News

NEWS

· LOCAL

Resigned Deputy Minister Could Face Criminal Charges

The Deputy Minister who resigned last weekend after revelations by a newspaper of his involvement in fraudulent activities could face criminal investigations.

Alhaji Moctktar Bamba, Member of Parliament for the Wenchi East constituency of the Brong Ahafo region resigned his position as deputy Minister at the office of the President on Friday following reports by the Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper that he had been.

Chief of Staff at the Presidency Kwadwo Mpiani says the resignation of Bamba was not necessarily the end of the matter.

Information Minister Nana Akomeah who announced the deputy Minister’s resignation in a press statement last Friday said some of the allegations made against him like fraud; forgery of signatures among others requires the active participation of the police to get to the bottom of the matter.

Sources say the President ordered swift action to be taken last week after the allegations emerged against Bamba. The deputy Minister was called before a panel and when he admitted to a number of indiscretions, he was offered the opportunity to resign.

The Chronicle newspaper which blew the lid on Bamba with a series of reports quoting several documents said Bamba connived with one Raymond Akuffo, a defeated NPP candidate in the 2000 parliamentary elections to transact certain dubious business dealings.

Alhaji Bamba had also registered a company with Akuffo in which he was a director-secretary, which in itself is a contravention of the constitution.

The deputy Minister maintains he was unaware of Akuffo’s dubious undertakings but he has been told he must face the music for his actions.

"I have been wrongly accused" -Tsikata

No Image Accra, Feb 10, GNA - Captain Kojo Tsikata (rtd), former National Security Adviser, on Tuesday told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that he "was in no way involved in any conspiracy to kidnap and murder the three High Court Judges and Major Acquah".

Captain Tsikata, who was appearing in response to two subpoenas from the Commission dated October 21 2003 and January 12 2004, said he neither participated "in any manner whatsoever, in these crimes". He said he had lived for more than 20 years “with the pain of being falsely accused by the Special Investigation Board (SIB) of being the mastermind of the hideous crimes committed by Amartey Kwei and others on the night of 30th June 1982."

He accused the SIB, chaired by Mr. Justice Azu Crabbe, of turning "an important investigation of a criminal murder case into a political conspiracy" against him.

Captain Tsikata said the only motive he could assign for the action of the SIB was to ensure that he was removed from his position in the government of Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) as part of attempt to discredit it in preparation for its overthrow.

He requested the Commission to make available those persons whose actions gave credibility and respectability to the false allegations made against him by Amartey Kwei, so that he could look at them in the eye and ask them questions about their participation in this elaborate frame-up

He mentioned in particular Mr. Justice Azu Crabbe, Mr. T.O. Lindsay, the Right Reverend Professor N. K. Dzobo, Mr. J.O. Amui, Brigadier J Nunoo Mensah and Mr. Johnny Hansen

· FOREIGN

Pornographer to sell Whitehouse.com

The Whitehouse.com Web site, one of the best examples that the Internet isn't always what it seems, is getting out of the pornography business. Its owner says he's worried what his preschool-age son might think.

"He'll be going to kindergarten next year," said Daniel Parisi, who started the Web site in 1997 that is frequently confused with the official government site, www.whitehouse.gov. Parisi, 44, said he worried that his son's classmates might taunt him about the family's business.

Parisi's decision to sell the Whitehouse.com name and more than 100 derivations comes amid signs pointing to a rebound in the market for reselling Web addresses. A Florida man sold men.com in December for $1.3 million.

Parisi said he doesn't know yet how much the names will fetch; he claimed the Whitehouse.com site -- it advertises pictures of "hot interns" and once included a "first ladies" section -- earns more than $1 million each year in revenues and said he's invested more than $7 million since 1997.

The site currently features a picture of Democratic front-runner John Kerry with the message, "Our candidates are better looking."

One company expressed early interest. Bob Roberts, a vice president at National Fruit Product Co. of Winchester, Virginia, which makes White House applesauce and apple juice, said he would contact Parisi to discuss a deal. The company previously fought Parisi in federal court over trademark claims to force him to surrender the disputed Web address.

"We just feel bad when our customers type in the address and they get hit with these pictures," Roberts said. His company's G-rated Web site is www.Whitehousefoods.com.

Parisi said his site, operated by a European company that leases the Web address from him, draws more than 2 million visitors each month. It has been a rallying point for critics who worry about children stumbling onto pornography online.

"Every time our kids were doing homework about the White House or the presidency, they would type in dot-com," said Parry Aftab, who runs the WiredSafety organization. "It's always been the poster child for where our kids can get into trouble with porn by accident."

Officials at the White House, the General Services Administration and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration refused comment on the pending sale. The GSA assigns federal Web addresses; the telecommunications agency regulates U.S. policies on Internet addresses.

Nine months ago, President George W. Bush signed a law that bans the use of misleading Web addresses to lure children to view material harmful to minors.

NEWS BAR: Headlines from the local print media (Ghana web), Reuters, CNN and BBC. (Updated hourly)NEWS BAR: Headlines from the local print media (Ghana web), Reuters, CNN and BBC. (Updated hourly)