and JAGGER PEE ALSO GOES IN FOR LIFE
Nana Kwasi Agyemang alias Gemann, was sentenced to death on May 15th for killing a taxi driver, Kwasi Adjei, sometime last year at Dome, a suburb of Accra. His close friend, Abeiku Nyame alias Jagger Pee, had a life imprisonment term imposed on him for abetting Gemann in the commission of the crime.
Two hours of summing up a further two-hour deliberation were all that a seven-member jury needed to return the guilty verdict against Gemann and Jagger Pee. On account of the verdict, Justice Apaloo announced the death penalty for Gemann but said he had taken notice of Jagger's "hero worshipping" of Gemann which led him to the trouble and added that in view of that, he is sentencing him to life imprisonment.
The convicts, have 30 days within which to lodge an appeal if they so wish. Mr. Owusu-Forjour, counsel for Jagger Pee, announced his intention of appealing against the sentence immediately it was passed..
Justice Apaloo had earlier drawn the attention of the Jurors to the evidence adduced before the court, the law involved and its implications. A moment of anguish hung over the court as the presiding judge, Mr. Justice R. K. Apaloo handed down the sentences. Meanwhile, a number of well-wishers who thronged the court could not be left out of drama, as they cried their hearts out when the sentences were passed. The two friends were immediately handcuffed and led out of the courtroom by prison officers into waiting vehicles.
Asked whether he had anything to say before sentence was passed, Jagger Pee with tears in his eyes remarked in Twi, "I have told the court all that happened. I have told the court the truth, but if the truth cannot set me free, then I don't know what the truth can do."
Gemann, who sported a green interlock and a blue trousers and was seen reading his Bible during the deliberations, declined to make any comment. All throughout the proceedings, he appeared to be tensed and occasionally fixed up a gaze at the jurors apparently with the hope that they could free him out of his predicament which he held all along contended to be an accident. His tensed condition became more pronounced when the jurors retired to chambers to consider their verdict. A few minutes after the verdict was returned, Gemann was on his way to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison where he is to await his fate.
Before the incident, the two friends were immersed in the arts. They were involved in a film project that could have turned their fortunes. Then all of a sudden, things went wayward.
On January 9, last year, Naada Khadi, a model arrived at Gemann's residence from Odorkor, a suburb of Accra, in a "chartered" taxi. She asked Gemann to pay the driver who was demanding C4,000 as the fare. Gemann, however, refused to pay that much and instead offered C2,000 which the driver refused. He later gave an additional C1,000 to the driver who again refused and drove off.
The driver later came back and collected sand from the footprints of Gemann and his friends who were in the house, ostensibly for 'juju' purposes. This act angered Gemann who later chased the driver to collect the polythene bag. A struggle therefore, ensured between them and Gemann fired a warning shot. A second shot that rang out instantly killed the driver.
Gemann, who later reported himself to the Tesano Police in Accra, was arrested with Naada, Jagger Pee and Diana Ofori, who were in the house on the day in question. Gemann was subsequently charged with the offense of murder whilst the rest were held on abatement charges.
In the course of the trial, Naada and Diana were acquitted for want of prosecution. The court freed the two accused persons who pleaded not guilty because the prosecution which closed its case on Friday (April 26) could not lead evidence to link them to the crime. Jagger Pee, 27, was however said to have abetted the crime by holding the driver before he was shot at. Jagger however, denied this.
The prosecution, which was led by Mr. Anthony Gyambiby, called in eight witnesses in the case which began on April 1. Counsel for Gemann was Mr. Frank Davies.
Earlier during the trial, Gemann was subjected to a three-hour cross-examination on May 3, by the prosecution on his role in the death of the victim. He denied the prosecution's case that he had intentionally killed the taxi driver and had remorsely presented his defence in a manner as to win public sympathy for the dastardly act. Gemann maintained that he had no intention of killing the taxi driver and expressed regret for all that happened. He said he was infuriated when the driver collected sand from the footprints of the people who had come to his house, an act which he felt was intended to kill all of them.
Asked by the prosecutor, Mr Anthony Gyambiby, as to what prompted him to go for his pistol, Gemann said he decided to chase the victim after he had left the house with the polythene bag containing the sand.
Prosecutor: Did he attack you in the house?
Accused: Verbally he did, physically he didn't.
Prosecutor: Was he having an implement like a gun when he came to your house?
Accused: No.
Prosecutor: Did he make a move towards you?
Accused: No.
Prosecutor: So why did you have to chase him with a pistol?
Accused: I had to, because he had made his intentions clear to us that he had come to kill us.
Prosecutor: How did you think that he was going to do that?
Accused: By taking it to a juju-man or shrine.
To a suggestion that there was no need for him to go for his pistol, Gemann thought otherwise and indicated that it was necessary. Asked why he fired a warning shot initially when he encountered the driver, Gemann said it was meant to calm down the driver who had then adopted an aggressive posture.
He, however, denied a suggestion that by the warning shot, he was giving a clear indication that he would shoot the victim if he did not desist from what he was doing.
Gemann admitted that he cocked the pistol when he got to where the taxi driver was but said that it was meant to serve as a warning shot. He denied that the victim was defenceless at the time he was shot at.
Gemann also rejected the prosecution's assertion that he decided to commit suicide because he knew he had committed a crime. On why he decided to throw the pistol into the lagoon, he stated, "I did so in order to save my live and not that I wanted to conceal evidence".
Gemann had earlier on May 2, said that he had no intention of causing the death of the deceased. "What happened on that day was purely accidental and I regret so much for it", Nana Agyemang otherwise known as Gemann, remorsefully said this when he opened his defence in the case. He said that it happened in a flash and all that he realised was that the man was dead.
Led in evidence by his counsel, Mr Frank Davies, Gemann recounted that after the incident, he felt very confused and did not know what to do. He said he initially drove to the Tesano Police Station in order to report himself, but could not gather up enough courage to do so saying, "I was afraid". He said he drove away heading towards Tema still confused and shivering over the incident.
Somewhere along the Labadi Beach Hotel and the Kpeshie Lagoon, Gemann said he contemplated ending his life but had a second thought. "I got out of my car with my pistol in my hand and thought about the best part of my body to shoot and die, but I later changed my mind because I realised nobody will get to know the truth of the matter", Gemann explained. Having decided not to kill himself, Gemann said he threw the pistol into the Kpeshie Lagoon and headed for Tema. Gemann told the court that he waited at Tema until he saw his counsel, who later escorted him to the Tesano Police Station at 11.45 p.m. that fateful day.
Recounting the events leading to the incident, Gemann said he was in the bathroom in the morning of January 9, last year, when he had a message from Abeiku Nyame alias Jagger Pee, a co-accused that one Naada Khadi was looking for him. He said he came out and saw Naada and a taxi driver arguing over how much the taxi driver should be paid. Later they decided to give the driver ¢3,000 but the driver rejected it and drove away. Later, he came back and started collecting the sand from the drive-way ostensibly to cast a spell on those who were in the house.
Gemann said he was deeply upset by the action of the driver and started panicking when the driver threatened that all the people in the house will die. He said knowing the reputation of taxi drivers, he thought the deceased might have a dangerous weapon to use against them so he went in for his pistol to protect himself. According to Gemann, he initially prevented the driver from moving away but Adjei became incensed and went in for a stone and charged towards him so he gave a warning shot "just to make him (driver) come back to his senses.
He said it was at this stage that Jagger Pee and one Charles came out of the house to find out what was happening. Gemann said the driver threatened to hit them with the stone he had, if any of them dared to snatch the polythene bag from him. Eventually, all of them including the taxi driver decided to go back to the house to settle their differences. However on the way, the driver suddenly turned and swung his hand which had the stone towards Gemann, the court heard. Gemann said his immediate reaction was to block the stone with his right hand which was holding the pistol but unfortunately the pistol went off killing the man instantly.
Jagger Pee, who opened his defence on May 6, also denied ever aiding Gemann to commit the crime. Narrating how it all began, Jagger Pee said on January 9, last year, he had then gone to Gemann's house for a film project when Naada Khadi, a friend of Gemann, came looking for Gemann. Jagger Pee said he went and informed him of Naada's arrival. Naada, he said, later requested that Gemann pays for the taxi fare which Gemann obliged and handed out ¢2,000 to be given to the driver.
Jagger said the driver, however, refused to collect the money on the ground that the appropriate fare was ¢4,000 and not ¢2,000. The accused said he went back and informed Gemann about the driver's insistence on collecting ¢4,000 and Gemann offered an additional ¢1,000 but the driver again refused to accept it. "The driver rather put the money into my back pocket and drove off", Jagger Pee told the court. He said he informed Gemann about the driver's refusal to collect the money.
Moments later, he said, whilst watching video with Naada and Diana, another friend he overheard Gemann in an adjoining room saying that the taxi driver had come back to worry him (Gemann) again. Jagger said it was at this stage that Naada requested to go home so she enquired of the whereabouts of Gemann.
The accused said he, therefore, went out to look for Gemann in the adjoining room but his search proved futile as Gemann was nowhere in the house. The accused told the court that he made his way out of the gate and barely five yards away from the house, he saw Gemann with a gun in hand standing alongside the taxi driver. Jagger Pee said he hurriedly rushed to the scene but before he could get there, he heard a gun shot.
"I asked Gemann what the problem was and he said the taxi driver had come to collect sand from our footprints", Jagger Pee said. Jagger Pee indicated that at this stage he wanted to snatch the polythene bag containing the sand from the taxi driver, but Gemann warned that the driver had a stone in his hand.
Answering questions under cross-examination by the prosecutor, Mr Anthony Gyambiby, Jagger Pee admitted that although he pleaded with the driver to accept ¢3,000, he did not likewise plead with Gemann to pay the ¢1,000 difference to let the matter rest. He maintained that he did not know that it was because of the ¢1,000 difference that had brought them the problem they are currently entangled with, rather he said, "it is because of the sand".
The accused, however, agreed with the prosecution that the driver would not have come back to collect the sand if they had paid the difference of ¢1,000. Asked whether he felt threatened by the action of the driver, Jagger Pee stated "Yes, I was afraid".
He denied a suggestion that he assisted in the killing of the deceased by holding him by the collar whilst one Charles, now at large, also held the deceased by the trousers. Jagger Pee said he did not hold the deceased for Gemann to kill him.
MR P.V. Obeng, Presidential Adviser on Governmental Affairs has denied that he owns a mansion at East Legon when he appeared before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Accra.
Mr Obeng was answering questions from the Commission over allegations of impropriety levelled against him by two newspapers — The Ghanaian Chronicle and the Free Press.
Mr Obeng said he once owned the plot of land on which the said building is situated at Ogbojo, near Madina, but said he disposed of the land long ago to one Roberto Noci who built on it. Mr Obeng said house number G5, Sakumono road, Tema, which belongs to him did not reflect in his assets declaration form to the Commission because he built that house before taking office with the PNDC. He said it however, reflected in his assets declaration form to the Auditor-General.
Asked to tell who is Esi Hammond, the lady whom he declared as the joint owner of the airport building, Mr Obeng said Esi Hammond was the maiden name of his wife.
Giving the background of the case, Mr Emile Short, Commissioner of the CHRAJ said the Ghanaian Chronicle in its 15-19, 1995 edition alleged that Mr P.V. Obeng acquired "a string of properties from Accra to Adansi", including a ¢500 million building property at Airport West in Accra. It alleged that the said property was not included in the asset declaration form submitted to the Auditor-General as required by the constitution.
Mr Short said the Free Press of June 23, 1995, also alleged among other things that Mr Obeng had built "a mansion of four similar buildings of exquisite architecture and smaller apartments adorning a place at Legon few metres beyond the Institute of Professional Studies. The paper estimated the four main buildings as ¢600 million. He said the publication went further to allege that Mr Obeng had put up the building in the name of his mother, Mary Dufie to evade assets declaration and to deceive the public.
Mr Short explained that the Commission's investigation is being conducted in pursuant to the Commission's responsibility under Article 218(e) of the 1992 Constitution. He said the investigation will also seek to determine whether there has been any contravention of any of the provisions of chapter 24 of the 1992 Constitution on the Code of Conduct of Public Officers.
The Editors of the Ghanaian Chronicle and the Free Press, Nana Kofi Coomson and Eben Quarcoo yesterday, failed to appear before the Commission.
Mr Obeng is being represented by three counsel namely, Mr Stanley Amarteifio, Mr Larry Adjetey and Mr Sam Cudjoe. He was accompanied by Nana Akuaku Sarpong, Presidential Staffer on Chieftaincy Affairs.
President Jerry Rawlings has said that given the social cost of keeping Liberian refugees in Ghana, the decision to call back the Bulk Challenger was a painful one for government.
The president said the decision to turn away the ship from docking in Ghana was one of the most popular decisions the government had taken judging from the people's response to the announcement. He said however, that conditions of the people on board made it necessary that they get some kind of temporary abode.
President Rawlings said this when Mrs. Mariapia Fantani, President of the Together for Peace, an Italian NGO, called on him at the castle. He expressed regret that the ordinary Ghanaian is being burdened with a problem created by some people's quest for power. He reiterated that Ghana does not have the capacity to be ever gracious and said that though most of the countries that pleaded with Ghana to take on the refugees promised assistance, experience has shown that most of such promises are never fulfilled.
President Rawlings called on international community, especially governments of developed countries to exert the necessary influences to stop some of such conflicts before they degenerate into humanitarian disasters.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas said, accepting the refugees would put a severe strain on the, country since there are already a large number of them here. He explained that this is why Ghana has been trying to solve the problem in Liberia so that the people would not flood into countries in the sub-region. He said it is therefore, disappointing that the leaders of that country have not shown any sensitivity to the plight of their people and solution to the problem.
Mrs. Fantani said her organization has brought in 15 tons of relief items with an extra ship-load on its way for the Liberian refugees. She said the items would be given to the government for distribution to the victims of the war.
Meanwhile reports from Essipong indicate that 1,410 Liberians who dis-embarked the ship are temporarily being housed at the Social Welfare Rehabilitation Center at Essipong near Sekondi. The refugees are made up of 626 men, 306 women and 478 children. An official of the Ghana Red Cross Society told the Graphic that every effort is being made to take good care of the refugees. It was learnt that the World Food Program and a consortium of NGO's are coordinating efforts to provide food and other logistics for the refugees.
An official also told the Graphic that ECOMOG soldiers who were on the ship and are now stranded in Takoradi would be repatriated to Nigeria.
In another development, President Jerry Rawlings has warned Liberian warlords that their intransigence and duplicity, coupled with meagre international support, would compel the west African Peace Mission in Liberia (ECOMOG), to pull out of the country.
"I want us to send the final piece of advice to the leaders of Liberia, both civil and military, that their country is in mortal danger of being completely abandoned by the international community," Rawlings said.
The Ghanian president was addressing the closing session of a two-day ministerial meeting of the Committee of Nine on Liberia at the Accra International Conference centre.
A summit was scheduled to follow the meeting but most of the heads of state who were expected to attend, failed to turn up. Only Sierra Leone's President Tejan Kabbah showed up for the conferene in the Ghanaian capital.
Rawlings said while the sub-region would continue to give its support to the peace process, Liberians must be mindful of the fact that ECOMOG cannot remain in Liberia beyond a certain point.
"Eventually we would have to cross the threshold and grapple with the vexing issues of what should be done if the situation remains the same in Liberia," he added. Rawlings called on the International Community to strenghten ECOMOG's military posture by providing it with the capability that would sufficiently deter the factions. He said that the international community should not allow their bilateral relations with ECOWAS member-states to stand in the way of giving the urgently needed funding and logistics support to ECOMOG.
He appealed to countries of the sub-region to contribute troops and asked: "If some ECOWAS members states want to participate in the African rapid deployment force proposed by France recently in Nouakchott, why can't these same member-states contribute to ECOMOG?".
"Without peace in Liberia", the President went on, the war would continue to spill over to other countries in the sub-region, thereby making it more difficult for socio-economic development.
Rawlings said during last month's looting, humanitarian organisations lost goods and equipment in excess of 20 million dollars. "We cannot stand idle while factions openly loot," he added. Rawlings, apparently refering to the failure of heads of state to attend the summit, said "I have been aware of the growing frustrations among my ECOWAS colleagues with the Liberian situation".
"...Such has been the intractable nature of the Liberian conflict that few of us are prepared to continue to spend time and resources on conferences and meetings on the same problem".
The president said the six-member Council of State, over the past six months, had shown lack of cohesiveness. He said unfortunate developments had side-tracked the Council from its original course of cooperating with ECOMOG to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate the fighters into civil society.
"Some Council members have even raised the issue of the sovereignty of Liberia in their efforts to manginalize the world of ECOMOG". The Council, Rawlings explained, was claiming the responsibility of disarming the factions. "It is bad faith and a betrayal of the Abuja accord," he added. "How can the International Community be persuaded to Fund the demobilization and disarmament exercise in Liberia if it perceived that the programme lacks credibility?", the Ghanaian leader asked.
The ministerial of the Ecowas committee of Nine at the end of their two-day meeting in Accra last week, recommended a two-month grace period for Liberians to demonstrate their commitment to peace in their country.
After the period, the committee would asses the situation nd determine at the next ECOWAS Summit meeting, the "continuation or otherwise" of the involvement of ECOWAS in Liberian peace process. The recommendations resulted in the postponement of the ECOWAS Heads of State Summit to enable the Government and people of Liberia to implement the new mechanism outlined for them.
The Ministerial Committee is expected to report its finding to the ECOWAS Heads of state Summit to return Liberia to the Abuja Agreement, all parties must ensure that the strict observance by their armed fighters, of the cease-fire demand by the Chairman of ECOWAS throughout Liberia. It called for the immediate withdrawal of armed fighters from Monrovia simultaneously with the completion of deployment of ECOMOG throughout the city.
According to the mechanism, all arms and ammunition must be removed from Monrovia to be verified by ECOMOG and UNOMIL, and the re-instatement of Monrovia to the status o safe Haven. It also recalled for the return of property to their rightful owners and ensuring the freedom of all citizens from arbitrary arrests and abduction by armed soldiers.
The fighters should return all arms seize from ECOMOG troops during the attacks on them in Tubmamburg, Boni County in December, 1995, and equipment seized or looted from UNOMIL, United Nations and other humanitarian agencies in Liberia.
A cease-fire Violation Monitoring Committee is to be set up to oversee the mechanism recommended the establishment of the authority and cohesiveness of the Council of State of Liberia in particular and the Liberia National Transitional Government (LNTG) in general, as outlined in the Abuja Agreement and other agreements proceeding it
VIOLENCE broke out recently at the premises of the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA), between taxi drivers and members of the TMA Task Force, following an alleged killing of a driver by the task force.
However sources at the Tema General Hospital said the driver was brought in semi-conscious but not dead and is on admission. A news report said three vehicles, the security gate and a kiosk were set ablaze during the incident which was apparently sparked off by the false information that the taxi driver had been beaten to death by the security men.
Eye witness accounts has it that the taxi driver had stopped at an unauthorised place to pick a passenger when he was arrested by the task force.
The driver was said to have retaliated by slapping one of them, as a result he was beaten up until he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital by a colleague.
Mr Mike Gizo, Greater Accra Regional Minister, who chanced on the incident on his way from a function at Ada, managed to contain the situation for about an hour until he was forced to leave under police protection. The minister was not hurt but his car was dented by a mob who defied police warning shots. A similar incident occurred in the municipality in September 1994 during which the assembly's property was vandalised.
Meanwhile, Mr Gizo, Mr Austin Gamey, Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare and Mr Adjei Larbie, MP for Tema East, have visited the victim to wish him well.
Narrating his side of the story, the driver, Mr Lambert Asamoah, said he stopped to discharge passengers near the Community One Bank for Housing and Construction, which was an authorised spot but did not understand why he was arrested. He said the task force men demanded ¢6,000 from him, but since he did not have enough money on him, he asked them to accompany him to his employer, but they refused and started beating him.
Security personnel in a dawn swoop arrested 239 people suspected of involvement in the attack. A police source told newsmen that the police were making frantic efforts to distribute the suspects to various police stations for them to be vetted and that those found innocent would be released on bail.
The source said those arrested include two women, one of whom is said to have been involved in setting the TMA vehicles ablaze but the police said no one had come to identify her. The police also retrieved five out of 200 bags of cement suspected to have been looted from the TMA yard. The source said the police are also holding three persons who were arrested with dry leaves and powdery substances suspected to be Indian hemp and cocaine.
At the time of a visit to the Community One Police Station, some of the suspects were sitting in trucks while others had grouped under trees waiting to be sent to various police cells.
AN executive member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in the Tano North Constituency has defected to the NDC because his desire to visit Accra for the first time in his life time was thwarted by NPP members during the recent delegates conference.
Mr Kwasi Ameyaw, 30, Constituency Propaganda Secretary was among 27 members of the NPP in the constituency who announced their defection to the NDC at a meeting held by the party at Duayaw Nkwanta to round off a two-week outreach programme in the Tano District.
Mr Ameyaw, a carpenter, said when he was initially picked as a delegate from the constituency for the congress, he became very happy. This was not because he was being given a chance to be part of the congress but because his long-cherished dream to have a look of Accra for the first time was to materialise.
But few days before the congress, he was told by party executives that he had been replaced with another delegate "and I did not take it kindly because I did not know when the next opportunity would come for me to visit Accra". He said he, therefore, decided to call it quits and use his organisational abilities to help the NDC to win the constituency.
Other key defectors include Messrs Osei Kuffour, Paul Nyame and Owusu Sekyere, all founding members, Georgina Kisiwaa, women's organiser and J.B. Marfo, zonal NPP chairman at Buokrukruwa. They said they were joining the NDC because they have seen that it is the only party that has the country at heart.
THE University of Ghana alumni is to construct a ¢5 billion residential building to be located between the Madina Junction and Atomic, a suburb of Accra, to ease the accommodation problems facing students.
The building, to be known as "Jubilee Hall", is expected to be completed by 1998, when the university will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. It is expected to house about 1,500 students. In line with this, all alumni are to contribute one per cent of their salaries monthly for three years, when the golden jubilee will be celebrated. The hall, will be a permanent legacy of the alumni of the university.
Mr Jean Aka, Managing Director of ECOBANK (Gh) Ltd, who is the Chairman of the Golden Jubilee Planning Committee, announced this at the lanching of the University of Ghana Jubilee Hall Fund in Accra.
Giving a background of the jubilee fund, Mr Aka noted that the five halls of residence and a few annexes originally built for 2,500 students is now housing 7,000 students which he said, is putting too much pressure on the limited facilities available at the university.
Professor George Benneh, Vice-Chancellor of the University, who launched the fund, reminded the alumni that the fund is only an aspect of the preparation of the golden jubilee of the university.
Mr John Schram, Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, underscored the role of alumni in the building and maintenance of a university, especially when government is unable to bear the full expenses of the universities.
Dr J.K. Richardson, Managing Director of Pioneer Tobacco Company, who chaired the function, reminded the alumni that their contributions will demonstrate their commitment to the improvement of facilities in the university and their gratitude for what the university has made them to be.
An appeal for fund yielded ¢30 million in the form of promises and cash at the function.
A 45-MINUTE heavy down pour on May 2 morning resulted in flooding parts of the capital, Accra. Though residents in the flood-prone areas escaped the havoc wreaked during the rains last year, considerable damage was caused to property running into millions of cedis.
At Kaneshie behind the Takoradi Station, the Christ Apostolic Church had all its instruments including public address systems destroyed.
When newsmen got to the scene some members of the church were seen carrying benches and removing quantities of Bible from the church whilst others were also pumping out water from the church building. At the State Insurance Corporation (SIC), Ring Road West, most of the vehicles belonging to staff of the corporation were almost submerged in water.
Mr J.N. Narh, Administrative Manager told newsmen that the size of the drains in front of the office was too small to contain the flood waters.
Mr Narh said when officials of the Hydro Division of the Architectural and Engineering Services Corporation (AESC) visited the scene after last July's flood they promised to do something to alleviate the problem but they have since not heard from them.
At the North Kaneshie Last Stop area the situation was not different; some of the houses visited had their walls broken with flood waters covered everywhere.
Mr Winfred Nii Odamtey, owner of Dynamic Electronic Systems complained bitterly about the extent of damage caused to his workshop. He said almost all the television sets, video decks, and sound systems he had repaired had been damaged by the rains beyond repair.
At the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA), Mr Nat Nunoo-Amarteifio, Chief Executive of AMA could not tell when the Odaw River and the Korle-Lagoon are going to be dredged. He, however, noted that until the Korle-Lagoon is dredged, the metropolis will continue to experience flooding.
BARELY one week after going through a successful congress that saw the emergence of Mr J.A. Kufuor as its flagbearer for this year's elections, the capabilities of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for conflict resolution and reconciliation has been put to the test.
The issue here is whether or not Dr Kwame Donkor Fordwor, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party should resign in the wake of the failure of Professor Adu Boahen to get elected as the party's flagbearer at the special delegates congress of the party at the University of Ghana, Legon last week.
It would be recalled that Dr Donkor Fordwor in an interview last October with an Accra weekly reportedly stated that he would quit his party position if Professor Albert Adu Boahen, his politically ally and confidant and the 1992 flagbearer of the party was not re-elected to lead the party in this year's elections.
And to forestall the possibility of the party being thrown into a new and potentially damaging crisis, the Council of Elders are hard at work trying to halt Dr Donkor Fordwor in his tracks before he can carry through with his threat to quit. In a letter addressed to Dr Donkor Fordwor from the Council of Elders of the NPP and signed by its chairman Mr Kwesi Lamptey, the council said it was "aware of the seriousness of the statement and mindful of the adverse effect which its implementation will have on the NPP.
According to the party elders, if Dr Donkor Fordwor chose to resign his position now, "embarking on the election of a new regional chairman at this stage would certainly provoke a devastatingly divisive, acrimonious and time-wasting exercise which will detract from the most urgent duty of campaigning in unity to win the presidential and parliamentary elections in December 1996".
The elders asserted that whilst they were conscious of the fact that no individual in the party is indispensable, they were nevertheless also very much aware of the fact of the "efficacious performance" of Dr Donkor Fordwor as the Chairman of the party in Ashanti.
They contended that the next seven months preceding the general elections of December constituted "the most crucial period in the life of the NPP" and that nothing should be done to throw the party into crisis.
"In the light of the above, we, members of the Council of Elders, earnestly plead with you not to take any action, which though might show you up as a man of honour, will however work to the detriment of the NPP and the nation as a whole by contributing to the failure to win power in the impending presidential and parliamentary elections", the party elders concluded.
When newsmen contacted Dr Donkor Fordwor on the issue at his Kumasi residence last Tuesday, he acknowledged receipt of a letter and a delegation from the party elders appealing to him to stay his ground.
Meanwhile, The Association of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Constituency Chairmen in the Ashanti Region has declared that the call by supporters on the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the party, Dr Kwame Donkor-Fordjour to resign, will not be in the interest of the party/
The association comprising chairmen of the 33 constituencies in the region, expressed their full confidence in the administration and leadership of Dr Donkor-Fordjour, saying "your resignation at this crucial moment would not be in the interest of the party".
These were contained in a resolution adopted by the association at it's meeting on Saturday April 27 in Kumasi, which discussed an interview granted by Dr Donkor-Fordjour to a private newspaper to the effect that he would resign if his favourite, Professor Adu Boahen is not elected as the NPP flagbearer for the 1996 presidential elections.
The resolution signed by the chairman of the association, Mr Osei Mensah, urged Dr Donkor Fordjour to remain in office to continue the good work he is doing for the party in the region.
GHANA is to benefit from a multi-million dollar satellite radio broadcasting project. Under the project, the country will be linked to an international satellite system that will enable local radio stations to receive and also transmit radio broadcast signals throughout the developing world.
The Managing Director of Worldspace Ghana Limited, Dr Nat Tanoh, who disclosed this to newsmen said an agreement to this effect has been signed between the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), and Worldspace. GBC will accordingly reserve channels for digital audio broadcasting.
Worldspace will also introduce into the country, special designed hand-held radio receivers which are solar powered. According to Dr Tanoh, six ECOWAS countries have already signed memoranda of understanding to join the Worldspace project.
He said Ghana has been chosen as the West African sub-region headquarters of worldspace because of the relative stability she enjoys and the government's commitment to the private sector in the transformation of the national economy. He said Worldspace has commissioned three specialised digital audio transmission satellites targeted at Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East.
Dr Tanoh explained that each of these satellites is capable of broadcasting almost 300 radio channels to millions of portable radio sets operable by solar power.
Through the Worldspace project, he said, populations of the Third World can be reached and enlisted as participants in the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases such as AIDS as well as pro-active health care measures as pre-natal health care. Education programmes on environmental degeneration afflicting the developing countries could also be effectively broadcast.
MS Ama Ohene, a teacher at the Ghana International School (GIS) is set to contest the presidential nomination of the People's Convention Party (PCP) for the December presidential elections.
A source close to the PCP presidential aspirant told newsmen that Ms Ohene had for some time now nursed presidential ambitions and thought this was the time to declare it. The source also indicated that she was confident that she could hold her own and even go on to win the PCP nomination when the party goes to congress on June 7 this year to choose its flagbearer for this year's election.
The PCP has announced that nominations for the party's presidential candidate which opened last month officially close on May 10 this year.
With Ms Ohene entery into the PCP presidential race, the number of aspirants vying for the party's presidential nomination has come to seven. The other aspirants are Mr Kankam da Costa, Professor George Hagan, Professor Daniel Offei, Dr F.W.A., Akuffo, Mr Bamful Turkson and Mr Bentil Enchil.
THE dream of five men becoming millionaires overnight evaporated into thin air when the owner of the cheque they were about to cash stumbled on them right behind the counter at the High Street branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank.
Manase The men, Nana Frimpong Dwamena, 60, self-styled businessman, Frank Kotochi, 36, driver, Jonas Adzidor, 54, and Botchway, 43, both archivists at the bank are in police custody helping with investigations. The fifth accomplice, Dan Yaw Asamoah is said to be on the run.
The suspects were alleged to have stolen a disused cheque book belonging to Kasap Company Limited, forged the signature of the managing director and attempted to withdraw an amount of ¢11,753,000 payable to Yaw Asamoah.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) E.Y. Domie of Accra Central Police, the cheque with number 0925242 dated April 4, 1996, purported to have been issued by the managing director of the company was endorsed and presented by Nana Dwamena.
Unfortunately for them, as the cheque was being processed, the managing director of Kasap Limited also came to the bank to transact business. It was there that the bank officials saw the disparity in the signatures to the cheques the managing director presented and the one presented by Dwamena.
When the managing director was asked about the cheque, he disputed it and said that particular cheque leaflet was not being used again. The bank's security was informed and the suspects Nana Dwamena and Manase Kotochi were arrested, but Yaw Asamoah, suspected to be the brain behind the scheme managed to escape. Upon interrogation by the police, it was discovered that Adzidor and Botchway were involved.
Mr. K. A. Bonful, Deputy Minister of the Interior, has maintained that the death penalty is vital to maintaining law and order, and needs not be swapped from the statute books. He was reacting to a suggestion by the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Mr. Emile Short, that the death penalty should be scrapped if the Government was no longer interested in it.
Mr. Bonful said, however, that the decision to either scrap or keep it laid with the Attorney-General's Department.
The Commissioner's suggestion was predicated on the congestion in the condemned cells where large numbers of prisoners sentenced to death are being held some for as many as 12 years. According to Mr. Short, the long years that some of the prisoners kept waiting for their fate, the torture that they went through and the general conditions under which they were held constituted a violations of fundamental human rights.
Mr. Bonful said the Government was equal concerned with the conditions in the country's prisons, nothing that they needed expansion and the facilities required rehabilitation. He explained that funding for the expansion and rehabilitation was being sought to make the prisons a better place.
In what he described as a personal opinion, Mr. Bonful did not see the moral grounds on which armed robbers could talk about human rights because they had refused to acknowledge the rights of others. He wondered what the country would look like if criminals were that they could kill, main and rob others with no death threat hanging over their heads as punishment. If nothing at all, the Deputy Minister said, the death penalty should be seen as deterrent to criminals.
THE plan was masterfully designed by a 39-year-old farmer, Abena Brempomaa of Duayaw Nkwanta in the Brong Ahafo Region to end once and for all, the amorous relationship between her husband and his ex-wife, Abena Amankwaa.
Brempomaa planned to catch her husband, Mr F.K. Kyeremeh and Amankwaa "live" in bed and then mutilate her genital organ so that she would not get the chance to taste her husband's "thing" anymore.
She caught them alright in bed one afternoon enjoying themselves but the cut she opened on Amankwaa's genital organ, though serious, was not enough to remove the whole thing.
Brempomaa has already appeared before a community tribunal at Bechem where she was found guilty of causing harm. The tribunal fined her ¢300,000 and ¢250,000 of it went to Amankwaa as compensation.
The facts of the case were that Kyeremeh, farmer, was married to Amankwaa and Brempomaa for some time. About two years ago, Mr Kyeremeh divorced Amankwaa and for some time the two were not on speaking terms. But ex-wife Amankwaa later turned to be the girlfriend of Kyeremeh without the knowledge of Brempomaa.
According to the facts, anytime Amankwaa wanted to have sex with her ex-husband, she would wait for Brempomaa to go to the farm before sneaking to the man's room. Before his wife would return from farm, Kyeremeh would have finished the "game". And his girlfriend gone.
While the act was going on, some people hinted Brempomaa and she decided to trap them. She then allegedly planned to cut off the vagina of her ex-rival because it was only through that that their relationship could be severed.
On March 15, 1996, she tricked her husband that she was going to the farm but hid somewhere to see what would happen. Soon, she saw Amankwaa entering Kyeremeh's house but she waited to see what would happen next.
After about twenty minutes, Brempomaa entered the house and forced the door to her husband's room open, and lo and behold, the two were lying on the bed naked. Brempomaa pulled out a knife, shrugged off resistance from the two people and inflicted a cut on Amankwaa's genital organ.
As she bled from the cut, Amankwaa was rushed to the hospital where she was treated and discharged.
A 96-YEAR-OLD woman from Abetifi Kwahu in the Eastern Region had the rudest shock in her life when a youth, young enough to be her great grand-son, attacked her on her farm and raped her rendering her partially paralysed.
After the attack the woman had to crawl to the roadside where a good Samaritan aided her home to report the incident to the police and to secure a police form for medical treatment.
For committing this offence, the culprit, Kofi Dei, a 25-year-old farmer of Abetifi Kwahu, has been tried and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in hard labour for rape by the criminal session of a Koforidua High Court. He confessed having committed the offence and pleaded guilty.
In his ruling the presiding High Court Judge, Justice Francis Kusi-Appiah, maintained that though he considered the plea of mitigation by the defence counsel, the gravity of the offence and the manner in which the crime was committed, as well as the age of the victim and the traumatic effect of the said offence on the victim, left him with no alternative than to give a sentence to serve as a deterrent to others. He regretted that the accused in his bid to satisfy himself, threw away his human instincts and behaved like a beast and tormented the old women.
The facts of the case presented to the court by the State Attorney was that, on March 13, last year, whilst the woman was working on her farm, Dei attacked her wielding a cutlass and demanded to have sex with her or kill her if she refused.
Though she refused, the accused dragged her to a nearby bush amidst shouts and cries from the woman, and pinned her down and raped her after which he left her to her fate on the farm.
The victim, however, managed to get home with the help of a sympathiser and the accused was later arrested, after a report had been made to the police. A medical report on the woman confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted.
OKAIDJA Okine, a fisherman at Mpoase, near Dansoman, is in police grips for attempting to sell his 11-year-old son for ¢45 million.
Narrating the incident to newsmen in Accra, Mr Owusu Amankwah, a life guard at Shangri La Hotel in Accra said about two months ago, one Ahmed came to him informing him about Okine's intentions to sell his son. He said he told Ahmed that because he was working at the hotel, he could find him somebody to buy the child. Amankwah explained that since he wanted to be sure if Okine was actually interested in selling the child, he asked Ahmed to arrange a meeting between the three of them to strike the deal.
Amankwah said after their first meeting, sometime last month, they arranged to do the transaction on May 6. He said he arranged the meeting with the intention of causing the arrest of Okine and put a stop to his diabolical intention. Amankwah said that on meeting Okine yesterday morning he sent him to Radio Gold so that they could help in arresting him. He said at Radio Gold Okine was introduced to one Baffour Boney, the General Manager as the one who wanted to buy the child having earlier briefed Mr Boney on Okine's intentions.
He said Boney then negotiated with Okine on the price to pay for the child and agreed on ¢45 million. Amankwah said Boney then gave them ¢14,000 as transport back to Mpoase to bring the boy who had been sent to school somewhere outside Accra. Amankwah indicated that during the negotiations Radio Gold had put them on air without Okine knowing. According to him, when the police heard about the incident on the radio they drove to the premises of Radio Gold and arrested Okine.
When Okine was asked why he wanted to sell the child, he explained that he needed money to buy a fishing net and canoe, build a house and travel outside the country. He also said he did not care what becomes of the child afterwards once he has the money and the boy was no longer with him.
Meanwhile, Okaidja Okine is to be arraigned before court later this week. Mr J.A. Amponsah, Assistant Superintendent of Police of the Anti-Armed Robbery Squad told newsmen in an interview that none of his relatives who had turned up at the police station has expressed any interest in bailing him. He said Koshie Lamptey, 26, a trader, who is the mother of the child told the police that about three years ago, she divorced Okine after 12 years of marriage. She said since they got divorced, she has been constantly remitting the boy and three other children they had during their marriage until last year when Okine threatened to kill her if she dared step in his house again.
ASP Amponsah said Koshie further stated that he was surprised when Daniel Quashie, her brother brought her son to him informing him about the husband's attempt to sell the child. He said Koshie also expressed shock about the attitude of the husband explaining that the man is sane. She further said the child is nine years and not 11 as alleged by his father.
KOFI Boateng, alias Gambo, 37, a trader would not take no for an answer when his girlfriend Ekua Amoabea, 24, also a trader, told him she could no longer live with him.
He lured her to a deserted area of the Kokomba market and poured a bottle full of acid on her face. Now Ekua is disfigured beyond recognition. Her face and body have been badly burnt and corroded and she is also blind in one eye. She is on admission at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital where her problems have been compounded due to her inability to settle her medical bills.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) James Bruce, in-charge of James Town District Headquarters, Boateng and Ekua had been lovers for years and lived in the same room in a house at the Konkomba market. He said recently, a misunderstanding developed between them and Ekua packed bag and baggage and left the house to live in another house in the same area. After sometime when Ekua refused to return home, Boateng went to her house in her absence, allegedly stole all her belongings and sold them at the market, an action which compelled Ekua to end their relationship entirely. Boateng, later went to Ekua to ask for a reconciliation but she stood her grounds.
According to the DSP, due to his failure to reconcile with Ekua, Boateng consequently sent a friend of his to Ekua to mediate on his behalf. The friend, after being able to convince Ekua, took her to Boateng at his hideout and left them. At the hideout, Boateng tried to force Ekua to a quieter place but she refused and told him in the face that she had nothing doing with him again.
The DSP said, Boateng who had already planned the next move, if he failed again to get a reconciliation suddenly poured a beer bottle full of acid on her face and body, burning and corroding her face and body severely. Sensing danger, Boateng fled the scene when she started screaming for help. Fortunately, she was rescued by some sympathisers who rushed to the scene and took her to the hospita
l. Later one of the sympathiser reported the matter to the James Town Police who went to the scene and are still hunting for Boateng.
TRAGEDY struck the Gidiglo Family at Kadjebi in the Volta Region, last week when all the four children in the six-member nucleus family of Mr Freeman Gidiglo, a farmer, died of a suspected case of food poisoning.
They were said to have eaten 'akple' prepared from a mixture of corn and cassava dough with okro soup and ground pepper on both Tuesday and Wednesday, April 23 and 24 respectively. It was prepared at home by their mother, Madam Phidelia Gidiglo.
The dead are Charity, seven, Daniel 11, Cephas, 15 and Atsu, 15. Dan and Charity died on Wednesday, whilst Cephas and Atsu died on Thursday. They were buried on Friday April 26.
Their father who also took part in the meal is said to be in coma at a nearby hospital at Dodi-Papase. At the time newsmen left Kadjebi, Mr Freeman's condition was said to be critical with unconfirmed reports of his death. Madam Phidelia has however, complained of slight stomach troubles.
Investigations revealed that on Monday, April 22, Madam Phidelia went to the farm and harvested okro, sold some and kept the rest till the following day when she used it to prepare soup to be eaten with 'akple'. All the six members of the family took part in the meal.
On Wednesday morning, Madam Gidiglo prepared more akple with the same dough but this time with only three of the children taking it with ground pepper and left for school. But before their mother could get herself ready to leave for the farm, the three children who had left for school after eating the food, were carried one after the other from school in serious conditions.
All the children were rushed to the local clinic and it was there that their father who had been recalled from farm and seemed to be in good health, collapsed. The children and their father were referred to the Mary-Theresa Hospital at Dodi-Papase, where Daniel and Charity died that Wednesday and Cephas and Atsu died on Thursday.
A Poultry farmer who flogged his 72-year-old mother until she fell unconscious because he suspected her of being a witch and claimed that his mother was responsible for his predicament, is facing the law.
Nii Noi Botchway, 42, is also alleged to have caned his mother because she prevented him from selling 'wee' in the mother's house at Oyarifa near Madina in Accra.
According to the Chief Inspector of the Striking Force, Mustapha Saa-ed on April 16, Nii Botchway who sells the stuff became offended when his mother asked him to stop selling and also ordered his friend Mensah Lomofio who sells the Indian hemp with Botchway to leave the house. He said Botchway who had for some time been asking his mother to stop worrying him and his friend, jumped on the mother and caned her until she fell unconscious.
Chief Inspector Saa-eed said when a caretaker of a nearby house, Ferdinand Kojo Marfo rushed to the aid of the old lady, Botchway vented his anger on him by slashing him with a cutlass. He said Botchway again assaulted his younger sister Victoria Ako when she rushed to the rescue of her mother. He inflicted several cutlass wounds on her legs and bit her back.
He said residents who heard the cry of the victims rushed to the action spot and seized the cutlass from him. Botchway said during interrogation that he took that action when his mother drove his friend away from their house.
A man who shot a chief claiming he was sent by a river god is in serious trouble. Even though the suspect, James Abbey alias Baker 45, and a farmer is not a fetish priest, he claims he was possessed and was directed by the river god to shoot to death the Chief of Opah near Saipeiman in the Ga District, because the chief refused to perform certain rites to pacify the river god.
Abbey is making his first appearance before the Amasaman District Public Tribunal on charges of attempted murder and possessing firearms without lawful authority. Mrs E.A. Azemba, presiding at the tribunal remanded Abbey in prison custody. .
Inspector C.K. Wotordzor, prosecuting told the court that Abbey requested for a piece of land from the chief of Opah in March to put up a building. The chief according to the prosecution instructed the stool secretary Mr D.K. Abbey to allocate a portion of the stool land to Abbey.
He said a quarrel ensued between the stool secretary and Abbey after the stool seecretary failed to allocate the land Abbey had opted for. The prosecutor told the court that on April 6 at about 6.30 p.m., Abbey not satisfied was alleged to have threatened to kill the stool secretary and the chief for failing to give him the specified portion he requested for. He said the stool secretary sensing danger informed the chief about Abbey's threat.
Nii Opah the deceased in an attempt to save the explosive situation summoned some of his elders including the suspect's father Odenkey Abbey to his palace for an action on the suspect's behaviour.
The prosecutor said while discussing the Abbey issue, he suddenly surfaced at the meeting at about 7.30 p.m. brandishing shot-gun and fired the at the chief at close range killing him instantly.
A fight among three brothers at Anlo Town, a suburb of Koforidua over two missing eggs has resulted in the death of one of them.
A Koforidua Circuit court which was told this chilling story has remanded John Agbelli Agbeti in prison custody for intentionally and unlawfully stabbing his brother Michael Agbeti to death.
Superintendent Rose Bio Atinga, prosecuting, told the court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Ayebi that on April 13, 1996, at about 4.30 p.m., Vincent Agbeti of Anlo Town in Koforidua detected the theft of two eggs from his room. According to the prosecution, he was informed by his elder brother, Michael Agbei, now deceased, that it was the accused, John Agbeli Agbeti, who entered the room.
Ms Atinga told the court that the accused who had just returned from farm entered the bathhouse to wash down so Vincent went there to confront him and a fight ensued between the two. The prosecution said the deceased rushed to the bathhouse to separate his brothers but the accused pulled out a knife from his trousers and stabbed him.
Superintendent of Police in charge of the Ho District Mr B.G. Dery said the three victims sustained serious injuries in their legs.
He said soon after the incident the bridegroom, Daniel Asimedu with the assistance of another brother disarmed Kwasi and tied his legs and arms with a rope with the intention of handing over to the police.
He said looking at the critical state of the injured guests, the bridegroom and his friends decided tokeep Kwasi in the ropes while they rushed the gun-shot victims to the hospital.
Mr Dery said on their return to Ziavi, they realised to their surprise that the victim had been set free by some villages and ran into hiding.
THE Adjabeng Community Tribunal has sentenced a 29-year-old teacher, Ben Acolatse who defiled a 12-year-old girl, to seven years imprisonment with hard labour.
According to the facts of the case, both the accused and the victim live in the same house at Adadenkpo in Accra. It said in the afternoon of April 4, this year, Acolatse after waiting for all the inmates of the house to leave for work, called the victim into his room and gave her ¢50 to buy him a stick of cigarette.
The prosecution said, the victim did not hesitate and quickly went on the errand. But as she entered his room to deliver the cigarette to him, Acolatse pushed her onto his bed, removed her panties and forcibly had sex with her.
After the ordeal, Acolatse warned her never to mention the incident to anyone otherwise he will beat her to death. Because of the threat, the victim also kept mute over the incident. But two days after the incident, the victim started feeling severe pains in the abdomen, compelling her to stay in bed all day.
The prosecution said, when the parents inquired what was wrong with her she narrated the incident to them and accordingly informed them of the threat Acolatse issued to her. The parents then took her to the hospital where it was confirmed that she had been raped. The parents later lodged a complaint with the police and Acolatse was subsequently arrested.