA.

? There are people in the NPP who are capable of managing the affairs of state institutions in the country. But President Kufuor has sidelined those who helped bring him to power and is rather appointing his opponents to high positions. We are going to demonstrate against this.

? Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby has disappointed Ghanaians by his misdeeds at the VRA as the Chief Executive. Dr. Brobby campaigned for the Presidency of Ghana, and now we can imagine what he would have done had he been elected President.

? Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby has done nothing wrong and so if anyone thinks otherwise, they should take him to court. Dr. Brobby acted with advice from the technical experts at the VRA, so he should not be blamed.

GOLD FM PHONE-INS

? The government has no right to purchase electoral materials for the National Electoral Commission (NEC). This has never happened in the history of the country.

? All political parties should have been consulted for their views on the purchase of electoral materials because NEC is an independent body that should be given funds to purchase its own materials. The committee set up by the government for the purchase is unconstitutional.

? Ghanaians want to know whether Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby resigned on his own or was forced to do so. If Preprah and others were jailed for causing financial loss to the state, then Dr. Brobby should also be prosecuted if he has committed the same office.

? Dr. Brobby should be made to face the Fast Track Court for mismanaging affairs at VRA and causing the loss of state funds. The NPP government should not only prosecute its opponents, but its own men as well. Dr. Brobby should be tried.

PEACE FM PHONE-INS

? Kwesi Pratt and other journalists should not accuse Dr. Wereko-Brobby, the former CEO of VRA, unjustly if they don’t have documents to support their claims. It is wrong for journalists to take sides in such national issues.

? The government should cause investigations into the affairs of the VRA, and all those found to have mismanaged state funds should be dealt with without fear or favour. Workers who are accusing Dr. Brobby of mismanagement should also be investigated.

? Workers of the VRA who attempt to cause a blackout in the country should be dismissed and prosecuted. The malpractices that have gone on there since 1996 should be investigated.

? The TUC’s planned demonstration against the National Health Insurance Scheme should be condemned. Workers should rather demonstrate against the Secretary-General, Adu Amankwah, for not seeking their welfare.

? President Kufuor should ignore the demand by workers of the VRA for the removal of Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby as the CEO. If the government does it, other workers will unjustly call for the removal of their heads of department.

? The TUC should be made to understand that the majority of workers are in support of the NHIS, so their planned demonstration will not have any effect on the scheme.

? Where were Adu Amankwah and the TUC when SSNIT was mismanaging workers’ funds? Did he know that workers’ contributions were used to build only for them to be sold to the rich? Adu Amankwah should bow his head in shame.

ADOM FM PHONE-INS

? Hon. Paa Kwesi Nduom and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Freddie Blay, have spoken the truth by saying that the CPP should rather prepare for the 2008 elections as they will not make any impact in the 2004 elections.

? The government should prosecute Dr. Wereko-Brobby just as it did the former ministers of the NDC. We are all watching where the case involving Dr. Brobby will end. He is not above Selormey and Preprah. Where is the positive change the NPP promised?

? The deaths at the Pioneer Food Cannery in Tema has due to the negligence of an institution that should be inspecting such factories. President Kufuor should hold the Environmental Protection Agency responsible.

? The Police Administration should adopt a strategic plan to get rid of armed robbers in the system. The rate at which they are re-surfacing poses serious security risk to citizens of the country.

? Adu Amankwah is insensitive to the plight of workers. If he is going to lead the TUC to demonstrate against the NHIS, that is their constitutional right. But he must know that there are more important problems workers are facing.

? The NDC should know that Ghanaians went through the worst hunger and hardship in 1983 during the PNDC regime headed by their founder, ex-President Rawlings. So they should not accuse the Kufuor administration of being insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians.

? The Minister of Energy should come out with the fault of Dr. Wereko-Brobby if any, so that the press would stop publishing allegations about him. It is unfair for the Ministry to look on unconcerned while his name is being dragged in the mud.

? The government should not do anything to control the National Electoral Commission because that is not in the constitutional provisions. The NEC is an independent body that should be made to take its own decisions and actions.

? Workers who are in support of the TUC’s planned demonstration against the NHIS should reason well on what they are going to demonstrate against. They should not allow themselves to be used for political gain.