Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) has denied alleged siphoning of funds from its vaults. A statement issued by the bank’s management on Tuesday said no fund had been siphoned from the vaults of the bank. “We wish to assure our loyal customers and the general public that there is no cause for alarm as no funds have been siphoned from the vaults of the bank. Our customers’ deposits are safe and the bank’s vaults are very secure,” the statement said. The statement explained that the bank rather noticed some unusual withdrawals over the counter by some customers in certain branches and took immediate steps to confirm the genuineness of the transactions. It said the bank therefore arrested culprits and added that the police and EOCO were collaborating with its management to investigate the incident. It said EOCO to that effect issued a letter to the bank authorising it to freeze the accounts on which the suspicious transactions were carried out.  The statement said it was pleased with the speed with which the incident was detected and dealt with. It also assured the public and its customers that the bank continued to invest in its technology infrastructure to ensure that appropriate controls were in place to prevent or speedily detect fraudulent incidents such as these. The statement however, said reports by the media saying that the incident occurred with the connivance of the bank's IT department had not been established; and urged the media to collaborate with law enforcement agencies in other not to jeopardise the investigation. It also thanked all stakeholders, informants and law enforcement agencies who worked with the bank to bring the issue under control.  

  The government on Monday said over 2,913 ghost names had been detected and removed from the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) pay rolls. Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah, Deputy Minister of Education, said the names were detected when the Ministry conducted audit of its staff in seven regions of the country, adding that the exercise in the three northern regions was on-going. He said the investigations showed that GES had more than enough teachers at the basic level but there was the problem of over staffing in some schools and some teachers sat in offices at the GES district offices without doing anything. Mr Ablakwah said this during a public forum in Accra dubbed “Advancing the better Ghana agenda: Prospects for 2014”, as part of activities marking the first anniversary of President John Dramani Mahama’s government. He said the Volta Region had 25, 725 teachers at the basic level including excess teachers of 1,720, and 3, 720 staff shortage yet 244 schools were without  teachers. The Central Region had excess teachers of 1,426 and yet 34 schools are without teachers. He said at the end of the exercise, the excess teachers would be posted out to needy areas. Mr Ablakwa appealed to the teachers who would be affected to accept their new postings and work for mother Ghana and urged influential people not to interfere with the postings. The Deputy Minister said according to Statistics by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2006, there were 513,000 children of school going age that were on the streets in Ghana and not schooling but this had been reduced to 278,000 by 2013. He said in 2009 there were over 3,000 schools under trees but it had been reduced by 43 per cent and gave the assurance that the government was committed to the total elimination of schools under trees. He said government had provided free school uniforms for pupils and over 100,000 laptops for students and institutions nationwide. Mr Ablakwah said over 12.5 million English, Mathematics and Science textbooks had been supplied to basic schools and urged District Chief Executives and Members of Parliament to ensure that the books did not remain in the stores or warehouses of GES. He said this year the government would be providing work books for the lower primary. Mr Ablakwa said the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) re-sit would start in February, 2015 and urged interested parents to register their children  once the West Africa Examination Council opens the registration.  

A Ghanaian and his Guyanese accomplice have been handed prison terms of 15 and 20 years respectively for importing cocaine into Ghana. The High Court in Accra which convicted Seth Grant, the Ghanaian and Miller Ronald O’Neil, his Guyanese accomplice and Captain of the Guyanese ship “ATIYAH, George-Town” aboard which the narcotic was seized, handed the sentences on the guilty pleas of the convicts. They pleaded guilty to engaging in criminal conspiracy to commit an offence by engaging in business relating to narcotic drugs; importation of narcotic drugs without lawful authority and possessing narcotic drugs without lawful authority. Three other suspects - Perceval Curt, Samuel Mornty and Saint Praimchad who were arrested along with the convicts would face full trial beginning January 10 after pleading not guilty to the same charges. The seized cocaine is said to have a street value of 50 million dollars.

  The Rawlingses are arguably the most famous couple in Ghana’s contemporary political history, but the genesis of the love that has bound them together as a married couple for the past decades, has never been known to many Ghanaians until none other than former President Jerry Rawlings himself told the story on Monday.   It is a story that would see a young man convert from Catholicism to become a Protestant just for the sake of love. Cast in the mould of the Shakespearian Romeo and Juliet love story - minus the tragic end - the love between the Rawlingses, as a couple, would blossom on the strings of music. Few know, or could have imagined, that the man who would later – both as a Military Officer and a Civilian - lead Ghana for close to two decades, and who could shout his voice hoarse in a milieu of intense charisma when delivering his polemics and harangues, actually used that same voice, as a young man, for the more subtle endeavours of life. At the age of 15, young Jerry Rawlings, who had been brought up as a Catholic, ditched his religion, ironically, for a religion that up till now, has no love lost between it and Catholicism – the Protestant Church – and all that was for the love of a young “beautiful girl” that got the lad smitten to bits with love and struck right through the heart by cupid’s arrow. He would confess this himself with a tinge of nostalgia, decades later of course, when he addressed students in his home region just yesterday. “…I was a catholic, she was a Protestant. But because I wanted to be close enough to her, I left my Catholic Church to go and join the protestant Choir. But not too long after I’d joined the Protestant choir, I don’t know what the young lady [Nana Konadu Agyemang] and her friends did wrong. They [were] kicked out by the music Teacher so I was stuck in there and I was wondering what I could also do to get kicked out”.Rawlings said he had to slave for Konadu’s love. “I don’t know what it is like these days but in those days, it took me close to five years to be able to hold her hands, and long after I’d joined the Air Force and became a Pilot Officer, whenever I would try to visit, I had to remove my cap and actually scrub her mother’s car before I could say hello to her”, he recalled to cheers from the young horde of students. “…Anyways, that lady many years later, became my wife”, and thus the story ends. Happily ever after?  

  President John Dramani Mahama has announced that reconstruction of the railway system in the country will begin this year. He said the reconstruction will target mainly the Eastern and Western corridor rail lines. The Eastern line, according to the President, will particularly be tied in with the Boankra Inland Port, which has partly been completed but yet to be activated due to lack of facilities such as warehouses and rail lines. The port is supposed to serve the middle belt, the northern parts of the country as well as Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali. Ghana’s rail system was currently in a mess and as of now, about 90 to 95 percent of all cargo internally was carried by road. This is due mainly to years of neglect of the sector in the provision of locomotives and coaches as well as lack of maintenance and expansion of rail tracks. Addressing a press conference at the Flagstaff House Tuesday morning to mark his one year in office, President Mahama said the situation was not acceptable. He noted that for any country that intends to develop, the railways was very important and “we cannot continue to carry all cargo by road”. “It is my hope that this year we cut sod for the beginning of the reconstruction of the railways in this country”. The President maintained that it was difficult to enforce the load limit on the roads because people have to convey containers. “… if you have to convey containers and there is a machine in the container that is heavier than the load limit, are you going to cut the machine in half and put half aside, you cannot do that. And so when these cargoes are carried on the roads they destroy the roads” The President said the main railways being targeted were the Western and Eastern corridor rail lines and believes that if the railways were reconstructed and the Boankra Inland Port was activated, it will make it easy for importers from Burkina Faso and other areas to pick their cargo from there instead of driving all the way to Tema. ‘National Theatre’ We are planning to build a second national theatre in Kumasi and we are in talks with the Turkish Exim Bank which has already sent a team to Ghana to identify a site for the project which has been identified by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the President announced. ‘200 new schools’ Touching on education, President Mahama said the promise of providing 200 secondary schools within his tenure was on course and that the criteria was to site schools in all the newly created districts, those without secondary schools at all and districts which already have secondary schools but have many students graduating from the Junior high schools. We are going to start with 50 this year, he said. ‘Government of friends and family’ Asked by Kwame Adinkra of Angel FM in Kumasi on what the President made of criticisms that, his government was made up of just family and friends, the President said none of his siblings was in any political appointments. “I don’t know where that is coming from… I have 18 siblings and none of my sibling is in any political appointments". ‘Disagreements within NDC’ “My relationship with our party (NDC) is good and that the executives are all my friends. Yes in any organization, you will have disagreements but it doesn’t mean that we are not friends and we are not working together.” “I don’t abhor criticism and so yes, some members of our party have criticized me and it is their right to do so, it makes me a stronger person. If the criticism is fair, I will take corrective measures and if it is not fair, I will discuss it with them and say I don’t think this criticism is fair.” He said every organization had disagreements and that how you managed those disagreements was what mattered. ‘Airports’ The president reiterated that the Kumasi Airport was going to be upgraded to international status. "We are also doing the regional airports, rehabilitate the Sunyani Airport and build new aerodromes at Cape Coast, Ho, Koforidua and Bolga so that we can have domestic aviation serving all regional capitals", the President said.

  The hassle of acquiring visas for travel to Saudi Arabia is now over. This follows the mandate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have exclusively given to VFS TASHEEL, visa services center, to process visa applications for Saudi Arabia. VFS TASHEEL is a joint venture between VFS Global (A division of Kuoni Travel Group, Switzerland) & TASHEEL, KSA. The Saudi Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Hesham Meshal Swailem Al-Sowalem, at a short ceremony in Accra, said “The visa services centre will serve people who desire to visit the KSA, in addition to providing them with vital information about the kingdom.” For his part, Mr Madhan Gopalakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer of VFS TASHEEL, said “The new visa services center is packed with more convenience and comes with dedicated service counters, reception area, and a premium lounge, all to enhance the experience and add value to the process of visa application.” He noted that “The center will be opened for extended hours during peak season for speeding up the visa procedures for entry permits to the kingdom,” adding that “The center also has optional value added services that caters for all travel needs matching various purposes of travel.”  “Our endeavor is to provide a truly hospitable ambience at the visa center with up-to-date contemporary facilities that will make applying for a visa with us a pleasant experience,” Mr Gopalakrishnan added.  

  Raycom Technologies, an ICT and securities products and solutions firm, is set to offer ICT training to thousands of Ghanaians to equip them to meet the changing trends in technology. According to the wholly-owned indigenous firm which has a strong clientele base including Stanchart, Databank and Bayport, the move forms part of the company’s quest to assist the government to empower the youth in ICT. The Manager in charge of Products, Solutions and Training, Mr Christian Senyo Attitsogbui, said Raycom will also institute a training programme for ICT and Computer Science graduates from the universities and polytechnics to improve their practical knowledge. Mr Attitsogbui, who was speaking at an end-of-year cocktail party for the company’s clients, said he believed such a move will help them provide the technical communication needs to businesses in the country. “A lot of our young Ghanaians who are graduating from institutions are having serious challenges with the practicalities in the industry so with over a decade’s  existence as a business we think it is about time to take our training activities to a different level where we will now  have a bigger audience where we can share our knowledge with them. That’s one of our biggest goals for next year,” he added.  

  Chocho Industries has presented a cheque for GH¢15,000 to the Suhum Islamic Girls  Senior High School. The donation, which was made at its head office at Suhum, was to support the re-roofing of some classroom blocks whose roofs were ripped off during a rainstorm that hit the area a few weeks ago. The Chief Executive Officer of Chocho Industries, Alhaji Mustapha Oti Boateng,  said the gesture fell in line with the teachings of Prophet  Mohammed which encouraged education. “As a Moslem, I consider this as fulfilling Prophet Mohammed’s teachings that encourage education. I was touched when the headmistress approached me concerning their plight. “The Holy Prophet said we should encourage  education wherever it is practised, hence the gesture. I think issues and concerns such as this should be the concern of all, and I, therefore, urge other corporate bodies to follow suit,” Alhaji Oti Boateng said. The headmistress of  the school, Sherifatu Abukari, expressed appreciation for the gesture, saying, “We are short of words, it just dawned on us to come to Alhaji, and when we did, he requested for the estimate for the damage, and the next thing was for him to follow it up with the cheque —we are most grateful.” Chocho recently presented food items worth thousands of cedis to persons living with HIV during the Christmas festivities.  

  A 45-year-old farmer, Kojo Ennie, shot himself after shooting his wife when he was under the influence of alcohol. The incident happened at Sefwi Tanoso-Praso in the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District of the Western Region on Sunday, January 5, 2014. A report from the District Crime Officer, Mr Gbagbo Kwabena Prosper, said one of the sons of the couple’s four children, Ebenezer Ennie, told the police that his father always behaved abnormally anytime he drank alcohol. According to him, his father had attempted killing their mother the last time he drank alcohol so his mother decided to divorce him but the case was later resolved.   Mr Gbagbo said the body of Kojo Ennie was found in his room together with a locally manufactured gun and two used bullets. Fortunately, he said, Kojo Ennie’s wife was still alive and had been referred to  the Komfo Anokye Hospital in Kumasi for further medical treatment after initial treatment at the Bibiani Government Hospital. The body of the deceased has been deposited at the Bibiani mortuary for autopsy.  

  The Web Section of the Graphic Communications Group Limited has held a short send-off ceremony for Mr Jacob Vanderpuye, a member of the section, who has retired after 27 years service. In recognition of his immense contribution over the years, Mr Vanderpuye was adjudged the best worker for the Web Section of the organisation in 2013. The Production Manager,  Mr Ernest Cobblah, advised him to continue to engage in activities that would expand his knowledge and enable him to be abreast of events. He advised Mr Vanderpuye to particularly take care of his health by engaging in regular physical activity.  The Printing Manager of the unit, Mr Samuel Abban, also commended Mr Vanderpuye for ‘going home in such a strong condition’ and advised him to eat well to maintain his good  health body.  

Members of the East Legon Yahweh Temple branch of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) has handed over refurbished works to the East Legon Police Station at a ceremony in Accra. The renovation work, which involved painting, replacement of broken louvre blades and water closet system, provision of shelves, furniture and lockers, formed part of the seventh anniversary celebration of the establishment of the church. As part of the celebration, the members also presented assorted items and cash of GH¢ 500 to the Chosen Rehabilitation Centre at Abofu near Achimota and the Weija Leprosarium in Accra.  The items included three bales of second-hand clothing, three bags of rice, a box of key soap, a box of cooking oil, tooth paste, a pack of toilet roll and disinfectants. Presenting the items, Rev. Ismaila Hans Awudu, Head Pastor of the church, said as the church celebrated its anniversary, they found it necessary to share their joy with the people in the community  in which they operated and also provide support to the needy in society.  Pastor Awudu said the church had donated to the Osu Correctional Centre of the Ghana Prisons Service and also assisted the registration of over 400 inhabitants of the Otinshi community at East Legon in Accra for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).  He said the church, which started with 25 members some four years ago in a rented apartment, now had a a population of 1,500 and worshipped on their own premises.

  The women’s ministry of the Ghana Congress on Evangelisation (GHACOE) has launched its 30th anniversary celebration on the theme: “The ideal womanhood project.” The ministry aims to  promote the well-being and development of women in Ghana and parts of Africa and to promote entrepreneurial skills training for the vulnerable in the society. So far, about 10,000 women across the country have benefited from the entrepreneurial skills training. Giving the background of GHACOE, the founder, Madam Florence Yeboah, said the organisation was introduced in Ghana by a Zambian woman who later became a Member of Parliament.  She called on Ghanaians to rise up against corruption stressing, “this drains the coffers of the country”. Madam Yeboah also advised children to live upright lives in order to be worthy of taking up responsibilities in the society. She also advised girls and young women to  be moderate and decent in their dressing to avoid being accused of wearing “provocative dressing”, which she said debased womanhood. The chairperson for the occasion from Opportunities  Saving & Loans, Mrs Vivian Akofa Mottey, who is also a beneficiary of the entrepreneurial skills development programme, appealed for support for the organisation to enable it to carry out its mandate of supporting the needy in the society.    There was an exhibition of some cottage industries  in the area of batik tie-dye, dressmaking, baking and beadmaking, among others.  

  Doctors at the Police Hospital are scheduled to conduct an autopsy on the 33-year-old woman who died during a watch-night service at the Assemblies of God Church at Madina on December 31, 2013. The family of Patience Tetteh would have to go to court to go through the necessary documentation to obtain a coroner’s report on the matter before the postmortem could be carried out.  No foul play The Madina Divisional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Boadu Prempeh, told the Daily Graphic last Sunday, that the family of the deceased had formally reported the tragic incident to the police. According to him, there is no suspicion of foul play but what is to be established is the cause of death. Watch-night service Patience Tetteh died minutes after ‘crossing over’ into the New Year during the church’s watch-night service on December 31, 2013. She died when she sat on her seat after the church had sung and danced to usher in the year 2014. She was said to have actively participated in song ministrations on that fateful night. According to a member of the church who also attended the service, Ms Tetteh joined other members of the church in singing and dancing but not long after, she was seen motionless, with the back of her head resting on the chair.  That attracted members of the church to her seat but unfortunately, she was dead. Her body has been deposited at a morgue in Madina. Friends and sympathisers continue to visit the family of the deceased to express their grief. The residence of the late Ms Tetteh was quiet and serene but clergymen from the church were at the house to pray for the deceased’s family when the Daily Graphic went there last week. Ms Tetteh’s younger sister, Ms Beatrice Tetteh, declined to speak to the Daily Graphic despite persistent efforts to get her to narrate the circumstances that led to her sister’s death.  

  Three persons have been arrested for allegedly  robbing Vienna City, a popular entertainment centre in Takoradi, of GH¢24,900.00. The robbers, including two workers of the centre, have been identified by the police as Ebenezer Amponsah, 44, supervisor and deputy manager of the facility, Charles Nana Yaw Ennin, 37, bouncer at Vienna City, and a third suspect, Carlos Agyei, 44, a painter. Amponsah and Ennin allegedly contracted Agyei to break into the company’s vaults, thinking that the close-circuit television (CCTV) was malfunctioning. According to the Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Ms Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, Amponsah and Ennin allegedly invited Agyei to the centre last Saturday after close of business. She said Amponsah and Ennin brought Carlos into the clubhouse, and  they opened the back door of the building for him to use for the operation, after which  the three left.  At about 4.30 a.m., she said, Carlos returned with a crowbar and broke into the office and forced the vaults open and stole GH¢24,962.96. Unknown to the suspects, Ms Adiku said,  their  movements  were captured by the CCTV installed at the offices.   She said the suspects, who had earlier denied breaking into the vault, later confessed to the offence after the video was played back.  

  Vice-President Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has stated that Ghana will continue to forge closer partnership with countries whose investors create employment avenues for the people, especially the youth. He said the issue of employment was uppermost in the scheme of activities of the government, for which reason it would encourage investors to create multiple avenues that would offer employment opportunities for the people. Mr Amissah-Arthur said this when the visiting Italian Foreign Minister, Madam Emma Bonino, paid a courtesy call on him at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday. Graduate unemployment The Vice-President pointed out that the country’s tertiary institutions, on an annual basis produced hundreds of graduates into the labour market where employment avenues in the formal sector were inadequate. That, he explained, demanded that the government partnered investors to commit more resources in to areas such as infrastructure, energy and agriculture, to absorb the large array of the unemployed in the country. He said the country also boasted an emerging oil and gas industry and thus called on Madam Bonino to impress on investors back home to invest in that sector. Mr Amissah-Arthur said the country abounds in huge mineral deposits including gold, bauxite and iron ore which investors could take advantage of, adding that Ghana also boasts a flexible investment regime which guaranteed that investers got maximum returns on their investment. He thanked the Italian Government for supporting the country in the last five decades and called for more collaboration between the two countries. For her part, Madam Bonino said that the purpose of the visit was to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Italy and Ghana. She touted Ghana’s democratic credentials which, she said, had earned the country considerable respect among the comity of nations.  

  The Ministry of Transport yesterday launched an initiative to re-register all government vehicles by the end of May, 2014. The exercise is in response to a directive by President John Dramani Mahama that all state vehicles be re-registered to ensure a judicious application of government funds. The first phase of the exercise started with the launch and would end on January 21, 2014. The Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation will take turns to register their vehicles during the first phase. Overall, 15,000 vehicles are expected to be registered at an estimated cost of GH¢1.5 million. There are, currently, 25 ministries and 10 regional co-ordinating councils. The re-registration exercise, which would be carried out in all offices of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) across the country, would cover vehicles belonging to the ministries, departments, agencies (whether on government budget subvention or not), regional co-ordinating councils, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies. The re-registration has become necessary following what critics describe as gross abuse of state vehicles, particularly at weekends for events including funerals and weddings. Process The process involves all the vehicles having their number plates changed into one with a green background, a GV prefix, the year of registration, a code identifying the ministry, department or agency that the vehicle belongs to or a code identifying the regional co-ordinating councils, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies(MMDAs) to which the vehicle belongs. In all, there are 34 codes for all the ministries and regional co-ordinating councils. Further, every metropolitan, municipal and district assembly, department and agencies under the various ministries also have special codes for easy identification. Transport Minister  At a press briefing about the initiative in Accra yesterday, Transport Minister, Mrs Dzifa Ativor, dismissed suggestions by a section of the media that the process was a means for government officials to siphon state funds. She explained that the exercise was to ensure that state resources were used judiciously, stressing that: “taxes are used for the purchasing of the vehicles. We will capture all vehicles. No matter where the car is in the country, it will be captured as long as it’s a state property.” Mrs Ativor said all broken down vehicles would be captured in the collation of data on government vehicles, while efforts were being made to put the codes of the various ministries, departments and agencies online, for easy access by the public. Mr Vincent Kuabgenu, Co-ordinator of the Government Vehicle Re-registration Project, at the Office of the President, said the initiative was in response to public concerns on the use of government vehicles. He, therefore, called for public participation and support in monitoring the use of government vehicles to ensure that the objective of the initiative was attained.  “This project would help cut cost. A lot of thievery and unaccounted public resources are reported in the Auditor General’s report each year. We will employ all means possible to sustain the use of the new numbering systems and codes,” he said. Mr Rudolph Beckley, the Chief Executive Officer of the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA), said five out of the 25 ministries would be captured in the first phase while the project was being rolled out until May 2014.   

The Founder and Head Pastor of the Vida Bethel Prayer Ministry at Paakoso-Aprade in the Ejisu municipality in the Ashanti Region, Dr (Mrs) Vida Osei-Mensah, has presented gifts to over 500 widows from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Greater Accra regions as part of the New Year celebrations. The items, were made up of rice, fowls and pieces of cloth, with each of the beneficiaries receiving a bag of rice, a fowl and a piece of cloth.  That, according to Dr (Mrs) Osei-Mensah, was aimed at making them feel at home and enjoy the New Year festivities  with their families. She said the support to the widows was in fulfillment of the scriptures which required that the needy in society be assisted. The head pastor assured the widows of her support at all times, and urged them to put their trust in God.  She called on the privileged in society to make it a point to assist the needy in society at all times. A beneficiary from Koforidua in the Eastern Region, Madam Vivian Mensah, on behalf of the recipients commended Dr Mrs Osei-Mensah for the gesture, and said  it came at the right time. Dr (Mrs) Osei-Mensah also made similar presentations to orphanages and other children’s homes in the Ashanti Region.

  The Akyem Swedru police have arrested a 27-year-old teacher, Seth Akese Gyimah, for allegedly slashing the throat of a taxi driver in an attempt to murder him. The victim, Kwasi Frimpong, who is in critical condition, has been referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for specialist attention. The suspect, who is stationed at the Akyem Osorase Railway Station, has meanwhile been remanded in police custody by the Oda District Magistrate’s Court to enable the police to conduct further investigations into the matter. Police briefing Briefing the Daily Graphic at Akyem Swedru at the weekend, the Akyem Swedru District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Richard Gyebi, said preliminary investigations had shown that Gyimah hired the victim’s Nissan Almera taxi with registration number GX 6191-13 from Accra to Osorase and attempted to murder him when he was fast asleep for no apparent reason. He said around 9:30 p.m. on December 11, 2013, Gyimah checked into the Canadian Guest House at Osorase, in the company of Frimpong.  He said at about 11:30 p.m., the police received a distress call from the proprietor of the guest house that thieves had attacked the guests. According to DSP Gyebi, on reaching the place, the police found Frimpong, who had managed to come out of his room, lying in a pool of blood and gasping for breath. He said the police also detected that Frimpong had deep machete wounds on the neck, throat and face and could not talk. The victim, who was bleeding profusely, was taken to the Oda Government Hospital and later transferred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital because of the serious nature of his condition. Preliminary investigations He said the police returned to the guest house and were informed that the victim had checked in together with Gyimah, who was then nowhere to be found. DSP Gyebi said the police entered the room and realised that after Frimpong had been slashed, his assailant locked him up and bolted.  It was learnt that Frimpong broke some louvres in the room and struggled out.  DSP Gyebi said based on the particulars Gyimah gave to the front desk of the guest house, the police traced him to his hideout. Meanwhile, the police are waiting for the victim to regain his speech to help in the investigations.  

  Chiefs rode in palanquins through streets bursting with joyous crowds as the people of Elmina celebrated their Christmas. In gorgeous traditional regalia, the chiefs, led by the Paramount Chief of the  Edina Traditional Area, Nana Kwodwo Conduah, last Thursday performed rituals at the Benya Lagoon where the crowds converged to be addressed. This year’s festival was well attended compared to the previous celebrations.There was a sense of togetherness among the people. Call for unity Nana Conduah said this year’s celebration had been unique because of the unity and peace the area was enjoying. He stressed that there was the need for all to help promote peace and unity as that was a prerequisite for the development of the area. Nana Conduah urged all to put their differences behind and forge ahead to accelerate the area’s development . Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum, the 2012 presidential candidate of the Progressive People's Party and native of Elmina, who largely sponsored the festival, pledged to work with the chiefs and people of the area to ensure development. He said he would soon start work on some projects to create jobs in the area for the people. The celebration, known as ‘Edina Bronya’ (Elmina Christmas), was initiated to signal the friendship between the people of Elmina and the Dutch during the Dutch era of the colonial period. The period for the celebration coincided with the Dutch festival which was also said to fall on the first Thursday of January every year.  It was believed that the word "Bronya" was derived from the Fante phrase "Bor na ya" which means swim and take. It referred to an era when the Dutch would throw something into the Benya Lagoon and anyone who first swam to reach it, could keep it as a prize. There were regatta and firing of musketry.  

A young man was shot and killed by the police for allegedly attempting to stop them from providing security cover for an exercise to demolish about 380 illegal structures on a large tract of land at Adentan Aviation in Accra Monday. The incident occurred after the young man, identified as Adjei Akpor, 22, suspected to be a member of a group of land guards, had attempted to attack two of the policemen with a machete. Perceiving danger, one of the policemen fired a warning shot, which hit the right eye of Akpor, killing him instantly. Three of the suspects, who tried to flee upon seeing a team of policemen rushing to the accident scene, were arrested and taken to the Greater Accra Region headquarters of the Ghana Police Service. They are Emmanuel Armah and Nii Aryea, both 32, and Tijani Osman, 30. Land guard cases in Accra Briefing the press, the Accra Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr Christian Tettey Yohonu, blamed some of the chiefs for the land guard cases in Accra. According to him, most of the chiefs who did not have the mandate to sell lands but had done so, solicited the services of land guards to protect such lands. For instance, Mr Yohonu said, an alleged self-acclaimed chief of Adentan, Mr Ernest Nii Oko Kwei, was the brain behind the sale of some portions of the Adentan Aviation lands. He, however, warned that the police would not entertain any land guard cases this year and would deal with any culprit, regardless of his or her position or status in the society. Demolition Meanwhile hundreds of illegal structures and buildings on a 260-acre land belonging to the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority at Adentan had been razed down while the owners watched helplessly. The owners of the structures, some of whom were seen openly wailing, rushed into their structures to salvage their belongings as more than five bulldozers, supervised by heavily armed police officers, demolished them.  Property such as furniture, mattresses, television sets, vehicle spare parts and other personal effects were all littered around. Some of the structures, which were used as residences, churches and shops, were mostly kiosks, metal containers, temporary and permanent structures, all went down. Posted on the structures were notifications dating as far back as August, 2013 warning the residents to vacate the land earmarked for development. Some of the occupants of the structures confessed that they were notified even as late as last week that the demolition exercise would come off but they thought it was an empty threat. Why the demolition According to Mr Frank Tackie, the director of The Consortium, a construction company contracted to redevelop the Adentan Aviation land, the government intended to turn that area into a suburban centre to be called the Adentan Central Business District. “The whole strategy is to help augment Accra’s inadequacies and decongest the region. Places such as Adentan, Ashalley Botwe, Madina, and Legon, would have the necessary infrastructure and social services to improve their living condition,” he said. Mr Tackie also said since the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority is the legitimate owners of the land, part of it would be used for the construction of an International Aviation Training School and other facilities that would enhance the operation of the company. He said once the squatters were cleared from the land and the debris collected, the first stage, which included roads, drains, water supply, and electricity would be provided. “This would be followed by the construction of 3,000 apartments, a shopping mall, hospital, schools, hotels and other business activities that would improve the living conditions of the people in Adentan and its surrounding communities,” Mr Tackie said. Asked when the actual construction would begin, he said work should have started six months ago but as a result of the encroachment on the land, the government had to give the squatters ample time to evacuate hence the delay. “Two weeks from today, the land should be ready for major development,” he said. {gallery}Adentandemolition{/gallery}