Exams Leakage – Police Grab 24

LET’S RENDER INVALUABLE SERVICE

President urges African leaders

By E. Kojo Kwarteng

PRESIDENT John Agyekum Kufuor has called on political leaders to render invaluable services to their people to enable succeeding generations of leaders to emulate them.

Speaking at the beginning of bilateral talks between officials of Ghana and Mali at the Castle, Osu, in Accra yesterday, President Kufuor said the distinguished stewardship of President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali as the chairman of ECOWAS was very outstanding which should be emulated by other leaders on the continent.

President Kufuor led the Ghanaian side while President Konare headed the Malian team. The Ghanaian Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Trade and Industry, Food and Agriculture, as well as Col George Minyila, Ghana’s Ambassador to Mali, were present, while the Malian Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Local Government, Cottage Industries, Trade and Rural Development assisted the Malian leader.

The talks, which form part of the three-day state visit of the Malian leader, are aimed at consolidating the relations between the two countries within the framework of ECOWAS.

President Kufuor said the relations between the two countries have seen a lot of progress within the last 15 months.

He said the invaluable services rendered to the sub-region by President Konare call for the bestowing of honours on him and expressed the hope that African leaders will accord him the honours he deserves. President Kufuor said there are many Malian citizens in Ghana who have become accustomed to the local conditions and identifying with Ghanaian aspirations, saying that “this signifies the growing bond of friendship between the two countries”.

President Konare on his part, said it is only through the strengthening of democracy that the continent can make progress and improve the well-being of her people.

He announced that he will hand over to his successor within the next three weeks. He said the relations between the two countries go beyond personalities, saying “there is a strong bond of friendship among all the peoples of the two countries.” He expressed his appreciation to the President, government and people of Ghana for extending the invitation to him to explore further opportunities for improving relations between the two countries.

President Konare expressed the hope that the meeting will discuss issues that are of paramount concern to the future development of the two countries.
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Govt Spends Millions On Yendi Conflict

Paris Club Cancels Ghana’s Debt

The Paris Club of Creditor Nations has cancelled 90 million dollars of Ghana's debt, following negotiations for relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative.

In addition, Ghana would save 160 million dollars on debt servicing for this year alone and would also save more if it were able to sign bilateral agreements with the G8 members, who has promised to grant a 100 per cent relief when Ghana reaches the completion point of the initiative.

Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance announced this to newsmen at the Kotoka International Airport on Sunday when he returned from Paris, France, where he met members of the Paris Club to negotiate on debt relief for the country.

He said Ghana's proposal received favourable responses from the over 80 representatives from 14 countries as well as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation, who were there as observers.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said the stock of debt owed to the Paris Club creditors as at 1 February 2000 stood at 1.8 billion dollars, out of which 1.5 billion is pre cut-off dates claims. He explained that the Pre cut off were debts, which were due at the time Ghana reached the decision point, adding that it was that amount that was negotiated on.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said generally, there were two conditions under HIPC relief, explaining that the first was when any country reached the decision point, it was given the Naples terms, which is a relief of 57 per cent of debt. The minister said the second stage was the Cologne terms, which was 90 per cent debt relief, when the country reached completion point.

He said Ghana negotiated successfully on the Cologne terms, although it was yet to reach the completion point. Mr Osafo-Maafo mentioned that Ghana was supported by the United Kingdom in her negotiations and "we are very satisfied with the outcome of this concluding negotiations with the Paris Club."

He added that: "We are to sign bilateral agreements as a condition with all the countries we owe by 1 November 2002 to reflect this agreement, otherwise we shall get only 57 per cent debt relief even though we have successfully negotiated for 90 per cent.

The minister said the Ghana would be expected to write to the Paris Club that she had signed all the agreement with the countries she owed. It had already signed agreements with France, South Africa, Germany, and the United States but is yet to sign with Canada, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom. The total stock of Ghana's debt as at December 2000 was six billion dollars. The Paris Club included both bilateral and multilateral countries and agencies.
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Armed Robbers Attack Goldfields Coach

Police in Obuasi have intensified their search for 10 armed robbers who attacked and robbed the coach of Obuasi Goldfield Sporting Club, Francis Oti Akenteng in the early hours of Monday and made away with US$ 2,500, 45 Pounds Sterling, 20,000 CFA franc and 2 million cedis. The armed men broke into the house through the balcony after unsuccessful attempts to break the main door.

Briefing the press, the Operations Manager of Goldfields Sporting club, E.K. Oteng Aboagye said when the robbers saw that the coach was making a telephone call for help they fired at him through the window. He said the robbers on entering the main rooms forced the coach to show them where he keeps his money, which he did and they collected everything.

Not satisfied, the armed robbers woke up the coach(quote)s daughter and at gun point asked her to take them to the place where her father has been keeping his money and the girl took them to the same safe which they had already looted. The robbers also forcibly removed the coach and his wife’s wedding rings from their fingers and also took away three mobile phones.

They then smashed the side glasses of the official Pajero vehicle being used by the coach and removed the tape. Mr. Oteng Aboagye said after completing the operation, the robbers severely assaulted the coach and led him, his wife and the daughter to one of the washrooms and locked them up while their house help was also locked in another washroom.

The coach and his family were released by Mr. Oteng Aboagye following a telephone call he received from the coach’s six-year-old child who was not disturbed by the armed robbers. The Obuasi Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent K.A. Boateng confirmed the incident but said by the time a police patrol team got wind of what was happening and rushed to the scene the robbers has escaped.
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E.T. Mensah In Near Brawl With Captain

Former Sports Minister and Member of Parliament for Prampram, Enoch Teye Mensah and one Captain Owu, who was not long ago freed on a charge of treason nearly pounded each other with blows on Friday, when they met at a Socialist Forum held at the International Press Centre in Accra. The two were ready for battle outside the ring but the crowd that surged forward to watch the show was denied the bout of the century when some youth who had followed E.T. Mensah to the programme escorted him away, amidst violent protests that he should be allowed to fight.

Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr’s Insight newspaper, organized the Socialist Forum for leftist academics to brainstorm on the way forward for Ghana’s economy. Somehow, the two avowed enemies found their way there. Soon a quarrel ensued between them. Capt Owu, who is alleged to be a victim of the (P) NDC brutalities attacked Ex-President J. J. Rawlings describing him in the unkind words. “You call him a President but he is a mere jackass,” Owu at one stage said. This threw NDC sympathizers at the forum into a state of fury and they began to fire back at Owu. E.T. Mensah described Captain Owu as being a mad man to which the unyielding captain retorted, “you are a crook politician.”

E. T. Mensah allegedly began removing his ‘jumper’ while Captain Owu also started removing his shirt but they were stopped. The Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper reports that there seem to have been personal scores between the two. According to Mr. Mensah, Owu had once attacked him at a funeral resulting in a similar fight
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Black Stars renegade look up to new coach

The Slovenia match and its attendant news coverage may be over but the hope of a new era for the Black Stars is about breaking on the horizon.

Most of the Black Stars players who were left out of the CAN 2002 tournament because they were alleged to be over the hill are hoping against hope that the new coach Milan Zivadinovic will give them some form of an elixir to relaunch their international careers.

The players spread over some of the rather less fancied leagues in Europe say they are in tip top condition and do not consider themselves as spent forces or old horses. But in the midst of the renegade, there are some whose performances in the leagues of Europe bespeak football virility.

Augustine Arhinful of Turkish club Ankaragucu scored 19 goals in the Turkish league and finished second in the Turkish goal king chart. Arhinful suddenly has become the heartthrob of Ankaragucu fans but he is very distant from that status in Ghana.

A blanket rejection of Turkey based players for the 2002 league in Ghana affected the prospects of the player but Arhinful says he was not the least perturbed by the decision. He thought it was fair that the authorities wanted to try out some of the younger ones during CAN 2002 but now finds the turn around of the FA inviting some of the older players as repulsive.

Arhinful told Business and Financial Times Sports that he has not resigned from international football at country level and any invitation to the Stars camp would be treated with a lot of positive attention. Arhinful’s stand echoes many forgotten Black Stars players and they seem to have a special thing for Turkey.

Kwame Ayew, Yaw Preko, Emmanuel Tetteh and Sam Johnson are all players who have played for the national team on one occasion or the other but have now been chirped away from the team.

Meanwhile, in spite of the tag of indiscipline on Bayern Munich star, Samuel Osei Kuffour, he will be one of the first renegades that Yugoslav coach, Zivadinovic will invite when he assumes office.

According to the B&FTS, two factors account for this latest development. “First because the wedge between the Ghana Football Association and the player has weakened a bit after the alleged robbery at African Footballer of the Year Awards in South Africa united Ben Koufie and the Bayern star in grief.

In principle, the FA’s stand on Kuffour as an indiscipline player has waned a bit and would therefore be more receptive to a Kuffour invitation to the Stars though not without reservations.

The second reason why Kuffour would be part of Zivadinovic’s campaign at the helm of Ghana Black Stars is because the coach will seek Ghana’s best material yet and that incontrovertibly includes Samuel Osei Kuffour. So Zivadinovic will consider Kuffour as one of his trump cards.”
Source: Business and Financial Times /NBS
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