Hohoe (V/R), July 10, The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) is to re-introduce promotion examinations among officers and men of the service to improve academic standards and efficiently, brigadier John Puanye Adda, acting chief fire officer said today. Addressing officers and men of the service drawn from Hohoe,Jasikan, Kadzebi, Nkwanta and Ketekrachi districts at Hohoe, he said since the GNFS has now become part of the security agencies there is the need for efficiency among its personnel. This, he said, would enable them measure up with their colleagues in other security agencies. Brigadier Adda who is on a three-day tour of the Volta region advised the personnel to be patient, sympathetic and tactful when dealing with fire or disaster victims to enhance public confidence and respect for the service. He appealed to agencies such as the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation to assist the management of the GNFS by providing water which is the basic resource for their fire tenders.
Accra, July 10 The Supreme Court yesterday quashed the conviction of Nana Owusu Achiaw Brempong the second, Omanhene of Atebubu by the Ashanti Regional Tribunal on August 10, 1992 on a charge of stealing a Mercedez Benz saloon car belonging to the Atebubu traditional council. The unanimous decision of a five-member panel was contained in a judgment of an appeal filed by Nana Brempong against his conviction and sentence. The chief first appealed to the Court of Appeal, which upheld the conviction. Dissatisfied with the judgment, he again appealed to the Supreme Court. The court, chaired by Mrs Justice Joyce Bamfort-Addo, ordered that the 200,000 cedis fine imposed on the appellant, if paid, should be refunded to him. The panel said “there is no (rpt no) iota of evidence to sustain the charge and that the conviction was wrong in law”. The panel held that the prosecution could not rpt not prove beyond all reasonable doubts that the appellant committed the offence, neither did he have any fraudulent intention to commit the offence. The case for the prosecution was that the appellant stole the car, the property of the council, and sold it for 5,000 cedis. When he was asked to produce it, he failed to do so, the prosecution said. In his defence, the appellant said the car was put at his disposal for official use. When it broke down, he sent it to a mechanic in Kumasi for repairs and paid him 16,000 cedis for the repairs. The mechanic, according to the appellant, dismantled the car, sold the parts and fled to Nigeria. The chief said when he informed the council, it sent a delegation to Kumasi, which found that the mechanic had indeed left for Nigeria.
