‘Butcher’ Burnt To Ashes

MOB ACTION was taken to an extreme level at Asokore Mampong in Asawase, Kumasi, when a suspected ‘butcher’ who has been terrorizing residents of the area was callously burnt into ashes in a broad daylight.

Residents of the area got terrified when they witnessed the suspect being set on fire with petrol and firewood by his captors.

The well-built suspect, whose name was not provided, is said to have been using machetes and other deadly weapons to slay his victims, mostly women, without provocation.

On August 12 this year, the deceased, according to neighbours, attacked a woman by name Maame Akua Agyeiwaa alias Fati in the bathroom, cutting her with a machete and fleeing into the bush before residents got to the scene.

Richard Karikari aka KK who was at the scene, said a few hours after attacking Fati, the suspect bloodily attacked another woman in the vicinity and he again fled through the bush before he could be caught.

The two victims, who are responding to treatment at the hospital, are among several people that have been attacked by the butcher.

Ironically, the notorious gangster, believed to be in his mid 30s, usually flees the scene without taking any properties belonging to his victims.

A young boy, who saw the suspect running into a bush after attacking one of his victims, recently recognized him when he saw him (suspect) in a queue about to buy Banku and raised the alarm for his arrest.

The suspect initially denied being the one butchering people in the area but the incensed residents of the vicinity became suspicious when the suspect began to fumble when answering simple questions posed to him.

He was consequently searched by the residents and true to their suspicion, a sharp knife with fresh human blood all over it was found. He was immediately subjected to severe beatings, after which he was set ablaze.

From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
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Africans text message to check if drugs are real

LONDON – For Africans wondering whether the malaria drugs they've bought are real, there may soon be a quick way of finding out: sending a text message.

Across the continent, more than 30 percent of malaria medicines are estimated to be fake, and many look identical to the real thing.

A new project called mPedigree lets consumers send in a code via text message that lets them check if their drugs are genuine. It was recently adopted in Nigeria, with plans for wider use elsewhere in Africa. Last month, the Nigerian government decided to introduce the technology for all medicines in the future, not just anti-malarials.

Ghanaian entrepreneur Bright Simons developed the mPedigree system; its technology and security infrastructure is now being provided by Hewlett Packard. The system assigns a unique code to genuine malaria medicines, printed on the back of medicine blister packs under a sheet that is scratched off like a lottery ticket.

Customers send a text message to a central hot line with the code and instantly get an "OK" response telling them if the drug is registered and thus real. It also sends them additional information like the drug's manufacturer and expiration date.

If the drug isn't registered and potentially fake, people receive a text message that says "No. Please recheck code." The system is free for consumers and is paid for by pharmaceutical companies and governments.

Health officials say the innovative system could help Africa curb the tide of fake drugs and potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives. Experts think about 700,000 people die from malaria or tuberculosis every year after taking counterfeit drugs, with some containing little more than sawdust, baby powder and water.

In addition, fake medicines speed up drug resistance. If a drug contains some but not enough of the active ingredient, it won't kill the disease's virus or bacteria, but gives it a chance to mutate into a deadlier form instead.

Knowing the drugs are real may also persuade more Africans to take them in the first place, saving even more lives.

"With (this system), people can be far more confident about the medicines they're taking," said Julian Harris, a research fellow at International Policy Network, a London-based think tank. "Right now, the option for many people is taking medicine from a broken blister packet," said Harris, who is not connected to the project.

Rich countries have long employed expensive methods, like tracking systems or sophisticated equipment, to verify whether drugs are authentic. In Europe, the United States and elsewhere, authorities often use mobile labs and hand-held spectrometers to test if drugs have the right active ingredients in the right amounts.

Without such sophisticated devices, Simons' text messaging system gives ordinary Africans a way to check what they're buying. Previous studies from agencies including the World Health Organization have shown about 30 to 60 percent of medicines in Africa are counterfeit or substandard.

Fake drugs can infiltrate shipments even when it's the United Nations or the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that is the sender. Last year, malaria medicines dispatched to Ghana by the Global Fund mysteriously went missing. Once the drugs arrived in the country, they were replaced by counterfeits, leading Ghanaian authorities to investigate allegations a cartel was replacing real drugs with fake ones.

Last month, the Nigerian government decided the text messaging system should be used on all medicines as soon as possible. "Consumers can now take the war (against counterfeit drugs) into their own hands," said Dr. Paul B. Orhii, director-general of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.

Orhii said the government is negotiating with telecoms companies to lower the price of sending text messages to encourage more companies to adopt the system.

Beyond Nigeria, other countries including Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, have all expressed interest in signing up for the technology. So far, small trials of the text messaging system have been conducted in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria. The Nigerian government recently ran its own test of the system on diabetes medicines used by more than 20,000 people.

Harris said the widespread use of mobile phones in Africa — where many people commonly use cell phones to do banking — should spur the acceptance of the text messaging system.

But he wasn't entirely convinced Nigeria's adoption of the technology could be used for every medicine and said it would be impossible to police. "Any system that is controlled by the government can stifle new technologies," Harris said. Counterfeits are so rife in Africa he said it would take much more than one initiative to fix the problem.

Still, Harris predicted the system would help consumers in countries where corruption often compromises the medical supply. "This will help people whether they're buying their medicines at a hospital pharmacy or a roadside market," he said.

Disgruntled supporters re-ignite controversies

A GROUP of disgruntled supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) have re-ignited controversies that surrounded the 2008 general elections, after publicly declaring that they seized ballot boxes and manipulated the elections in the Tain constituency.

The aggrieved NDC supporters, who have since announced their defection to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), citing reasons of neglect and dejection, claimed they were used by the ruling party in the first and second rounds of the 2008 elections, to seize ballot boxes and perform a number of illegal operations across the country, with the promise that they would be offered jobs when the NDC eventually won power.

But, the supporters, who describe themselves as Buffalo Group, contend that they have been offered a raw deal by the NDC, and as such, have defected to the opposition New Patriotic Party.

Wearing red arm-bands and chanting war songs, the embittered supporters, numbering over 570, tore NDC T-shirts and destroyed other party paraphernalia in a demonstration of their anger at the government and the ruling party.

They further displayed their NDC membership cards, ostensibly to authenticate their true membership, and clear all doubts concerning their association with the ruling party.

The spokesperson for the group, Alidu Ibrahim, said they felt betrayed by the government and the NDC, after risking their lives and that of their families to ensure victory for the party in the 2008 elections.

'Now when you call them, they don't pick their phones; they only deceive us with cups of sugar and mattresses, but we are worth more than that,' he bemoaned.

He said currently, their faith in the NDC had completely faded away, and that there was no way they would return to the party, stressing, 'We have resolved to join the NPP, and we will vote for them in 2012.'

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission (EC) has ordered for the arrest and prosecution of the defected supporters for claiming that they stole ballot boxes and rigged the elections.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) at the commission, Christian Owusu Parry, told an Accra-based radio station, Joy 99.7FM, that the claim by the defected supporters amounted to a criminal offence, and as such they must be arrested.

But, checks from the Regional Directorate of the EC yesterday, indicated that the commission was yet to be notified on the issue.

When the Regional Police Commander, DCOP Patrick Timbillah, was contacted to find out whether any arrest had been made, he told this reporter that the police could not make any arrest, unless it receives official complaint from the EC.

'We cannot effect any arrest; the Commission would have to officially make a complaint to us, before we make any moves,' he said.


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Tema police arrest 11 suspected criminals

The Tema Police have arrested 11 suspected criminals at separate operations carried out in the metropolis.

Five of the suspects, John Ampabilla, 30; Abibu Ibrahim, 24; Yaw Eric, 26; Kubetesu Martin, 22; and Afua Benewah, 21, were arrested at about 1 :45 a.m. last Tuesday morning at the premises of Continental Trading Limited, a subsidiary of the Finatrade Group with 17 bags of sugar each weighing 50 kilograms.

The driver of a KIA truck which was used to cart the cargo, while another accomplice, however, managed to escape.

Also arrested was Mohammed Siedu, who bolted with gunshot wounds after a July 14 shoot-out with the police on the Accra-Tema Motorway.

Three persons, Munkaila Yahaya, Issifu Musah and Charles Dikro, who were providing treatment for Seidu at Ashaiman Zongo have, however, been arrested to assist the police in their investigations.

Two other suspects of Nigerian nationality, namely Maxwell King Chizoguzi, 30, and Onuha Otisi, 35, who were arrested at Lashibi, a suburb of Tema, had in their possession two laptops on which several letterheads belonging to different government institutions were found.

The over 20 letterheads with accompanying documents found in their custody were the Republic of Ghana Company Registration Act, Bank of Ghana treasury department and unit letter heads, Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Finance payment schedule, MOFEP monitory unit and cash movement authorisation certificate.

Others included Valued Added Tax (VAT) Service certificate of exemption, Internal Revenue Service, parliamentary identity cards, National Security monitoring unit, a letter purported to have been signed by the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffour to the Controller and Accountant General, among others.

Also found in their possession was Office of the President letterhead.

Briefing the Daily Graphic at Tema, the Tema Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Augustine Gyening said, his outfit had a complaint from Vodafone Ghana Limited of the activities of the two Nigerians who were running a false promotion using a telephone number 0303- 403189 belonging to the network.

According to him, suspects sent out several messages to unsuspecting customers informing them of winning a lottery out of a random selection by the network to reward its loyal clientele.

That, according to ACP Gyening, was a ploy by the two suspects to dupe unsuspecting clients some of whom they had already taken monies from for the processing of a special identification pin to enable them to access their winnings.

The two Nigerians, according to the regional commander, admitted producing the documents in their caution statements after preliminary investigations carried out from the institutions had revealed that they were forged.

He said the 11 suspects would be put before court after investigations. He appealed to the general public to volunteer information on suspicious activities within their neighbourhoods as the police made strides towards the protection of the citizenry.


Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana



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Mills backs NDC Chairman on judiciary cleansing comments

A Special Aide to President J.E.A. Mills has said the President fully supports the NDC Chairman on his comments that the judiciary needs cleansing.

Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, responding to media queries as to what the president thinks about the brouhaha caused by Dr Kwabena Adjei's comments that the NDC will cleanse the judiciary if the Chief Justice fails to do so, said the president "supports his chiarman."

Dr Kwabena Adjei's comments attracted flak from Ghanaians and prompted the Association of Magistrates and Judges to uncharacteristically issue a statement on the matter.

The opposition New Patriotic Party Thursday called on the police to arrest and prosecute the governing party's chairman for treason.

A section of the Ashanti Regional branch of the Ghana Bar Association laid down their tools in protest against the comments.

In the wake of the mounting condemnation, the NDC issued a statement backing its chairman but the condemnation poured in.

The Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, Thursday counseled the party to distance itself from the comments which he described as a bit irresponsible and called on the President to speak and restore confidence in the justice system.

Dr Akwetey stated that, “I think there is a fundamental discrepancy between what [the chairman] said and what president Mills as president of Ghana has consistently said and believed - 'Let's operate within the law,' and the [president] has said 'the law is slow, sometimes justice is slow but it ultimately catches up and the right thing is done' and those are the procedures.”

But the president's aide is saying Dr Akwetey was wrong this time around and that President Mills fully backs the party chairman.

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Attorney General Appeals Mpiani-Tarzan Ruling

The Attorney General has filed an appeal seeking to overturn the case it lost against the two principal organizers of Ghana's 50th independence anniversary.

About a fortnight ago, an Accra high court struck out a case of causing financial loss the AG brought against the two former officials.

The court discharged the former Chief of Staff Kwadwo Mpiani and CEO of the defunct Ghana @ Secretariat Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobbey.

It held that it was wrong for the state to press criminal charges against them using evidence from the commission of inquiry set up by President Mills.

Lawyers for the two men hailed the decision as a victory for democracy contending also that the case was fundamentally closed.

But the AG disagreed and served notice of her intention to appeal. She did just that on Friday at the court of appeal.

Gertrude Aikins the Director of Prosecutions told Joy News they are seeking to overturn the decision by the High Court.

Arrest Kwabena Adjei -Oquaye

THE SECOND Deputy Speaker of Parliament and MP for Dome-Kwabenya Constituency, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye has called for the immediate arrest of Dr. Kwabena Adjei, Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), for causing fear and panic within the judiciary, with his recent public utterances. 'If a responsible man tells angry people to direct their anger against the judiciary, what are you telling them to go and do, to go and kill the judges or to go and manhandle them, or to go and close down the courts,' he questioned. The 'Apparatchiki', as he is affectionately called in political circles, warned those behind this to 'Stop before it is too late. We want democracy, not Mobocracy.' Again, the Deputy Speaker pointed out that the statement implied violence, trouble and improper way of doing things, meaning 'You are not talking about the Constitutional way of doing things. If there are many ways of killing a cat, does it also mean that they should go and start breaking their necks? He recounted that 'never in the history of this country has there been an official condemnation by government against the existing legal system, as it happened under the PNDC. The Supreme Court building was occupied and closed down by operatives of the then regime.' Dr. Adjei's statement that 'there are many ways in killing a cat,' which has generated intense brouhaha in the country, did not go down well with the Deputy Speaker, because according to him, it smells of diabolic intentions like it happened in the days of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), he told The Chronicle in an interview yesterday. 'If we are not guided by history, then this country cannot get anywhere. We've seen it before and somebody must warn them quickly. And I am calling upon all well meaning civil society organizations, churches and others to come out against this kind of thing. They shouldn't even start it before it spoils this country for us, because when they start, you will never know when they may end,' he said. Condemning the legal system in totality, physically closing down the courts and setting up parallel organizations, he alleged, resulted in the killing of the three judges. 'It was led in a crescendo fashion, rising to the tempo until it culminated in the murder of the High Court judges. We can't sit down for this to happen again, and that is why well meaning Ghanaians must begin to reflect on the past, and say that we are not going to take this anymore.' At a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, Dr. Kwabena Adjei was reported to have called on the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood to act swiftly in redeeming the sinking image of the judiciary, because its members were being perceived and criticized by the public for being politically biased in the line of duty. He pointed accusing fingers at some judges, who supposedly thwarted efforts by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mrs. Betty Mould- Iddrisu to prosecute and jail Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, the former Chief of Staff, and Charles Wereko-Brobbey, the former Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Ghana @ 50 Secretariat, and other high profile cases. According to him, if nothing is done to arrest the situation, the NDC party executives will 'clean' the judiciary, suggesting that 'there are many ways to kill a cat.' Prof. Oquaye continued that the statement made by Dr. Adjei was a constitutional and legal issue, and that it should not be treated with kids' glove. He said judges may err or may not appreciate certain aspects of the law. To him, 'that is why there is the appellate system. And if the government or the NDC party is not happy, the decent thing to do without generating unnecessary acrimony in the Ghanaian body politic is to appeal.'Asked if the judge erred, he observed that the judge did not err because he referred to the constitutional provision. The appointment of the Supreme Court judges, he noted, were done by the P(NDC), except Justice Afreh, who was appointed by former President John Agyekum Kufuor, when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came to power. 'So if the court is packed, who packed it? Mr. Afreh's appointment had already been approved by the Judicial Council under ex-President Jerry John Rawlings. It was lying there, already approved by the Council. Many of the senior judges were all appointed before 2001. The present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was made a Supreme Court judge by the NDC after she had gone through the ranks for several years upon recommendation of the Judicial Council,' Prof. Oquaye explained. He noted that the Attorney General (AG), therefore, has the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal and if she was still not happy, she could continue to the Supreme Court, and further to the Review of the Supreme Court, where seven judges or even the full bench may sit, because it is a system. 'You don't go about shouting. You go about due process, and please due process is due process. I will advise the NDC as a party, because the chairman has spoken – it means the party has spoken. And so they should not try to bring trouble into the country,' Prof. Oquaye said. He added that 'you don't win your cases by responding to mob requests. You can only win a case in court based on the merits of the case.' He, however, expressed that 'I feel sorry for the Attorney General. I believe she is a good lawyer, I believe she is an intelligent lady, but I will only advise her to do her work as a lawyer. Don't allow yourself to be directed by the mob, because that is not the work of a lawyer.' Furthermore, he expressed that the killing of the three High Court judges, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, Mr. Justice Fred Poku Sarkodie and Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, did not happen in just one day during the erstwhile PNDC regime. During Dr. Hilla Limann's regime as President of Ghana, Prof. Oquaye recounted that the people agitated the same way Dr. Adjei is doing today, and according to him, the Constitution was overthrown before executing their plans. Source : Nathaniel Y.Yankson - Ghanaian Chronicle


Ghana has long outgrown leadership foolishness and self-centeredness, two cancerous elements in the African political theater.This Ghanaian experiment has been enviously tapped as a model of democratic success which we all guard with pride and vigilance even amidst successive attempts to wrestle it away through usage of force and intimidation. In the past this nonsense would be laughed off or buried under acquiesence. Not anymore. Times have changed, giving rise to serious perceptions of how our leaders behave towards positions they are entrusted to administer on behalf of the people .It is different also because each generation espouses challenges mired by progress and advancements. None accepts the daunting events of yesterday nor repetition of gloom and doom treated as alternate to spirited participation in governance whose guidance is the rule of law.To this generation, remarks like these are deemed as assaults on their intelligence. "The unfortunate remarks may have emanated out of ignorant power-drunkeness", they would rightly suggest. The presage of Cicero's famous "salus reipublicae suprema lex" is a perfect mirror reflecting events of the present-day-Ghana.The safety of any state depends upon independence of its judiciary - a branch which must be free from fear and intimidation. It is rather disturbing and hard to imagine that a nation which has given birth to a one time leader of a world body would subscribe to principles or behaviours, far contrary to ideals he championed and led to protect. We as a nation from all spectra of political beliefs shall not, in any way, tolerate or condone any assault on the judiciary either with intent to silence or intimidate judges over dispensation of justice.Governance is at its best when the exercise of power is guarded by the rule of law dispensed by untainted judiciary - a lesson yet to be taught.

NDC's threat on the judiciary is childish and shameful - Okudzeto

A Past President of the Ghana Bar Association Mr Sam Okudzeto has lambasted the National Chairman of the NDC, Dr. Kwabena Adjei for a statement he made cautioning the Chief Justice to clean up the judiciary or else the government would be forced to intervene. Dr. Kwabena Adjei, after a news conference in Accra to express outrage at recent court rulings which have all gone against the state, told Citi FM that the government will intervene and save the image of the judiciary from sinking further, if the Chief Justice fails to fight what he sees as growing rot within the judiciary.

"People in the judiciary can make a very good case look very bad. If the judiciary is bias, if the judiciary has made its mind in one direction, not even Jesus Christ who is appointed as the Attorney General can change things. We will clean it if they don’t take steps to clean it. We will clean it and let everybody everywhere blame us for interfering in the judiciary and we will take them on."

Asked how the cleaning would be done, he responded "That one at the right time, you will see how we clean it. There are many ways to kill a cat," he said.

But according to the Past GBA President, Sam Okudzeto, the statement is an affront to the country’s judiciary which is the most respected on the African continent. He said Mr. Kwabena Adjei’s statement was totally nonsensical, shameful and childish.

"I don’t know whether he is in his right mind or not, sorry for terms of this nature but it is frightening to hear a person in that august position make statements of that nature. It may be that he doesn’t even understand the whole nature of the constitutional framework that we have in this country, and the international respect that people have for us.

"Investors are coming into the country to invest because they are assured when there is a dispute between them and the state, there is an impartial decision [maker] to sit on the cases. So by so doing you are driving away investors" he said.

"How do you clean up a judiciary in the first place? The framework for setting up the judiciary is established under the constitution. Judges have tenure of office and it’s a lifetime appointment and until the age of retirement which is in the constitution, you can’t remove them unless the provisions for removal are there. But if a judge gives a ruling that you do not agree with, that is not a basis to say you are going to clean the judiciary. I think what they have done is very serious".

Mr. Sam Okudzeto noted that the action of the NDC Chairman subverts the constitution which has given basis for parliament, the executive and the Judiciary itself.

He said the government has no power or authority under the constitution to impugn the the integrity of the judiciary.

According to him, even the constitutional provision that does not put an upper limit to the number of judges appointed to the Supreme Court, cannot necessarily be used by government to clean up the judiciary.

"You don’t clean up judiciary by a process of that nature because the question about the upper limit is just an argument for that sake of an argument in the sense that, in the Supreme Court, it’s only a certain number of people that sit. There are five on a normal appeal and then there is a seven per review. Now we have more than thirteen judges on the Supreme Court and they sit in a panel which is constituted by the Chief Justice so what are you cleaning".

"Even if you add more Judges what does it change? You must bear the economic consequences because you are going to pay all those people and they are entitled to stay there and retire on their salaries so these are serious matters and you don’t have to make wild statements of that nature. The country does not belong to any political party and it is time we grow up and stop this behavior. It is absolutely childish. They should be ashamed of themselves," he fumed.
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Study: Women Who Take Contraceptive Pill Are Smarter

Good news for women taking the birth control pill – it may be making you smarter, London’s Daily Telegraph reported.

A study found that those taking the contraceptive pill increased the size of some parts of their brain by three percent – and this led to an improvement in brain function.

Scientists took MRI images of men, women who take the pill and women who don’t take the pill. The women who do not take the pill were scanned more than once so the scientists could account for hormonal changes in the course of a month.

The scientists found the women who do take the pill have larger areas in their brain than those who do not take the pill, and those areas were linked to memory and conversation skills.
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Non-Partisan Think Tank Needed For W/R

The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, has called for a non-partisan socio-economic think tank to take up development challenges of the region.

He said the region with vast natural resources had seen very little development and such an independent think tank could help overcome the challenges facing the region.

He mentioned some of the resources as gold, cocoa, timber, ore, limestone, silica, iron, solar salt, glass sands, clays and the newly discovered oil and gas.

The regional minister said if the region and any other part of the country would progress there was the need for unity of purpose devoid of partisan political consideration.

He said that the region needed to speak with one voice in order to make progress. At the meet the press series in Takoradi, the minister said the region had most of the bad roads in the country.

He said the total length of roads in the region was estimated at 1,430km and that only about 20 per cent was in good condition, 34 per cent in fair condition and 46 per cent in very poor condition.

The minister said there was still much work to be done to open up the region to link up with other regions. This he said was necessary to enhance easy movement of goods and services across the country.

He observed that transporting goods during the rainy season was very difficult and this impacted negatively on the living conditions of farmers at the local level and the national economy.

“If the goods or foodstuff is transported with less difficulty, the prices would come down.” In order to improve the conditions, he said the Ghana Highway Authority had executed some projects including the upgrading of the Telekubokazo-Aniben Junction, sectional gravelling of Daboase-Osenegya road and Sefwi-Wiawso-Akontonbra roads.

He said the construction of critical culverts on Prestea-Samreboi and Aboni-Samaraboi roads were progressing well.

In the first quarter of this year, the minister said, there had been improvement on the 30km Prestea-Samreboi road and the construction of the 30km Enchi-Dadieso road.

He said the rehabilitation of Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri roads covering about 94.4km which served as one of the very important roads in the region was at the procurement stage and there would also be the rehabilitation of 110km Apimanim-Elubo roads
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Let's Emulate NPP - Spio-Garbrah

A Leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described as an important milestone in the evolution of Ghana’s
democracy the method used by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to elect its 2012 flag bearer.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah noted that the decision by the NPP to elect its party leader through constituency-based voting in 228 out of the 230 constituencies was commendable.

“That the NPP has gone beyond that decision to successfully organise these elections and announce a winner within a few hours of the ending of the voting is worthy of appreciation by all other political parties in Ghana and, indeed, in many developing countries,” he said.

According to Dr Spio-Garbrah, who is also a Vice-Chairman of the NDC, it was now up to the other political parties — the PNC, CPP, NDC, GCPP, etc, — to determine, based on their own constitutions and political philosophies and traditions, how best to respond to that initiative by the NPP.

He counselled other parties not to pretend that the NPP event had no meaning, value or political impact, noting that at the minimum the NPP had successfully energised the grass roots and polling stations of its electorate by going down to the level of polling stations to derive its delegates, instead of assembling delegates at one location for a convention, which had been the general tradition of all political parties in Ghana until now.

He said the NDC was the party in Ghana with the best known political tradition of being people-oriented, having established the district assemblies concept and the devolution of power to the ordinary people from the PNDC era into the NDC period.

“So, if the NPP, which has traditionally been a party of the professional elite, chooses to devolve power in electing its leader from the grass roots, the NDC will have to do a self-analysis if it wishes to stay relevant to the ordinary masses,” he added.

Dr Spio-Garbrah stated that as the Ghanaian head of an international organisation, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), which organises annual conferences in Africa on e-Governance, which includes electronic voting, his organisation had also taken note of the ways in which advances in Ghana with regard to access to information and communications technology (ICT), especially access to mobile phones, computing and broadcasting, had contributed to the success of the NPP’s efforts.

Indeed, he noted that the CTO was organising an international conference in Accra from August 17-19 on the theme, “Connecting Rural Communities”, which aimed at using ICT to empower rural people socially, economically, politically and financially.

Dr Spio-Garbrah congratulated Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his overwhelming victory against other NPP opponents but warned him to expect defeat again at the hands of the NDC, come the 2012 national elections.

With respect to his congratulatory message to the NPP, Dr Spio-Garbrah invited politicians not to always see negatives in the actions or opinions of others, especially those who belonged to other parties.

“It cannot be that everything NPP does is bad and everything NDC does is good, or vice versa,” he said.

In his view, “Ghana’s democratic growth will be further strengthened when we are able to see the best in one another and use any good example we can learn from others to develop the whole nation.”

Man Who Fried Wife Grabbed

Kobina Bismark Baidoo, a 40-year-old mason who allegedly doused his wife Alimatu Mohammed, his son and the wife’s niece in petrol and set them ablaze at Agona Swedru in the Central Region, has been arrested by the Western Regional Police Command.

The suspect, according to a police source, went to a man whose identity cannot be disclosed due to security reasons at Bensu in the Western Region and introduced himself as a mason who was seriously looking for a job.

According to the police, the man, who had read the story in DAILY GUIDE, called the Agona Swedru Police to inform them about the suspect.

The Agona Swedru Police also sent a signal to the Western Regional Police who arrested Baidoo.

As at the time of filing this report, a source close to the police said efforts had been made to transport Baidoo to the Agona Swedru to face charges.

Before the suspect’s arrest, he was believed to be hiding in a village near Agona Swedru after committing the crime.

Reliable sources say although phone calls to his mobile phone went through, the suspect declined to pick the calls, suggesting that he was within coverage area.

It would be recalled that DAILY GUIDE, in its last Friday issue, published a story headlined ‘Man Fries Wife, Kids’ which said Baidoo had poured petrol on his wife, son and the wife’s niece at Agona Swedru and set them on fire with matches before fleeing.

According to the story, Baidoo had a misunderstanding with his wife over a faulty refrigerator the wife used to sell iced water.

Baidoo, allegedly after the quarrel, sneaked in on his wife and the kids when they were fast asleep around mid-night and set them ablaze.

The children are his 3-year-old son, Abdul Sadick, and his wife’s little niece, 7-year-old Mariatu Adams, who sustained serious burns.
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O’Reilly Senior High School To Close Down

The O’Reilly Senior High School (SHS) at Adabraka in Accra is being phased out after 85 years of existence. This, according to the Ghana Education Service (GES), is because the owners of the building housing the school are demanding their facility due to the Service’s inability to buy it outright.

The GES has, therefore, directed the school authorities that no form one student should be admitted for the 2010-2011 academic year. Additionally, the current SHS Two students of the school are to be distributed among other SHSs, while the staff is to be reposted.
But the chairman of the parent-teacher association (PTA) of the school, Alhaji Baba Iddrisu, said the association would not allow the school to be phased out and that it will go to court to prevent any attempt to implement the decision by GES.

“O’Reilly is 85 years old and we will not allow it to die,” he emphasized, explaining that the decision would affect the students. He said though the PTA was a major stakeholder, the letter from thee GES was not copied to it and so it would write formally to the Minister of Education and the GES in protest against the GES decision.
Mr. Iddrisu said the school and the students were national assets that must be protected.

The GES directives were contained in a letter signed by the Director of the Secondary Education Division of the GES, Mrs. Victoria Opoku, and copied to the acting Director-General of the GES, the Greater Accra Regional Director of Education and the Accra Metropolitan director of Education.

It said in preparation for the 2011 deadline for the school to vacate its present premises, to have become necessary to take the decisions mentioned.The letter, dated August 9, 2010 and addressed to the headmistress of O’Reilly SHS, said, “in this direction, you are required to make possible effective distribution of SHS students to sister schools, submit to the Director of Secondary Education a comprehensive list of all SHS Two Students and the programme each is offering and their places of residence.

“To facilitate the retention of requisite staff for third and final-year will remain in the present facility until they write their West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and then leave for the final phasing out of the school.

Authorities of the school are, however, tight-lipped over the matter, apparently shocked at the turn of events, especially when they have made proposals for the relocation of the school.

The Board Chairman of the school, Mr. A.A. Buanya, said the board was in discussions with the GES on the relocation of the school. “We are in discussion with the education service for the relocation of the school. As to whatever letter you are holding, that is a different issue,” he said.

The acting Director-General of the GES, Mr Stephen Adu, told the Daily Graphic that the service had received petitions from the staff, the PTA and the board over the situation at the school. “Over the years, we have been hiring the facility at huge cost. Later, we were given an ultimatum to either buy the building or leave,” he said, noting that the amount involved was so huge. He said the GES would, in the course of the week, discuss the various options available.
“A decision will be taken on the matter this week,” he said adding that management would look into the petitions and see what would be appropriate. Mr. Adu said the directives were not intended to harm or jeopardize the future of the students and that the decisions to spread the second-year students was to enable them to acclimatize in the schools they would be sent before they reached final year while fourth-year students stayed till they finished next year to meet the deadline to vacate the place.

Some teaching and non-teaching staff who pleaded anonymity said they did not know where they were going to be posted. They wondered why the education al authorities, and for that matter governments, over the years could not find a place to relocate the school and instead arrived at the current decision. “We identified a place at Amasaman for the construction of a new school but the authorities have not shown any interest,” one staff member said.

The staff said the school had made preparations to admit SHS One students for the next academic year, adding, “We were going to use our laboratories and other offices to admit 300 fresh students for the 2010-2011 academic year.” Though the school is on vacation, some students who were reached by the Daily Graphic described the decision to send them to other school and cited the relocation of the Christian Methodist SHS from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to New Aplaku in the Ga South municipality as an example.

“I am very disappointed. Our governments get money to sponsor other things but when it comes to critical things such as education they say there is no money,” one student who gave her name as Mansa said. O’Reilly SHS has a current student population of 656. The number comprises 353 SHS Two students and 303 SHS three students. They are made up of 341 females and 315 males. The school also has staff strength of 72, with 52 being teachers and 20 non teaching staff.
It was established in 1925 by Rev. O’Reilly, a Sierra Leonean. It was adopted by the government in 1960 as a public school.

Ga Mashie Celebrates Homowo

The chiefs and people of Ga Mashie on Saturday celebrated their annual Homowo Festival with a peaceful parade of traditional regalia and the sprinkling of kpokpoi (food) in all the seven quarters of Ga Mashie.

The climax of the celebration was at the Gbese Mantse’s Palace, the stool house of the Dzaase Division of Ga Mashie, from where the Gbese Mantse, Nii Ayi-Bonte II, led a number of sub-chiefs to sprinkle kpokpoi.

Nii Ayi-Bonte’s entourage, which included the Amasaman Mantse, Nii Amasa Oseiku II; the Papase Mantse, Nii Komey Papa Ase III, and the acting Akwashongtse of Gbese, Nii Ayi Ardayfio II, ended the procession at the Usher Fort Prison, where they paid homage to their ancestors.

At the Usher Fort Prison, Nii Ayi-Bonte called for unity among the people to ensure accelerated development, since “a house divided against itself cannot stand”, and asked the Almighty God and the ancestors to shower their blessings on the people.

He advised the youth against fomenting trouble and the use of harmful weapons, adding that he would soon organise a forum at which the security agencies would explain the Criminal Code to the youth and ensure that the various chieftaincy disputes were resolved amicably.

“I will do all I can to unite the people of Gbese and Ga Mashie as a whole,” he said. After the ceremony at the Usher Fort Prison, the chiefs moved to the various family houses to sprinkle kpokpoi and exchange fraternal greetings, amidst merrymaking
At Atukpai, one of the seven quarters of Ga Mashie, the Chief, Nii Tetteh Tsuru II, and his sub-chiefs from Adabraka, Kokomlemle, Newtown, Okaishie, Kwadzo Man, among others, sprinkled kpokpoi at the various family houses.

Requesting for the mercies of God, Nii Tsuru called on the people to unite to build the Ga State and pleaded with the government to set up a machinery to settle all disputes in the Ga Traditional Area for peace to prevail.

In the various homes, the women were found busily preparing kpokpoi, which is taken with palm nut soup, while the various drinking spots were filled with merrymakers.

Homowo (hooting at hunger) is celebrated by the Ga-Dangme people of the Greater Accra Region and is characterised by rituals such as the sprinkling of kpokpoi, the procession of twins through the principal streets, as well as traditional drumming and dancing and general merrymaking.

Political Differences Weaken Democracy

The Mayor of Cape Coast, Mr Anthony Egyir Aikins, has called on Assembly members to set aside their political differences and focus on evolving measures to deepen governance at the grass roots level.

He stressed that it was time they worked together by sharing ideas and strategies, to strengthen the nation's weak social infrastructure and deepen democracy at the local level.
Mr Aikins, who made the call in an address on the state of the metropolis, at the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly's sitting, called on all to eschew negative tendencies that undermined the efforts at developing the metropolis, which include blackmailing others.
He said people should also desist from backbiting others and stressed that apathy, poor attitude to work and the lack of commitment, as well as bootlicking, were retarding the nation's growth, adding that weak institutional arrangements had given way to a lot of waste in the system.
He called for a complete overhaul of the metropolis, which he described as sick' and called on the people to wake up and face the truth, instead of living in its past glories.

The Mayor said there was no need to rush the development process but to appreciate the problems, be circumspect and strategise for effective results, adding that, it was better to do the right thing once and for all, particularly in their quest to build a solid foundation to transform the Metropolis.
He mentioned some of the challenges facing the metropolis to include the lack of physical infrastructure, youth unemployment, as well as poverty, and expressed concern about the unskilled youth in the area, who are rather, being selective as to the type of job they want to engage in.
Mr Aikins said the Assembly would not tolerate or condone any wrongdoing in the Metropolis, and that those who fall foul of the bye-laws will either be prosecuted or dealt with, adding that, it will not politicize its development agenda and processes.
The Presiding Member, Nana Kweku Awuku, said the Assembly had chalked up major successes in infrastructural development, particularly in the area of education and stressed that there was still more room for improvement.

Boy, 5, Detained Over Fees At Korle-Bu

A five-year-old boy who was a victim of gas explosion at Tema New Town, has been detained at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital due to the inability of his mother to settle his medical bills amounting to GHҐ658.42.

Master Kwesi Tawia, who has so far spent four months at the hospital, was admitted there in April 2010 and discharged in May but he has remained there until now because the hospital authorities would not let him go until the mother is able to pay the bill.

The mother, Mary Eshun, who called at the Daily Graphic office in Accra in the company of Mr Stephen Ashittey Agyei, a parliamentary candidate of the Democratic Freedom Party in the 2008 election, explained that her son, who suffered severe burns during the explosion in March, was first admitted to the Tema General Hospital for treatment.

According to her, because of the severe nature of the burns, he was transferred to Korle-Bu for further treatment.

She said her brother and a Good Samaritan had been helpful in the purchase of some of the medications prescribed by the hospital but indicated that they were now donor fatigue and, therefore, could not provide additional support.

She said she had presented the bills to the Tema Municipal Assembly on hearing that the assembly had been helping with the payment of the medical bills of the victims of that gas explosion but nothing had been done so far for her son.

Madam Eshun appealed to philanthropists and institutions to help her settle her son’s bill so that he could be discharged from the hospital
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First Lady's Convoy Involved In Accident

Two back-up vehicles in the convoy of the First Lady, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, were yesterday involved in an accident on the Mampong-Ejura road in the Ashanti Region.

The vehicles collided with an articulated truck which had allegedly ignored a traffic regulation to slow down in a bend and was overtaking another vehicle on the outskirts of Timber Nkwanta, near Bobin, around 11 a.m. when it was raining.

The First Lady was on her way to Ejura to attend the annual conference of the National Baptist Ministers’ Wives Fellowship.

Four people, including the two drivers of the accident vehicles, sustained minor injuries and were sent to the Mampong Hospital for medical attention.

The Secretary to the First Lady, who was in one of the vehicles, did not sustain any physical injury but complained of headache.

The First Lady’s vehicle was not involved in the accident, since it had taken the lead and the two accident vehicles were back-ups.

The two back-up vehicles were a Landcruiser V8 and a Landcruiser Prado, both black in colour.

The Prado was badly damaged in the front from the engine to the windscreen, while the V8 was dented on the sides. The two front tyres of the Prado also got burst.

Eyewitnesses said the articulated truck driver lost control on seeing the convoy vehicles and completely blocked the road with one side of the truck. That resulted in the Landcruiser Prado running into the side of the truck head-on.

In an attempt to avoid running into the Prado on the right, the driver of the V8 swerved to the left and skidded off the road but he managed to control the vehicle on the edge of the road, denting the sides of the vehicle in the drain.

The airbags in the two vehicles saved the occupants.

The driver of the articulated truck has since been taken into police custody to assist with investigations.

Surprisingly, the articulated truck had different registration numbers at the front and at the back. It had AS 1322 G at the front and AS 1321 G at the back..
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Priest, 3 Others Perish In Accident

Four persons, including a priest of the Berekum Methodist Church, died when a 207 Mercedes Benz bus on which they were travelling from Kumasi to Berekum was involved in an accident with a tractor at Abesewa, near Mankranso, last Tuesday night.

The impact of the crash was so great that some of the wood which the tractor was carrying penetrated the bus and pierced some of the passengers, killing them instantly.

Two persons, identified as Kwabena Asuma and Majidu Atilu, died on the spot from the multiple injuries they sustained, while the other two died at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital where they had been rushed for treatment.

Those who died at the hospital have been identified as Isaac Appiah, the driver of the 207 Mercedes Benz bus, and Rev Patrick Amankonah, 51, of the Berekum Methodist Church.

Twenty-three other passengers who were travelling on the bus, with registration number AS 1161 Y, sustained various degrees of injury when it rammed into the tractor.

Both vehicles were travelling towards Sunyani. The driver of the tractor, Sanni Ali, who is on admission at the Duayaw Nkwanta Hospital, is said to be in critical condition.

The injured people were rushed to the Bechem and the Duayaw Nkwanta hospitals, while the critically wounded were sent to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Ahafo Ano South District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Vitus Napen, said the incident occurred around 8 p.m. last Monday.

He explained that the police received a distress call indicating that a fatal accident had occurred at Abesewa on the Kumasi–Sunyani highway.

The District Commander said policemen were immediately despatched to investigate and on reaching the scene, they discovered that the 207 Benz bus, which was carrying 27 passengers, had crashed into the rear of the tractor, with registration number AS 4234 M.

He said initial investigations indicated that the tractor, which was also heading towards Sunyani and fully loaded with wood, did not have tail lights and reflectors, thereby preventing the driver of the bus from having a clear view.

ASP Napen said it was when the driver got closer to the tractor that he recognised the danger ahead but he could not swerve to save the situation.
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Kufuor's 'secret children', new youth policy dominate Ghana media

Kufuor's 'secret children', new youth policy dominate Ghana media - In 2005, an American woman, Gizelle Yazji, became a househ old name in Ghana. The reason? - Gizelle, who had worked at the Ghana Ministry o f Finance, grabbed the headlines when she claimed that former President John Agye k um Kufuor was the father of her set of twins -- John and Philip.

She also claimed that Kufuor was the real owner of a hotel in Accra and not his son as he claimed. She even threatened to come to Ghana to prove her allegations but claimed an airline on which she was booked cancelled her reservations.

Kufuor remained silent but his aides vehemently denied Gizelle's claims and with time, the allegations were pushed to the back burner.

Now, the matter has come up again, but this time it is Kufuor himself who has ra ised it, denying the allegations.

The private newspaper, Chronicle, had the headline 'I have no twins â' Kufuor', saying the former President had at long last broken his silence over the allega t ion that he fathered a set of twins out of wedlock. Kufuor said there was no iot a of truth about the allegation.

'If indeed I have twins in the US, I would have begged for permission from my wi fe to go and bring them home, because they are my blood,' he said at a forum to c ommemorate the ninth anniversary of the repel of the criminal libel law by his go vernment.

The former president said that those were part of the propaganda machinery of hi s opponents to run him down, but they failed because they could not even present evidence to buttress their claims.

Kufuor also denied dipping his hands into state coffers to renovate his private residence while he was in office and did not own the African Regent Hotel.

But Gizelle immediately fired back, calling him promiscuous. She was quoted as i nsisting that Kufuor fathered her set of twins during his term and that she nego t iated for the purchase of the hotel for the President on his instructions.

The week also saw the launch of a national youth policy by vice president John D ramani Mahama.

While the Graphic's headline read: 'Youth, our true wealth ' Veep affirms as he launches policy', the state-owned Ghanaian Times headlined its story 'Nation a l Youth Policy launched'.

The story said after going through reviews by successive governments, the Nation al Youth Policy has been finally launched by the vice president with a pledge to provide the political will and resources necessary for its smooth implementation .

The newspapers also highlighted the Accra Fast Track High Court freeing two form er government officials, former Chief of Staff Kwadwo Mpiani and former Chief Ex e cutive Officer of the Ghana@50 Secretariat, Charles Wereko-Brobby on four counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state.

'Ghana@50 trial; Mpiani, Brobby discharged', was the headline of the state-owned Graphic which said, according to the court, the findings of a commission of inq u iry set up under the Constitution constituted a judgement of the court, for which it had no jurisdiction to entertain and disturb.

The pro-opposition Daily Guide had the headline 'Betty must go' in which it quoted loyalists of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) as calling for the head of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, over the issue.
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Horror At Awudome Cemetery

The distress call of a man who had been hacked and dumped at the Awudome Cemetery in Accra by unknown assailants sent shivers down the spines of residents in the area.

The Kaneshie Divisional Police Command is investigating the alleged murder of the 40-year-old man who is yet to be identified.

The victim had plastered fresh wounds on his forehead, hands and legs when he was found.

It is believed that the victim might have been in the hospital receiving treatment when his assassins picked him up, killed and dumped him in the area.

Residents, who could not recognize the deceased, said they saw the lifeless body of the man in a prostrate position on Monday around 5am.

According to an eyewitness account, around 5am that morning, they overheard someone shouting for help.

“When we finally got to the scene, we realized that he was alive, but died a few minutes later,” the eyewitness said.

The Kaneshie Divisional Crime Officer, DSP Dogbevia K. Wonder, who led a team of policemen to the scene, told DAILY GUIDE that the police suspected foul play.

According to the divisional crime officer, the police received information that a middle-aged man had been murdered at Awudome and rushed to the scene.

At the scene, they realized that there were fresh wounds all over his body, with his leg broken.

He said information gathered by the police indicated that the victim was alive when residents got to the scene.

“Residents claimed he screamed several times for help before he later died,” he said.

According to DSP Wonder, no arrest had been made in connection with the murder but the police are still investigating the case.

He said the body had been sent to the Police Hospital morgue for autopsy.

DSP Wonder therefore urged the public to help the police to locate the family of the deceased.