"Govt., Ministers owe 5 billion cedis to ECG", is the banner headline story of the Chronicle which says evidence has emerged that government officials, including ministers of state, are heavily indebted to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), running into billions of cedis piled over a long period. The Chronicle says its investigation reveals that the debts, a total of 5 billion cedis as at March this year, were accumulated over a long period and expected to be paid by government. The paper says according to sources close to ECG, the 'delinquent debtors' include a long list of 'who is who' in government. Among them are the Vice- President, Prof. J.E.A. Mills, the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Justice D.F. Annan and Cabinet Ministers. GRI

In another front page story, the Chronicle says barely four months after it exposed the illegal operation of a non-banking financial institution, Friends Business Promotions Limited (FBP), its Ivorian managing Director, Mr. Bengre Mathurin Zakpa, has jumped bail and bolted with a total of 500 million cedis of depositors' cash. The Chronicle recalls that many Ghanaians lost several billions of cedis in 1995, when a similar phony scheme operated by Pyram and R5, caved in. GRI

The Chronicle reports in its centre pages that the Executive Chairman of Network Computer Systems (NCS) Limited, Dr. Nii N. Quaynor, has said that distance education will soon be possible on the Internet. "All we need is to build the normal infrastructural base. It is done elsewhere and it can be done here," the Chronicle quoted Dr. Quaynor as telling over 80 participants at a day's seminar on Internet in Accra, last Friday. GRI