JJ's Coming Was Ordained By God -ex-Minister
"Gen. Odartey Wellington Ignored The Oracle To His Own Peril"
The former NDC Health Minister, Hon Nuamah Donkor last Friday declared that the emergence of Flt Lt. Jerry John Rawlings on the political scene in 1979 was pre-ordained by God.
Making a brief contribution at the June 4th lectures, Hon. Nuamah Donkor cited a story related to him by Nana Paddy Acheampong, who was his deputy at the Health Ministry.
According to the story, months before the June 4 uprising, Nana Paddy Acheampong, who at the time was in the military, was given a message by a spiritualist based in Winneba to deliver to the then Army Commander, General Odartey Wellington.
Nana Paddy Acheampong was told to send God's admonition to the then Army Commander, that God had appointed a young military officer who was going to take the helm of power. The message delivered to General Wellington contained the chilling warning that unless the Army General performed some prescribed rituals, he was certainly going to die when the foreseen event occurred.
Hon Nuamah Donkor who is also a former Ashanti Regional Minister said that initially General Odartey Wellington refused to give any credence to the warning delivered to him. But after some days, obviously agitated by the information, he got Capt Paddy Acheampong to take him deep in the night to Winneba where the spiritualist lived.
The Seer, after the introduction, looked Gen Odartey Wellington in the face and declared that a young Military Officer had been ordained by God to take over the leadership of the nation. “This young officer who is a half caste, has been destined by God to raise the status of the nation,” the Army General was told.
The seer once again told General Wellington to endeavor to perform some rituals that were critical if he was to avoid the death that was imminent upon the emergence of the young military officer on the scene.
Hon. Nuamah Donkor said that initially the General had acquiesced to the advice but on the way back from Winneba, he told Nana Paddy acheampong that he has decided not to go ahead with the ritual because he does not think that the Spiritualist was teling the truth.
“June 4, 1979 came as predicted by the spiritualist. A young half caste Officer became the leader and Gen Wellington as foretold did not only perish in combat but was the first member of the ruling junta to lose his life,” Nuamah Donkor stated.
Source:
Lens
June 4 Taught The People To Rebel Against Oppression -MP
Hon John Dramani Mahama last Friday declared that the greatest lesson of the June 4 Uprising was the lesson of Accountability.
“Sovereignty lies with the people. Leaders must be accountable in their actions to the people. June 4 established the lesson that when the people are oppressed, they will rebel against the oppressor,” John Mahama declared.
Delivering a speech at the June 4 lectures under the Theme, The place Of June 4 in Ghana’s 50 years, the NDC Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, recalled how the uprising of June 4 occurred as a culmination of a struggle waged by social forces including students and organized labour against Kutu Acheampong’s misrule, characterized by Kalabule, cronyism and all manner of political corruption.
June 4, he said was not about bloodshed or violence or the execution of military generals including three former heads of state, he said, just as the French revolution was not about violence even though the then French King, Louis 16, his wife and his family were led to the guillotine and violently slaughtered.
June 4, he said has taught Ghanaians never again to allow a situation where those in leadership will lord it over the ordinary people and leave them with no option for meaningful change.
Hon John Mahama had a word of advice for those who want to distort the happenings of those days: “We should not judge the past with the lenses of the present. One must live the experience to better understand it.”
He said given the objective conditions of the time, its difficult to see how June 4 could have been avoided.
“Those who want to indulge in the luxury of the unlived experience may do so. But the truth is that inevitably, the social forces would have converged and brought about some social unrest given the scale of the anger of the people against the depravity at the helm of affairs at the time.”
The MP for Bole Bamboi, also explained that June 4 demonstrated that the people of Ghana are capable of rallying themselves and rising to the occasion when they have faith in the leadership.
“In the struggle against colonialism, the people rose to the occasion because of their faith in Nkrumah. In the early days of Kutu Acheampong, the people again rose to the occasion under Operation Feed Yourself. During the PNDC, the same spirit was shown when the people rallied under the charismatic leadership of Rawlings to undertake critical exercises like the cocoa evacuation from farms.
Hon. John Dramani Mahama, said that there was so much wrong happening under the NPP, but the current regime is not being held to the same level of accountability because in the view of the people, they do not measure to the high level of honesty and accountability of those whose antecedents are the June 4 uprising and the 31st December Revolution.
“We are held to a higher measure of accountability. People today tell us that maybe we should also lower the bar of accountability when we come back to power because of the way the NPP has taken it to an all time low. A few of our supporters tell us to also ‘chop freely’ like the NPP and de-emphasize our revolutionary honesty. But we cannot change our measure of accountability. We must continue to hold aloft the banner of accountability.”
He said that NDC’s commitment to social justice and peoples democratic empowerment must remain unwavering.
He aso urged the NDC to work hard to re-establish the truth about its image and combat the wrong perceptions the paty’s opponents have succeded in planting in the psyche of some people against it. These false perceptions he said are: The NDC is ungodly, is violent, hates the media, is not democratic and are anti business.
Source:
Lens
Communities run to catch glimpse at pictures of new Ghana cedi
Adaklu-Anfoe, (V/R), June 4, GNA-Hundreds of people, old and young in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District on Saturday rushed for specimen copies of
the yet be introduced new Ghana Cedis. The people were also eager to have copies of the educative materials to help them learn the conversion from the old cedis to the new Ghana Cedis. This was when the Bank of Ghana Ladies Association (BOGLA) in collaboration with the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) of the Ghana Education Service and the Information Service Department toured the communities to educate them on the re-denomination exercise.
The people complained that until that day they did not know the real issues about the re-denomination exercise though they were familiar with the educational programmes in the media. Ms. Sammuella Quartey, Local President of BOGLA and leader of the team said the exercise was to enable people in remote areas to be conversant with features of the new cedis before it comes into circulation in July this year. She said the team had toured a total of 120 communities in the northern part of the region and expressed the hope that the exercise would be successful.
Mr. Reginald Appaloh Kota, an educationist at the NFED taught the people how to go about the conversion and explained how the value of the old and new cedi is the same. The team later distributed some of the educative materials to the people and pasted some at vantage places for public consumption. Meanwhile, some people who could not get copies of the conversion table were seen copying the details into notebooks and on pieces of papers they brought with them.
Source:
GNA
Boy, 14, drowns in drain during heavy rains.
Ashaiman (Tema), June 04, GNA- Tragedy struck a household at Ashaiman when a 14 year old boy who was playing football with his friends got drowned in a drain, a distance from his house during last Saturday's heavy downpour.
The body of the boy has since not been found and a search party is still looking for it.
The body is believed to have been carried far away into the Gbemi Stream, which enters the Sakomono Lagoon. The assemblyman of Obakatse electoral area, where the incident occurred, Mr Thomas Adongo told the GNA on Monday that as the boys were playing in the rain the ball went into the drain. He said the deceased whose name was given only as Kwasi made an attempt to remove it from the drain but luck run out of him as he slipped and fell into the drain.
The assemblyman said the deceased travelled from Kumasi to Ashaiman to visit his father, who has been traumatized by the incident. The Tema Municipal Officer of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Joseph Dennis Abraham-Reynolds said the drowning was the second in that particular drain and the that body was also not retrieved.
He urged parents to ensure that their children are kept indoors during heavy downpour and that the communities must also embark on constant environmental cleaning to desilt the drains to avoid such disasters. Mr Abraham-Reynolds said those who get drown normally get trapped in the silt that settles under the drains filled with refuse. He said most residents of the area are squatters who have built on waterways thus making accessibility very difficult. Meanwhile, the assemblyman for Kwasi Plange electoral in Tema Community One, Mr Alhassan Issa has complained about the narrowness of gutters in the area, which overflows onto the streets and enters the Tema Central Market.
He said the initial drains were wide enough to contain the volume of water but the current construction has worsened the situation and the rains have exposed the shoddy job.
Some residents of the Padmore electoral area also occasionally call at the GNA office to complain about the narrowness of the drains in the area currently under construction. The said they could not understand why the gutter, which was wide before its re-construction, has now been narrowed raising fear's that the water could overflow into their houses.
4 June 07
Source:
GNA
MONDAY - RUBBISH ...
Affordable Housing Wahala: Company 'fights back'
'Global interests is not a church' -Pastor
... No information from the government?
Steve Ams, the head of Global Interests, LLC, an American concern that plans to build 15,000 affordable houses in Ghana with the post-completion undertaking from Government of their sale to Ghanaian workers, has challenged a media report that the company was a sham and a church. ...> MORE
Blame Game Over Energy Crisis
... NDC MP Dazes Minister
... Tsatsu`s WAGP is lifeline for NPP
At the end of a two-hour debate over energy, the conclusion was that the Government’s lifeline hinges precariously on the West Africa Gas Pipeline to produce a fraction of the energy which Ghana needs to keep domestic lighting on, for the 136 megawatts of gas fired energy.
The debate was between National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) MP for South Dayi, Hon. Dr. Kwame Ampofo and the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) MP for Efigya Sekyere West constituency and first Minister of Energy, Hon Albert Kan Dapaah. It was last Friday and the venue was Peace FM’s studios where the two clashed in a pre arranged toe to toe debate on air over the current energy crisis in which the NDC has consistently stated that NPP had contributed zilch to the current stock of energy and was rather frittering away on what the NDC had built over the years.
It emerged after the period that the NPP Government had not really added much in terms of energy since 2001 when they took over the reins of Government. What they did according to Dapaah was that they reined in subsidy, which the NDC Government had engaged in and racked up a debt of $200million with its attendant impact on the Government-owned banks, which were on the verge of collapse.
Dapaah was the first to speak, and started by appealing to his co-debater not to interrupt in the course of his submission and giving the assurance that he would do same when it was Dr. Ampofo’s turn.
He started with submission that debunked the NDC’s claims that since assuming power some six years ago it had not added a kilowatt to the energy needs of the country. He submitted that when the NPP assumed office, the NDC had started a retrofitting project on the Akosombo hydroelectric plant.
Mr. Dapaah said what they came to meet was a test process of the project by the NDC that saw the completion of work on one out of the six turbines. He said the NPP then continued with the retrofitting of the five other turbines and thus increasing the generating capacity of the Akosombo facility. On the basis of this retrofitting exercise, Mr. Dapaah was of the view that it was wrong for the NDC to continuously claim that the NPP had added nothing to the power sector.
He also accused the NDC for the current problems on the Volta Lake indicating that the NDC had gone against expert advice to misuse the lake at levels that rendered its usage very dangerous. The former energy Minister asserted that it was as a result of the mismanagement of the lake that the current problems had assumed a crisis level.
Mr. Dapaah who sounded as though he was trying to rescue the current Energy Minister, Mr. Kofi Addah, then noted that the government was so much committed to the energy sector such that it was vigorously pursuing the Bui Hydroelectric project and had also paid for Ghana’s 16% shares in the West African Gas Pipeline, the construction of which is already underway and which when completed will power the Abodze thermal plant at an affordable cost.
Then the NDC’s Dr. Ampofo came in. He also started by reiterating the point that the current government had indeed brought nothing on board as far as power was concerned.
To establish what the NDC did in terms of adding to the power needs of the country, he explained that from 1997 to 1998, the NDC government facilitated the construction of the Aboadze Thermal plant with an initial capacity of 330 megawatts. Then in 1999, the NDC government again facilitated a joint venture arrangement between VRA and CMS Energy of USA to expand the Aboadze Thermal Generation complex to 550 MW with the addition of two (2) 110MW combustion turbines. This was with the understanding that a further 110MW would be added in the future to bring the Aboadze Complex to a total of 660MW.
Dr. Ampofo then went on to talk about the retrofitting project on the turbines at the Akosombo hydro-generation facility with the view to increasing its capacity by about 15%. He pointed out that even though the retrofitting had been started by the NDC and funds for the work on all the six turbines had been acquired, the NPP still creates the impression that it had also added some generating capacity to Akosombo just by continuing with what the NDC had started.
Dr. Ampofo therefore made it clear that the retrofitting exercise was actually an NDC project and that it had acquired the requisite funds for the entire project. He noted that the original plan for the retrofitting project was that it was to be completed in 2005 and therefore wondered how the NPP could claim credit for a project that was on course.
Dr. Ampofo maintained that from various government documents including the President’s state of the nation addresses, it was manifest that the NPP was not doing anything to the energy sector even though several warnings had been given about the energy crisis facing the country.
Dr. Ampofo quoted from pages of the President’s State of the Nation’s address for different years to buttress the point that not much had been and was being done in the power sector to curtail the problem facing the country. He made reference to a statement by the president to the effect that over 400 communities had been connected to the national grid when it knew that nothing had been added to the generating capacity of the country.
He pointed out that government was aware the nation’s hydrological cycle shows that for every seven to ten years the nation would experience some drought and therefore needed to plan for it since the last occurred in 1998, during which the country experienced another power crisis the led the NDC to start work on the Aboadze project.
Mr. Kan Dapaah had stated in his earlier submission that what the NDC had done on one turbine at the Akosombo facility before it left office was just a test and that it was NPP that actually carried out the job. After Dr. Ampofo’s, Mr. Dapaah however conceded and observed that even for continuing with a project that was started by the NDC, the NPP deserved to be given credit since it was not uncommon in the political history of the country for a government to abandon projects started by its predecessor.
The Interior Minister also said the government had contributed and actually demonstrated its committment to developing the power sector by bringing down the 125MW Osagyefo Power Barge from Italy where it was still staying after it had been acquired by the NDC government.
The NDC’s Dr. Ampofo replied that even with that, it was significant for the ideas that led to the acquisition of the Barge to be acknowledged since the conceptualisation of a project is the difficult part and not putting the idea into practice.
Then came in Dr. Ampofo on the Bui-Hydroelectric project. The issue here was who had done something about the project and who had not. Kan Dapaah gave the first shot accusing the NDC of not having done anything about it even though the Dr. Hilla Liman administration that was overthrown through a military coup led by the NDC founder, Jerry Rawlings, had negotiated a loan for the project.
The former energy Minister said, on assumption of office in 2001, the NPP set up the Bui Secretariat, which was to look at how to carry out the project.
Then Dr. Ampofo zoomed in and said an Australian Engineering firm, SMEC had conducted feasibility studies on the project in 1976. He said in 1994, when the NDC was in office, the SMEC study was updated by Coyne et Bellier of France through a French government grant.
He argued that due to the need for thermal complementation, the Bui project was deferred for strategic and tactical reasons till the realization of the Aboadze thermal complex which he reiterated was now providing almost 50% of the power being used by Ghana at the moment and asked how the nation could have survived the current energy crisis but for the Aboadze plant.
Mr. Dapaah pointed out that the NPP government considered the use of thermal energy as being very expensive hence the resolve to have the Bui Project executed. But Dr. Ampofo punched a gaping hole into that argument asking whether the minister was suggesting that using light crude to power the plant was more expensive than not having power at all.
There was also the question of the importation of the generators, which also use fuel and were recently described by Dr. Wereko Brobby as toy generators.
Source:
Ghanaian Chronicle
Govt expands coverage of Cocoa farmer's houses
Sekondi, June 3,-GNA-The government has decided that the Cocoa farmers housing scheme will be extended to 66 cocoa districts in Ghana.
The scheme was initially targeted at cocoa farmers in Western region alone. It was meant to offer cocoa farmers affordable housing and improve their living conditions.
Mr. Madison Mahamadu Lansah, Director of the Department of Rural Housing under the Ministry of Works and Housing disclosed this at the Regional Coordinating Council Meeting (RCC) held at Sekondi over the weekend.
He said though the original plan had changed, the focus was still on cocoa farmers.
He commended Mr. Joseph B. Aidoo, former Western Regional Winister for initiating the scheme to alleviate the poverty of cocoa farmers. He said presently each room contains four bedrooms, a kitchen, washrooms and rain harvest facilities. Mr. Lansah said, the use of bricks, clay tiles and other natural building materials were meant to make the houses affordable, environmentally friendly and create local employment. He said each house would cost between 127 and 138 million cedis, which was re-payable in 10 years. Mr. Lansah said the cocoa board; Rural Department and the Agricultural Development bank (ADB) were negotiating on the mode and terms of payment.
He said Afransie would have four houses while Yamatwa and Enchi would get three houses each. Mr. Amoah, Western Regional Minister said the technology should be made readily available for all civil and public servants, teachers and all Ghanaian workers to adopt and own houses of their own.
Source:
GNA
Five dead, property destroyed in Accra floods
Accra, June 3, GNA - At least five persons have been confirmed dead and hundreds of residents have been forced out of their houses as floods wreaked havoc in parts of Accra after a downpour on Saturday evening. "We have five people dead," Greater Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Kwaku Dompreh told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Sunday.
The worst affected areas were in the west of the city around Mallam, Santa Maria and its immediate surroundings, Gbawe, Kwashie-Bu, Sakaman and Sowutuom, where many areas were under water. The rains, which started early in the afternoon continued until late in the night on Saturday and started again on Sunday morning. More rains are being expected.
When the GNA went round this morning to ascertain the extent of damage by the rains, many houses had been inundated with the flood waters and personal effects had either been destroyed or swept away. Most businesses had either shut up temporarily, as the floods deposited huge volumes of silt and garbage at their frontages. Others less affected by the floods were attending partially to customers as they observed the weather for signs of more rains.
Some residents were seen trying to bring out their water-drenched properties and personal effects to dry, even though the weather suggested there would be more rains.
Others were seen gathered in groups discussing the issue as more rain waters from uphill areas swept past their properties, causing more damage.
However, some who had managed to escape from their properties when the floods hit them, came back to salvage what was left of their belongings.
Some roads at Mallam, Gbawe and around the London Bridge area at Awoshie have been destroyed and kiosks have been swept away. Police, military, Fire Service and workers of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) were involved in an operation to rescue residents trapped by the rain, as well as assess the situation. As the rains poured down, many streams and rivers overflowed their banks, flood waters gushed through houses and roads causing havoc as the perennial flooding of Accra resurfaced. Residents cried out for help as they climbed any visible material to escape the floods.
There were chaotic traffic jams from the Darkuman Junction towards Odorkor, Kwashieman and Mallam.
Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim, a garage operator at Mallam told the GNA: "My business has been devastated by the flood. I took a loan from the bank to set up this place and look what has become of it............ I'm in a deep mess."
Another victim of the floods, Madam Okaitey who operates a fast food joint said: "Infact, I'm finished!
I least expected this to happen to me. I cater for my family from this business...........Oh God!!!
Inspector Dompreh attributed the extensive damage to to people building on water ways in the affected areas.
"As much as we sympathize with the flood victims, I don't foresee any reprieve for some of them, when they have chosen to put up their properties on water ways. And as you can see the weather, more rains are expected."
Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Kwamena Bartels, who is also the MP for Ablekuma North is expected to visit the flood victims.
Source:
GNA
Pregnant woman raped and fetus damaged
Hohoe, June 02, GNA-A Petty Trader, (name withheld), who is two months pregnant was raped and the foetus ruptured on May 26, this year at Tonka, near Golokwati in Hohoe District by a 35-year old farmer, Linus Nkrabea. Dr. Kukli Gavua, Medical Superintendent at the Margaret Marquart Hospital, at Kpando where the victim reported was said to have advised that the victim, who is bleeding, to agree for the pregnancy to be terminated on health grounds.
Mr. Kwabena Antwi-Boasiako, Hohoe District Police Commander, briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the victim was on an errand to Tonka but failed to meet her host. He said Nkrabea then offered her a seat in his room to wait, while he went out.
The District Commander said Nkrabea returned a while later and taking advantage of the absence of other tenants wittingly closed the doors and windows and set on the victim. Mr. Antwi-Boasiako said Nkrabea forcibly removed the victims dress and raped her several times amidst shouts of help, which did not attract any saviour.
He said the victim who cried "uncontrollably from her nightmarish ordeal" could not find her dress afterwards but "innovatively" used the cover cloth of Nkrabea to cover her nakedness and bolted through the window to report to the police.
Mr. Antwi-Boasiako said the police, in a search in Nkrabea's room retrieved the victim's clothes from under the mattress. He said Nkrabea is being processed for the court. Meanwhile, Mr Antwi-Boasiako said a man, who called at the Police Station posing as the victim's husband and requested that the case be dropped was being sought by the police.
02 June 07
Source:
GNA
Pastor impregnates girl
Akyem Oda, June 02, GNA- Pastor Enoch Koranteng, 40, of the Grace Universal Church at Akyem Oda who was alleged to have impregnated a 17-year-old apprentice photographer and attempted to have it aborted, is helping the police in their investigations. Chief Superintendent of Police, Ben Atadana told the GNA that about three months ago the victim, who also hawks petty items to earn a living was on her usual rounds when Koranteng who was by then standing near a hotel called her.
According to the Divisional Commander, the pastor told the girl that the hotel belonged to him, adding that the vehicles that were parked inside were his.
He said the pastor then proposed love to the girl and promised her "heaven on earth" if she should agree to his proposal. The pastor then managed to lure the girl into one of the hotel rooms where he had sexual intercourse with her. CSP Atadana said after the act the two lovers exchanged telephone numbers and Koranteng, on numerous occasions invited the girl to the hotel where they had sex.
He said later the girl realised that she was pregnant and informed Koranteng about it and the pastor invited her to the hotel where he gave her a concoction and had sex with her with the explanation that the pregnancy would then abort.
He said after the act the girl bled a little but the pregnancy was still intact and the pastor then decided to play hide and seek game with the victim until the case was reported to the police.
02 June 07
Source:
GNA
Lightning Kills six Ghanaian sailors
Lightning has killed six Ghanaian sailors and their Ukrainian captain off the Atlantic Coast of Benin. The six are Henry Ebow Crentsil, leader of the ratings, Akontey Francis, welder, Robert Aryee, seaman, Enoch Mark Eshun, seaman, Samuel Odai Adjetey, seaman, and Ekey Robert, steward.
The bodies of Aryee, Eshun, Adjetey and Ekey have been retrieved but those of the Ukrainian captain, identified as Nasonov Volodymr, Crentsil and Akontey are still missing.
Twenty-two of the crew, comprising 19 Ghanaians, two Ukrainians and one Romanian, however, survived the tragedy which occurred last Tuesday when lightning struck the Cambodia-registered oil tanker 200 nautical miles from the coast as a result of a storm which also swept through Ghana the same day.
The 30,000-tonne oil tanker, MT North Sea, owned by Atlantic Oil Maritime S.A., with 29 crew members on board, had finished offloading oil from Nigeria onto another vessel when it was struck by the lightning.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Tema, the Harbour Master, Captain Victor Jonah, said on Wednesday he had a distress call on the disaster from the agent for the vessel, Atlas Services Limited.
He said a Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority tug, the Manhean, was, therefore, sent out to rescue the sailors. Captain Jonah said a sister vessel of the tanker, the MT April, was called to convey the survivors and the four retrieved bodies to meet the tug which, in turn, conveyed them to the port.
He said the police were informed about the accident and the dead were conveyed to the Police Hospital, while the 22 survivors were sent to the Caiquo Hospital in Tema for medical attention.
Captain Jonah said the Ukrainian and Romanian survivors had been put in some hotels in Tema, awaiting documentation to be flown home, while the 19 Ghanaian survivors had also been given accommodation to overcome the trauma before they would be sent home.
Source:
Daily Graphic
T'Poly students remanded for alleged rioting
Sekondi, June 2, GNA - Forty-two students of the Takoradi Polytechnic were on Friday remanded by a District Magistrate's court in Sekondi for allegedly rioting with weapons.
Their plea was not taken and were remanded to reappear on June 11. The prosecution did not give the facts of the case.
Source:
GNA
Ten policemen, five businessmen charged with dealing in cocaine
Sekondi, June 2, GNA - Ten policemen and five businessmen on Friday put before a District Magistrate's Court in Sekondi for allegedly engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotic drugs. Their plea was not taken and the court remanded them to re-appear on June 14.
The case for the prosecution was that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) had a tip-off that some police officers were escorting some dealers in cocaine to la cote d'Ivoire and detailed the Western Regional Police Commander to track them down. He said the Regional Police Commander launched an operation at dawn on Friday and arrested the accused persons at Half Assini.
Source:
GNA
T'Poly students remanded for alleged rioting
Sekondi, June 2, GNA - Forty-two students of the Takoradi Polytechnic were on Friday remanded by a District Magistrate's court in Sekondi for allegedly rioting with weapons.
Their plea was not taken and were remanded to reappear on June 11. The prosecution did not give the facts of the case.
Source:
GNA
Tribute to The Late Madam Fathia Nkrumah
That behind every great man there is a woman is a belief construct yet to be refuted. Thus, behind Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the late first President as well as first Prime Minister of Ghana, there was Madam Fathia Nkrumah, a significant Premier First Lady of Ghana who passed away Thursday, 31 May 2007.
Because of what Madam Fathia meant to the people of Ghana, it is with deep sorrow that members of CPP-USA and CPPNA convey sincere condolence to her children and the rest of her families in Ghana and Egypt.
In political terms, Madam Fathia Nkrumah will forever remain the First Mother of modern Ghana founded by her late husband, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah.
Not long ago, Samia Nkrumah, the daughter of Kwame and Fathia Nkrumah, disclosed that her father did not mix his political duties with family life. For good or bad reason, there is implication here that Madam Fathia was the mainstay of the Nkrumah household. There is the understanding, then, that Madam Fathia provided the stability that allowed President Kwame Nkrumah to discharge his duties as president of Ghana.
For the anchor she provided Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah to serve as the greatest president of Ghana, thus far, all the people of Ghana must have reason in joining the members and supporters of the Convention People’s Party to bid Madam Fathia farewell to eternity.
Madam Fathia, as the wife of the president of Ghana, did not portray herself as co-president or the power behind her husband’s political position. Indeed, Madam Fathia Nkrumah was the very epitome of humility as the First Mother, of a new nation, Ghana, whose demeanor and social conduct must, today, be an example to be emulated by future first ladies of the country.
There has been an indication that for the significant role she played as First Lady of Ghana, Madam Fathia was not treated fairly by Ghanaian authority figures since the overthrow and demise of her husband, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. The current President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor, showed magnanimity when he visited Madam Fathia recently on her deathbed at a hospital in her native Cairo, Egypt. The question can be asked, why didn’t the government of Ghana offer help to Madam Fathia earlier?
Considering that Madam Fathia stood by her man through the thick and thin of his difficult and life-threatening political career, one has to ask, what help would have been befitting for her from the people and government of Ghana? Anything and everything Ghana could have done, but did not do, to help Madam Fathia would have been priceless, relative to her stabilizing contribution to the work of her husband on behalf of the country. For this reason, no amount of supplication would be worthy of the gift of Fathia to Ghana. Yet the very tradition of Ghana enjoins all citizens to render sincere gratitude and feelings of remorse for the passing away of a great woman, Fathia Nkrumah.
In the brief moment after the announcement of her death, Ghanaians around the world saw sufficient reasons to muster the courage to extend nothing less than peaceful eternal rest for the late Madam Fathia Nkrumah, a woman who witnessed and endured numerous attacks on the life of her husband and children’s father.
From London, Osei Yaw asked Madam Fathia to “please tell KWAME we have done nothing for ourselves since he left – tell him the ‘begging bowl’ is our life line; tell him we miss him badly.”
Ms. Agnes Amoah wrote, “Go Home Fathia you are our Mother and our pillar, Ghanaians thank you for the good and the sacrifice your husband paid to make us free, and for the suffering you went through to take care of the 3 little children. We salute YOU - GO AND BE WITH HIM HE WILL BE HAPPY TO SEE YOU - THANK YOU.” Christie wrote also, “May you rest in perfect peace, original First Lady.”
We the members of CPP-USA and CPPNA wish Madam Fathia Nkrumah nothing less than eternal peaceful rest, in the name of God.
Damirifa Due!
Yaw Adu-Otu FOR and ON BEHALF OF CPP-USA and CPPNA
Source:
CPP-USA and CPPNA
Kia Truck burns on Kasoa road
Kasoa (C/R), June 1, GNA- A Kia Truck fully loaded with assorted Kasapreko Alcoholic beverages on Friday somersaulted and burnt to ashes around Marchigani, bringing about huge traffic congestion on the Kasoa road.
The accident, according to eyewitness resulted from an error caused by some policemen who had mounted an artificial barrier at the Marchigani position of the road to check drivers who plied that position of the road.
When the GNA arrived at the accident scene, personnel from the Ghana Fire Service from Kasoa were already at the scene of the accident, putting out the fire from the remains of the vehicle. The Fire Service personnel had also diverted the road to the other potion creating a dual carriage on one side. Mr John Kojo Amoah, owner and driver of the burnt vehicle who was almost in tears said he was driving on the outer part of the road when the police who were conducting some road checks at the time signalled a truck in the inner lane to park. "Immediately, the truck without warning crossed my lane and in my attempt to prevent him from running into my car and products, I tried to veer off the road only to realise that the vehicle had somersaulted due to the weight of the goods I was carrying," he said. He said immediately the accident occurred, the police numbering four took off leaving him and his brother who was acting as his mate trapped in the car.
Mr Amoah said it was sympathisers around who helped him and his brother out of the car before the fire engulfed the entire vehicle with the products.
"My brother who is now on admission at the Kasoa Government Hospital, got burnt when he tried to retrieve the 50 million cedis cash we were carrying in addition to my passport. "Because of the intensity of the flame, he could not retrieve the money and my passport and I had to look on watching my 50 million cedis with my three month old Kia truck valued at 95 million cedis burn to ashes," said Mr Amaoh.
The visibly shaken Kia Truck driver, Mr Amoah said the truck driver who crossed his path was also allowed to abscond because the police took off immediately. He said he had a third party insurance cover so was not sure of his fate.
Mr Charles Anim Boateng, Head of Security, Kasapreko Company limited who also arrived on the scene shortly after the accident estimated the total valued of the destroyed alcoholic beverages at 100 million cedis. "I suspect that he was carrying about 705 cartons of our Kasapreko products including Kasapreko Gin, Alombo bitter, Opemu bitter, and others," he said.
According to the eyewitnesses majority of whom were residents of the area, this was about the third accidents caused by the police on that portion of the road within the past fortnight through the mounting of road checks.
"The police on most days arrive here either in a hired taxi or on their bikes and mount road checks between 1.30 pm and 3 O'clock," an eyewitness alleged.
The resident appealed to the police to stop the road checks on that portion since the road was a highway and also had a barrier just a few kilometres away from the Marchigani area. The residents quoted three of the registration number of the Motorbikes used by the Police as GP 1594, GP 1548 and GP 1558.
01 June 07
Source:
GNA