Prez Mills off to the US for medical check-up
* Source: Joy Online


President John Evans Atta Mills has left Accra Saturday evening for a routine medical check-up in the United States.

This follows rumours about his ill health in recent times.

He told reporters at the Kotoka International Airport before his departure that there was no cause for alarm and that the check-up is a normal one.

The president did not indicate how long he'll be staying out but stressed he'll be away for a "few days".

Vice President John Dramani Mahama will act as President in his absence.

The president has been heavily criticised in the last few days for failing to speak out against the pockets of violence across the country.

The calls for his comments became more prominent following the clashes which claimed three lives at Hohoe in the Volta Region.

Mr Mahama was perhaps the most active in the days following the violent clashes.

Sources at the Castle earlier told Joy News the president had been taking some days off to rest.

Death rumour

President Mills also condemned rumours that he has passed on.

"Indeed this is not the first time I've heard people say this about me...Let me just say that I'm very, very, very strong. And I don't know the basis for saying that I'm dead," he told the press at the airport.

"Well, let me just say that under our constitution the president has a duty to inform Parliament, to inform them whenever he's going outside the country. What I have decided to do is to go for a medical check-up. And this will not be the first time. I go there and they make sure everything is okay."

"So I'm going for a few days and then come back."

The ill health of the president has been played up by some members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

His critics have demanded he makes his medical records public, a challenge his aides have described as unnecessary.


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I am alive and strong-Prez Mills
* Source: Samuel Ablordeppey


Ghana President Professor John Evans Atta Mills has assured Ghanaians that he was well, alive and strong.

President Mills said this before he flew via a passenger plane Delta Airlines to New York for a normal check up.

This comes in the wake of tittle-tattles making the rounds to the effect that he was dead and out of the 2012 general elections.

It would be recalled that a similar incident occurred in 2008 barely six months to the elections when the critics of the then professor Mills who was the presidential candidate for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) declared him dead while in South Africa, yet he came to win the 2008 general elections.

President Mills who was looking hearty and chatty and strong told the press at the presidential lounge of the Kotoka International Airport that before departure that ‘’I am very, very strong, and don’t know the bases for saying that I am dead.

The president said ‘’I am going for a medical checkup. I go there to ensure everything is okey. I am going to see my doctors for some examination then I will come back and continue my work of building a Better Ghana.’’

For those who wished the president dead at all cost, this was what the president has to tell them ‘’in six months we have elections, and as a party, we will worker even harder to ensure we continue to make Ghana a better place for all.

In an enthusiastic manner, president Mills stood up and questioned his critics ‘’am I the person who is dead?

He was seen off at the airport by the vice President John Dramani Mahama, the chief of staff Henry Martey Newman and other government officials.

President Mills is due back in a few days.


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Chiefs and people of Ningo to boycott inauguration of Prampram District Assembly
* GNA


The Chiefs and people of the Great Ningo Traditional Area have threatened to boycott the inauguration of the new Ningo-Prampram District Assembly and its deliberations.

The people said they had advised their assembly members not to attend any deliberations of the assembly on their behalf.

These were contained in a message read by Mr. Ebenezer Amanor, Chairman of the Great Ningo Youth Association on behalf of the chiefs and people, at a news conference at Ningo at the weekend.

The chiefs and people said they considered the creation of the district and the location of its capital at Prampram not only as bias in favour of Prampram, but also as “an imposition on the people of Ningo, which is against the tenets of democracy which the 1992 Constitution of Ghana seeks to promote.”

They accused “the powers that be” for sidelining and ignoring them in all the steps taken for the creation of the district and location of its capital.

They said, “No consultation was made between the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and our people for the location of the district capital.”

The chiefs and people said following the announcement of the creation of the district by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development on October 13, 2011, they petitioned the Ministry six days later and gave reasons why Ningo was a better choice than Prampram as the capital.

According to the chiefs and people, the Ningo Traditional Area occupy bigger land with as many as 72 towns and villages while Prampram has only 10.

They also said “Ningo has two Area Councils, while Prampram has only one, and for that reason, by CI 46 of 2004, Ningo is designated as the constituency headquarters of the Ningo-Prampram Constituency. Furthermore, according to the history of the two traditional areas, the Ningo Traditional Area existed long before the creation of Prampram Traditional Area, and the land occupied by the people of Prampram was ceded to them by the Ningos and the people of Kpone.”

The chiefs and people of Ningo said they followed up the petition with a reminder to the President on November 9, 2011, after passing a resolution of no confidence in their Member of Parliament, Mr. Enoch Teye Mensah two days earlier, “for not being proactive in bringing the two traditional areas to a common table to dialogue on the issue, but championing the cause of the chiefs and people of Prampram, and forwarded same to the President.”

They said without any response from the President and the sector minister, they petitioned, this time, the Speaker of Parliament, informing her that “all was not well with passing a legislation to back the newly-created district,” as the legislation was then before Parliament.

They regretted that all their petitions and resolutions “have been ignored with contemptuous indifference."

“We rather choose to remain in our poverty, deprivation and under-development, and be an orphan traditional area and maintain our dignity than to become boot lickers.”

The chiefs and people of Ningo said they preferred to have their own district because they were qualified for it, just as Sege, formerly of the Dangme East District, and Kpone-Katamanso of the Tema Metropolitan Assembly.

Nene Kanor Atiapah III, Acting President of the Ningo Traditional Council, Nene Narwortey Aklotia the IV, Ningo Stool Father and Nene Abebler II, Ashaiman Ningo Community Chief were present at the press conference.


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Police laxity fueled Hohoe communal clash - Togbega Gabusu
* GNA


Togbega Gabusu, Paramount Chief of Gbi in the Volta Region, on Sunday alleged that laxity on the part of the Police fueled the communal clash between Gbi citizens and residents of the Hohoe Zongo community last Monday.

He said though intelligence attested to a possible clash in Hohoe, relapse in the conduct of the Police made the situation to degenerate into an abyss.

Togbega Gabusu was briefing a delegation of chiefs and queenmothers from the Anlo State in the Volta Region, on a visit to Hohoe to assess the situation and sympathize with the people of Gbi.

The delegation, led by Togbui Sri III, Awomefia of Anlo State, included Togbui Agbesi Awusu II, Awadada of Anlo State, Mama Ayaba II queenmother of Adafienu, Mama Ayele Ativeshi, queenmother of Afife, and Dr. Ben Glover, Member of Council of State.

Togbega Gabusu lamented that the shortfall on the part of the Police led to shooting and death of two residents of Hohoe and another recuperating from gun-shot wounds at the hospital.

He debunked media reports, which suggested that the conflict had something to do with religion, and stressed that “there is no religious war in Gbi Traditional Area but a display of gross insubordination and disrespect for authority.”

Togbega Gabusu said the relationship between the people of Gbi and Hohoe Zongo community dates back to more than 200 years.

He was optimistic that the Committee of Eminent Persons to be established to handle the matter “would delve into the impasse, and suggest recommendations towards re-uniting the two communities.

Togbega Gabusu appealed to the people of Gbi to remain calm and avoid actions that would re-ignite hostilities.

Togbui Sri on behalf of the Anlo State sympathized with the two communities, and said the clash was shocking news.

He praised the level of maturity being exhibited towards peace building and expressed hope that peace would return to the Gbi area.

Delegations from Avatime, Alavanyo and Buem Traditional Areas have also been to Hohoe, to sympathise with the chiefs and people of the area.