Source:JOY

By: Isaac Essel

The decision by the Serbian to take that line was influenced by the failure of three players – Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan – to absent themselves from a national game without prior permission.

The trio were not part of the Ghana team that left Accra for Luanda for the international friendly against Angola a fortnight ago prompting Rajevac to seek good exemplary standards from all squad members.

“The team is not happy with what happened. That [players absence without permission] must not happen again in the national team,” Rajevac told www.ghanafa.org in his reaction to the incident.

“We can’t allow it to disturb our team but we must make some decisions and must be disciplined.”

Rajevac does not want to rush a decision which could be detrimental to the team but is known to regard discipline on and off the pitch as one of his priorities.

The coach has reechoed the need for the Black Stars to stay disciplined.

Now Rajevac will be performing the balancing act of curbing indiscipline and retaining discipline.

“That behavior was unacceptable. Not correct for themselves and the rest of the team and everybody associated to the team. We need to make good examples and function well,” the Black Stars coach said.

“We have to put the team in control and take action. It is clear some action will be taken.”

A source at the Tema Port, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE about the ship, indicated that the ship was carrying about 5,200 metric tonnes of refined fuel which according to the source was going to be dispatched and sold on the Ghanaian market.

The ship, African Prince, had on board 22 persons who are said to be Nigerians and 6 Pakistani nationals, as well as a corpse of a 49-year-old unidentified crew member of the vessel who was said to be a chef.

The source also noted that the Ghana Navy received information about from the Personnel and Identity Club that the ship which had been allegedly hijacked was making its way into Ghana.

The content of the ship was also reported to have been stolen from Nigeria to Ghana, perhaps due to the insufficiency of fuel in Ghana.

The source also revealed that the ship, which was alleged to have been pirated and hijacked by some persons believed to be members of a big mafia group in Nigeria, has for a long time been on the sea, possibly waiting for the appropriate time to strike, but the ship, according to the source, was not lucky and was intercepted by the Ghana Navy and the National Security to the Tema anchorage.

DAILY GUIDE’s source indicated that the ownership of the ship is still unknown and has therefore been detained at the Tema Port, together with the crew, pending further investigations.

The body of the chef has been deposited at 37 Military Hospital mortuary.

Source: Daily Guide

The Suame Divisional Police Crime Officer, DSP Kwaku Duah, has confirmed to PEACE NEWS that he has ordered the General Overseer of the International God’s Way Church to produce two individuals to assist in investigations into a case of conspiracy.
Bishop Daniel Obinim is alleged to be the brain behind a plot to bury dead snakes, bones suspected to be human parts, red candles at the church premises of a rival pastor, Prophet Ebenezer Adarkwa Yiadom, at Ahenema Kokoben, a suburb of Kumasi.
Bishop Daniel Obinim was at the police station Saturday morning to give a statement after which he was granted bail by the police.
Narrating the incident to PEACE FM, Frank Annor, the complainant, alleged that he was contracted by Bishop Obinim last month to bury the dead snake, bones and some red candles at the worship centre for a fee of GH¢4,000.
But according to him, Bishop Obinim failed to honour his part of the contract. Frank Annor, who was persistent in his attempt to get his money, rather suffered attacks on his life which, he said, made him report the matter to the police.
However, he continued that, if Bishop Obinim had fulfilled his part of the contract he would have revealed the secret because of the ungodly nature of the act by the Bishop, which he perceived to be a disgrace to the service of God.
Police investigators led Frank Annor to the worship grounds of Prophet Ebenezer Adarkwa Yiadom to exhume the items which were contained in a black polythene bag under a tree.
Annor is said to have been infuriated by the posture of the “man of God,” and alleged that all the supposed miracles Bishop Obinim performs were stage-managed.

According to Frank Annor, the people who are paraded as healed of certain ailments by Bishop Obinim are persons the bishop goes to contract from the Volta Region.

Annor alleged that the bishop could pay as much GH¢500 to a victim who would only act as lame, dead or unconscious to be revived by the bishop.

Pacquiao, 30, stopped Cotto in the 12th round of their fight in Las Vegas on Saturday with a stunning performance to become a five-weight world champion.

It confirmed the Filipino’s billing as the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer.

“The whole world wants to see him fight Mayweather and I want Mayweather,” said Roach after the WBO welterweight fight.

Pacquiao’s victory over Cotto saw him complete an amazing 12 months in which he has defeated ring legend Oscar de la Hoya, as well as Britain’s Ricky Hatton.

It took his record to 50 victories, three defeats, two draws with 38 knockouts to set up a potential clash with the world’s previous pound-for-pound king Mayweather.The mercurial American returned to the ring from a short-lived retirement following his December 2007 victory over Britain’s Hatton with a clinical unanimous decision win over Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez in September.

A fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather would have global appeal but the Filipino was reticent to talk about his plans for future fights in the immediate aftermath of his victory over Puerto Rico’s Cotto.

“My job is to fight in the ring and I think that depends on (Top Rank’s Bob) Arum my promoter to negotiate that fight,” Pacquiao said.

“I’m just going to take a vacation first and spend time with my family and have fun.”

But BBC Radio 5 live’s boxing correspondent Mike Costello believes that despite the emphatic nature of his last three fights, meeting Mayweather would be an altogether different proposition.

“The great clamour will now be for this great showdown that everybody in boxing wants to see with Floyd Mayweather to decide who is the world’s best pound-for-pound champion,” said Costello.”If you look at Pacquiao’s last three opponents – De la Hoya, Hatton and Cotto – then they don’t offer anything like the defensive and elusive skills that Floyd Mayweather has.

“They also don’t have the speed that Floyd Mayweather has. That’s what makes it a fascinating match-up and that’s why I would suggest that when it comes around it wouldn’t be anymore than 50-50.”

Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward was at ringside for Pacquiao-Cotto as a summariser for US broadcaster HBO and like Roach, sees only one logical next step for the 30-year-old Filipino.

“There’s no doubt you have to go with Mayweather,” said Steward.

“When you have a fight that’s been made by the public more than the fighters, that’s what happened with Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard.

“The public said we want that fight to happen and that’s why it happened.

“I think they’ll come together on the money but it’s going to be a very intriguing fight because Floyd’s a technical fighter.

“He knows how to wait back and box a little bit and it’s going to be a lot different than it was against a guy who comes forward and is not that great on his defence.”

Source:BBC

The Black Stars with their places at both the Nations Cup and World Cup already secured, needed goals from Matthew Amoah and Anthony Annan to tie the game.

Sunday’s game at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi was the final qualifying match in the joint 2010 African Nations Cup and World Cup.

Though not satisfied with the total performance by the Black Stars, Rajevac says he was impressed with the commitment put in by every member of the team.

“We had quite a normal game though we played to win,” the Black Stars coach told www.ghanafa.org in a post match interview.

“We had too many things to do and were too busy to finish up early which forced us into hurrying the game to our disadvantage.”

“And we were average on the day. That certainly couldn’t have been the best of this squad. They could have played better and we looked a little tired.

“But I strongly believe there were some positives that we can look out for,” he added.

-Bernard Buachi,
Kumasi.

Questions for Kwesi Pratt and his Panelists:  Let Kwesi Pratt and his group of hypocrites be sincere with the truth for once, because what goes up must surely come down. The hypocritical stand taken by Pratt and his panelist has exposed the chameleonic nature they are hiding beneath the mask of patriotism which they have used into deceiving or hoodwinking the vulnerable people of Ghana for long. I am throwing an open challenge to Kwesi Pratt and those who constituted themselves into the Sanhedrin on that day to tell themselves what they did when the NDC circulated a list purported to be relatives and cronies of Ex-President Kufuor who were appointed into his administration?

Let Kwesi Pratt and his group tell Ghanaians what they did when Ben Ephson, editor of the Dispatch attempt, albeit unsuccessfully to sow a seed of discord between Ashantis and Akims? What did they do? They maintained a stony silence!
Hypocritical Kwesi Pratt and his likes should tell     Ghanaians whether President Mills has not breached the Constitution by appointing more people from one ethnic group and Region into his cabinet and other public corporations, to the disadvantage of other tribes and regions?  Is this right? Let clueless  and visionless Kwesi Pratt and his gang of nation wreckers tell Ghanaians whether appointments so far made by the Mills administration is in the spirit of oneness and nation building  .

Do Kwesi Pratt and those who constituted themselves into my accusers really love the country? I guess not! If they do, why should they unleash their rabid dogs after my blood for bringing into the public domain an issue, which, if not rectified, is capable of plunging the country into the precipice? What did Kwesi Pratt and his panel do or say when a group calling itself the Ga – Adangbe Youth Association issued a fatwa to ex-President Kufuor to vacate his “office”if he indeed loves himself? Those hypocrites remained like eunuchs with no balls hanging between their legs. But today, such hypocrites and unpatriotic elements in the country have got back their voices to speak as if they had just come down from outer space because the character involved is common Daniel Danquah Damptey. What advice have these men offered President Mills to be always guided by the spirit of the spirit of the constitution when making appointments?

Were we all not in Ghana when a learned Professor wrote a book disparaging other tribes while heaping praises on his own tribe? What did Pratt and all those vilifying me for touching on a subject which bothers on ‘no go area’ do or say when that book came out? Today, such a person has been honoured with an award which happens to be one of the highest portfolios in the land – the plush office of Chairman of Council of State. What did they say when the appointment was announced? Nothing! You see how hypocritical Kwesi Pratt and his colleagues could be.

One among the lot: What I did was to alert my fellow countrymen on a very dangerous precedent or agenda being vigorously pursued by the Mills administration. And if because some of us are saying that the perceived injustice being perpetrated against people from other tribes is unfair, unjustified and unconstitutional, others like Kwesi Pratt and co will crucify us, so be it. All that we have sought to do is to bring it to the notice of the President to rectify the anomaly. Let me state for all who care to listen that I don’t care what part of the country the President comes from, provided he can perform the task well. All that we are after is that the President must act within the frame of the Constitution.

Maybe, the President is not aware of this fact. Maybe, those hypocrites who act as his advisors have chosen the path of stony silence because it falls within their hidden agenda. Whichever be the case, we have alerted Ghanaians about the dangers such a trend could lead to.
I owe nobody any apology. I stand for the truth and I shall utilize every atom of energy in me to do what is right for my country. I shall not kowtow to any earthly power, no matter how intimidating that power might be. And if, because I am saying the truth, someone wants to eliminate me, let the one go ahead. We shall all appear individually before the judgement throne of the Living God one day.

But I would like to remind such people to beware of the power of a determined peoples will to resist all unjust laws. We should never forget the fate that befell the American soldiers in Somalia. We should also not forget the fact that the Americans at the time of the Vietnam war possessed the most sophisticated weapons ever to be developed in the history of warfare in its armoury, she could not defeat the Viet Congs.
Advice to Kwesi Pratt: Kwesi should be circumspect in his public utterance for he alone is not the repository of knowledge and intelligence. He speaks as if he is the only enlightened and knowledgeable person in Ghana. But as he always says, he cannot be more catholic than the Pope. Kwesi Pratt claims he is a socialist and always repeats the communist mantra of Karl Marx like a parrot. He spoke against Kufuor’s son acquiring a bank loan to buy what they nick- named, “Hotel Kufuor” When it suited him, his wife too obtained a loan from the bank to build a house. If Kwesi wants to live by the tenets of Communism/Socialism, let him renounce the title deeds to the house and give it to the masses/workers. This will be his own contributions to the cause of Socialism.
Those who live in Glass Houses should not throw stones. Kwesi Pratt is disaster waiting to happen. This is the simple truth, Massa.

Daniel Danquah Damptey
E-mail address – danieldanquah_damptey @yahoo.com

The habit of branding our presidents and ministers as aliens to score political points makes mockery of our constitution as well as our legal system. Perpetrators of such falsehood should know such acts breed animosity in our body politics. Its time they stop peddling such falsehoods and allow some decency to prevail.

Who is a Ghanaian?

In the 1990s a very prominent Ghanaian took JJ Rawlings to court challenging his nationality.  He claimed Rawlings is not from Ghana and therefore cannot be president of Ghana. During the hearing of the case the trial judge the late Justice Elsifie Bondzie made some incredible revelations which stunned many.

According to him prior to 1957 there was no Ghana. The country was then known as the Gold Coast. When the country gained independence in 1957 the name was changed to Ghana by the great Osagyefo. He explained that as part of independent celebrations anyone residing in the then Gold Coast which became Ghana was granted an automatic Ghanaian citizenship. He ruled that since Rawlings was born before 1957 by law he is therefore a Ghanaian.

What puzzled me was how such an educated guy and his team of crack lawyers could be ignorant of such a law in our statute books? It’s amazing how some scholars cum politicians kept referring to a section of the populace as foreigners. Most often residents of Zongo communities in Accra, Kumasi, T’di etc bare the brunt of being pigeonholed as foreigners by the politicians. With their level of education these politicians should know these Zongo dwellers are Ghanaians by birth though their progenies may came from Nigeria, Burkina Faso etc.
If the politicians are too busy to read the Constitution; the Supreme law of the land let me help them out so they stop spreading falsehoods about our heroes and leaders.
According to Chapter 003 of 1992 constitution a Ghanaian citizenship could be acquired through any of the following
1. Birth
2. Marriage
3. Naturalisation

Currently party elements of both NPP and NDC kept making false claims about the nationalities of each other. For instance some NPP elements claimed minister of states like Alex Segbefia and Koku Anyidoho etc are from Togo. John Mahama, Ayariga etc are from Burkina Faso. Their NDC counterparts make ‘return to senders’ by claiming Nana Akuffo Addo is from Mali, Alan Kyeremantin from Congo, Kwadwo Mpianim from Sudan and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey from Nigeria. What are we up to?

Bizarrely some of these guys who label Zongo dwellers as foreigners are proud holders of USA, UK, and Schegen Passports.  If you happen to be on a flight with them to Ghana you will see them joining the queue for ‘Foreign Nationals’ at Kotoka Airport. They are quickly whisked through immigration by Officers. The rest of travellers holding Ghanaian passports will be in endless queues that take forever to clear. The irony is as soon they get home you hear them saying ‘Segbefia, Anyidoho, Akuffo Addo, Alan Kyeremantin ‘omu nye Ghanafoo’ (meaning they are not Ghanaians)

The same group of guys will quickly send their pregnant wives to the USA to give birth so the child becomes US citizen. They know children born in the US become US citizens but refuse to accept that the same law applies to children born in Ghana. They will marry either UK or US citizens to become one but don’t want to hear that Zongo residents who marry Ghanaians have right to citizenship.

The feeding of falsehood to the public domain by confused politicians is not good for our children, the future leaders. These children imbibed such distorted facts and take them at face value. To them these cheap propagandas are facts because they are flogged by role models in the society. Its time we realise we are bringing up our children in environment full of deceit and dishonesty.

I am saying this from experience. When I was a child my dad told me glowing stories about Nkrumah. He adored Nkrumah and disliked the hoodlums who overthrew him. When I started school I picked up an entirely different story from the school environment. Stories told by children as young as 6 years. They told tales about how horrid Nkrumah was and some even said when he was overthrown human skull was found in his deep freezer.

They said he fed his political opponents to lions in the Accra Zoo which was his personal zoo before it was changed to a public zoo. Among all the concocted tales about Nkrumah one that hit me to the core was Nkrumah was not a Ghanaian. He came from Liberia. It took me decades to come to terms with the fact that he is a native of Nkroful in the Western Region.

This antiquated method of playing the alien card to win votes which started in the 1950s has outlived its usefulness. Its time present crop of politicians become more innovative and creates new ideas of wining votes. They should desist from using this divisive tool used by some of our founding fathers half a century ago. Civic organisations like NCCE and CDD should educate the public on citizenship laws so the politicians will not use that as a weapon anymore.

Francis Kwaku Egu

kwakuhull@yahoo.com

Adiyiah’s success at the tournament earned him a first senior call up as he together with six other members of the U-20 gold winning team were named by Milovan Rajevac in the Black Stars for Sunday’s final qualifying match of the joint 2010 African Nations Cup and World Cup.

However, as the Black Stars prepare to play Mali at home on Sunday, Adiyiah has warned against setting expectations too high too soon though he expects to seize the moment when thrown in by Milovan Rajevac.

“Because of what happened in Egypt [U-20 World Cup], I think many people are going to expect much from me. But that’s me, it depends on me,” Adiyiah who top scored at the U-20 tournament by eight goals said.

“I don’t need to rush. I have to calm down. Because we also have great players in the team and we need to pick something from them and also show ourselves in the team.

“But as I said, I need to accept the outcome [decision] of the coach because he knows what he is going to do. He is also on the field of play, so during training sessions I must give my best.”